We had such a great time at Freshgrass back in 2014, but it's a bit of a stretch from Eastern Mass, and they haven't had must-see lineups recently, so we haven't gotten it together to go. But I've really wanted to see Sierra Ferrell again since seeing her at GRF last year, and I saw she was on stage on Saturday, followed by Del McCoury. Good enough, we could do one day! It'd have to be a long one: leave here at 7:00 and get back by midnight if things worked out, but we figured it would be worth it.
And it was! Saturday the 24th of September was a beautiful, crisp and windy, early Fall day. And as we traveled West out Route 2 and gained elevation, eventually topping the Berkshires, the Fall colors popped out of the trees and the blue sky and hills surrounded us. Got to North Adams @9:40 and one parking lot was already full, but we got a great space in another one, grabbed the chairs, and moseyed over to join the line on a chilly, breezy morning. There were a lot of psyched people there already for the 10:45 gates, most of whom had frozen their asses off there on Friday night. But we were all prepared with multiple layers, though Sarah and I were possibly the only ones with gloves and the morning Globe. People looked at us jealously.
Typical confusion getting our bags checked, our wrists banded, and tickets scanned, but we got in eventually and set up our chairs to the left of the soundboard at the field stage. M&J were going to meet us at 10, but they were delayed and so we brought in extra chairs and tried to hold places for them.
First up was Willi Carlisle over at the courtyard stage. It was crowded already! They had a few seats there over on the right and I was able to grab one, sit in the sun, and really enjoy his act. He called himself an Arkansas folk-singer and he went on to prove it, singing some silly songs on guitar about living in a van and crotchety, euphemistic, hillbilly sayings from his uncle. But he showed a serious side too, doing Steve Goodman's powerful anti-war anthem, Penny Evans, a cappella. He then picked up a button accordion and did a great polka, and then another powerful Tex-Mex song. The sound in the courtyard was fantastic and he was able to rear back and fill it with his voice. He switched to clawhammer banjo for his last few tunes and led us all in a sing-along on Your Heart's a Big Tent.
Checked back at the main stage and M&J hadn't yet arrived, so ended up back at the courtyard for the next act, California Bluegrass Reunion. This is a super-star act that Darol Anger's assembled for a few gigs, and I was anticipating some confusion ... they sure sounded close to a train wreck in the sound check, with vocal mikes feeding back and no one knowing who was going to solo when. But then their set started and they were wonderful, each one getting a chance to shine and no one stepping on each other. Their sound was great and I was close enough to hear the vocals; they didn't want to risk a lot of loud harmony singing and get feedback monsters so stood back from the mikes.
The band consists of Anger on fiddle, Chad Manning (David Grisman, Laurie Lewis) on another fiddle, Bill Evans (Dry Branch Fire Squad, Due West) on banjo, Sharon Gilchrist (Uncle Earl, Peter Rowan) on bass, the great John Reischman (Good Ol' Persons, Tony Rice, etc.) on mandolin, and Jim Nunally (David Grisman, Kathy Kallick) on guitar. They rotated the vocal leads and showed awesome talent without any of them dominating. I have to say that Reischman's mandolin was what I was listening to most closely, I hadn't seen him for 40(?) years!
Sarah and Matt showed up during the set and were able to squeeze in with me up front. The wind had died down and the day suddenly became warmer, though it kept its Fall brilliance and it never got really hot. Took a break out at the car for some cheese and crackers, and had a quick compliment for John Reischman and Darol Anger on my way back in. I wanted to catch some of Alison Brown at the indoor stage, but there was a huge line to get in, and so I instead headed back to the field stage to see the tail end of Willie Watson's set. He had a wonderful fiddle player (Sami Braman), a bass player, and another guitarist with him, but who was playing at any one time varied. He did a few songs solo and ended with an excellent cover of Gallows Pole (you could hear people saying, "Where have I heard this before?" and the answer, "oh yeah, Led Zeppelin").
Next up was Misty Blues back at the courtyard stage, and I can't help but gush about how great this was. The band is led by powerhouse Gina Coleman on vocals. I'd seen them at GRF on 2021 and they played a mellow and saxophone-heavy set there, but this time they were out to take no prisoners and they were load, raucous, bluesy, driven by an excellent lead guitar who was smoking the strings. The sound was perfect again, they had the whole courtyard rocking, and Coleman was growling the blues at the top of her lungs. She mixed in a couple of ballads, and introduced one as composed with her son, Diego, who was stuck at the back of the stage but was so integral to the sound, playing an excellent rhythm guitar.
They were all great musicians, I think they've turned over a lot in personnel since last Summer. The keyboard player was exceptional, but I kept going back to Diego. His Mom mentioned him a few times and was obviously very proud of him. But I wondered what things looked like from his perspective: a) my Mom is supposedly proud of me but sticks me at the back of the stage, and b) how cool is it to be playing rhythm guitar for your mother while she's belting the blues and hundreds of people are dancing? The capper was when they did an excellent, slow intro to St. James Infirmary, then broke down, and then kicked back into it at an incredible pace. They actually got into a Buddy Holly-esque groove on that, between Diego on rhythm and the wild lead guitar. Boy, did they have people dancing!
Wow, needed to towel off and get some water after that set, so back to the seats at the main stage to see a bit of Aoife O'Donovan. I've seen her many times and loved her with Crooked Still and of course with I'm With Her, but her solo stuff lags a bit IMO. She had Isa Burke on guitar (and a drummer and bass), but still failed to take off in the few songs I heard.
Ok, I was early for the set but determined to get a great place to stand for Sierra Ferrell back at the courtyard stage. The word's gotten out about her and I was able to get right up behind the VIP seats about 20 minutes before her set, but then the place quickly filled up. It got pretty packed! I spent the time talking with the people standing with me, all of whom were enthusiastic fans. Sierra came on with Josie Toney on fiddle, a bass player, and a mandolinist. She wore a beautiful white dress with lace trimming and a bow in back, brown cowboy boots, lots of makeup, and at first a large fur hat, but it blew off in the first song so she picked it up and threw it away. She is unique, eclectic, and amazingly talented, some of her guitar runs had my jaw dropping. She's hard to describe, you have to hear her!
But it's her vocals that put her over the top. I've seen some excellent country/bluegrass vocal performances, like Peter Rowan doing throat singing and Ranger Doug doing the best yodeling ever. But you have to hear Sierra mixing in woohs and ahs and hums with her great lyrics. Toney really helped out on this, but Sierra is unreal. Then she'd laugh at the end of the song or turn her serious vocalizations into a spooky shriek!
She did Give It Time, Bells Of Every Chapel (Sierra curtsied to the crowd after that one), Made Like That, The Sea, and a great cover of Don't Let Your Deal Go Down. She told us she was sick of only having one record out and promised us another one soon. She closed with a sing-along (and waving-hands-along) on At the End Of the Rainbow and then her early hit, Jeremiah. Wow, she was good.
Took the opportunity to hobnob a bit with M&J and new friends Amy and Bruce out at the car after that, and to have some excellent spinach wrap roll-ups with hummus and fried eggplant and sweet potato. The afternoon was ending, the sun was going down, and the temperature was dropping fast. But then it was time to head back in for the great Del McCoury!
Sorry to miss Skip Marley's set at the main stage and then Jerry Douglas's set at the courtyard (Sarah and Matt caught a bit of it), but I had my priorities and was determined to not miss a second of Del. The sun set right before he came on and I was glad to see he was accompanied by not only his sons Ronnie and Rob on mandolin and banjo, but by Jason Carter on fiddle and Alan Bartram on bass.
BUT, they lit into their top-notch bluegrass and the sound was terrible! I was so disappointed. These sound guys had just done the quiet Aoife O'Donovan and the reggae Skip Marley, and they were not ready (apparently??) to do a loud bluegrass band next. That's quite a challenge I guess, and the mike setup was a little odd in that there were two ribbon mikes on stage and everybody had in-ear monitors. But still, I thought it was quite non-professional for such a big act on Saturday evening at such a big festival. Ronnie McCoury does not play a toy piano!
Whatever, Del is an amazing musician and entertainer and turned in a great set. He's 83 years old and he's the last of his generation. The sound guys got his voice right at least, though all the instruments sounded as if they were playing inside a tin can. Finally they got it adjusted correctly and actually the sound was excellent for the last three tunes: Traveling Teardrop Blues, Vincent Black Lightning, and All Aboard.
Ok, that was it! The festival still had a couple of acts to go (Gary Clark and Li'l Smokies), but we were done and had a long road East in front of us. Said goodbye to our friends and got back to the car quickly. It actually wasn't a bad drive back, over the Berkshires and down a pretty deserted Route 2 ... got back home right before 11:30. Soon to bed, what a day!
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