GRF 2026, Sunday

 Had another good night’s sleep … the temperature in Western MA was perfect and the air was clean, no need for air conditioning.  Woke up to another mostly sunny sky with a Western wind, though not as strong as yesterday.  Bagels and iced tea, then chatting with friends as we all packed our cars, and off to the Festival again at about 10:30.

Got another great parking space in the shade, and we were about 50th(??) in a rapidly growing line that started moving right at 11:00.  Set up our chairs at about the same place at the MS, and then started wandering around.

First up was Deloyd Elze (four syllables, hard ending “e”) at the BPS.  Though he also had the same old guitar, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards band as everyone else, his instrumentation was a little more eclectic with his rhythm guitarist playing a tenor guitar, and both Deloyd and the keyboardist set up with effects boards.  In fact, the keyboardist really didn’t do much besides twist knobs and gyrate.  Pretty good set though, some gritty songs and heartfelt vocals.  Angela Autumn (next up on that stage) sat in for a few songs.

Wandered over to the MS and was captivated by Tyler Ballgame.  I went right up front for him.  He had a keyboard accompanist but the astounding instrument on stage was his voice, just incredible range, control, and technique.  He could slip (seemingly) effortlessly into falsetto, back to baritone, and back to a tenor that was higher than his falsetto.  He did all originals (at least, songs I didn’t recognize), and was just a perfect, mellow act letting it all hang out before the crowds arrived.

Swung by the DBS for a few tunes from Nour Harkati, who has a nice voice, plays North African rock on the guembri, and had a frame drum player.  Then back over to the BPS for a few tunes from Angela Autumn, who plays a bit of country rock and had another band consisting of guitar(s), bass, and drums.  Then after a beer and food break, back to the MS for Hooray for the Riff Raff, more enjoyable folk punk rock with guitar, bass, and drums.

OK, time for a bit of a change and got over to the DBS in time to get right up front (next to Scott, who was there already) for Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek.  Derya had an electric bassist (who played electric guitar on a few songs), a keyboardist, and a drummer, but the main instrument was her on the bağlama, a fascinating instrument.  And her keyboardist was pretty out of the ordinary himself, taking many leads on a spooky, warbly setting.  They’re based in Germany and played music from the Turkish diaspora, none of which I recognized but that I loved.  She got such a surprising, bright, nimble sound from her bağlama, which looked like it only had three strings, but some of them may have been pairs or trios??  And she got such great volume from it over the PA, though it was mysterious how it was miked.

Back to the MS for part of the set from Lucius, a veteran pair of singers who intertwine voices on pop blues songs (accompanied by another Festival 2026-standard backup band), making a complex, layered sound.  They’re very hit or miss.

But then I hustled right over to the BPS to get up front for the act I most wanted to see, Ken Pomeroy.  She (McKennan) is a young (23) folk/country singer/songwriter from Oklahoma who plays an acoustic guitar and was accompanied by her partner, Dakota McDaniel, on lead acoustic.  She’s written some wonderful songs (Cicadas, Flannel Cowboy), has a surprisingly glib stage presence for a young folkie, and plays a beautiful guitar.  McDaniel played a fantastic lead, taking Ken’s strong images and wafting them away into the wind, and then winding back to the next verse.  And the best part is her voice, which is smoky and hesitant, but also catchy and at times as strong as her lyrics.  The crowd had really filled in at the BPS, elbow to elbow again, and she got many whoops and hollers when she hit the crescendos of her songs.

Several of our friends were there for Pomeroy’s set … I had recommended her … and we all gathered and gushed about her for a while.  It was about time for us to wrap things up, though there were a few sets left on that Sunday, including J Mascis, who was already setting up on the DBS while we talked, and whom I regretted missing.

Got some dinner and then sat at the main stage and enjoyed most of the set from Wednesday, a country-ish band that features a pedal steel and some nice singing.  But after a while it was time to take off.  Folded up the chairs, stopped by our friends’ tent to say goodbye, and then stuffed everything in the car and hit the road back East, where our kitties were waiting.

So how was the GRF this year?  The weather was perfect, mostly sunny and warm with enough wind to take the edge off (there was a short shower one day).  It was great seeing our friends again, staying at The Rose, and enjoying some fine food from the vendors.  But it got alarmingly crowded in the Fairgrounds, on one of those roasting days it may have gotten beyond alarming.  And for the bands you really want to see you have to get to the stage early, not the way it used to be.  The sound was as great as ever, and there were a few great acts.  But the Festival no longer features the variety and quality it used to.  There was not even one bluegrass band!  Almost every band played some variant of rock and featured guitars, bass, keyboard, and drums.  I like rock, and I like this instrumentation, but I also like banjos, mandolins, fiddles, etc.  So I had a good time and will do so again … there are good things about the Festival but there’s a lot they could do better.

GRF 2026, Saturday

 Slept well and woke up to another great day, but with an already strong West wind.  Had some bagels, tea, and orange juice that we’d brought and traded notes with our friends about what to see that day, and what not to see.  We packed up and got going around 10:30, got a parking space in the shade when we got to the Fairgrounds, waited just a little bit in the line until the gates-open at 11:00, and then got a fine space to the left of the soundboard, back about 8 rows from the Standing Room section.

Wandered around a bit and got a nice tie-dyed shirt from one of the vendors, then grabbed a beer and headed over to the DBS for The Animeros at noon.  They’re a Latin rock band with a guitarist and bassist on vocals, a keyboardist (who also played the kind of melodica that has a hose) and drummer, and a conga/bongo player who looked just like Sunny War’s drummer, though he probably wasn’t.  Great start to the day, and the highlight of their set was a cumbia-delic (new word!), instrumental cover of Ghost Riders In the Sky … very spooky but danceable.

Over at the MS was Greg Freeman next, whom I had panned in my spreadsheet, and so everyone (except me) wanted to see.  I was elucidated when the texts started pouring in that he was as bad as I’d described.

Got some late lunch, waiting for what I really wanted to see, which was Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars back at the DBS.  They play a New Orleans standards/funk/space mix with Sally on lead acoustic and vocals, a keyboardist, stand-up bass, and an incredibly talented horn section.  Enjoyed their eclectic set very much (I love Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab), though unusually they were a bit tamer live than in the videos I’d seen.

The next few acts were “maybes” on my spreadsheet, and so I went back to the car and got a nice nap in.  The day had started off perhaps more chilly than expected because of the strong wind, but the weather was just perfect at this point.  But at the same time, the Fairgrounds had become kind of oppressive!  The Saturday crowd had filled in with a vengeance, and the entire area was packed with people, there seemed to be barely a square inch left where late arrivers could set up their chairs or pitch their tents.  Every vendor featured a long line, and it was impossible to stroll around, you had to concentrate on where you were going or you wouldn’t get anywhere.

Anyway, made it back to the MS for Kurt Vile and the Violators, who were another very entertaining rock band with a guitar, bass, keyboard (who also had a trumpet), and drums backing up Kurt on lead guitar.  He’s an extraordinary player, and his techie brought out a new guitar for every song, it seemed.  They do some pretty simple rock and then Kurt takes over and plays very unexpected and complex leads.

Pushed back through the throngs to the BPS to see Folk Bitch Trio after that.  I was looking forward to seeing them, but you could barely get anywhere near the stage because of the elbow-to-elbow people.  Caught a few songs anyway.  They’re a trio of Australian women (as their name hints at), but for once the sound was just not done right.  They do very reverb-heavy, moody songs and their sound was turned up so loud it was almost distorting, adding to the feeling of antsiness the crowd was bringing.

But … the most anticipated act of the weekend was up next at the MS, The Beths from New Zealand.  They wowed the packed Fairgrounds with their kaleidoscope of indie pop rock sound and excellent songs, all written by their “front-man,” Liz Stokes.  They opened with Straight Line Was a Lie and did their great No Joy (with recorder break).  This was my first time seeing them, and I was so impressed.  Besides a great guitar sound (Liz plays rhythm acoustic/electric, Jonathan Pearce is on lead electric, Ben Sinclair is on bass (and writes a fun blog), and Tristan Deck is on drums), their vocal mix is extraordinary.  Liz is an alto, and the guys back her up with psychedelic, overlapping high harmonies.  Every second of their set was a delight, and their recorder launches showed a lot of practice.

The crowd was finally starting to thin out a bit, and I was able to find an ok place to stand over at the BPS for Ratboys, another guitar/bass/drums rock band.  They’re led by Julia Steiner on vocals and rhythm (she played a string of flying-v electric guitars), and were definitely good, would have liked to see more but …

I had to grab some dinner and then get back to our seats at the MS where the night’s headliner, Spoon, was about to start.  Believe it or not, they’re another rock band that featured basically the same instrumentation as I’d been seeing all day, but this time they had three guitars on stage and were playing some good, crunchy songs.  But wait … one guitarist switched to keys and then another one did, and gradually they changed to an atmospheric, prog-rock sound and went downhill.

Oh well, that was enough and it was time to fold up our chairs and get out of there to beat the traffic.  Back to the Rose and we gathered down at the picnic area, Aldo delivered us a pile of firewood, and we talked and talked.  I took off around midnight, but the party was still going strong and I think some of our group must have been there for another couple of hours.

GRF 2026, Friday

 Time for the Green River Festival again!  It was another fun weekend and the Festival is now seemingly very settled into its new digs at the Franklin County Fairgrounds.  They’ve adjusted the placement of the stages, vendors, and activity/cool-down tents and have gotten everything pretty much exactly right, minimizing the sound bleed from one stage to another and maximizing crowd flow and comfort.  Here’s an article from the local paper.

One thing we didn’t like but that is understandable is that they keep moving back the line where you can set up chairs in front of the Main Stage, for the sake of expanding the standing room area.  The line is now well behind the sound tent, but we were still able to see ok, and the standing room area still wasn’t big enough for the crowds wanting to see the major acts.

But speaking of acts, the quality of the lineup continues to go down IMO.  They had a couple of great bands this year and several very good ones, but it’s still nothing like the past, when the lineup featured many acts I was excited to see.  And they actually had *no* bluegrass bands this year and only a few alternative acts, most bands played some flavor of rock.

Dave drove up on that Friday, the 19th, and we threw everything in the car and headed West on a beautiful late Spring day.  Made it to Greenfield and had lunch in an over-air-conditioned People’s Pint, and then cruised out to Shelburne and checked into our room at the Red Rose.  Unpacked and got geared up for the Festival, and then back to the Fairgrounds, where we got a parking space in the middle of the field, but still close to the entrance.

Though I complain about the quality, they did have a large number of acts this year and actually started at 1:00 on Friday, but we showed up at our normal time (about 2:00) and missed the first few.

After setting up, I hurried right over to the Back Porch Stage (BPS) and caught some of Luke Tyler Shelton’s set.  He played some good folk/rock tunes with just a drummer and a bassist.  One thing the GRF has always done well is sound, and I was surprised to see only a couple of dinky speakers up on stage, though the band had sounded great.  After the set I talked to the sound guy and he pointed out that they also had large stacks of speakers behind the curtains flanking the stage.  He told me there would be no problems with sound at that stage, and for some later acts they even had it cranked up too loud!

A live radio show had taken over the Main Stage (MS), but what I really wanted to see was Southern Avenue over at the Dean’s Beans Stage (DBS) next.  Got up pretty close for them.  They’re a blues rock, family band consisting of three sisters who got their start singing in church, a husband on guitar, and a brother-in-law on bass.  Two of the sisters were up front singing, while the third played drums.  Their energy was very high, their mix was great, and their songs were infectious … a great opening act.

Over to the MS for some Southern rock from Kashus Culpepper after that.  Though his bass player dominated the sound too much, Kashus has an excellent voice and a mellow guitar, and was very enjoyable.  I moved up front for a few songs and then was about to peel off when they started on the intro to Whipping Post.  They kind of flubbed this classic, but at least they tried!

But what I really wanted to see was Sunny War back over on the BPS.  Got there in time to stand up front and was joined by Dave.  I had seen some videos of her and was amazed, and live she was just incredible.  She plays a punk folk blues on her acoustic and was accompanied by a drummer.  She picked with her thumb and occasionally forefinger, and her left hand was mesmerizing, moving all over the fretboard like an octopus.  Part of her talent was that she could quickly pick and then damp each string with her right forefinger or her left thumb, coming over the neck.  And her voice was remarkable too, she sang with such dedication that her face distorted, forming each note perfectly.  Besides her technical talent, her tone and volume were just so impressive.  She gets an A+.

That was a gem, then back over to the MS for one of the big acts, The War and Treaty.  They’re a husband and wife who croon R&B/soul tunes to each other, backed up with a great band that included a small horn section.  Very good range of sound from some ballads to some stompers.

Caught a few tunes from Swamp Dogg over on the BPS on the way out to the car for a break.  The crowd had really filled in by then and the BPS area was packed tightly.  He had a good band, but I didn’t find him that focused.

So I walked over to the DBS for Lila Iké, who plays textbook reggae, and I was very impressed by this band.  She has a wonderful voice that she controlled well.  She had a strong guitarist, bassist, and drummer whipping up the reggae sound, and a keys player with a whole array of keyboards/switches who was filling in the background with a pleasing variety of riffs in a wide range of tones.

OK, it was starting to get dark, but we were still in the gloaming when Charley Crockett came on at the MS with a full, big league, Nashville presentation, including his name up in flashing lights and big hats.  The Friday crowd was maxed out for this, and the standing room area was full.  Charley played his hits, including $10 Cowboy, and the crowd ate it up.  I did too, nothing to complain about here, they had their act together and their sound was mixed very well.  He was accompanied by an acoustic lead guitar, bassist, drummer, and dobro/keyboard player who also picked up a trumpet, sometimes playing the keys with his left hand while he played the trumpet with his right, very well done!

We screwed out of there to beat traffic before his set was over.  Back at the Red Rose the usual suspects assembled around the fire pit.  There was a group already there who were in the area for an annual Tai Chi event, but they were about to go to bed as we started arriving.  What fun to see friends who were just kids when we started going to GRF 17 years ago, and are now grown up.

Grahame Lesh and Friends, 2026 part 3

Not the best hotel sleep, but still above average, and we gathered in a nook of the chaotic breakfast room.  They had pretty good food, but must have hired a consultant to make it as impossible to navigate as can be humanly done.  The plates are here, the eggs are there, the silverware is hidden, the coffee urn is perched up dangerously high, and they have granola, but just a few teaspoons.  And don't get me started about the tea.

Anyway, we played a game and then our outside excursion was just a walk around the neighborhood, checking out the abandoned-in-the-seventies Histogenetics building, and the local residential blocks, which really are just blocks, though colored "gaily."  I would not want to live in this place, where the rents are astronomical, you're surrounded by highways, the apartment buildings are plug-ugly, there's a massive Wegman's down the street with constant traffic, and the only recreation is gyms filled with sweaty people.  They advertised Vitamin C showers and Contrast Therapy.

Anyway, I say again ... time for a mellow lunch of the last sandwiches, a nap, and then another game in the room.  Finally got to be time to go ... show was at 7:00 as opposed to 8:00 that Sunday night, the 15th (Phil's birthday).  And we saddled up and headed down to Kiosko for yet another excellent meal.  Hopefully not our last one there, but who knows?  Current favorite dish there is the Veracruzana Sea Bass.

Up to the balcony and this time we had the best seats of the weekend, slightly to the left of center and just a few rows up.  Thankfully, I don't think Sunday was sold out and we had room on each side.  But jeez, this was the lineup to die for!  On keyboards it was Bowling again, but this time paired with Steve Molitz.  In the guitar slot (and also playing fiddle) was the world-class Larry Campbell, with his wife Teresa Williams joining him on vocals.  Amy was still there, and this night it was Tony Leone and the incredible Cody Dickinson on drums.  Grahame led the band on rhythm guitar of course, and to his left was Dave Schools, who alternated on some songs with Sam Grisman on electric bass.  Kanika Moore was also back, and to her left was the phenomenal Stanley Jordan.

We couldn't figure out Jordan's setup at first, but when he came out and sat down with his guitars it became clear.  He's the master of the "tap" style on electric guitar.  So he had one guitar on a stand that he could tap or strum with his right hand, and one on a strap around his neck that he could tap with his left hand, and sometimes soloed on with both hands.  God, that guy is incredibly talented and he could have filled the whole theater with the sound of just his guitar(s).  Many times that evening it sure looked to the casual viewer as if he had four (or more hands), like a Hindu god.

And Bowling was back, this evening a little more subdued but still pairing incredibly well with Molitz.  She's such a great solo performer, but is also incredibly dynamic when adding to a band.  Again, this was an embarrassment of riches, and maybe there were too many great musicians on stage.  Dickinson for one never seemed to mesh with the ensemble, Jordan was on another planet, and sometimes seemed not to be aware that there was a full band just to his right.  And Larry's sick Telecaster (he actually had two of them) is such a dominant sound that when he winds that baby up, everyone else has to take a back seat.  But though you could criticize, this was amazingly excellent stuff.  Sunday was the night of the weekend.

Here's the first set:

• China Cat Sunflower>
• I Know You Rider 
• Ship of Fools 
• Till The Morning Comes 
• Deep Elem Blues
• Tennessee Jed
• Friend of the Devil 
• How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

We'd discussed what they had left to play, and I'd called China Rider, which was excellent and got us off to a running start.  I can't describe how awesome it was to have Larry F. Campbell on one side of the stage (with Holly F. Bowling right behind him), Lesh playing the song like he'd been hearing it since he was two months old in the middle of the stage, and Stanley F. Jordan to the right, nodding his head and tapping his dual guitar setup like a bizarre science fiction movie.

Kanika led the group in an excellent Ship Of Fools, and then Larry and Teresa stepped up for Till the Morning Comes.  Cody sang lead on a rambunctious, filthy Deep Ellum, and then Larry did the "Levon" arrangement of Tennessee Jed, as Dave had called.  Sam Grisman then came out and sang FOTD, not best but his bass playing sure was.  Who knew he could play an electric as well as he plays the dawghouse bass?  And then it was Teresa's turn to lead the band in How Sweet It Is, accompanied by her husband on that stinging Telecaster.

What a band!  This was just fantastic, and though it was our third day on Lesh Island we were jumping around like everyone else in the crowd.  Time to sit for a bit, hydrate, and time the squirrel again, and then the guys came back out for the final set.  And quite a set it was:

• Dark Star
• Over the Rainbow
• Here Comes Sunshine
• Pride of Cucamonga
• Bird Song
• The Other One
• Stella Blue
• Cassidy
• Not Fade Away

Dark Star was a little disjointed vocally, but this seemed to be the effect they were going for.  No one seemed to know who was going to sing what part until it came around, and this worked fine.  This was a long one, and eventually the song wound down and what emerged from the dark interstellar night was Stanley's trademark take on Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  This was beautiful, what a song that is.

And this was just the beginning of another long set.  We've heard some excellent covers of Here Comes Sunshine at the Cap, and this was another one, with five people singing the choruses.  At one point, Kanika was hopping around exuberantly, and Stanley was so moved he sidled over and started hopping in time with her.  We've seen him do some acrobatics on that stage.

I'd hoped for Pride of Cucamonga and here it was, such a great country song.  But perhaps the song of the set was next, a surreal Bird Song coming out of a long jam, sung by Kanika in an operatic style, and again the choir on backup.  Then they got down, jammed some more, got even further down, and then Dave Schools let loose with the excellent bass run beginning to TOO and we were off on that psychedelic bus, riding to never ever land, which is somewhere over the rainbow.

This was such an incredible set.  Next up was Amy singing a crystalline, heartbreaking Stella Blue, another highlight of the weekend.  And then time for a rocker, and the seabirds flew on a neat, perfectly timed Cassidy.  What was left for the band, but to start us clapping along to the Buddy Holly beat and end the set in traditional fashion with Not Fade Away.

Time to sit for a bit, and then hop back up when Grahame came out for yet another donor rap, and to acknowledge his Dad's 86th birthday.  The band straggled back out too, still a little pumped up from such an inspiring set.  We figured they had to play Box Of Rain, and we really wanted to hear the foursome of Larry, Teresa, Amy, and Grahame sing Attics.  So they did both for an encore, just exactly perfect!  They even got Sam back out there for Box Of Rain, so they had twelve people on stage for the final encore, and the final bow.

Wow, this was quite a capper to an excellent weekend of music.  Got out of there for one last time, onto Westchester Avenue, up to the car, and back to Harrison.  As much as we were looking forward to returning to Massachusetts and seeing our kitties, this had been a lot of fun and we were sad it was over.  Oh well, maybe it'll be even better next year!

Grahame Lesh and Friends, 2026 part 2

Got a good night's sleep in, and we all made it through the chaotic breakfast room unscathed.  There were a lot of Deadheads infiltrating the place.

Spent a mellow morning and then went out for an excursion to the  Edith G. Read Natural Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, next to Playland Park in Rye.  It was very windy on the LI Sound coast, but the visibility was great and it was not too chilly.  Parked in the Playland lot and walked into the Sanctuary, where we followed their trails counter-clockwise, onto the shore (where we could see as far as the Throgs Neck Bridge to the West, up to their spooky bamboo grove, past their apiary, and around through March mud and bare trees, past the tidal lagoon separating it from the shore, and back to Playland.

The morning was warming up a little, so we took a left into Playland, around their promenade, and out onto the nearby city pier.  It was a nice walk and the deserted Park was entertaining, probably would not be at all though, when crowded with screaming kids.  Back to the car and we debated going somewhere for lunch, but ended up going back to the hotel and eating sandwiches I'd brought along in our suite.  A game of Parks in the hotel's lounge, while a gaggle of 40-something Deadheads had a pizza party.  A nap somewhere in there, and soon it was time to head back to Port Chester for Saturday's concert.

Had another great meal at Kiosko and, as they'd done the year before, they surprised us with complimentary desserts.  It's such a great place!  Though my answer to most places that ask, "Would you recommend us...?" is a straight no, I'd recommend Kiosko to anyone.  Up to the balcony after that and this time we were pretty far up and on the right side, not too far right though.  And on Saturday night not only was it sold out again, this time everybody showed up.  Though the chomping was not too bad, the guys in front of us, and many people around us, were more interested in having a good time than in paying attention to the concert.  Oh well, we've experienced much worse.

On Saturday the 14th, the left to right lineup was: Holly Bowling and Crosby on keys (Jason alternated on fiddle), Rick Mitarotonda on guitar, Nathan Graham on drums, Helm and Rose on vocals, Lesh on guitar, John Molo on drums, Kanika Moore on vocals, Burbridge on electric bass, and for several songs, John Kadlecik on guitar.  Here's the setlist:

• Jam >
• Shakedown Street 
• New Speedway Boogie 
• Row Jimmy
• Jack Straw 
• They Love Each Other 
• Tangled Up In Blue
• Mountain Song
• Brokedown Palace 

More fantastic stuff, they started with a Jam (and debatably stopped) before going into a mega-funky Shakedown, sung by the very talented Kanika Moore.  Another vocal highlight was Row Jimmy, sung by Rose.  The girls were again shining, though the male vocals were below average.  Crosby actually took the "Shannon" part on Jack Straw, but did not add to the song.  Just the opposite for TLEO, which the girls sang the shit out of.  JK came on for Tangled Up In Blue and we were really glad to see him back on stage.  He did a decent job singing that long and tangled song, and was as good as ever on psychedelic guitar.

But the high point of the set was Mountain Song.  Grahame mentioned that he might be playing songs written by his brother, Brian.  This song has a long pedigree, but the version they sang was the one Brian contributed to, performed by Furthur without the definite article.  AND, the sound of the first set (not to mention the second) was Holly F. Bowling on piano and organ, as augmented excellently by Crosby.  Those two seemed to be having as much fun playing keyboards with each other as we did listening to them.  Bowling is just jaw-droppingly good.

OMG, halfway through the weekend already!  That had been a fantastic first set, and we hunkered down to wait (and time the squirrel) while the crazy, packed crowd seemed to cramp our space more and more.  Oh well, I say again.  The crowd was late-arriving and the concert had started a bit late, and then that was a really long first set.  The break was not bad, and the guys came out and did:

• Jam >
• Unbroken Chain
• Estimated Prophet >
• Eyes Of The World 
• Terrapin Station
• Scarlet Begonias > 
• Fire On The Mountain 
• Days Between

They *had* to play Unbroken Chain at some point, and they did a fine version of it.  Dave and I have commented that Grahame and Rick have very similar guitar sounds and play some great stuff together, and on this they really jammed out there, finally bringing it back to the end of the song, on which the female vocalists again shone.

Eyes was sung by Amy (who was really dressed up, with a fluffy hair-do and heels, which she took off at some points) and this was definitely a highlight of the set.  Another highlight was Scarlet Fire, with the latter sung by Kanika Moore.  We think that Lavon Helm came out and banged on Molo's set for a while, but may be wrong.  This was another long, long set with a lot of jamming.  And the keyboard playing was simply surreal, with long stretches of Holly just eating everybody's lunch, egged on by Jason, grinning like a banshee.  She started Eyes on organ and you knew she was going to move to piano during it, but Jason wasn't about to give it up until she pushed him out of the way.

The band finally calmed down to do a closing ballad, and Oteil stepped up and sang a heartfelt tenor on Days Between.  It's such a delight to see him hopping around in his bare feet and to feel that bass beat.  He's always one of the most talented people on whatever stage he's on.

Jeez, how late was it?  We were already almost past midnight and the show was not yet over.  Thankfully, Grahame leapt back out for his donor rap after not too long, though the band was apparently too tired to leap behind him.  They gradually came back though, and settled down for a long encore: One More Saturday Night of course, on which Maggie Rose did an excellent duet with Rick, and then The Weight for a closing sing-along.

Whew, that was quite a night!  We drank our water and weren't out of there yet, but we finally made it down to the lobby, out to the street, back up the hill to the Kiosko lot, and then drove the few miles back up to Harrison.  Had to decompress some, though we were exhausted, and finally made it to bed by 1:30 or so.

Grahame Lesh and Friends, 2026 part 1

Grahame Lesh announced another set of "Unbroken Chain" concerts this year in the classic Capitol Theatre venue in Port Chester, and then elsewhere in the country, centering on California.  How lucky we are that this tradition continues in the Northeast.  We've been doing a more or less annual pilgrimage to Port Chester for years and it's gotta stop sometime, but not this year.  We got tickets (to nights 2-4 of the four dates he announced) as soon as they went on sale, booked a suite at the hotel in Harrison where we'd stayed last year, and waited through a long, cold Winter.

Finally beginning to hint at Spring and we hit the road, picking up Dave at his place, and then heading down the Pike, 84, 91, and the parkways over the line into New York ... a less painful trip than some other times for sure.  Grahame had announced an extensive array of musicians, and they'd added a few "special guests" also.  We were really looking forward to seeing Bill Payne particularly on that Friday the 13th, as we'd never seen him before.

Trying to keep this short.  We hung out in our ground floor suite and played a game of cribbage, then headed down Westchester Ave to Kiosko, where we had another great Mexican meal and a few drinks.  We've done this before.  Over to the theatre for the 8:00 show, checked out the merch table but nothing caught our eyes this time, and up to our left balcony seats to time the squirrel.

This was a sellout, but some seats around us were not occupied and we had room to spread out a little and dance.  And the sight lines and sound at the Capitol are just amazingly good.  It's a great rock theater and if we lived nearby we're go there more often.  The band came out about 15 minutes after the hour and lined up across the whole stage like this:  Bill Payne on organ and pianos, Jason Crosby on organ, pianos, and violin, Daniel Donato on guitar, Tony Leone on drums, Amy Helm on vocals, Maggie Rose on vocals, Grahame Lesh on guitar, Adam Minkoff on drums, Oteil Burbridge on electric bass, Laura Cwass on guitar, and Mikaela Davis on harp.  Phew, what a band!  Cwass was only out for the second set, Amy played mandolin on Atlantic City, and she and Maggie were not out for all songs.  Here's the setlist:

• Jam >
• Cosmic Charlie 
• Sugaree
• Brown-Eyed Women
• High Time 
• Passenger
• Atlantic City
• Samson & Delilah
• Born Cross Eyed 

The "and Friends" bands assembled by Phil and these days by Grahame can be a mixed blessing.  Fantastic talent on stage but sometimes not enough space to let everyone excel, sometimes a lack of practice, and sometimes less than excellent parts.  On these nights I was never that impressed by the male vocalists (with the exception of Oteil), though the female ones turned in some great stuff, particularly Helm and later Kanika Moore.  But the instrumental arrangements were uniformly great, there were some fantastic individual performances, and the set lists were far from repetitious.

Highlights of this set were opening (after the Jam) with one of my favorite songs, Maggie Rose's vocal on Sugaree, Oteil's on High Time, and Amy's on Atlantic City, the electricity of Passenger, great combo drumming on Samson, and the totally unexpected excitement of the closing Born Cross-Eyed.

Whew, again just the first set was worth all the planning and the treacherous drive down there.  Hit up the funky men's room and it was not a long break before the band came back on.  Here's the second set:

• Jam >
• Uncle John's Band > 
• Playing In The Band >
• Morning Dew
• It Must Have Been The Roses 
• Saint Stephen >
• William Tell Bridge >
• The Eleven >
• Casey Jones

More incredible quality from such a large band!  Morning Dew was of course a highlight, with Grahame singing the "male" part and Amy and Maggie Rose duetting on the "female" part.  Great chemistry between those two, and they followed it up with more ensemble vocals, including Mikaela Davis, on It Must Have Been the Roses.  After that tune, Grahame called over stage manager Brian Rashap for a panicked request, after which they started into a majestic St. Stephen ... and then Rashap came running back out with a piece of paper which he put on Grahame's music stand.  We realized it was an emergency printout of the complicated lyrics to The Eleven, on which Davis did an excellent backing vocal.

Great playing by Payne and Donato (and maybe Davis, but she was not miked well), great fiddle from Crosby on UJB, crackling lead on Casey Jones from Donato, but perhaps the most amazing parts of the set were the totally unexpected electric guitar leads from Cwass ... got to hear more from her.

Again, wow!  We had paced ourselves well and sat down for some water during the short break, and then Grahame came out for a nice donor rap and band introductions, after which they encored with a fine Truckin', which delightfully broke down into an extended Feedback exercise.

Great first night for us and not a long journey back to the car and up the Avenue to the Hyatt House in Harrison.  That had been a long two sets and we had to decompress some before bed, but lights off by 1:00 or so.

Eilen Jewel Returns to Shirley

 ... for a last time?  Eilen suddenly has been around for a long time, we first saw her in 2008.  And this has been long enough for there to be several phases of her career, pre- and post-motherhood and divorce.  She made her fame and wrote most of her iconic songs while living in Massachusetts, but then moved back to her native Idaho and now tours rarely.  But she announced another tour, and that she'd be at the Bull Run on March 12th, and since then has hinted that it may be her last tour ever.

We were too late to get seats at the front table, but got the center one in the second row.  Sightlines in the Bull Run can be terrible, but this was pretty good, and just about perfect for the sound.  Eilen came on with her longtime guitarist Jerry Miller (who played seated for the whole concert), her ex-husband and manager Jason Beek on drums, and Matt Murphy on bass.  She started off with a couple of her newer songs, but then covered the whole span of her career in one long set, including some classic covers, and didn't seem to get tired at all.

Here are some songs I remember her playing, though this is by no means complete or in the right order!

• Mess Around
• Winnemucca
• Rich Man's World
• I Remember You
• Rain Roll In
• Dusty Box Car Wall (Eric Andersen)
• One of Those Days
• Mess Around
• The Pill (Loretta Lynn)
• Where They Never Say Your Name
• Heartache Boulevard
• Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) (Woody Guthrie)
• Sea of Tears
• Green River (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
• Bang Bang Bang
• If You Catch Me Stealing (Bessie Smith)

The band walked off stage but not very far, and it didn't take much coaxing to get them back, where they surprised me by encoring with another great cover, The Doors' Soul Kitchen.  Out of there quickly after that and an uneventful drive home.  This was our 12th time (and last??) seeing Eilen play, and our 44th(!) concert at Bull Run.  Off to Port Chester tomorrow.

Tim O'Brien With Grisman and Furtado

We hadn't seen the great Tim O'Brien for many years.  In fact, the last time we saw him he was playing guitar for Sturgill Simpson!  But he was booked at the Bull Run for a January 15th show, with Sam Grisman and Victor Furtado backing him up (billed as "Tim O'Brien & Sam Grisman with Victor Furtado").  We delayed getting tickets for long enough to not get one of the best tables, but we got a pretty good one shortly, the table to the left of the stage where we'd sat when we saw Asleep At the Wheel in 2014, and also Steve Kimock in 2016.

Got tickets for Dave too.  He'd never seen Tim before and was psyched to see Grisman after we'd gushed about the show we saw him at in Beverley.  He was over for the day and we headed out to Shirley at the tail end of rush hour.  And when we got there a little over an hour before the show was supposed to start, the place was already packed with as noisy a crowd as we'd ever heard there!  One thing we love about the Bull Run is that the fans are generally knowledgeable and have driven a long way to see and hear the band.  The performers had put out the message that this would be an acoustic show that would reward listening, and we were all ready for that, though loud conversations preceded it.

The overworked wait staff finally took our drink and food orders and the few empty seats were soon filled.  The guys came out with Furtado to our side of the stage with his banjo, Grisman center stage with his bass towering over him, and Tim a bit to the other side of the stage.  The guys all had mikes for their instruments, one central mike for ensemble sound, and a vocal mike for Tim.  And though they have an incredible array of speakers in the Sawtelle Room (Tim mentioned how pleased he was to play a room named after his old friend, Charles), they kept it quiet so we could hear the sound on stage.  This took a few tunes to straighten out, but was soon fantastic.

Tim sang lead on all except one song, I believe, and Sam chimed in with some very spare and lovely harmonies.  They opened with a couple of mid-career Tim songs (Let's Go a-Hunting and Turn the Page), then did a couple of John Hartford tunes, and then played some from all over.  Furtado was pretty good on banjo, sticking mainly to the background but stepping up for a few leads.  Grisman was as great on bass as we remembered, trying not to upstage his hero, Tim, but leaning toward the common mike for the harmonies and waltzing with his bass partner.

And Tim was as amazing as ever, starting on mandolin and then switching to guitar and then fiddle.  He did his great version of Jack Of Diamonds/Drunkard's Hiccups on fiddle and tore the house down.  We were all silent during the songs but the crowd roared at the end of each.  They did a few Dylan songs (Sam gushed about how Tim's Red On Blonde meant so much to him), and Tim almost made it all the way through a *fast* cover of Subterranean Homesick Blues before stumbling on the words ... there's lots of 'em.

Most of us were probably aware that Bobby Weir had just passed away, and they did a couple of songs that the Dead had covered, such as I've Been All Around This World.  But their real tribute to Bobby was a cover of the song Tim had won a talent contest with, singing with his sister in their teens, Morning Dew.  Grisman had a great bass line on this, but the thing is that Tim O'Brien is one of the best musicians I've ever heard.  The quality of his voice sneaks up on you (Dave said, "Now *that* is a bluegrass musician"), and his mandolin playing is awesome, fast, inventive, and perfect.  But his fiddle playing is absolutely some of the best I've ever heard, amazing tone and subtlety.

They did two sets of pretty good length, and closed the second with Working On a Building.  The trio all bowed to the very enthusiastic crowd, then did a short encore. They were heading up to Portsmouth the next day and then Waldoboro Maine, though Tim had to be told what state it's in.  All done by 10:00 and then not a bad drive home.