LIVE OAK - THE MUSIC - SUNDAY

And so we come to the last day of the Live Oak Festival and of course we started the day by sleeping in and missing the first few acts of the day. In the early morning on the Hot Licks Stage we missed Andrew Jackson and Duende. Andrew is a guitarist we have heard a couple of times before but only solo not with the band. He is a technically brilliant fingerstyle acoustic guitarist whose style defies classification because he draws on so many varied influences, thus he calls himself "The Guitar Chameleon". We were very sorry to miss his performance and would like to throttle whoever booked him for 8 AM. Here's a link to Andrew's website :

http://www.andrewjacksonmusic.com/

The next act we missed is another regretful occurrence. The Cache Valley Drifters have been playing bluegrass music around Central Calif. for decades and are among the areas most respected players. Please check out their sight and music:

http://www.myspace.com/cachevalleydrifters

The last act we missed was more by choice. We caught the group "Po' Girl" on the radio. They are a group centered around the singing/songwriting team Allison Russell and Awna Teixeira. What can I say? I didn't really care for this group. Both singers have quirky, affected singing styles, either of which alone would be OK, but together were a bit much. Add this to songs that left me underwhelmed and you get the picture. But you very well might love them so take the time to check out their site. I hate dissing any musicians :

http://www.pogirl.net/

Now, on to the music we loved. A real highlight of the festival came next. We had heard the Masanga Marimba Ensemble at last year's WorldFest and loved them and were thrilled to get another chance to see them, both on the Main Stage in the morning and later in a hands-on workshop at the Stage Too in the afternoon. The group consists of Ric Alviso, a World Music professor at CSU Northridge along with a bunch of his students and former students playing seven different marimbas of various sizes and voices along with percussion and some occasional sax or trumpet work. They were joined on the MainStage for a few songs by a group of dancers that made the whole act even more fun. The lower left picture above shows the band with the dancers. And fun is what this group is about, not only for the audience, but I don't think I've ever seen any band members having more obvious fun on stage! Their music is a mixture of African and Latin American styles and is at all times up-tempo and dance-inducing. At the afternoon workshop they had most of the audience rotate onto the stage and try out the marimbas for a few minutes. Entertaining, educational and cross-cultural, their shows, I'm sure, were many people's favorite memory of the festival. Check them out here :

http://www.masanga.com/home.html

Next on the Main Stage was The Jim Lauderdale Bluegrass Band. Jim is a well known singer/songwriter in the country/bluegrass/Americana genre. His songs have been recorded by many country artists like George Strait and the Dixie Chicks. He and his band played an engaging set of his songs which were quite enjoyable even though not my real thing. Millions out there love him so check out his site :

http://www.myspace.com/jimlauderdale

Our next move was to the Stage Too workshop where we saw the group "Girlyman", who we also saw later on the Main Stage. I will handle both performances at once to be concise and because it all has merged in my memory anyway. One of those groups that absolutely defy description, I have to rank Girlyman as one my surprises of the festival. The group consists of
Ty Greenstein, Doris Muramatsu and Nate Borofsky playing a range of instruments including acoustic guitar, electric baritone guitar, banjo, mandolin and djembe, with all three switching off on lead vocals and all doing harmony vocals. Like lots of the acts here, their music is hard to categorize but probably ultimately they are best described as a contemporary folk act. This is a group whose sum is more than the total of its parts. Their songs are pleasant if not terribly memorable and the musicianship is professional if not exactly compelling but their harmony vocals stand out as their strongest attribute and I found myself really liking them and yet still wondering why. I was particularly intrigued by Nate's baritone electric guitar playing. I have NEVER seen a baritone electric before and was knocked out by its ability to move between bass lines, chords and melody fills often sounding totally different in the course of a few bars of music. This instrument helped lend a fullness to the music while keeping a varied, interesting sound. I left their shows that weekend being glad I would soon see them again at the Kate Wolf Festival. The upper left photoo is Girlyman at the Stage Too workshop stage. Check out their site:

http://www.girlyman.com/

The act that next took the Main Stage suffers from the distinction of being my least favorite act of the weekend. The Anonymous 4 featuring Darol Anger and Scott Law center around a quartet of female vocalists doing Appalachian folk music at its most traditional. All have lovely voices and accompanists Darol Anger on fiddle and Scott Law on guitar are masters of their instruments but again this music is not my favorite stuff by a long shot and for the first time all weekend I was a bit bored. But you may love this stuff so here you go:.

http://www.myspace.com/theanonymous4

Well, all good things must end and this festival saved one of its greatest acts for last in Rodney Crowell. This was an act I was eager to see , I have long been a fan of Rodney as a songwriter and as legendary leader of Emmy Lou Harris' Hot Band many years ago. I've heard great stuff about his live shows with his own band and wasn't disappointed at all. Rodney's songs walk that line between folk and country and rock and have earned him Grammys and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Accompanied by a second guitarist and stand up bass, Rodney did a set of his classics along with a couple new ones. And being Father's Day, it was particularly moving when he called his daughter, Chelsea, up to sing a couple of tunes with him. I gather it was one of few times they've performed on stage together. Highlights for me included his classic "Long Hard Road" and a new one "The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design". This was a remarkable end to a VERY fun weekend of music. Photo upper right is Rodney and band. Here's a link for Rodney:

http://www.rodneycrowell.com/index.php

So with the traditional Live Oak closing of Joe Dickerson doing "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes, the weekend was over except for clean up and packing the next morning. But we kept from being too sad, knowing that we had a few days vacation to enjoy and then the next weekend we would be at the Kate Wolf Festival for another three days of music. That festival will be the subject of my next review which will be up soon!

LIVE OAK - THE MUSIC - SATURDAY

Hi campers, sorry there was such a lag in this review, but I refuse to make this blog "homework" and make it a chore. And I've been out having fun and getting distracted, but I'm back at it! And as always, most of the photos courtesy of my lovely wife Becky, with an occasional assist by me.

So our plan on Saturday morning was to get up early and attend a Joe Craven-led jamming workshop at the Stage Too secondary stage at 8:00 AM. It was really hard to get up and motivate. We showed up about a half hour late and watched for awhile but the participants had already broken into groups and we didn't want to be disruptive so we went back to camp and had breakfast. Sorry Joe, we were looking forward to it but will DEFINITELY be at your drum workshop at WorldFest. Here's a link to Joe's site again :

http://www.joecraven.com/Joe_Craven/WELCOME.html

This shift in gears caused us to miss the other early morning music, a pattern we would repeat quite a bit this summer. We just CAN'T do it all! These two bands played the Hot Licks Stage at 8 AM and 9 AM respectively. So I can tell you nothing about the Redskunk Jipzee Swing Band but here's a link:

http://www.redskunkband.com/Home_.html

And The Basically Bluegrass Boys was a band made up of hosts and former hosts of the host station KCBX's bluegrass radio show, they have no band site but here's a link for the station :

http://kcbx.org/

Our musical morning really began at 10:00 AM with "Dawn Lambeth with the Reynolds Brothers Rhythm Rascals" at the Main Stage. Yes that mouthful is their name, though I gather it is a merger of two acts that don't always play together. Dawn Lambeth is a pianist/vocalist and here she was joined by the Rascals featuring Ralf and John Reynolds on washboard and guitars respectively. They did jazz standards from the late 20's and early 30's in a professional but somewhat-over-the-top manner. Dawn's singing was strong if a bit unremarkable and the others' musicianship was at all times great but the whole was undercut by Ralf and John's campy and ultimately annoying stage persona's and attempts at whimsy. While I'm all for not taking oneself TOO seriously, not taking oneself seriously at all is dangerous if you EVER want the audience to take you seriously. I freely admit their style was just not my thing and though their talent was very obvious I was a bit underwhelmed but you may feel differently. Their picture is second from bottom.
Here's a link for Dawn Lambeth:

http://www.usoniajazz.com/

and one for the Reynold Brothers Rhythm Rascals:

http://www.reynoldsbrothers.net/

Next up on the Main Stage was an act I had been most looking forward to, Mamadou Diabate, a kora player from Mali. We have in recent years become big fans of kora music both in a traditional or more modern musical settings. In particular we are fans of Toumani Diabate, Mamadou's cousin and former teacher and renown kora master. The kora is a traditional African 21 string harp that uses a large gourd as a resonator. The bottom picture above is Mamadou and his kora. Mamadou Diabate is a member of the traditional Malian musical caste of griots, or jelis as the Manding tribe refers to them, with a musical history dating back to the 13 th century. The sound of the kora can be quite hypnotic and captivating and Mamadou's music travels between traditional and more modern melodies with equally mesmerizing results. We later got hear him again at Stage Too in an afternoon "workshop" that was really an up-close mini-concert. In the ultimate show of appreciation we bought a copy of his latest CD. Here is a link for Mamadou Diabate:

http://www.mamadoukora.com/index.html

Next up on the Main Stage was Amanda Shaw and the Cute Guys a Cajun act from New Orleans. This New Orleans connection would continue into evening. Unfortunately we chose this time to make lunch back at the campsite and we missed their whole set though we listened to all of it on the radio and really enjoyed it and wished we were there to see it. They played some rocking Cajun music with Amanda singing and playing fiddle and leading her own band at age 18. Later that night they played at the late night Hot Licks Stage dance and again we missed them. But they are really worth checking out. Unfortunately their website seems to have vanished but maybe it will reappear?:

http://www.amandashaw.com/

So after lunch we went to Stage Too and heard workshop shows by Mamadou Diabate (already discussed) and a group called Los Pinguos, who later on would open up the Main Stage evening concert with a slightly larger lineup. I'll tackle both performances together here now. Los Pinguos are a group we have heard several times over the years. The core of the group all hail from Buenos Aires, Argentina and have been playing together in the LA area for the past eight years. They describe Buenos Aires as a melting pot and their music reflects this with varied Latin and Caribbean influences performed mainly acoustically but supplemented with full drums and horns on the Main Stage. At the workshop stage their percussion came mainly from a cajon, a box-shaped wooden Latin drum. The second from the top photo above is Los Pinguos at the workshop stage in this configuration. We first heard them performing as street musicians at the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica years back and they won the Ed McMahon hosted StarSearch clone called "The Next Big Star". This band really cooks with some spectacular acoustic guitar work and harmony singing all in Spanish. At the workshop someone commented on the beautiful poetry in the lyrics but my Spanish is too limited to pick much up myself. But music is a universal language and theirs really moved me, enough so that I also purchased their latest CD. Here's a link for Los Pinguos :

http://www.lospinguos.com/alejo/otra/home.htm

After the rocking bigger band set for Los Pinguos, the next act on the Main Stage was Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue who describe their music as Super-Funked New Orleans Jazz but are really much more a rock band than jazz. Trombone Shorty is the nom de guerre of Troy Andrews, a trombone and trumpet prodigy who was leading his own band at age six, was leading Lenny Kravitz's horn section at age 19 and now at the ripe old age of 23 is ripping up stages internationally. His band is just as talented and just as young as he is, with the old man of the group being 26 ( I have clothes older than that, literally!). Its not often you come across a band that is just as at home playing jazz standards like "St James Infirmary" as playing Led Zeppelin covers but this band rocks on a great variety of styles. And talk about high energy! Shorty and the band even led a New Orleans Mardi Gras-style conga line through the audience and the whole Main Stage festival area. And the audience was wild about them, garnering one of biggest reactions of the whole festival. Shorty wouldn't stay still for pictures, the best we could do was the upper-most photo. Check out Shorty's site:

http://tromboneshorty.com/main/index.html

Last act for the evening and continuing the New Orleans theme of the day was "the subdudes" and that's their spelling without capitals. This was another group I was anxious to hear, I'd heard about them but never really heard them before. And they were worth waiting to hear! A quintet of veterans of the New Orleans music scene gone semi-acoustic with some masterful tambourine replacing the drum kit, they have a unique but quintessentially Cajun rock sound that is at one turn folkie and introspective, at the next funky and dance-inducing. The mix of acoustic guitars, dobros and lap steels, accordion and tambourine rhythm, with great harmony vocals, at times reminded of some other New Orleans icons like Dr. John and The Meters and then would sound even a bit like Little Feat when Lowell George was still alive. This was a powerful, professional group with a unique sound firmly establishing themselves among those other Big Easy luminaries. The subdudes are in the center photo above. Here's their link:

http://www.subdudes.com/news/

A great finish to a great day of music, we went back to the camping area, I found some "old" friends from the Thursday Night Lineup to jam with and we called it a night relatively early.

Sweet Talk Radio and Nathan McEuen - House Concert Review

Putting together a double billed show can be tricky business for everyone involved, the promoter, the acts and the audience. There are a bunch of variables that come into play. The drawing strength in a given area, the artistic compatibility, the relative energy levels of the music are all important factors for those involved. And there are risks involved for everyone. The audience may be risking their time, attention and money on an act they weren't really there to see. The promoter risks alienating their audience if they use acts that are musically incompatible. The acts risk playing in front of a possibly hostile audience, in the case of an opening act, or being upstaged if the headliner. And the promoter faces the possible alienation of the acts in either of these scenarios. Like I said, this can be tricky business! In the "upper-echelon" of the music biz, like the big arena shows, these cobills are most often dictated by record companies, which are often huge multinational corporations used to trampling on the feelings of the acts, the promoters and the audience. When we are talking about independent music and house concerts in particular these options are more often chosen by the promoter or host and often involve some real hard choices.

Which is all a convoluted way to open a review of two really good acts. Or really, as I'll try to describe, one really good act and one act on the verge of greatness. For me that contrast was magnified, because the act I came away raving about was the opening act. And it made me feel sympathy for the headliners who really had a tough act to follow and performed quite admirably in what was, in my humble opinion, a tough cobill for them.

So if you figured out that I LOVED Sweet Talk Radio, give yourself two points, click on their link and buy their CD. No really. I think they are that good. The group is the husband and wife songwriting/performing duo Tim Burlingame and Kathrin Shorr (see above picture) augmented on occasion by keyboardist/percussionist Dennis Hamm, who also appears on their CD. They are both individually and together pros in this area and they have the TV and commercial credits to prove it. Quite a few people in the audience seemed to be fans of theirs. Some called out requests and there was that "recognition applause" at the beginning of a couple tunes and, unfortunately, several people left at intermission.

As the night began and we took our seats, I immediately noticed on stage a Gretsch electric guitar, an acoustic guitar, a mandolin and an electric piano. Not necessarily the usual instrument array at a "acoustic folk" sort of concert. But I was convinced I was in for a treat when the group took the stage and Tim took up that Gretsch electric, with a bottleneck slide in his left hand and an e-bow in his right hand. Most of you are probably not familiar with the e-bow, a real nifty, somewhat esoteric device that electromagnetically vibrates the strings of a guitar producing infinite sustain. In the hands of a pro guitarist who has mastered its subtleties, this device allows guitarists to achieve incredible sounds that can mimic strings, horns and even synthesizer sounds. They are not very common, I have seen maybe a dozen guitarists use one live in the 25 years or so they have existed. Those guitarists all have been exceptional! So you can see that my expectations got pretty high in just a few moments.

My expectations were met and surpassed! That first song with the e-bow slide electric guitar began as a haunting ballad with Kathrin on acoustic guitar rhythm behind Tim's tasty e-bow slide and delivered in Kathrin's husky bluesy voice. Then I realized that the song was a slowed down, spacey reworking of the Thin Lizzy rocker, "The Boys Are Back"! Talk about musical adventurism! From there their set just got better as they settled into their own material, much of it from their debut CD "My Hallelujah" along with some new songs and another cover. Kathrin has an absolutely great voice, at times reminding one of maybe Sheryl Crow, maybe Amy Winehouse, maybe Norah Jones, even a little Fiona Apple, but ultimately unique and captivating. It can be a cliche to describe a female vocalist as sounding sexy but even Becky commented on how sensual she sounded. That was reinforced by her playful stage presence and interactions with Tim. And if her amazing voice was what allowed the band to achieve incredible heights, it was Tim's understated yet technically brilliant guitar work, background vocals and occasional lead vocals that underpinned the whole structure to allow those heights to be reached.

The varied instruments the duo played kept things interesting. Tim switched to mandolin on a tune or two and Kathrin alternated between acoustic guitar, mandolin and just sang on a couple of songs. Add to this the fullness offered on some songs by Dennis Hamm's piano and percussion and the band really delivered. Among the highlights for me was the title track from their CD "My Hallelujah" which comes off as a folksy hymn to the religion of Romance, an interesting cover of Van Morrison's "Moondance" and a bluesy "Ballad of Hank Williams" which again featured Tim's slide guitar (minus the e-bow this time) and background vocals behind Kathrin's dark atmospheric vocals. But the song I think may break-out for them, the one I expect may get radio play is "Lovesick", one of those bouncy, quirky-yet-catchy anti-love anthems that the world seems to love. I have a feeling that soon it may be stuck in your brain like its now stuck in mine! And I hope Tim and Kathrin's marriage at home works as well as their Sweet Talk Radio marriage does on stage because, at least on this night, they appeared to be a pair destined for greatness!

At intermission, we stuffed ourselves with chocolate, only to pay homage to our hostess, Renee Bodie, a self-confessed chocoholic. She sometimes claims she does house concerts for the chocolate, not the music, but don't believe that. As we mingled, I realized that we had a house concert industry convention started here. In addition to our hostess, Renee Bodie, in attendance were Scott and Rosemary Duncan from Duncan House Concerts in Ventura and Russ and Julie Paris, from Russ and Julie's House Concerts in nearby Oak Park, the pioneers of house concerts in SoCal. Its always great to see these folks supporting each other. And of course you know, I bought a Sweet Talk Radio CD and had it signed. So did my visiting buddy Erik, who joined us that evening for his first taste of a house concert and he was captivated by the whole thing. But nagging at me, while I was still very much on a musical high, was sympathy for the act that had to follow such pros. A lot of big-time acts would have trouble following them on stage and while I had never heard the next act, I knew that they were young.

I probably should have worried about something else because Nathan McEuen has quite the musical lineage and has been on stage since he was a little kid. His dad, John McEuen was a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and still plays around this area and his older brother, Jonathan McEuen has his own band that has a following. So this young man knows a thing or two about performing.

When the band took the stage with Nathan, I was immediately stuck by how young they all looked. I admit I'm not always great at guessing ages, but they all looked to be in their early to mid-twenties except the mandolinist who barely looks to be driving age (I'm sure he's older than he looks, I'll have more to say about him later). Nathan and the band launched into their opening song ,"Quicker at the Draw", a bouncy bluegrassy tune and then followed it with the Los Lobos classic "Saint Behind the Glass" firmly planting the band's sound in that area of old style/new material that is often described as Americana. This band may be young-looking but they are serious musicians. Nathan played acoustic guitar and sang lead in a full, rich voice. He was backed up by Elaine Gregston on accordion, Chuck Hailes on stand up bass and vocals and Scott Gates on mandolin and vocals. This is a tight professional band but the stand out, by far, is Scott on mandolin. If he is anywhere near as young as he looks he is quite a prodigy, playing lead mandolin lines as fast as any I've heard and for most part quite tasty.

The band served up a set that covered quite a bit of musical ground. There were some original tunes by Nathan, written alone and with co writers, interspersed with covers. The originals included the folkish "Beautiful Night", the Tex-Mex meets rockabilly sound of "Fool Around" , the lush ballad "Grand Design" co written with Crosby Loggins and my favorite "Moonrise". The covers included bluegrass/swing master Bill Monroe's "Good Woman's Love", a campy, a bit over-the-top "It's Now or Never" made famous by some guy named Elvis and my favorite, a traditional reworking of the Rodney Crowell classic " Long Hard Road". Nathan and the band did all this with professionalism and taste (with the possible exception of the Elvis tune) and the audience seemed to really like them, with a lot of applause especially for Scott's solos.

And I really enjoyed their music a lot personally even if they never hit the transcendent heights that the openers did. As I have stated, it was a tough spot for them following an act like that. But there a few specific ideas I would humbly offer that might make them an even stronger act. First and foremost, if they are going to bill the act as "Nathan McEuen" he needs to command the "spotlight" more. For some reason he and Scott were sharing one microphone and Nathan spent almost the whole night turned sideways to the audience. And looking at older pictures on his website this seems to be standard procedure for them. So, first off, face the audience! And then, we'd like to get to know you! Let's see more personality in your song introductions and stage patter as well as while you're delivering songs. I came from the night feeling like Kathrin and Tim from Sweet Talk Radio were folks I really know but I got no such familiarity from Nathan. Another minor problem is the static instrumentation. All songs offered the exact same instruments used pretty much the same way. Scott played most of the solos, as is probably warranted given his talent, with a couple of guitar solos by Nathan. Elaine on accordion played no solos, which might have given some variety of sound and I wouldn't mind seeing what Nathan could do with an a electric guitar at times. And adding a fiddle could be a natural addition to the sonic palette.

I understand there are probably good economic reasons to feature Nathan's somewhat-known name rather than being "The ________", but the band could be featured more if they were "Nathan McEuen and the ______" or "The ________ featuring Nathan McEuen" if Nathan is uncomfortable as the "frontman". But I would recommend using "The Nathan McEuen Band featuring Scott Gates" because the kid has that magical "IT" that will make him a star one of these days.

So there lies my tale of the two bands, one very good, one approaching greatness and some very difficult scheduling choices. I may have scheduled them in opposite roles were it me doing the booking yet both acts performed great in their assigned places, so who knows if it would have worked better the other way? Reviewing, like setting up cobills, is also tricky business!


As always here are links for all involved.

First for Bodie House Concerts

http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html

Next for Nathan McEuen

http://www.nathanmceuen.net/

And finally, for Sweet Talk Radio

http://www.sweettalkradio.com/