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Artists Worth Checking Out Reviews

Travelers’ Rest Festival – day 2 review (part 2)

We continue with the second part of our review of the second day of Travelers’ Rest Festival, brought to us by the good folks at Knitting Factory Entertainment and our friends at Big Sky Brewing Company.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Leigh Smith Photography

The next band to play the Main Stage was a mellow indie-pop/rock band from Chicago named Whitney.  They had been touring with The Decemberists since late May, performing at Red Rocks in Colorado, the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, House of Blues in Las Vegas and Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay in San Diego, and the Festival was the last stop on their tour.  The band released their only album in 2016, which has found success on Spotify, reaching the staggering total of more than 25 million streams.  Featuring the falsetto of Julien Ehrlich and the songwriting core of Ehrlich and Max Kakacek, the band played songs from their album, The Light Upon the Lake.  The official line-up for the band now includes Malcolm Brown, Tracy Chouteau, Charles Glanders, Josiah Marshall and Will Miller, in addition to the founding duo of Ehrlich and Kakacek.

The final performer on the Ponderosa Stage was Brooklyn-based punk rock band Parquet Courts.  While this was my least favorite performance of the Festival, the audience was totally into them, jumping and dancing around and fully engaged in the show.  As with most punk rock music, the songs were short, so the band was able to pack a lot of music into their 45 minute set.  Their energy level was atomic, and that energy passed to the crowd, which gave it back to the band in spades.  It was such a huge difference from the music of Ural Thomas, but the appreciative fans didn’t seem to care, and couldn’t seem to get enough of the only true rock band on the Festival roster.

photo courtesy of Zoran Orlic

With the Ponderosa Stage put to bed, the action returned to the Main Stage for the remainder of the Festival.  First up was Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, who wowed the crowd with his well-crafted songs, performing acoustically.  To tell you the truth, by this time in the Festival, I had been working for more than 24 hours, and unable to devote my attention to his set.  I was also trying to recover from the ear-blowing set performed by Parquet Courts, so I pretty much zoned out for Tweedy’s entire performance.

There was about a 45 minute break after Tweedy concluded his set so that the stage could once again be set for The Decemberists, who played their album, The Crane Wife, from start to finish, as they originally intended it to sound.  This portion of their show lasted for about 80 minutes.  After they brought their album to life, they returned for a series of encores and didn’t finish playing until almost 11:45 p.m.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, full of new friends, new music, and a wonderful experience.  We can hardly wait until next year to do it all again.  Our heartfelt thanks to the production crew from Knitting Factory Presents, who put together one of the finest festivals I have ever attended, The Decemberists for curating such a diverse line-up of artists, the crew of Riversongs Gourmet Catering for keeping us fed, and all the new friends I made among the performing artists and their crews.

 

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Artists Worth Checking Out Reviews

Travelers’ Rest Festival – day 2 review (part 1)

Here’s the first part of our review of the second day of Travelers’ Rest Festival, brought to us by the good folks at Knitting Factory Entertainment and our friends at Big Sky Brewing Company.  Day Two followed the same format as Day One, with four artists performing on the Ponderosa Stage and five artists on the main stage, including a second day of The Decemberists headlining.

The first artist of the day was NPR’s latest darling, the adorable Gaelynn Lea.  Despite her diminutive size, she is an amazing violin player whose vocals bring her fans to tears.  She is also one of the most humble artists I have ever encountered in my 30 years in the music industry.  She packed the structure around the Ponderosa Stage like no other artist that played there, and even got Chris Funk (guitar), Jenny Conlee (accordion) and Nate Query (upright bass) from The Decemberists and Joy Pearson (vocals) and Rebecca Marie Miller (vocals) from Lenore to join her for her final song.  Her new album comes out in September, and we can’t wait to review it and share it with you.  It was one of the best performances I have ever experienced, and set the bar for the rest of the day.

The first artist on the Main Stage came all the way from Morocco, bringing their native sound to share with the Festival attendees.  Dressed Bedouin style, Tinariwen shared their drums, guitar, bass and native vocals and the crowd loved it.  The rhythms were amazing, and it was near impossible not to break into dance during the show.  They have a very unique sound that translates well on the Festival scene, and they kept the audience very entertained and engaged throughout their performance.

Here’s the link to their most recent album on Spotify.

Back to the Ponderosa Stage for LA-based indie rock trio Cardioid, composed of Lizzy Ellison on lead vocals and guitar, Riley Geare on drums and Erica  Shafer on bass.  Although the band started in Portland, it has transplanted to the City of Angels, where they are working on their next album, Fantasy Metal, which we can’t wait to review.  Their sound is pure indie rock, with exquisite guitar and bass performances, a throbbing drum beat and the voice of Ellison like the cherry on top of your favorite sundae.  They turned in one of the best rock performances of the Festival, and their 30-minute set was far too short to adequately display their immense talent.

The second artist to take the Main Stage was also the oldest artist performing.  Mavis Staples is 79 years old, and joined her family’s band, The Staple Singers, in 1949.  The band began as a gospel and folk group until after they signed with Stax Records in 1968.  They switched up their sound to a more R&B/soul vibe, and with their third Stax album, they reached #2 on the charts with “Respect Yourself,” and #1 with “I’ll Take You There.”  Staples’ music defies genre, as her sound is a combination of gospel, jazz, blues, R&B, soul and folk.  She wrote the amazing “Freedom Highway” for Martin Luther King in 1962, and participated in the Selma march alongside Dr. King.  She has won multiple Grammy awards, giving her a rich catalog from which to perform.  Unfortunately, 45 minutes is not nearly enough time for her to showcase her immense talent, but she did get to wow the crowd with the aforementioned “Freedom Highway” and “I’ll Take You There,” with which she ended her set.  Her music brought back so many great memories of growing up in the 70s, and was the true highlight of the weekend for me.

The action returned to the Ponderosa Stage and continued in that same 70s R&B/soul vibe with the performance by Ural Thomas & the Pain.  The band is composed of Ural Thomas on vocals, Scott Magee on drums and backing vocals, Arcellus Sykes on bass, Brent Martens on guitar, Steve Aman on keys, Bruce Withycomb on baritone sax, Willie Matheis on tenor sax and Dave Monnie on trumpet.  Thomas had some success back in the late 60s and early 70s when he performed more than 40 shows at the acclaimed Apollo Theater, but left what he considered an unfair business to return home to Portland.  Thomas never gave up his music, and sponsored a jam session in his home for nearly 20 years.  In 2016, Magee convinced him to return to the business, and Ural Thomas & the Pain was born.  Their debut album on Tender Loving Empire is scheduled to be released on September 28.  With that kind of a pedigree, you know the joint was jumpin’.  Thomas was the perfect complement to continue to R&B/soul trip started by Staples, and kept the Ponderosa Stage audience engaged and dancing throughout his set.  He even managed to squeeze in an extra song  beyond his 30-minute set.  His performance was my second most favorite of the Festival.

We’ll be back soon with part 2 of our review.

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Artists Worth Checking Out Reviews

Travelers’ Rest Festival – day 1 review (part 2)

And we’re back for the second half of our review of the first day of Travelers’ Rest Festival, brought to us by the good folks at Knitting Factory Entertainment and our friends at Big Sky Brewing Company.

The third band to grace the Main Stage was the Tune-Yards, an electronic dance/trance band that mixes their unusual electronica with incredible lyrics over pervasive drums and a riveting bass track.  Based in Oakland, California, the band is composed of Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner and signed by 4AD Records.  Although not my favorite kind of music, their electrifying performance stirred up the crowd and had most of them dancing around.  They have been touring in support of their latest album, I Can Feel You Creep Into my Private Life, which we suggest you check out on Spotify.

The Ponderosa Stage’s final performance for the day came from the undeniably gifted solo artist known as Waxahatchee.  Her real name is Katie Crutchfield, and she is signed to Merge Records, which will be releasing her new EP on September 7.  Her voice is like manna from heaven, and her simple accompaniment makes her songs seem like heirlooms passed down from generation to generation, as special the 100th time as the first.  She treated the crowd to a rousing solo set of new and old songs, and despite being a solo artist performing after a band, she held her own and gave the packed structure all it could handle.    As the final performer of the night on the Ponderosa Stage, she got an extra 15 minutes, but the time still passed by too quickly, for both me and the huge crowd gathered to catch her set.  Check out her latest single, “Chapel of Pines,” on Spotify, and definitely get her EP as soon as it becomes available.

The action returned to the Main Stage for Death Cab for Cutie.  This was my first exposure to the band, which is signed to Atlantic Records, although my wife and step-daughter (who attended the show) are huge fans.  The band is preparing to release their new album, Thank you for Today, and played songs from the new release, as well as some of their classic hits like “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.”  Here’s the lyric video for the first single from the new album, “I Dreamt we Spoke Again.”

Many of  the band’s oldest fans have not been impressed by the direction of the band since the departure of Chris Walla, and that attitude seemed to be present at this show.  However, as someone who had never heard the band perform before, I thoroughly enjoyed their new material, which is true indie rock and reminded me of the music of groups like The Plain White Ts and Snow Patrol.  I think Ben Gibbard and DCFC are amazing, and I was glad for the chance to hear them perform.  I  will definitely be checking out the new album when it is released on August 17.

Photo courtesy of Brian Bruemmer (Rubatophoto.com)

After a 35 minute break to set up the stage, headliners The Decemberists started their set, and performed for nearly two hours straight.   Although I had heard the name, I was not familiar with their material.  Needless to say, after watching them perform for nearly five hours over the two day festival, spending time with Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee and Nate Query backstage, and meeting Colin Meloy’s mom, I have become a big fan.  Their fans remind me of those that support another of my favorite groups, Blue October, since their musical style is similar and both bands have an amazingly close connection with their fans.  I thoroughly enjoyed the stimulating sound and the intellectual while still fun lyrics as much as the banter, and was pleased to see the energy the fans gave back to the performers.  The stories the band told were interesting, including the back story to “The Bicycle Song.”  Since the band has been together for 18 years, they had a wealth of material to draw from, including songs from their latest, I’ll Be Your Girl.  Sara Watkins lent her amazing fiddle and voice to a song about Butte miners, while Sarah Jarosz added her vocals to “We All Die Young.”

The band concluded their amazing performance with a very interesting song about a whale, which contained a lot of audience participation, and an inflatable whale that floated about the crowd.

Needless to say, the crowd loved every minute of their performance, and it was a huge job to get them to leave.  Fortunately for all of us, there was still another day of great music to come.  We’ll be back tomorrow with our review of day 2.