Tag: Travelers Rest Festival

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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 1)

One of my several jobs is working for a company called CMS to provide security for concerts.  As such, it was my privilege to work the entire Travelers’ Rest Festival, held for the second year at the Big Sky Brewing Company Amphitheatre in Missoula, Montana, and produced by the incredible team at Knitting Factory Entertainment.  The entire team was a joy to work with, especially my old friend, Mandi Zilner, the Marketing Director.

At the time the Festival began, I was only familiar with a couple of the 17 bands playing, but by the end of the weekend, I had gained some new musical loves, and reconnected to a voice from my childhood.

I got the perfect assignment, covering catering and the backstage gate, which was also located next to the Ponderosa Stage, giving me a bird’s eye view.  There were nine performances each day, four on the Ponderosa Stage and five on the Main Stage.  Once the music began at 3:30 p.m. each day, it never stopped until around 9 p.m., when there was a break while the crew prepared the Main Stage for the headliner, The Decemberists, who also curated the Festival and selected all the participating bands.

The first band to take the Ponderosa Stage was local Missoula band Rotgut Whines.  They turned in an impressive 30 minute set which got the Festival off to a great start.  This duo has an impressive pop rock sound that got the audience grooving and ready for the rest of the bands to come.  Although the band normally plays a few cover songs in their local shows, this set was all originals, and the crowd seemed very appreciative of the band.

The action then turned to the Main State, where Richmond, Virginia based artist Lucy Dacus was the first artist to play.  Dacus is signed to Matador Records, and from her performance it is easy to understand why she is considered one of Richmond’s treasures.  She is a brilliant guitar player, and her sound is reminiscent of artists like Ingrid Michaelson, Ali Handal and Cindy Alexander.  She played songs from her latest album, Historian, and has been touring North America in support of the album.  She turned in an impressive 45-minute set that stimulated the crowd, and added fuel to the fire that was started with Rotgun Whines‘ set.

Everything changed when Portland-based band Lenore took the Ponderosa Stage.  The standing room only crowd swelled until they could no longer fit underneath the stage’s shaded section, and still they came.   Composed of native Montanan Joy Pearson and Portland’s Rebecca Marie Miller on lead vocals, Edward Cameron on guitar and Jessie Dettwiler on cello, this band has a sound that works its way into your heart and your head and never leaves.  The harmonies are heavenly and exquisite, as is the combination of guitar and cello that forms the musical accompaniment.  Their 30 minute set went by way too fast, and the audience didn’t want to let them go.

The band also turned out to be super nice humans, as we spent a lot of time talking as they came and went backstage.  It was an honor to spend time with them, and they became my favorite discovery of the weekend.

The music returned to the Main Stage for one of the few acts I was familiar with before the Festival began.  I was fortunate enough to meet Sara Watkins back in 1999-2000 at Fan Fair in Nashville when she and her band Nickel Creek were just getting started, and attended several of their shows over the years, including the 25th Anniversary Show at The Wilma in 2014.  She has joined forces with two other bluegrass phenoms, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan to form I’m With Her, and this super-group is one of the best in the world.  They released their debut album this past February on Rounder Records.  Their 45-minute set was amazing, as their voices joined together as one instrument, meshed with their individual virtuosity on a multitude of stringed instruments, including fiddle, banjo, mandolin and guitar.  The perform in the traditional bluegrass way, gathered round a single microphone, which also adds to their unique harmony.

I also got to spend a lot of time with Sarah J and Aoife backstage, and met Aoife’s famly and Sara W’s nanny.  They were as nice off stage as they are incredible on it.

Returning to the Ponderosa Stage, the next performer was Matt the Electrician from Austin, Texas.  Matt is a folk rock singer-songwriter, with a similar style to artists like The White Buffalo and Joe Purdy.  He performed alone with his wife providing backing vocals.  Although a solo artist, he still filled the stage with his powerful stage presence and gave the packed structure a show they would not soon forget.  He is an artist that I am sure will soon become a household name, as his music is head and shoulders above many of his peers.  He is another artist I’m so glad I met because I truly loved his sound and his well-crafted songs.  I look forward to the chance to hear him again soon.  His most recent album, The Doubles, is available here.

I’ll be back later today with part 2 of our review of the first day of Travelers’ Rest.