Kala & I were in Moab for our 2nd Folk Festival with our buddies, Scott & Peg. It was another great music outing, our last of the festival season, and the last for the artists too. We drove straight from COS to Moab with the full team in the Crusher Too (I did remove the fridge for more spaciousness for gear). We had good pizza and salad at Antica Forma the 1st night in Moab and rested well. We were in time for an indigenous American to chant the invocation
We arrived to queue before gates at 10am and secured the front row seating on Saturday before Humbird kicked off the show at 11am. I've been following the Minneapolis trio for a while and was able to meet and chat with Siri Undin, the bandleader, for a while after her performance, and get "her" signature on their recent chunk of vinyl. She and Humbird take "folk" as far as it can go toward rock as she presented in all electric, including synth... still all awesome writing and her full voice presentation.
Second up on a nice and warming day, but still colder and more cloudy than previous, was New Orleans-based (initially Arkansas) Handmade Moments. Anna Moss played anything they had and had a great voice. Lot's of protest songs and descriptions of a meager lifestyle... they were very fun and good.
We got some beers from Bohemian, brewed in Utah... meh, and then sat back for some country from Nick Shoulders and the OK Crawdad band. NE Arkansas Nick was very alt country with voice breaks and yodels among his irreverent lyrics. His bassist and backup vocalist had parents and nieces and nephews right in front of us for their set.They were very good too, rat tail and all. The crowd was diggin' it and Nick even commented he'd never played to such a seated and attentive crowd. The dance section was happy and sang along with the tunes.
We roamed the grounds between acts and I found a cool tie dye. Soon were we back on row 1 for Sam Bush and his latest band. Sam's a longtime mandolin aficionado of world bluegrass acclaim. The band and he played lights out bluegrass, which was awesome, but Kala & I were pleased the guitarist was there to harmonize and support Sam's voice ~ he was also a killer guitarist. Too, I swore it was my Big Bro Brown on drums ~ oddly it was Chris Brown!
We escaped gates and parking snags quickly and made our way to Thai Bella for a great Thai food dinner. All slept well but knew we'd encounter cold and precip over night. That held true and the rain continued into and through the day. We prepared but it was wet and cold. We again to our spot in row 1 center but covered ourselves in rain gear, garbage bags, and the like.
First up on Sunday was Charly Lowry, a Lumbee tribe member from eastern NC. She related plenty of stories from the tribe, and of earth, and of Christianity. She played guitar and drum and had a nice voice.
We actually skipped the 2nd act as rain fell more heavily and temps cooled. We warmed up at the The Spoke in downtown Moab for lunch and a brew. Pixie & The Partygrass Boys is the 2nd act I wanted to assure we saw this WE as I've been listening to this quirky, high energy band for some time. They were dressed in funky outfits and appeared to be having a blast. Hailing from the Wasatch they love to ski & party and are the "best local band" in SLC. I bought the CD and got their autographs too. So good. I even recorded the keen ski montage "Ski & Party" and "No Friends On A Powder Day."
Closing the day and festival was the Travelin' McCourys. They didn't need legendary data Del for this event. Massive talent throughout with Rob and Ronnie dealing hot licks on banjo & mandolin. They were so skilled and the band was very tight... again the guitar was awe inspiring frankly.
GR8 music festival with GR8 friends.
