“In the
confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without
uttering a single word.”- Walt Whitman
Strangely enough, I kept thinking of Walt
Whitman as I completed my annual Summer pilgrimage to Lyons, Colorado. Whitman suggests we “love the earth and sun” and "have patience and indulgence toward the people" which seems to be the way things are done up there in the mountains. It was time again
to breath the high altitude air at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival and to hear good music
unsullied by the flesh-peddlers, played by fine musicians dedicated to their
craft and not their balance sheets. This is indeed a spirit re-charging weekend
that has become almost a necessary stopping point in my salad year’s vacations
where my family joins together with a thousand strangers who behave in the best
way people know how. Maybe some teenagers might think it strange to see the
occasional gray-heads bobbing in their tie-die -ensembles but for those of us
who have been around the block a few times these three days are pure gravy. It
is hard to find another venue or event where beer flows, skunky smoke drifts
and not a discouraging word is heard despite inhibition loosening spirits and
rambunctious kids in the mix. Simply put, it is the music that gives the Rocky
Mountain masses a cool and groovy disposition that feels like a dip in the hot
springs of Ponce de Leon. Good and true music can bring us
to that place where we become one with an entire audience, lead on by a
transcendent song performed by an artist with great skill. While someone like
Patty Griffin, dives deep into one of her song-stories we “stay with each
other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.”
Especially in the darkness of the late sets all of Lyons becomes locked in a
common embrace of song. As another songwriter says “it’s that place where time
stands still…it’s no place you can get to by yourself.”
While
the event has to hang a name on the experience it is really not a pure folk
music festival in the strict sense. Many of the groups defy labeling and there
were representatives of R&B, Indie-rock, Blues, New Age, Poetry-Slam,
techno and whatever you call the towering genius of John Prine. What is truly
inspired is the ability of the Festival organizers to find such excellent
quality from all over the musical world, while bringing in some unknowns who
are accomplished and polished, learning their trades in the hard and true ways.
I missed a few sets but it was not my heart or my ears but my back that kept me
from taking in the more than two dozen acts. I did take the old hambone down
into the low-backed chairs for seventeen performances that never hit a sour
note. I might add that very often I experienced the kind of musical epiphanies
that stick with you for a lifetime. Granted, the audience is occupying tarps
and blankets with visiting friends and family scattered about so there is not
the “hear a pin drop” quiet of a concert hall. Then again, you can’t sip a
craft beer at your seat in the Disney Concert Hall.
Right from the start, former songwriter
showcase winner Robby Hecht bumped the bar up very high with his fine set,
marked by a better than the original “If I Needed You” and a finishing home run
with the touching “The Sea and the Shore.” The quality of the first day
remained high with the exhilarating wall of drum driven sound of Brooklyn’s
“Lucius” that rocked the red rocks of Lyons both sonically and visually. Lucius
made me wish I were young again and hanging out in Brooklyn. The young’ns were
followed by the incomparable Mary Gauthier whose set was made even better by
her superb band of two Winnipeggers Scott Nolan and Joanna Miller. Gauthier
commanded the stage and brought insight and pathos to her sad but beautiful
repertoire. Her haunting “Last of the Hobo Kings” made a railroad riding
vagabond into an American hero. Colin Hay held the banner high and brought back
some good musical memories of the 1980’s by making some “Men at Work” gems
shine up pretty well along with some droll story-telling and an evergreen voice
that lifted his own solo material. The audience had a chance to relax and
unwind with the finishing dreamscapes of the marvelous Loreena McKennitt who
turned a “Mummer’s Dance” into pure magic. Still, day one was owned by a singer-songwriter with just one name: Ellis who packed humor, lyrical beauty
and dynamic emotion into a truly memorable set. While her tiny daughter called
for rock and roll in front of the stage Ellis turned my t-shirt into a hanky
and totally got it right with “Right Now” and her finisher “Right On Time” that left a
sweet, unforgettable glow behind. Having
seen Ellis as a young song schooler with great promise years ago I was able to
view this year, a polished veteran with unlimited talent and a remarkable
voice.
Day two was
sun-dappled and full of musical drama with some surprises. JOHNNYSWIM from my
dear hometown was dazzling musically and visually. Singer Amanda Sudano-Ramirez
is so beautiful it is easy to overlook her fine voice which is enhanced by the
arrangements and harmonies of husband Abner Ramirez. Their “Paris in June” was
as lovely a love song as you will ever hear anywhere. Relatively unknown
Irishman Foy Vance followed strongly and despite his “Joy of Nothing” being the
big winner in the set he showed a deeply evocative voice and confident stage
presence. Day two really showed the close study and risk taking of the festival
organizers who just never missed the mark. Case in point was poet Shane Koyczan
who had one of the most riveting hours on the Lyons stage begun with his now
famous “This Is My Voice” with its YouTube cred but followed by many other
insightful and optimistic poems that were very well-received by the unblinking
crowd. Typically, the penultimate act on any day has to be strong to revive the
fatigued festivarians but when Patty Griffin took the stage there was hardly
time to take a deep breath. While great might be a term thrown around too
lightly there is no doubt that this lady elevates all folk music with her
brilliant songwriting, deft guitar playing and powerful singing. She sang, told
stories and gave me goose bumps when she described her rain-soaked performance
at a prior Festival as one of the greatest hours of her life. Strangely enough,
it was one of mine also as I was in the second row with a blue tarp over my
soaked form, being captivated by songs I have never forgotten. This one was no
different, highlighted by the fresh and powerful “Go Wherever You Want to Go”
from her “American Kid” recent release. To hear Patty Griffin sing is a rare
privilege and I cannot overstate her talents. The John Butler Trio had the
unenviable task of following La Griffin but his expansive and dynamic
electronic creations won the very wonderful day two. A ten minute, free-form
finale was one of those moments in great concerts when blissed out
listeners get lost in the music.
The bittersweet last day, like many
Sundays is a hard to get started day and when we arrived late I was met with
raves for “Chic Gamine” but alas it was only the echoes I heard of this four
women harmony group from Manitoba, Canada . Another talented singer-songwriter
from the North came next with Quebecois Lynn Miles, with an introspective and
insightful hour of C&W flavored songs; highlighted by “How to Be Alone”
that was sweet and heavy at the same time. Local boy Nathaniel Rateliff
quickened the pace and demonstrated that there is plenty of talent in the
centennial state. Imagine a great bar band with brains and a lead-singer who
can write penetrating lyrics and howl at the moon in his vocals. “Shroud” stood
out in this lively round of songs, keeping the stage warm for what was to come.
What came next was another very young, talented voice from the North with great
musical bloodlines. Canada won the women’s war on Sunday as Ontario’s Ariana
Gillis, a mere twenty-two years of age, owned the stage and fired off high-energy pop with a
pretty sharp edge. While I must admit the shirt I was wearing was older than
she I was impressed by the quality of her lyrics and the singing from the gut
that had the veteranos standing in awe at stage-side. “Forget Me Not” was just
one of many terrific tunes she belted out in her set.
It was best Ms. Gillis be good as the
next performer put on a show they may never forget at Lyons. I would guess that
most of the assembled folks had never had an opportunity to hear a genuine,
sweat-drenched, soul-soaked, classic R&B extravaganza like Mister Charles
Bradley put on for the next hour and a quarter. When his band-leader introduced
him as “the Screaming Eagle of Soul” and “the Soul of America” he was not
exaggerating. Despite being of fine vintage Bradley has only recently been
discovered/re-discovered after a life that could fill a feature film. Yet, on
the Lyons stage Bradley absolutely created something that James Brown himself
would have appreciated with a “huh…huh…huh!” Wearing a costume (seen here) that
lit up (literally), holding an old-fashioned big, cord-attached mike which he
bounced around with the mike-stand the Screaming Eagle showed us why R&B is
such a great part of American music. Bradley’s sexy, confident vocals
electrified the stage, the mountainsides, the campsites, the St. Vrain River
and highway 36 all the way up to Boulder. His moves were straight out of the Apollo
Theater and his towering readings of songs like “the World,” “Victim of Love”
and “How Long” had the entire audience dancing with undiluted soul-power.
Colin Meloy was the unfortunate artist
who had to follow the large charges of dynamite set off by Charles Bradley but he fared well, although at a much more subdued pace. Meloy, the former front man
of the “Decembrists” needed patience and some audience concentration to
appreciate his intelligent and nuanced songs that gave insight into “the
Hazards of Love” and explorations of musical hallucinations such as “the
Calamity Song.” After Bradley it was
hard to get the crowd to settle but Meloy kept his head and won over the
audience in the most difficult segment of the festival. The grand finale of the
entire Folks Festival was the genuine American Musical National Treasure: John
Prine. In the first two songs Prine sounded like his voice might not make it to
the third but somehow he got back on track and gave the happy crowd the best of
the best. This included “Fish and Whistle,” “Hello in There,” “Grandpa Was a
Carpenter,” “Flag Decal” and a stirring finale of the bona-fide masterpiece
“Lake Marie.” How appropriate that an artist who has danced with death and come
back to affirm life in song concluded an event that celebrates the spectrum of pain and joy we
all share.
When it was all over and the common folks
of the folks festival were shining tiny flashlights on the grass gathering up
their low chairs, folding up the tarps, slinging sleeping kids over their
shoulders, collecting all their trash and making sure they hadn’t forgotten any
left behinds the feelings of bittersweet melancholy filled me up to the
eyeballs. Like leaving the old home gathering on Xmas eve or driving away from
a wedding reception of happy friends or getting on a plane to leave the family
you love behind for another year the good times pass so swiftly. You reach a
certain age and you gain the wisdom that it won’t last forever but for 2013 it
sure was grand. I know I won’t forget the festival or the family.
(Photos: from top to bottom the low-back chairs during a break, Robby Hecht, Ellis, Lucius, Mary Gauthier, Colin Hay, Loreena McKennit, Johnnyswim, Shane Koyczan, Patty Griffn, the rocks above the St. Vrain, Nathaniel Rateliff, Ariana Gillis, Charles Bradley, Colin Meloy, the family...)
