The Rhode Island based bluegrass ensemble The Pegheads brought the audience to its feet at the Rose Garden Coffeehouse in Mansfield on Saturday night. The opening set from guitarist Martin Grosswendt set a bluesy tone with syncopated acoustic guitar picking in songs from Blind Blake, Mississippi John Hurt and Robert Johnson.

Then Grosswendt joined his group, The Pegheads, for a set of traditional and contemporary bluegrass. One of the highlights of the night was listening to the fast picking on fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo amid a dance around a central microphone. It’s one thing to have talent. It’s quite another to display it choreographed around one mic.

Bluegrass music is often so tried and true. Even some of the so-called bluegrass “power bands” often stick to a traditional mold, adding their own flair and emphasis. Cadillac Sky, however, most reminds me of ground breakers New Grass Revival, a band that flourished from 1971 to 1989 and melded bluegrass with rock and pop sensibilities like no other. In fact, an entire sub genre of bluegrass sprung up, called “newgrass.”

Cadillac Sky likes to describe their music as a mix of country, ska, bluegrass, with “Radiohead-style chord progressions.” But to folks who enjoy progressive bluegrass music, New Grass Revival, is the closest comparison. Their latest CD, “Gravity’s Our Enemy” (Skaggs Family Records), sets them apart from many other groups.

This quintet’s musicianship excels, as does the production by Mike Marshall, but what drives the music is the soul-searching songwriting of lead singer Bryan Simpson. In the truest sense of bluegrass, his words speak of people torn by love, with a reverence for God.

Simpson’s high-reaching vocals, backed by organ in the lead-off track “U Stay Gone,” a song of loneliness and redemption, let you know that you are in for a fresh ride. And while the music can sometimes turn more tender, Simpson’s writing is compelling. “Bible by the Bed,” which offers softer vocals to a slower, countrified Alison Krauss-like tempo, tells the story of an abused wife who gets retribution: “So she always keeps a gun under the pillow and a bible by the bed.”

Some of the melodies get a little far afield from bluegrass, and that’s OK. “Wouldn’t Put It Past Love,” tells of love’s unexpected effects, and musically the band stretches its musical muscle to reflect love’s odd twists, perhaps. Others, like “It Won’t Be Over You,” give a nod to a slightly more traditional sound. But nothing about this band is traditional. Even airy instrumentals like fiddler Ross Holmes’ “The Majestic Swan” seems to drift seamlessly from banjo to fiddle and others, and Matt Menefee’s banjo instrumental “Thank You Esteban” kicks it into high-gear bluegrass, with occasional dashes that reminded me of New Grass’s Bela Fleck.

If you want a taste of the group’s musical versatility, check out a clip in this video of “Inside Joke,” a song from this CD, recorded at the Wenatchee River Bluegrass Festival in Cashmere, Washington, June 2008:

And here’s one of my favorites. Not from this CD, but a great tune:

The end of summer party at Rhythm & Roots in Charlestown, R.I. is a great time every year, and this year was no exception. I couldn’t stay for the entire 3-day festival. But I got a good taste of everything fun that the festival had to offer. There were stellar stage performances, of course, from cajun groups like Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys to the more laid-back blues of Keb’ Mo’.

My personal faves in the time I was there included the bluesy piano-slapping singer Marcia Ball, whose voice and stage persona are infectious. She captivated everyone the moment she hit the stage. But it was when I went to investigate some of the other action at the Dance Tent, when the true energy of the festival emerged. There, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas played a game of cat and mouse on stage. It was fun watching Nathan Williams, playing a full-sized accordion, dash back and forth with his cousin, rubboard player Mark Williams. Between songs they reached out and shook hands with the audience, who were dancing almost right up to the stage.

There were plenty of food vendors, and, I dare say, some of the best food I’ve had at a festival, from jambalaya to lobster bisque or Thai chicken. Craft vendors offered their wares, and others provided temporary tattoos or neck and foot massages for the weary.

Check out some scenes from the festival:

The Rhythm & Roots Festival is in full swagger this weekend in Rhode Island. On Friday thousands of people enjoyed the music of blues guitarist and singer Paul Geremia, the legendary Bill Kirchen, known as the “Titan of the Telecaster, and the upbeat zydeco of Preston Frank, Ed Poullard and Corey Ledet on the dance floor.

Here is a brief clip….Hope you enjoy:

Today’s lineup is also stellar, with groups like the cajun-infused Red Stick Ramblers, Pine Leaf Boys and the Zydeco Cha-Chas, the jam-band bluegrass of the Waybacks, the rock of Dan Hicks, the blues of Marcia Ball and three-time Grammy winner Keb’ Mo.’

The festival, held at Ninigret Park in Charlestown, R.I., is hopping right through Sunday, with another full lineup. Check out the schedule.

Guitarist Martin Grosswendt will be the opening act. He’ll then join his band, The Pegheads, to kick off the 20th season of the Rose Garden Coffeehouse in Mansfield, on Sept. 20.

The Pegheads feature some familiar faces in Rose Garden land, including Jeff Horton (bass) and Mike Kropp (banjo), two former members of the bluegrass band Northern Lights. Other Pegheads include Karl Dennis (violin) and Ben Pearce (mandolin).

Check out the coffeehouse’s phenomenal lineup this year, from Garnet Rogers, to Red Molly to Michael Smith & Anne Hills, along with many other top-name acts….

Here’s the Pegheads playing the classic “Who’s that Knockin’ on My Door”:

And an instrumental:

It’s so easy to point out the nastiness of the weather at Falcon Ridge this year. But this wonderful folk festival, which, like all others, has had its share of weather interruptions, had its moments of glory as well.

Though I did not attend this year, lots of other folks did, and there was plenty of great music there. So, in an effort to be fair and not just point out the festival’s bad luck weatherwise, here are some Youtube moments (thanks to those who attended and posted!) focusing on the music and the folk spirit, as well as links to decent writeups about the event itself:

See Matt Winters’ writeup here and his friend Nick’s writeup here.

Here, Joe Crookston gets out of the rain and sings the old Supertramp tune called “The Logical Song,” with Pat Wictor in the foreground playing slide:

Here’s Dar Williams performing one her signature tunes, with backing from Patty Larkin and others:

Or check out the fun in the dance tent, with Gandolph Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, with Eric Lee:

Wow, some Youtube videos of the hail at Falcon Ridge:

In the car seeking shelter and telling the story….

Under the tent….

aftermath….

While I didn’t make it to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, in Hillsdale, N.Y. this season, I had several friends who did. I’m sure the other days on the site provided plenty of good times and great music. But Sunday’s show was marred by a storm, as reported by my friend Ken Dixon, a columnist for The Connecticut Post:

“It took a one-day trip to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in Hillsdale, N.Y. – and hail stones as big as wine corks – yesterday to finally clean my toes that were dirtied a whole week earlier stomping the fields at the new Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival location in Oak Hill, a couple dozen miles south of Albany.

When we got to Falcon Ridge, just off Route 22, about 11 a.m. yesterday, people in the reception tent spoke of the downpours of the recent early morning, that left some thick muddy tire tracks and standing water that we skirted around as we headed to the Main Stage in search of our friends and relations who spent the weekend there.

They were enjoying the Gospel Wake Up Call and anticipating showers to figure in the afternoon’s weather plans. After listening to David Massengill in the Family Tent for a little while, I went back and caught Wild Asparagus perform a dependable set, including a square dance that sounded OK, even with the saxophone in attendance.

A shower came through and I hoofed it back to the car for rain gear and something that rhymes with gear that comes in a can. At 1, Tracy Grammer came on, singing an Emmy Lou Harris cover, then a David Carter tune before I stood up to head for the Workshop Stage for the Sweet Harmony that was scheduled to the performed by The Strangelings, Red Molly and the Farewell Drifters. It never happened.

The earlier shower had come up from the east, but this thing, coming over the hill from the north, was one nasty, ugly, bitter thunderstorm cell.

It sent shafts of lightning all around and the heavy rain that forced me back under the treeline just in time for the hailstones, which ranged in weight from cherry-size to wine corks. From my spot on the little hill, I watched concession tents cartwheel over their owners like poorly crafted kites. The shade arrangement staked out for the workshop’s mixing board – that impressed me as cool a few minutes earlier -broke it’s guide lines like they didn’t exist and the sound guys held the awning, now a hang glider, over the tarpaulin covering the sound board. It was an intense 20 minutes, followed by a brief let up, then more of the same, sans hail, though.

I walked back to the Main Stage and pulled a beer out of our cooler, quickly downing it and reaching for another. Damn, this would be a perfect spot for the tequila, I said, bemoaning the surviving bottle I had at home left over from Grey Fox.

The little dry creek beds at the bottom of the pastures had become roaring little brooks. There was footwear and blankets scattered everywhere. In the Merchandise tent, folks were told to go back to their cars until the lightning was over. It was 2:30 and the big food tent had also collapsed. We decided that it was probably better to drive home and create less mud than what was bound to be a quagmire for thousands of people camped on the hill. We hoped no one was hurt and that Eliza Gilkyson got to do her set.

Oh yeah, the toes. Well, walking in shindeep water pretty much cleaned the toenails of the Grey Fox dirt.”

The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival moved ahead on its new grounds this past weekend, and the music was top-notch! See the YouTube playlist above. I will be adding to it as I go through the videos, so check back.

Despite scorching heat, the weather held up fairly well. Only a few brief bouts of rain, which tended to cool things down. But the music was tremendous and I managed to see bands like a reunion of Hot Rize and their alter-egos Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. What a treat watching Hot Rize don their country-swing outfits for a few tunes and antics at the main stage, then a lengthy set at the dance stage!

The Wilders lived up to their names, and while fans moaned loudly about the fact that they were denied an encore on Saturday afternoon, they cheered when a huge rainbow soon soared above the festival grounds.

Fans loved the Del McCoury Band, Dan Paisley, Sam Bush and David Grisman, but it was relative newcomers like The Grascals, Dailey & Vincent, The Greencards, The Infamous Stringdusters and the Swedish band Gravity who created fresh memories. I caught many, but not all, of the acts during the course of the festival, opting to hear some groups on the radio in the shade when the heat beat me down.

I did manage to get video of many of the groups mentioned above, especially Hot Rize and Red Knuckles.

Of course, being the first year on the Walsh Farm in Oak Hill, N.Y., there were some glitches — inevitable with an event of this size. People attended a “town meeting” on Sunday to voice their gripes about things like the height of chairs in the stage area, the general layout and the massive land grab that took place by campers on the day before the festival. To their credit, festival volunteers worked with patrons to wedge in everyone. And while the new site is larger than the old one at the former Rothvoss Farm, in the end, it seemed smaller. There were a host of other issues, but in the bigger scheme of things, they will likely get worked out.

Besides seeing Red Knuckles and other groups, highlights for me included spending time with friends, visiting Catskill Stream, which circles the festival grounds, and camping prior to the festival with The Liners at the Allen Farm in Durham, N.Y.  The Allen Farm is too small, they say, to host Grey Fox, but its spectacular views of Greene County made me wish otherwise.

Meanwhile, check out the jam band in Catskill Stream:

IIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCEEEEEEE!

Grey Fox was a hopping place on Thursday. What started as haze and clouds in the morning eventually turned to sun. Though it got a bit toasty in the sun (and the Ice Man was busy), it was very hot on the main stage, the workshops and in the midway, as well.

From a lesson in dining under the tarps to the kick-off by the Dry Branch Fire Squad, the day was a marvel of activity. I must have seen at least a half-dozen bands. Topping the main stagers were the primary acts, from the Dailey & Vincent Band, The Steeldrivers and The Greencards.

My buddy, Lee adds: It’s not often that a band that follows the opening act gets an ovation, but such was the case with Swedish band Gravity. You could tell they were genuinely excited, taking pictures of the appreciative audience and pointing out that in Sweden there are only 5 bluegrass festivals, none of them nearly as large as Grey Fox. Annsofie Lindström, their lead singer, knocked over the Grey Fox crowd with a wonderful version of Me and Bobby McGee in their encore.

Meanwhile, enjoy the Greencards!