Description
|
Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival review by Lindsay Mar TN174 Dec 25 The Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival NSW held from October 24-26, and the preceding Old-Time music school held just before it on October 22-24, have become a fixture in the music festival calendars for Australian folk music fans. This year the weather was just about perfect, on the whole, not too hot, too cold, too wet or too muddy for those who remember when it has been any of those things. Three years post Covid and attendance has appeared to have recovered. For the first time, we saw that all venues were nearing peak capacity for every show with organisers having to allow for an increasing crowd with layout adjustments. Parking for day visitors is now outside the showground rather than inside it, and there will come a time before too long when shuttle buses will be necessary. However, the relocation of day parking allows for welcome adjustments to the location of some venues, leading to a welcome absence of sound leakage between stages. It was also noted that all venues are located outside of the showground ring, eliminating the pesky fence and allowing unencumbered access to nearly everything. The camp ground remains extensive and for those prepared for the maximum walk from camp site to stage, there is ample room to spread out. Of course, for those who wish to camp closer to the stage and amenities such as toilets and showers, smaller camp sites might be expected. For those not wishing to cook, the food vendors on site ranged from butter chicken curry to crepes and pizza, and in addition to the coffee vendor, there was also a dedicated chai stall. As is customary, the festival began with a dance on Friday night with the tutors of the Old-Time music school, Mike Compton, Laura Boosinger, Alan Mackie and Jaron Freeman-Fox providing the dance band and Sydney’s Judy Jones, the dance calls. The popularity of the Friday night dance was to be matched by Saturday afternoon’s bush dance hosted by Coffs Harbour band, Tallowood. Following the Friday dance, Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham delighted the crowd, as might be expected, given that Felicity is one of the most genuine Australian Country entertainers we have ever met. We witnessed the new lineup of the Bluegrass High Street Drifters, with Danny Watkins guitar and vocals, Naomi Jones fiddle, Justin Vilchez mandolin, Grant Arthur banjo and Jordy Hickey bass, who entertained their way with the Tony Rice inspired Gordon Lightfoot song “Cold on the Shoulder” to an original “Words for Leaving”. Friday’s main stage concert ended on the folk end with Cigány Weaver’s classical, jazz and gypsy influences, thereby providing the opening evening with Country, Bluegrass and Folk. Over the rest of the weekend, the Old-Time music school rendered a short demonstration of fiddle tunes and Laura Boosinger lead the school singing of the Carter Family song “When the Roses Bloom in Dixieland”. Porch Couch, Alan Mackie and Jaron Freeman-Fox did their innovative thing, with a set that included electric guitar, the Carter Family’s “Married Girl, Single Girl”, and the use of pencils for fiddle sticks. The Knackered Ramblers, Mike Compton and Laura Boosinger hosted full houses in Brushwood with anecdotal background stories to their songs, some of which were self penned. They recounted the heavy rains washing away towns during Hurricane Helena and then reminded us that Old-Time isn’t all just fiddle tunes, by recalling the Luke Smathers band who taught Laura “Whispering”, and then the Hoosier Hot Shots’ “Meet Me By The Ice House Lizzy” and Riley Pucket’s “Old-Fashioned Locket”. Geese Fly South are the best thing in Australian Bluegrass since the debut of the High Street Drifters with a stage presence that surpassed their music, which included standards “What Have They Done With The Old Homeplace” and “Daybreak in Dixie” and original songs such as “Ingebyra Tom”. Moranz and Fremlin are two Canadian players with mandolin, banjo and guitar, and although billed as Bluegrass, might be better described as PrairieGrass, complete with Canadian self deprecating “Sorry” jokes. The Borough, from Queensland, were superb as usual, countering Bluegrass classic songs “Footprints in the Snow” and “Ocean of Diamonds” with very, very contemporary instrumentals. The Haystack Mountain Hermits featured three generations of the Church family on stage and might best be described as Australia’s equivalent of the Tennessee Mafia Jugband, without the jug, straddling the space between Bluegrass and Folk. Marcus’ hot guitar in lieu of Dan Kelly’s fiddle was especially apparent when singing the likes of “Mountain Dew”. Scott Cook is a singer-songwriter who opened with the title track of his latest album “Troubadourly Yours” to a full capacity house. Fred Smith was also at Dorrigo and is always a worthy listen with material ranging from humorous songs “Ding Dong” to poignant experiences of the Afghanistan War “Sappers Lullaby”. In regards to workshops, The Good Behaviours provided their tips on learning a new tune by listening for harmony parts instead of learning the lead by rote, demonstrating using an original tune, eliminating any preconceived melody bias of participants. The Haystack Mountain Hermits gave tips on using a single Edwina microphone, including the incredibly simple reminder that the spacing of two legs of a three legged mic stand correspond with a 120 degree cardiod mic pattern, with the implication to stand and sing inside the legs of the mic stand. They then took questions on mic-ing individual instruments such as Dobro, washboard and acoustic guitar. In regards to workshops, we should also mention The Maes who must have had over a hundred participants singing in harmony, which we must think of as some sort of record, at least in Dorrigo. In regards to comments from the Old-Time music school, six year mandolinist Bruce from Bega, at his fourth time at the school, stated it was the school that brought him back to the festival, but it was the festival that had originally hooked him into the school. “I saw them (the school) rehearsing outside of Brushbox, and they were rehearsing Going Down That Road Feeling Bad and I said to my wife, that’s one of my tunes, that isn’t Old-Time, and that is when I realised Old-Time is what I actually play”. Megan of Canberra attended her first music school and Dorrigo festival this year, first learning of the school at the National Folk Festival and now brave enough to venture into the session bar, enrolled for mandolin, but found that the Mike lessons too advanced and switched to Laura’s singing with instruments workshop and watched Alan do a rhythm guitar workshop. She said “The thing that was most wonderful about the music school was just hanging with people and all doing the same stuff, you know, all just there to learn music, get to know each other, have a play, and now I am friends with all these people camped around there”. That pretty much sums up the Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival, hanging out with people all doing the same stuff and becoming friends. Thanks to the Dorrigo Festival committee for making that happen.
Dorrigo 2024 by Lindsay Mar TN167 Dec 24 Dorrigo weather on Thursday night, the night before the start of the Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival proper on October 25, cast a very powerful storm with the heaviest fog ever witnessed by this author around the northern NSW town. Thankfully, by Friday afternoon, there was some sunshine and relief from the most extreme weather. It was amusing to later spot Gail, an intensive care nurse with experience in advanced life support, jamming with a fiddle while sporting a high fluorescent First Aid vest. Beside the weather change, the next welcome sight for the Dorrigo 2024 crowd was a new ticketing entrance with a wide efficient, open, well lit marquee replacing the former narrow and historically slightly awkward ticket office, and so our congratulations to the committee. The Dorrigo festival, as is custom, kicked off Friday night with a packed out square dance in the Main Hall with Dorrigo Old Time Music School tutors, Nokosee Fields Trio and Jackson Cunningham and Kat Mear, as the band, and Judy Jones providing calls. This was then followed by two days of workshops and concerts, and we’ll speak of the concerts first. First band performance on Friday night was the Dorrigo debut of arguably NSW’s most active Bluegrass band, the Dempsey Bros in the Brushbox venue. For a good change of pace and variety, this was then followed by the Folk group “We Mavericks”, featuring twin cellos and a new album previously unavailable at Dorrigo. Over at Tallowood, the same mix of Bluegrass and Folk appeared with US duo Michael Daves (guitar) and Jacob Jolliff (mandolin) covering Jim & Jesse inspired numbers such as the “Air Mail Special”, followed by the earthy folks of the John Flanagan Trio. Following the dance in the Main Hall was Australia’s first opportunity to see the headline Bluegrass band High Fidelity: with Jeremy Stephens, lead vocals, banjo, guitar; Corrina Logston Stephens, fiddle; Ross Sermons, bass; and, James McDowell, guitar and banjo. Their high energy performance surged them through Reno & Smiley numbers and additional material from the Chuck Wagon Gang and Carter Family. But, it was their twin banjo numbers that we think would be their hallmark for this concert and indeed their entire tour. They were Corrina’s best Charlie Waller impersonation singing “Matterhorn” or Jeremy’s claim to pick like Don but then singing like Red notwithstanding. Friday night was also the chance to see the Indian Bluegrass duo “Grassy Strings” who later gave their story of Bluegrass in Kolkata, India. No kidding. Saturday concerts kicked off with performances of the students of the Dorrigo Old Time Music School. Jackson Cunningham led the mandolin students in “Old-Time Pickin’” and Monroe’s “Southern Flavour”. Fiddler, Kat Mear, and Jackson then led the singing on New River and Hazel Dickens’ “West Virginia My Home” and “I Saw The Light”. The Banjo class with Reed Stutz accompanied themselves singing “Short Life of Trouble”, before being joined by Nokosee’s fiddlers for “Wink the Other Eye”. Kat Mear’s fiddle class rendered the “Saturday Night Waltz” and “Arkansas Traveler”. Elsewhere on Saturday, High Street Drifters, at the forefront of Australia’s up and coming bands, and with much humour, recited numbers from their new EP Hobo from Boho, and standards such as “Have You Someone In Heaven Awaiting”. Montz Matsumoto entertained with some neo Bluegrass instrumentals and soothing Japanese vocals, even if we didn’t understand a word. On Saturday night, neo Bluegrass traditionalists, Michael Daves and Jacob Jolliff, had a full Main Pavilion for Monroe’s “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz” and “Mighty Dark to Travel”, a funky instrumental medley of “Forked Deer / Soldier’s Joy”, the Blind Willie McTell gospel number, “You Got To Die”, and the McGee Bros’ “Blue Night”. Switching again from Bluegrass to Folk, we saw former Bunbury but now Nashville based Jordie Lane deliver some self penned songs from his new album “Tropical Depression”. They were long humorous songs inspired by the road and touring of the USA and Australia. Sunday morning at the Main Pavilion began with the Dorrigo choir singing an acknowledgement to country, and the Safety in Numbers, about 60 members, singing “I’ll Fly Away” and “Over In The Gloryland”. This was then followed by a gospel show that included cameos from The Borough, Mary Rigby, Grassy Strings, High Street Drifters and Ashlee Watkins & Andrew Small. Watching concerts is one thing, but even if you don’t play, workshops are useful to the understanding of the music, especially when lead by those most enthusiastic about the music, the musicians themselves. A great example was the High Fidelity Saturday workshop at Kurrajong, speaking about what makes High Fidelity, High Fidelity. Corrina spoke about the influence of the Louvin Brothers on their band, and how she covertly listened to the Louvin “electric” sound when growing up in a strictly acoustic / Bluegrass parental household. Using “Kneel at the Cross” as an example, High Fidelity went on to speak about the influence of the first generation of Bluegrass on their sound, citing their approach to trio singing, which is basically a duo approach with the baritone filling in the harmonic holes left by the tenor, even it if means sometimes crossing the lead. Their twin banjo work follows a similar approach with not ensuring every note to be a harmony note, in order to make the harmony more interesting, demonstrating their approach on “Dixie Hoedown”. Questions from the audience included forward rolls in Scruggs vs Reno picking, with James McDowell suggesting “Dixie Breakdown” as a keystone to anyone wanting to unravel Reno picking. Corrina also spoke about her affinity for a fiddle style somewhere between Old Time and Bluegrass, citing Clark Kessinger, Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith and Paul Warren. There were also questions about Amazing Slow Downer and Transcribe and Kenny Baker’s swing style. The Nokosee Trio workshop was intriguing with the first questions relating to Ryan’s guitar playing. Some of the audience were also surprised about Reed’s three finger style banjo back-up, again an approach that straddled the Old Time / Bluegrass divide, with Reed making no attempt to hide the odd Bluegrass lick. Curiously, with the latter Alum Ridge Boys and Ashlee tour, all three US bands visiting Australia in October / November embraced the cross over sound that has been championed by Rod and Judy Jones of Australia for the last 50 or so years, first with their band Hotfoot, and now My-T-Fine Stringband. There was also a question to Nokosee about where to learn material and he said anywhere by ear, including Western fiddle, Classical violin, Pop vocals, and his mentor, Joseph Decosimo. Other workshops we got to visit were those of Marcus and Paul speaking of Bluegrass Jam etiquette, including joining in and choosing a key, taking breaks and even splitting solos. Katie Crane provided a flatpicking guitar workshop at Myrtle, Andrew and Ashlee taught the Carter Family song, Home Among the Hills, and Grassy Strings spoke about how they discovered Bluegrass music in India. The dates for the 7th Dorrigo Old-Time Music School will be Oct 22-24, 2025 and the 23rd Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival Oct 24-26, 2025. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
