Kerrville trip report
Prentiss Riddle
and I thought I'd indulge in a trip report.
THURSDAY: Thursday evening was kicked off by the 1990 New Folk winner,
Mickey Cates, who sings rather straightforward country songs in a
less-slick-than-Nashville style. His new album, "Sawmillville", is
just out and on a second listening (in the car on the way back home)
his material is growing on me.
Bill Oliver, the irrepressible environmental troubador, braved the
setting sun and, sadly, made a bit of a fool of himself. His funny but
slightly goofy songs on environmental issues probably do better around
an Earth First! campfire or at a political rally than they do in a big
hot amphitheatre. I hope to catch him in a more intimate location in
the future.
Pete Kennedy, a singer-songwriter from DC, got the crowd going with
some blistering acoustic guitar work using a formula of Southeast
traditional plus flashy modern harmonic techniques.
Jane Gillman did a beautiful set of very memorable songs: "Howlin' at
the Moon" and "Song on the Radio" are the two standouts. Watch for her
self-titled cassette on Green Linnet.
I went to sleep and skipped Texas good old boys Allen Damron and Rusty
Wier.
FRIDAY: Fred Small, looking unhealthily 90's-ish sans beard, did a
good set of his oh so politically correct songs, including "Where Will
the Jaguar Go?" from his forthcoming album.
I guess I left to eat supper because the next set I remember is the one
from my fave Patty Larkin, who had the crowd going nuts with her stage
presence and her dynamite material. Her humorous number "I I I I Me Me
Me Me" is not to be missed.
Steve Earle, a cadaverous Texas outlaw, got the rednecks riled up with
raw but energetic material like "(Mama Said a Pistol is the) Devil's
Right Hand".
Then the Paul Glasse Sextet played straight-ahead jazz fronted by PG's
amazing electric mandolin, keeping a pretty good crowd even when the
rain started up.
SATURDAY: I caught part of the New Folk songwriting contest on Saturday
afternoon, which is like watching MTV in that most of the material is
not worth your while but you keep listening hoping for that one good
song. The only memorable contributions were from the fellow who
ultimately won the contest, Steve Key, a DC-based songwriter and
Kerrville campfire stalwart. His song about being out of date, entitled
"33 45 78", deserves to be played widely.
The children's afternoon concerts are getting better every year. This
year the featured performers were Houston bar duo Trout Fishing in
America, whose signature piece is a Three Stooges-influenced "Dueling
Banjos" played by a seven-foot guitarist and a five-foot bassist -- you
have to see it to believe it!. Trout Fishing was followed by the
Chenille Sisters, who you can think of as the Andrews Sisters with a
small dose of Ladies Against Women. A great time was had by kids of
all ages, and then both groups did sets on the big stage in the
evening.
Other evening acts included St. James Gate out of San Antonio, which did
a good set of traditional Celtic material (supplemented on a few pieces
by some overwhelming synthesizer work); Bill & Bonney Hearne, the
godparents of the Kerrville Festival and the only act to have played
there all twenty years; Uncle Walt's Band, an Austin string band who
know how to swing; and Poi Dog Pondering, a Hawaiian/Austinite world
beat band with outrageous instrumentation that got most of the crowd on
its feet but nevertheless didn't live up to what I had been led to
expect of them.
SUNDAY: In the afternoon I saw a repeat of the children's concerts. The
evening started with Roy Book Binder doing a perfect set of his
curmudgeonly country blues, after which I missed a couple of acts.
Then Tim O'Brien, the mandolin monster formerly of Hot Rize, did some
tasty country pop, backed by fellow Hot Rizer Nick Forster -- good to
know they're still in the saddle. Singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler had
us eating out of her hand, which was a pleasant confirmation of my
memory of her excellent set in 1990 -- I had been disappointed by her
album and was glad to know she's still great live.
Then autoharpist Bryan Bowers provided perhaps the high point of the
whole weekend. Imagine someone who can play a difficult old-timey
instrument in an immaculate traditional style, yet do both new and old
material in such a way as to make it the antithesis of a museum piece.
From his funny novelty numbers like "Zen Gospel Singing" to his
emotional autobiographical "Prison Song", Bowers had us riveted. I
intend to rush out and buy everything this guy has recorded.
Finally, Christine Lavin topped even the zaniness of Trout Fishing with
her off-the-wall humor. Personally I don't like her new material as
much as her old stuff, but she's a hoot anyway. Naturally she got a
bunch of Kerrverts to back her up on "Sensitive New Age Guys", but then
she had the sound crew slap on a tape and turned the whole stage into a
Busby Berkeley musical, complete with glow-in-the-dark baton twirling.
I'm not sure that choreography to prerecorded material is still within
the realm of what I'd call "folk music", but what the hell, it was fun.
MONDAY: We spent the afternoon in the sun for Kerrville's annual Blues
Project, now under the excellent direction of San Antonio bluesman
Steve James. In addition to Steve, guests Paul Geremia, Catfish Keith,
and Paul Liniger all talked about and demonstrated their personal
approaches to the blues. Clear evidence that the country blues
tradition is alive and well.
In the evening, Chuck Suchy repeated his nostalgic paeans to North
Dakota farm life almost verbatim from last year (imagine Garrison
Keillor without a sense of humor -- not my cup of tea). Kerrville
campfire veteran Mike Williams had us basking in the glow of his smile
as the sun went down -- he's better around a campfire, where you can
appreciate his big bear voice without amplification, but it's good to
see the grassroots Kerrverts make it onto the big stage anyway. There
was a surprise set by another Kerrville fixture, songwriter John Ims,
who is apparently having some success peddling his tunes to big names
in Nashville and LA this year -- if the music moguls have any sense
they'll give *him* a record contract soon.
I skipped out for a while to break camp and returned for a big finale
from the incomparable gods of Texas world beat, Brave Combo, who had us
all polkaing to Japanese lyrics and skaing to oompah. Suki suki suki!!!
Kerrville dictator-for-life Rod Kennedy violated the festival's new "no
encores" policy to allow Brave Combo to come back out for an extended
set and we ended the long weekend with a rush of adrenaline.
THE CAMPFIRES: Of course the real heart of the Kerrville Folk Festival
isn't the on-stage show, but the all-night campfire scene. I don't
have the stamina to do as much campfiring as I would like, but I managed
to make the rounds one or two nights. Most of what I heard was from
people whose names I never caught, but one person I should mention is a
young guy named Chris Chandler, who does very funny political material
in an energetic Dylan-meets-punk-meets-the-90s style -- watch for his
tapes.
Whew! That's only five days of an eighteen-day festival -- there are
still two weekends to go. Call 1-800-842-6156 for info or reservations.
I'll see you there on Memorial Day '92.
--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada")
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