Falcon Ridge Benefit 9/23/08 Passim

[mad baggins]

This was an amazing Falcon Ridge-like compendium of folk music talent,
which included an all-star jam at the end. The artists who played
were Vance Gilbert, We're About 9, Tracy Grammer, the duo of Katryna
Nields and Dave Chalfant, and Chris & Meredith Thompson.

It was very reminiscent for me of the Falcon Ridge "Summer in
December" tour in 2002, which featured the Nields, the Kennedys, and
Susan Werner.

Two of my favorite groups were playing last night, the duo of Chris &
Meredith Thompson and a version of the Nields, this being the nouveau
duo of Katryna and Dave, playing in this configuration at least until
Nerissa returns from maternity leave to performing some time in
October.

I've followed and reviewed the shows of the Thompsons and the Nields
for quite some time now, but I needed help with the setlists for the
others whose work was less well-known to me.

So thank you to Vance Gilbert, Brian Gundersdorf, Tracy Grammer, Beth
DeSombre, and Katryna Nields for help with this review.

The show started with the performers walking out amongst the crowd to
sing the Falcon Ridge Closing Song, a cappella --

Never Turning Back -- tutti

Chris & Meredith sang verse 1; Tracy sang verse 2; WA9 sang verse 3;
Katryna sang verse 4; Vance sang verse 5; Chris & Meredith again sang
verse 6; with everyone singing the refrains -- "Never turning back,
never turning back."

Brian and Katie of WA9 were right next to me, on my right, and Tracy
was just to my left, when they did this group opening number.

Then We're About 9 did their set --

I'm Not Going to Sleep
Nobody Flying
All the Time

All 3 songs were from their latest CD, Paperdust :: Stardust. And I
was pleasantly surprised to hear that WA9 had recently relocated to my
neck o' the woods, here in the Boston area!

Tracy Grammer went on next --

Red Dirt Girl
Crocodile Man (singalong)
Ordinary Town
Travis John

"Travis John" was written for a neighbor of Tracy's who'd died in the
war, and I told her after the show how much hearing her play that song
meant to me, on account of my family's having lost my nephew Jacob
Palmatier in Iraq several years ago.

Almost lost in the shuffle of all the brouhaha was the fact that this
Falcon Ridge Benefit was Katryna Nields' first return to performing
since Falcon Ridge itself. Her set with husband Dave Chalfant on
acoustic guitar followed --

Angel From Montgomery
Best Black Dress
Abington Sea Fair
Easy People (singalong)

All four of these songs had been completely recast to fit the duo of
Katryna Nields and Dave Chalfant, since they are usually done by
Nerissa & Katryna Nields. Except for "Best Black Dress" then (which
the two of them did at Festival for the Eno in NC some years back
during Nerissa's first maternity leave), Dave was doing all-new
arrangements on guitar, even of the Nields standard "Easy People."

And I'd never heard Katryna do "Angel From Montgomery," which was so
amazingly good I urged them to do more shows with songs like this
one. I'd only seen them do one show ever prior to this, a children's
show at the Boston Children's Museum when Nerissa was great with
child, and that show of all-different children's material was very
good too. As a duo, Katryna and Dave are just a natural together, and
although Nerissa's vocals are missed, Dave's guitar playing leaves
absolutely nothing to be desired!

After the break, Chris & Meredith Thompson were next --

Wildest Sea
Harvest Moon
Tanglewood Tree (w/ Tracy on fiddle!)
Clearwater (singalong)

C&M's arrangement of "Tanglewood Tree," as heard on Chris & Meredith
Thompson's album Clearwater and on the Strangelings' album Season of
the Witch, is different from the version on Dave Carter & Tracy
Grammer's album of that same name, Tanglewood Tree. So Tracy's fiddle
playing on this song wasn't quite what I was used to hearing her
play! But it was a wonderful musical moment, and I sincerely hope
that Tracy and the Thompsons get to collaborate on music in some way,
shape, or form, again, sometime in the future. They sounded great
together!

Vance Gilbert always cracks me up -- he is one of the funniest funny-
men ever, at least in the folk music world. Here is just a little
sample of the stage patter he was using to evoke howls of laughter
from the audience before he played his set --

"There were so many e-mails flying back and forth before the show, as
to what to do, who does what, when -- I said, "How do I get off this e-
mail list?" If I see one more e-mail from Katryna Nields, I'm going
to kill somebody!" " :-)

Here's what Vance played --

Louisiana
Stormy Weather
Rainy Night in Georgia
Sing Me Down

Vance's vocal on "Stormy Weather" sounded just like Lena Horne in the
1943 film of that same name. In an instrumental break after the
second verse, Vance did sax and trumpet solos with his mouth that
sounded, well, just like sax and trumpet! Then he did a third verse
on vocal sounding just like Louis Armstrong.

And on "Rainy Night in Georgia," Vance used what I thought was
circular breathing to hold one note for maybe over a minute, before
exploding into his upper register with yet another phrase of the
melody. Vance Gilbert is an amazing performer!

Then, to top it all off, there was the all-star jam where everyone
performed at once -- left to right, Meredith, Chris, Katie, Brian,
Vance, Katryna, Tracy, and Dave --

Gentle Arms of Eden (Vance v.1; Katryna v.2, 1st half; C&M v.2, 2nd
half; WA9 v.3; Tracy, fiddle solo; Tracy v.4; tutti on all refrains
with singalong)
Wasn't That a Mighty Storm (WA9 v.1; Tracy v.2; Katryna v.3; Chris v.
4, 1st half; Meredith v.4, 2nd half; Vance v.5; tutti on all refrains)

I thought Chris, Meredith, and especially Vance were all great on
their solo verses -- Vance was just wailing, and he changed the words
to his verse too -- something to the effect, "Black, White, Chinese,
Indian too, didn't matter if you're Buddhist, Christian or Jew -- "
followed by the refrain, "Wasn't that a mighty storm that blew all the
people away."

It was incredibly dark, but what a great song!

Then there was an incredible dark of a whole different kind, as they
turned off all the lights in Passim to do the encore "Iowa" by Dar
Williams -- just as it is done at Falcon Ridge where everyone lights
up the hillside with their lighters and flashlights --

Iowa (Brian v.1; Katryna v.2; Meredith v.3; then a long inspirational
"spiel" about Falcon Ridge from Brian while the music kept playing;
then the final refrain, over and over again)

The singalong was really great -- the whole place was just full of
voices singing harmonies, seemingly without end.

And with the lights all turned off, and people holding their cell-
phones aloft, waving them in time to the music, and singing along like
a 16-part midnight choir, it was an experience like no other. Like
Falcon Ridge! Maybe not "Iowa" on the hillside in the dark of the
summer night, but close!

Vance Gilbert, We're About 9, Tracy Grammer, Katryna Nields and Dave
Chalfant, and Chris & Meredith Thompson. What an incredible concert!

[Dan Tappan]

mad baggins wrote:
> This was an amazing Falcon Ridge-like compendium of folk music talent,
> which included an all-star jam at the end. The artists who played
> were Vance Gilbert, We're About 9, Tracy Grammer, the duo of Katryna
> Nields and Dave Chalfant, and Chris & Meredith Thompson.

> ...

>
> Vance Gilbert, We're About 9, Tracy Grammer, Katryna Nields and Dave
> Chalfant, and Chris & Meredith Thompson. What an incredible concert!
>
>

I've put photos from the show at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan_tappan/sets/72157607466296638/

[notlob]

There was no mention of Jim Henry in either this piece nor in Matt
Smith's email announcement that went out yesterday afternoon. Did Jim
perform? Were there supporting musicians?

Wish I could have been there.

[mad baggins]

On Sep 24, 12:19�pm, notlob <notlobmu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There was no mention of Jim Henry in either this piece nor in Matt
> Smith's email announcement that went out yesterday afternoon. �Did Jim
> perform? �Were there supporting musicians?

No Jim Henry -- musicians as noted -- Left to Right on the All-Star-
Jam -- Meredith, Chris, Katie, Brian, Vance, Katryna, Tracy, Dave.