Choose your size music festivals

 

                The horn section was starting to groove as we set up our chairs in the festival tent early one morning “Yes!  Funk music! My favorite way to start the day,” I told my husband.  If music feeds your soul as it does mine, book a festival get-away.  You’ll return with legs tired from dancing and a playlist of new favorites.

The Blind Willie McTell Festival in Thomson, Georgia  

This small (only 2,000 attendees) 1 ½ -day celebration of roots music and blues near Augusta, Georgia is a gem.   Namesake William Samuel McTell was born here in 1901.  He lost his sight in early childhood but learned to read and write music in Braille and composed some of Blue music’s most recorded songs including Statesboro Blues.  Since 1992, locals of this quaint town have produced this “love fest” featuring Grammy and American Music award winners.  The friendly crowd punctuated their applause with shouts of “Mighty fine!” and “Amen!” Jerron Blind Boy Paxton added some folksy humor: “Do you know the difference between a fiddle and a violin?” “You can’t spill beer on a violin.” It’s a real bargain at just $40-50 a ticket which includes the Kick Off Party on Sept. 23, 2022 and all day on Sept. 24.  You can stay nearby in hotels and buy food on site.   https://www.blindwillie.com/

 

LEAF Festival

Taking our children to the LEAF Festival throughout their childhoods was one of our best parenting decisions.  As adults, we all still go. These October and May weekends filled with world music, dancing, slam poetry, crafts and healing arts in the beautiful setting near Black Mountain, N.C. are a balm for the soul.  This October 20-23, 2022 the festival will celebrate its Golden Anniversary with a “Best-of” line-up from the previous 50 festivals including Anjelique Kidjo, Rising Appalachia and Donna the Buffalo. The Rwanda Jr. Troupe of drummers will come to represent one of the many culture keeper programs that LEAF supports throughout the world. Fire dancers, jugglers, puppeteers, and an electrifying drum circle on the mountaintop add to the family-friendly atmosphere.  Held on the site of a boy’s summer camp, the festival offers tent sites and bunk-house accommodations.  Tickets are capped at 6,000 so there’s room to roam among the several stages in the lakeside setting of the Blue Ridge.  Sure to sell out:  https://theleaf.org/

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell  

photo by Joshua Brasted

I recently watched the documentary JAZZ FEST: A NEW ORLEANS STORY which celebrates the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival’s 50th anniversary. It reminded me of the exultation of being there: like falling into a musical gumbo. When jazz impresario George Wein began the festival in 1970, there were more performers on stage than in the crowd. Not anymore. Over 475,000 people attended over ten days last year. It was belly-to-back crowded at the main stage each of the years we attended. But there are 12 stages of jazz, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, blues, R&B, rock, funk, African, Latin, Caribbean and folk music where you can enjoy smaller crowds and excellent performances. And where else can you get festival food like alligator pie, crawfish sacks, cochon de lait po-boys and muffuletta? The foundation that produces the festival ensures that New Orleans’ culture lives on through its educational and charitable work and it was a pivotal force in the city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Although it’s not until April 28 to May 7, 2023, advanced planning is required since hotels, especially those near shuttle sites, fill early. https://www.jazzandheritage.org/



I recently learned a new work: tripophobia, the fear of not having any trips booked. Don’t suffer. Plan ahead. You’ll get the best accommodations, early ticket pricing and the added joy of anticipation.

photo by Joshua Brasted

 

A Cultural Ambassador Brings it Home

Even before she was born, Shelby Means was a musician. “My dad would invite guys over to jam and I was rockin’ out in my mother’s womb. He would play this raucous kind of guitar and I would move and when he stopped I would settle down so they knew I had something going on.” Her first instrument was the fiddle. At the age of 5 she placed second in Wyoming’s peewee division. In grade school she learned viola and guitar and sang in choirs. But when she was 14 years old she had a revelation. “I saw a woman playing the bass and I said, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s my instrument.’ I haven’t been able to put it down since.” Shelby has schlepped her 50 pound folding bass to over 30 countries and will appear at Spoleto on June 9 as part of Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway.

When she’s not touring, Shelby lives with her husband Joel Timmons on Folly Beach. Known for his popular band Sol Driven Train, he’s currently on tour with Sam Rae. They also have 2 bands together, Lover’s Leap and Sally and George, so it’s a juggling act to find time together. Somehow they manage to meet in various places and play gigs together. Meanwhile she’s a cultural ambassador, a role she finds tremendously gratifying. “It’s been one of the highlights of my musical career to travel the world, experience musical culture and share the universal language of music.” Her passion was ignited during college when she was tapped to represent American folk music at Akademicka Nitra in Slovakia. It grew when she played with the Grammy nominated band Della Mae and they travelled on 3 State Department Tours to Asia, the Middle East and Brazil. A trip to Pakistan where cultural differences were so startling was particularly memorable. “We were an all girl band and performed for a few all women colleges. We couldn’t speak the same language but we could share songs together and connect through music.”


    Molly Tuttle was the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s guitar player of the year award. Twice actually. She’s known for her flatpicking, clawhammer and crosspicking guitar prowess. “I’ve never heard Molly Tuttle strike a single note that wasn’t completely self-assured,” said guitar master David Rawlings. Shelby added her pitch-perfect harmony and bass wizardry to Molly’s band in January and they’ve been playing to sell out crowds across the country. “It’s really nice to be in a band run by a woman,” Shelby says. “It’s powerful and it’s time, especially for Bluegrass music.” Molly stings from encounters with egotistical male musicians such as a jam session where it was her turn to solo and the leader ”leaned right in front of me and pointed to the guy next to me and…just completely skipped over me.” But now “I have my own band, so there’s no one who’s going to make me feel like that guy did.” Several of her songs are written from a woman’s perspective making her an outlier in the male dominated genre. The band’s latest recording, Crooked Tree, features songs about strong women and a cowgirl duet with Gillian Welch. “Everyone in the band is extremely talented and has really creative things to say on their instruments,” Shelby says.

As the June 9th Spoleto date approaches, Shelby is envisioning playing for her growing local fan base. It’s particularly gratifying for Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway to be among the stellar acts that span genres and cultures and to represent the finest of Bluegrass music. She’s anticipating the electric vibe, the beautiful darkened Cistern, the crowd reveling in live music. “The Spanish moss draping down…it feels like it’s going to be magical,” she says.

 For more information
                                                                                       
Mollytuttle.com

On Instagram: @shelbass

www.spoletousa.org