2011 Sunday Lineup
LEFTOVER SALMON
Sunday, August 21, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Leftover Salmon, a legendary force in the music industry has recently launched an exciting new DVD, commemorating their 20 year tenure and propelling them in the "slamgrass" movement with the likes of Yonder Mountain String Band, String Cheese Incident, and Phish.
Leftover Salmon was formed by accident in 1989, when a local band, the Salmon Heads, asked members of the Left Hand String Band to fill some missing spots in its lineup. The synergy worked and the resulting quintet went on to pioneer its own genre- "Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass". After the independent release of 'Bridges to Bert' in 1993 and the 1995 live follow-up, 'Ask The Fish', Leftover Salmon gained a spot on the H.O.R.D.E. festival tour and a contract with Hollywood Records. Their Hollywood debut and second studio album, 'Euphoria', continued to define their eclectic sound and introduced many songs that would become classics for the band.
RAILROAD EARTH
Sunday, August 21, 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
Railroad Earth is one of America's greatest bands playing today, plain and simple. They sing of our nation's changing landscape and social ills with a commitment reminiscent of Woody Guthrie, while interpolating instrumental timbres that could have been pulled from Celtic or Cajun culture. And as anyone who has caught them live will attest, their concerts are imbued with the fire-in-the-belly passion of straight-ahead, blue collar rock & roll. Then there is the newest album from the New Jersey sextet, which is the most cohesive embodiment of their myriad gifts to date—hence the decision to simply call it Railroad Earth—showcasing nine new selections that draw strength and inspiration from an acknowledgment of our shared past, while also embracing new ideas and celebrating diversity. . .just like America when she is at her best.
Like their fellow musical travelers, from Bob Dylan and Gram Parsons to Wilco and alt-country chameleon, Ryan Adams, Railroad Earth eagerly embraced change in pursuit of an aesthetic breakthrough. "It was time to do something different," admits lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Todd Sheaffer. He and his band mates—violinist Tim Carbone, mandolin player John Skehan, multi-instrumentalist Andy Goessling, and drummer Carey Harmon, plus new bassist Andrew Altman—have spent nearly a decade refining their sound and modus operandi. This time, however, they elected to take some cues from their new A&R man, Michael Caplan (Allman Brothers Band, Los Lonely Boys, Keb' Mo'), and change up their game "to get a fresh perspective." The result is the band's most compelling set to date; encompassing rousing ballads and string-band funk, wistful waltzes and quirky time signature folk.
JACKIE GREENE DUO
Sunday, August 21, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Discussing the imminent release of Giving Up the Ghost, his fifth album and first on 429 Records, Jackie Greene – singer and songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player, acoustic solo artist and electrifying band leader – hesitates to spell things out too much.
"Could we leave some questions unanswered?" he asks. "So people can make up their own minds about things?" Many people have already made up their minds about Jackie Greene, the Americana phenom from Sacramento who made his first album only six years ago and has steadily built up a passionate following among both rank-and-file fans and some of the biggest names in music. Tours with a who's-who of American roots music - Buddy Guy, Elvis Costello, Susan Tedeschi, Willie Nelson, B.B. King and Ramblin' Jack Elliott among them – and performances everywhere from the Newport Folk Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival to Bonnaroo, have meant that Greene was recognized quickly by those who know talent, and who saw something rare and promising in him. Their early enthusiasm has only grown with each new album.
Nevertheless, Greene himself is less and less keen on defining himself in a world that wants him to be its latest "New Dylan." Instead, 27-year-old Greene is thinking big - about death or, more accurately, transformation. He named his new, game-changing album Giving Up the Ghost for a reason. "The phrase refers to the destruction of certain notions and practices that I used to hold in high esteem," he says. "I'm just sorta sick of being the kid with the harmonica rack. I don’t want to be Bob Dylan."
Who Jackie Greene actually is becomes much clearer with Giving Up the Ghost. The album opens with the sweeping, richly-orchestrated "Shaken," the album’s first single, which eschews the clean lines and familiar roots sound of his past. With a deliberative pace and washes of strings and synths, blessed with a memorable melodic hook, "Shaken" is a statement of renewed purpose – even though Greene is vague about what that purpose might be.
"I've always been a folkie guy," he says. "Most of my songs have been pretty standard changes, and I'm trying to not do that anymore. I want more unique changes that might not fall into that category. I'm trying to challenge myself to make the music different."
But despite those changes, Greene's passionate fans need not fear: Giving Up the Ghost also delivers plenty of the unvarnished Americana that has made Greene such a sensation. Backed alternately by his own touring band and the same crack studio band assembled by producer Steve Berlin – Elvis Costello's rhythm section of Pete Thomas and Davey Farragher, Los Lobos' David Hidalgo, pedal steel giant Greg Leisz, and fiddler Larry Campbell – Greene still brings it all back home.
And as he prepares his band to head out for another year of serious touring, Greene is giving himself and his band the same sort of license he gave himself as a songwriter. "The recording is the recording, and the live show is the live show, and in my mind that's different, it sounds way different, and that's good,” he says. "Live is still the best way to experience music, because it's pretty pure. If you want to hear something the same way over and over, you can listen to the record, but if you want to hear the song, you go hear it live. You might get a fucked-up version of the song, I might play it on the piano instead, and it might not work, but that's just how it goes."
Greene is just as philosophical about his commercial fate as the release of his fifth album looms and the pressure grows for him to sell the large numbers of records his enormous talent clearly warrants.
"I don’t know where everyone else gets that from," he says. "I don’t feel that pressure. I've stopped feeling pressured about anything, because I realized that when everyone says, 'This is it, it's going to go big,' and then it doesn't, you let yourself down. I've stopped giving a shit about that. It makes me feel better about me. If this record totally flops, I'll just make another one. I'm attached to 'em, I created 'em, but the commercial thing isn't a reflection on my art or anything else. It's its own thing." Thus freed from some of the musical, lyrical and commercial constraints he had once put on himself, Jackie Greene is pushing forward into new territory, and with Giving Up the Ghost, he is expanding his own, and others' notion of who he is. The new album features the sounds of a talented youngster giving himself some room to move, to explore new textures, surprising chord changes, and other characters that may or may not be him. "Ultimately," he says, "My hope is that these songs will someday ignore their creator and tell their tales all by themselves."
ORGONE
Sunday, August 21, 1:40 PM – 2:40 PM
or•gone (ôr'gōne) n. A universal life force, a cosmic unit of energy, the creative force in nature.
Los Angeles based band Orgone is many souls with a cosmic connection, a natural creative force and musicians who have played together for years. They are self schooled and continue to shape their musical voice as a solid unit of guys who hang, spin records and jam out their shared inspirations. With a rooted sense of funk, soul, afrobeat, deep rhythms and an intimate understanding of DJ culture as well as each others' individual talents, Orgone seamlessly slides through multiple styles and dynamic performances. The group continuously injects whatever they play with a heavy brand of raw funk power.
At the core of the band is a rhythm section comprised of close friends who have played together for more than 10 years. Having grown artistically as a unit they function as one organic and intuitive whole. The orginal 5-member band started out by putting their own gritty takes on tunes by the likes of the JBs, the Meters, Booker T. and the MGs, Grant Green and Funkadelic among many others. They quickly gained underground respect and die hard fans. With their searing live sets and original instrumentals, Orgone soon released their debut self titled CD, "Orgone," in 2002. The result was a collection of all original down home, transcendental, tough and gritty funk instrumentals.
DANGERMUFFIN
Sunday, August 21, 12:10 PM – 1:10 PM
Sit a moment with Dangermuffin's latest album, Moonscapes, and you'll hear tales of rogue lawmen, forlorn lovers, and rolling waves. Based in Folly Beach, SC, the eclectic trio casts a fresh perspective on American roots music.
Post-roots trio Dangermuffin casts a fresh perspective on American roots music. Based in Folly Beach, SC, the group is anchored by the thought-provoking lyrical wit of songwriter Dan Lotti and framed by Nashville-veteran percussionist Steven Sandifer and fluid lead guitarist Mike Sivilli. Since 2010, SiriusXM radio has been proudly spinning tracks from 'Moonscapes' on their Jam On and Outlaw Country stations to all of USA and Canada. Dangermuffin brings a new level of groove to Americana music - a punchy, folk-jam pastry with a sweet-toothed soul of the South.
MARIACHI LUZ DE LUNA
Sunday, August 21, 11:00 AM – 11:40 PM
World-renowned Luz de Luna, a mariachi group, led by Mariachi Institute of Tucson Director Ruben Moreno. Mariachi Luz de Luna is an authentic Mariachi musical group formed in Tucson, AZ, that has been going strong, with a large client base in southern Arizona for many years.