Photos by Rex Thomson, click here for a few accompanying videos as well
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With the end of another long winter the cycle of life begins again, as the world embraces spring, and the live music lovers embrace the first big festival of the year, The Suwannee Springfest held in Live Oak, Florida. Celebrating its fifteenth anniversary, Springfest has been growing itself, with new acts being embraced along with the Bluegrass, Roots and Americana music that has been a staple of the Festival since inception. With national chart topping acts like The Avett Brothers joining mainstays Donna the Buffalo, The Travelin’ McCourys and so many more filling the four day bill with the music of the heartland there was something for everyone in attendance. Despite the late march start time, attendees were treated to high temperatures, nearly nonstop sunshine during the days and a vast blanket of stars at night over the majestic Spanish moss covered Cypress trees that fill the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park. The Park, which hosts a variety of festivals nearly year round, seems an appropriate place to host the first camping festival of the year. The sunny weather in Florida allows dedicated music junkies a chance to shake off the winter blahs and get their feet moving and blood pumping steady again!
Kicking off the party on Thursday, the four stages around the campground were already humming with activity. As you enter the Park you drive past rows of cabins for rent, as the park is a year round functioning vacation spot, in addition to being a first rate music venue. A large music hall is located towards the entrance of the park, and houses two stages on the opposite walls, providing a showcase for bands Two Foot Level and Adele Cotton to share their songs. Outside, in the still cooling early evening, the Carolinas were well represented by the first sets of the weekend by Larry Keel and the Natural Bridge and Scythian. Larry Keel delighted the early entrants with his flat picking guitar fireworks while Scythian revved up the crowd with their high energy blend of Irish and American folk music. On the second permanent outdoor music platform, affectionately dubbed “Uncle Charlie’s Porch Stage,” Greensky Bluegrass played their first of two sets, riling the crowd with their mix of traditional instrumentation and modern songwriting styles. Following them was the Motet, a palate-cleansing rock funk hybrid act from Colorado that took an excited crowd one step beyond.
Friday
Waking up to the sun filtering down through the tree tops and the sound of children laughing is as pleasant a change from the harshness of an alarm clock as possible. As the first music of the day starts, the fans come streaming in, eager to hear bands like…The Honeycutters, Trampled by Turtles and The Steep Canyon Rangers. The Steep Canyon Rangers are enjoying a surge in notoriety at moment as they have been tapped to back up Steve Martin’s nationwide tour in support of Martin’s album Rare Bird Alert. A treat all by themselves, the Rangers played a set of music that could have just as easily existed a hundred years ago, yet was just as vital as anything being done in any era. After just a few songs, it’s easy to see how these skilled players scored such a high profile gig.
Legendary Jerry Garcia sideman and member of Garcia’s Bluegrass super group Old and in the Way, mandolinist David Grisman, took the amphitheater stage by storm, the ever present ghost of his late collaborator smiling as the crowd raised themselves to dance in the late afternoon sun. In the vast field located near the front of the park was the Meadow stage, and had the sizable one-two punch of powerhouse groups, Cornmeal and the second set from Greensky Bluegrass.
Cornmeal, the Chicago based progressive bluegrassers featured a powerful rhythm section, counterpointed by the trio of guitarist, Kris Nowak, banjo player Wavy Dave and fiery fiddler Allie Kral. The sun had set by the time Cornmeal kicked off their show, and had several of their popular originals and an inspired cover of ”Bennie and the Jets” to close out their portion of the show. Greensky Bluegrass followed and, having just finished a run of co-headlining concerts with Cornmeal, invited a few of the members out with them to close out the stage for the evening with a very well received cover of “I Know You Rider” (a song long associated with the Grateful Dead). When asked about what brought them to Bluegrass, Greensky’s Dobroist Anders Beck mentioned The Dead specifically, saying their more rootsy tunes brought him into it. “They don’t get enough credit for all the people they brought into bluegrass” opined Beck.
That mixture of rock and bluegrass (among many other influences) that the Dead possessed lives on in many modern bands, including the String Cheese Incident. Founding member Billy Nershi, alongside Leftover Salmon’s mandolinist Drew Emmitt formed the Emmit-Nershi Band to explore their Americana music roots. Using their Friday night set as a showcase for their fellow Colorado-based players, the stage steadily filled throughout their performance, while Nershi’s SCI band mate Michael Kang sitting in for the entire night. By the end of the evening, twenty players had formed a massive line, taking turns taking the lead for a twenty minute blow out version of the String Cheese classic “Jellyfish.” Though their set was the last “official” music of the evening, all across the spacious camping areas, the players on the bill joined with the many musicians around campfires and under the many pavilions. In the dark it was hard to tell who you were hearing as you approached, but magic melodies were the same nonetheless.
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