It seemed as though a town meeting was mustering at EMBARK@EMC as the locals, family, and friends poured in from the clammy cold street to help Fred Gillen Jr. celebrate the release of his ninth studio album Wage Love on Feb. 8. From the outside, EMBARK’s space at the Energy Movement Center is just like any other small-town storefront, that evening decked out with posters and artwork for the show and a well-placed portrait of Pete Seeger to greet folks as they came in.
The show started off with a few songs from Philadelphia based street performer, Laura Bowman, who contributed vocals to the album and joined Fred and his band (also composed of contributors to the recording) later in the evening. It was the first time for many at the show to hear Bowman but its a name they’ll remember for years to come – her beautiful dynamic singing and accompanying guitar work fueled by an engaged audience is something to not be taken for granted.
A performance like this made for an exciting and enjoyable first listen to the album through a live re-enactment of it. The CD itself is skillfully composed, and hearing it first through a live performance adds a connection with the spontaneity of Fred’s style and jest – something liner notes cannot do. The first impression of Wage Love is much more vivid than that of listening at home. Fueled by a potluck-spread of snacks and goodies, the audience fed a communal energy into the room – singing along with and becoming engaged in the music – in feedback to the lyrics, soul, and music generated from the auspices of the American flag hung on the curtains behind the band.
Joining Fred was the same crew that backed him up on the album – Laura Bowman on vocals, Paul Magliarli on drums, Matt Turk on guitar and mandolin, and Jeff Eyrich on bass.
The album itself is political yet not dreary. Fred’s style, which throughout his compositions brings a fresh sound to the traditional folk and Americana music setting, lends a net of optimism to topics (worker’s rights, war, government) that tend to sometimes stir a sense of gloom. As a token to the lesser-sung songs of the working American and undermined heroes the album starts off with “Walking Down That Freedom Highway” – written to the tune of Woodie Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” – and ends with “I Dreamed I Saw Pete Seeger” – a hymn to the unparalleled spirit we lost in 2014 sung to the air on part of “We Shall Overcome,” a staple of Seeger’s songbook.
The setlist included Wage Love from start to finish and an encore of two songs from previous albums – “This Old Car” and “Devil’s Bluff.”
Key Tracks: Killing Machine, We The People, I Dreamed I Saw Pete Seeger
All transplants to the area, they now define progressive bluegrass in the Adirondacks. But with two album’s, Rabble Rousing and This Train is Made of Wood and Steel, they have been spreading their blind owl wings to festivals and towns throughout the Northeast. Their musical style is blue-streak fast and furious tempos with impressive instrumental dexterity, then fall back into old-time string band stanzas. Experienced live, they move, twist and turn, fingers a flying, bass a spinning and the audience pressing closer to the stage, dancing and feeling the joy of what is The Blind Owl Band. Hoot!
Funky, wild, free yet so organic is the groove that the only primal thing you can do is move. Let other bands do covers, this band has captured a unique sound that has propelled it from busking on subways to hitting the top numbers on Billboards jazz charts and packing dance halls around the country. Picked up by Mike Doughty (formerly of Soul Coughing) when he saw them play in the subway and liked them so much that he had them open for him on a national tour. The Moon Hooch phenomena has just grown from festivals, to pastures, to museums, to cooking vegan in the van, to inducing alpha brain waves in the audience. They just released their second Album, This is Cave Music, and they are an act not to be missed. Photos from their show at The Waterhole at the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival as well as prior to the show,with a giraffe.
One can see why they have been welcomed with such great acceptance in blues-aware England and played with T-Model Ford in the Delta. They have been awarded first place in the On The Rise competition at the 2014 Floydfest and are currently number one across the board on 
Touring in support of Phosphorescent Harvest The CRB, as they are known by their fanbase, played a few highlights of the album with “Meanwhile in the Gods…” and “Jump the Turnstiles” in the first set. The band was tight throughout the evening, which was great to see as they are breaking in new drummer Tony Leone. Sometimes when bands change members it takes a while to gel as a group, but The CRB was in fine form. Chris Robinson was in vocally great, as he always is, and even showed off some impressive guitar playing from time to time. Neal Casal handled much of the work on the guitar and it was wonderful to listen to his playing all night. He can solo with the best of them, but can also intricately shape songs without taking over the whole sound. “Tulsa Yesterday” closed the first set out with a thrilling jam that was a preview of what the meat of second set was going to be.
After a short break they came back out and hit the ground running with “Try Rock & Roll”. Everyone in Bearsville was tuned in to what the band was giving them and smiles were seen on everyone’s face, including the band between songs. Adam MacDougall seemed to be steering the jamming ship throughout the second set with some great work on the keys. The psychedelia was strong from his side of the stage and only pushed the others to join in. Chris Robinson is of course no stranger to that sound, so it was easy to see why he recruited Adam into the band. Mark Dutton may have gone unnoticed by many throughout the evening on the bass, but he has mastered being the grounding sound during the intense jams that happened. The biggest jam of the night took place during “Vibration & Light” that bled into “Hard to Handle” with a beautiful transition. The two songs were great, but the middle area where the band got weird and just jammed for a while was the clear highlight of the evening. This was followed by “Rosalee” where they once again went off the rails of the traditional song and let the space around them dictate where the song would go. Coming back with a live debut cover of Van Morrison’s “Call me up in Dreamland” was a fitting end to the evening.
Set 1: Good Rockin’ Tonight, Jump the Turnstile, Shore Power, Roane Country Blues, Star or Stone, Meanwhile in the Gods…, Tulsa Yesterday