Hudson Valley-based group The Jed Luckless Band released their newest album Second Lives, their first official release since 2013.
The Jed Luckless Band recorded the record live on their 2018 tour of virtual venues in Second Life and gives the listener the experience of one of their shows. The group is made up of Jed Luckless on guitar and vocals, Kenny Kaufman on bass and vocals, Mark Gutenplan on keys, guitar, and vocals, and Pete Marine on drums. The group usually live streams online or in the metaverse, but has done in-person performances as well.
JLB follows the jam band tradition, with extended improvisation and overall good vibes. The first track is quite lengthy, sitting at about 14 minutes. The title is “Give It Back > Valley Of The Saints” and prominently featured in the song are improvisation techniques, with extended guitar solos, and keyboard jam sesh. The song makes the listener want to get up and groove to the melodies.
The second track, “Road Trip > Sugar Pop” is also a lengthy track, sitting at just over 21 minutes. It is reminiscent of the Grateful Dead, with groovy guitars and stellar vocals. The group repeats the line “Going on a road trip” several times during the song, and it is a great song to listen to driving across the country as it elapses time in such a way that the listener gets so entrapped in the melodies.
Following that track comes “2,000 Pikes > Smile Forever,” featuring more vocals than the past tracks. It features pauses of silence and more of the classic improvisation style. This type of music would be great to have on in the background while you’re cleaning your house, or even studying. They are a group of very talented musicians, and they play together well, following each other’s instruments in a manner that flows very nicely.
The last track “FM Rock > By And Bye” starts out much softer than the other previous songs, with soft keyboard notes and guitar strums. The song speaks about the radio, then goes into a long jam sesh that keeps the listener on their toes.
The Jed Luckless Band’s new record Second Lives is overall a solid album featuring the classic jam band improvisation seshes, with electrifying guitar and keyboard solos, as well as drum beats that keep you swaying and dancing to the music for the whole record.
The Chapman Stick is the instrument of the absurd, of the surreal, even the extraterrestrial. It encompassed the strangeness of King Crimson when Tony Levin played it on “Elephant Talk.” It encompassed the strangeness of space when Gurney played it in David Lynch’s original “Dune.” In “Aimless,” by Chapman Stick specialist Bright Brown, the instrument encompasses the strangeness of just being alive.
Bright Brown is Alex Nahas’ solo project, where he focuses on recasting the Chapman Stick from its previous role as novelty instrument of the prog-rock era to spine of a song and counterpart to a songwriter.
Alex Nahas
The Chapman Stick was devised in the late ’70s by Emmet Chapman, a jazz guitarist who wanted to expand his two-handed tapping technique on guitar. Think of the Stick as a guitar and a bass at once, but also a piano, and also a drum. The instrument has 10 to 12 strings, each tuned differently, and no sound hole, just a long neck that can adhere to a belt loop. The fretboard is flatter than a guitar with sensitive pickups, because it is mostly tapped rather than strung.
The Stick first found its way into Nahas’ hands 30 years ago, at Pierce Community College in California, in California, where Emmet Chapman connected him with a Stick seller after Chapman gave a performance on campus.
Nahas started bringing the instrument to band practice. He was still figuring out how to use it and integrate it into songs, with not much to go off of, since the instrument isn’t really brought out in contemporary music as much as it was closer to its invention. Nahas said the Stick was often overshadowed in the mainstream because rock music was so defined by its band structure: guitar, bass, keyboard, lead singer.
“As a result, a lot of music sounds kind of formulaic, and the Stick allowed me to break the rules,” Nahas said.
But there is a new generation of Chapman Stick players swimming upstream to keep the eclectic instrument alive.
Dan “Chef” Zahal, a second year bass student at Berklee, has been teaching himself to play a Chapman Stick with 12 strings since he was a senior in highschool. He said he hasn’t been able to find any faculty at the music school to integrate his studies on the Chapman Stick into any legitimate classroom environment, but Zahal plays the stick in his band, Trophy Husband. He said part of a reason for the rarity of Stick players is because of the dizzying prospects for inventing sound through electronic music production.
“The whole technical aspect was a lot bigger in the 70s and the 80s with bands like King Crimson and Rush. It was all about who could play the coolest lines, the flashiest, the cleanest,” Zahal said. “A lot of more modern music is based on, because we have a lot of shortcuts in production and studio, who can manipulate those the best.”
In the way that producers can employ techniques from a variety of instrumental groups on an electronic program such as Ableton or Logic, the Chapman Stick employs dexterity and intricacy to create new sounds using both rhythm and melody in tandem. Because of its multifunctionality, both musicians found the instrument’s capabilities keep expanding as they study it. Zahal has been using drum rudiments in his playing recently, treating each hand — one on the guitar side of the Stick and one on the bass — as a hand in a drum line. Nahas also is inspired by the percussive elements of the Stick.
“Its very nature is percussive because you hammer onto it. So there’s that attack from the fingers,” Nahas said. “You can emphasize that and be really simple and routine, or you can move the notes around and, by playing a little lighter, make it sound more melodic.”
Alex Nahas has released three albums and two EPs under Bright Brown; “Aimless” is the first single to come from his next album, releasing in January. But when Nahas picked up the Stick it wasn’t immediately apparent to him how best to express his art with it, until he started letting the Stick lead.
“As I started writing, I thought ‘Oh, what if I approach this instrument as the core of the song, as the thing I write on, like it was a piano. And as soon as I started doing that, it made a lot more sense to me, and I haven’t put it down since,” Nahas said.
Gurney Halleck plays an Emmet Chapman piece on the Chapman Stick (called in the film a ‘Baliset’) in an extended scene from David Lynch’s “Dune.”
Nahas began forming bands around songs he wrote on the Stick, and Nahas’ playing took on its own life. While Tony Levin plays the Stick mostly on the bass side, so the sound can sometimes be twangy and rapid, Nahas’ playing more resembles a piano; it’s tender and earnest.
That tenderness is what makes the instrumental loops in “Aimless” so addicting. It’s a vague, wandering, circular song, that exploits both sides of the Stick, to fill you up with emotion and let you down easy with cathartic lyricism. Nahas started the song as just a little improvised lick back in early 2020, before the pandemic even started.
Once the pandemic settled in, the song’s lyrics took on new life: “Why take aim / because aimless is drifting / and drifting’s easier / easier brings peace / till it lies in pieces / and so we go / into our silence.”
He recorded the song and his upcoming album at his friend’s studio in Joshua Tree, California. Members of his first band, Eddie Avakian and Jamie Muhoberac played drums and keyboards, respectively; and Ava Nahas, Alex’s sister, was on percussion. This intimate group and the flat, stark, vast landscape of Joshua Tree is infused into “Aimless;” heard in the clarity of production and seen in the album’s cover art — an iPhone picture Nahas himself took on a break from recording.
“It has a real openness to it, that I probably wouldn’t have gotten writing in my tiny little apartment and recording it there,” Nahas said. “ The songs have patience to them. And, a sort of ease about them. It’s always been my goal to just let the song lead me through it.”
Fans of moe. got a dose of good news about beloved guitarist Chuck Garvey the other night at the band’s show at The Fox Theatre in Boulder, CO. In his customary pre-encore “Al.nouncements,” guitarist Al Schnier read a note from Chuck, who suffered a stroke last November, proclaiming that he would sit-in as a “special guest” for a portion of the band’s NYE performance at the Fillmore Philadelphia for the first time in over a year. As expected, the news was met with much delight.
The announcement came exactly one year to the day since Chuck Garvey suffered his stroke, and his return appearance with moe. is also significant since the Fillmore Philadelphia was the last venue he performed at on Halloween 2022. The band has yet to announce plans for Chuck to return to the band on a full-time basis.
Thank you for your well-wishes and your donations, without which my recovery would not have happened. This year has been a really long, difficult one for me, but a rewarding one, in that I learned what a person needs to do to achieve goals.
~ Chuck Garvey
The NYE performance will include an opening set by the New Haven, CT based 4-piece Eggy, and also feature The Horn Section, a 3-piece horn group featuring former members of Turkuaz, who will be performing with moe. throughout the night. The concert will follow moe.’s appearance at the North Beach Music Festival in Miami Beach, and a handful of Rob & Vinnie shows with BlueStar Radiation through the remainder of 2022.
The historic Palace Theatre in Albany will host the premiere of an upcoming documentary that chronicles the story of a legendary promoter in the Capitol Region. ‘Grapplin’ Greg: The Story of Greg Bell’ will premiere on the big screen at the Palace Theatre on December 17 at 7:30pm, and will include a live performance from Eastbound Jesus.
The evening will also feature a performance by Eastern New York northern rock group Eastbound Jesus.
Tickets are $22, which includes the documentary screening and Eastbound Jesus performance. VIP tickets are $37 and include a ticket to the documentary screening, the Eastbound Jesus performance, exclusive event memorabilia, a pre-show reception from 6-7pm with complimentary hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar and drink specials.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased or at the Palace Theatre Box Office (located at 19 Clinton Ave). Box Office hours are Monday – Friday 12-5pm as well as select days and hours for events and on sales.
Water Street Music Hall hosted a living legend when they brought in Rakim on Saturday, October 29.
Dating back to the late 1980s, there have been countless MCs making music and trying to earn their 15 seconds of fame. Among the best, according to people like Marley Marl, Dr. Dre, and Kool Moe Dee, was Rakim.
Rakim center stage in Rochester NY
Rakim burst onto the scene in 1985 as half of the duo Eric B. and Rakim and immediately gained praise and recognition as a skilled MC and lyricist. Working together until 1992, the duo released 4 studio albums, including the debut Paid in Full and their final album in 1992 Don’t Sweat the Technique, both of which were big sellers and remain highly regarded to this day.
Moving on to a solo career, Rakim released The 18th Letter in 1997 and is now touring as he celebrates the 25th anniversary of this lyrical masterpiece.
Setting up the crowd for Rakim was Rochester, NY based The Frank White Experience (Notorious B.I.G. tribute band) and Styles P., both of which were welcomed by the crowd. If you are a fan of Biggie, The Frank White Experience needs to be on your radar as they cover the late rapper with their own unique twist. Styles P played the crowd for about 45 minutes with some street style raps and eventually did a little freestyle set in the crowd.
Saxophonist and vocalist James Casey is set to make his solo recording debut with the release of a special holiday album, A Little Something For Everyone, that is scheduled to be released on December 5 via 12/23 Records.
Pressed on limited edition blue vinyl, the 7” EP offers a heartfelt Christmas collection from Casey that features two holiday staples, one funky original song and a beloved gospel hymn. Created in partnership with Nancy Langhorne Foundation, proceeds will benefit the Colorectal Cancer Alliance and Eastern Virginia Medical School’s HOPES Clinic to help provide free colon cancer screenings for the uninsured.
James Casey was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2021, which made this holiday EP project an extremely personal undertaking.
Although we had a lot of setbacks while recording due to chemotherapy, being able to make a fun, holiday record with my friends to help people get access to screening for something that I am currently battling was a no-brainer. The fact that it’s the first music released under my own name is definitely an added bonus!
~ James Casey
Vinyl production will be limited to 300 copies, with silk screened and numbered album jackets designed by Brooklyn-based artist Nate Cepis. The album will be available for pre-order on November 7 at 1223Records.com, with vinyl shipping in mid-December. The single “Christmafunk” will roll out on streaming services on November 14.
On Wednesday October 26, Renaissance made an appearance at The Homer Center of Arts on their historic Legacy Tour. Renaissance became a progressive rock band starting back in 1978 when top hits “Carpet of the Sun” and “Ashes are Burning” came out.
The Legacy Tour was a celebration for Annie Haslam’s 75th year, in celebration to Annie’s solo music career and The Renaissance band for over 50 years. The group includes Jason Hart, David Keyes, Rave Tesar, Frank Pagano and lead vocals Annie Haslam and Michael Dunford. Combining rock, classical folk, jazz, and the lead female vocal, Renaissance has maintained their musical groove.
The Homer Center of the Arts was the perfect venue for hosting the Legacy Tour. The U shaped arranged seating brings the audience together. Renaissance welcomed the crowd from beginning to end which truly connected the crowd.
Renaissance’s great success began in the 70’s, and this show made it clear that their passion for music has carried with them throughout the decades. Highlights of their success in the 1970’s included sold out shows at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall and The Royal Chorale Society, while also recording and releasing these sold out shows as live albums.
Wednesday’s show at Homer Center for the Arts did an outstanding job bringing the 70’s rock back on stage. While Renaissance still pursues their music career, fans are nothing but excited to see what’s next in store for these progressive rock legends.
Greensky Bluegrass have announced their Winter Tour 2023, featuring 16 dates with a kickoff on January 12 in Buffalo, followed by stops in Port Chester and Utica. The Michigan jamgrass band will make their debut performances at the Stanley Theater in Utica, as well as the historic Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, NJ.
They’ll bring along with them support acts including Mikaela Davis, Neighbor, Mihali, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, Railroad Earth and Holly Bowling.
Greensky Bluegrass are widely known for their thoughtful lyricism, edgy and genre-expansive sound, dazzling live performances and relentless touring schedule. Featuring Anders Beck [dobro], Michael Arlen Bont [banjo], Dave Bruzza [guitar], Mike Devol [upright bass], and Paul Hoffman [Mandolin], the five are connected through a deep bond, just as they are seasoned road warriors, they’re a band of brothers who have seen each other through decades of ups and downs, personal and collective highlights, and the moments when life turns it all upside down.
For the past century, bluegrass music has traditionally relayed real tales of American life, struggle, tragedy, and triumph. It gives a voice to the quiet, yet colorful stories woven into the fabric of the country itself. Greensky Bluegrass live these stories through their records and performances.
Greensky is and always has been very unique in our world. We put our love, energy, and focus into what we appreciate about our music. We come together as a band in a way that’s organic. We take a lot of pride in how we grow and challenge each other too. We’re maturing together. I think we get more Greensky all of the time.
In September and October 1980, the Grateful Dead did a brief concert tour of shows with three sets each, one acoustic set followed by two electric sets. The acoustic sets were the first ones the band had performed since the early ’70s aside from a few rare one-offs. The final shows of this legendary Dead tour, which yielded both an audio and video release, took place at New York City’s Radio Music Hall with the last one taking place on none other than Halloween. NYS Music, along with a strong lending hand from YouTube, now presents a look back at this holiday gig at one of America’s premier musical venues.
Bob Weir greets a raucous Radio City Music Hall to start things off and also says hello to all the “folks who are filtering in to the various theaters around the country.” This show was both simulcasted across the country, apparently, and released to the public the following year on video as Dead Ahead. Things get off to a rocky start with Phil Lesh’s amp producing some decidedly spooky feedback. So he is whisked away and the rest of the band opens with a bass-less instrumental in “Heaven Help The Fool.”
With Phil and his bass still on the sidelines, Jerry Garcia leads the ensemble through another rare instrumental. This time it’s “Sage and Spirit,” a song that appears on 1975’s Blues For Allah and was only ever played live twice, with this being the last one.
The Dead keep the rare acoustic hits coming at Radio City with the cover of “Little Sadie” that appears next, with Jerry Garcia on lead vocals. It’s a song that hadn’t appeared live since a show at San Francisco’s Family Dog in 1970 – a dark tale of murder befit for a Halloween show.
Weir then shifts the theme from “tragedy” to “tragedy narrowly averted” with “Monkey and the Engineer,” which finally sees Phil Lesh and his bass return to the fold.
“Boy we’re really having fun now,” notes Weir afterwards. Up next, the Dead grace Radio City with “It Must Have Been The Roses.” A staple of Jerry Garcia solo shows in the ’70s, it would go on to be played for the rest of the Dead’s touring career. Garcia seems to visibly enjoy this one coming to life in the Dead setting.
Up next are two Grateful Dead live staples, starting with a percussion-heavy and crisp “Cassidy.” WIth one small drum kit, Mickey Hart moves over to the congas, after previously utilizing the maracas on “Roses.” This “Cassidy,” which even elicits a bit of a jam, serves as an MTV’s Unplugged-type version of a Dead classic well before the program ever existed.
This is followed up by “Bird Song,” by far the longest and most experimental of all the first set songs. Garcia leads the way once more with a blistering guitar run and the rest of the band now firing on all cylinders.
A very enjoyable opening acoustic set of Grateful Dead music then comes to a close with “Ripple,” much to the delight of the Radio City crowd, with special attention paid to the “let there be songs to fill the air” lyric.
With the acoustic setup gone and the traditional dual drum kits returned, the Dead then go on to play another two sets of electric music at Radio City Music Hall in their typical concert format. The second begins with a vibrant “Jack Straw” that sees Bob Weir bouncing up and down in earnest at one point.
This is followed by a fairly standard run through of “Cold Rain and Snow” that gets a very warm reception from the New York city crowd at first.
Bob Weir then takes lead once more and navigates the band through “Me And My Uncle.” With the drum beat never fully stopping, the Dead then slide seamlessly right into “Mexicali Blues,” completing a popular pairing of songs.
The “first set” vibe of this second set carries right along with “Ramble On Rose.” As expected, Radio City greets the “Just like New York City” line with a massive roar of approval. Garcia graces this version with a pedal steel-esque guitar solo that’s rife with emotion.
As is their custom, Bob Weir on slide guitar then tags in for lead on the next song, a cover of the blues song “Little Red Rooster.” Garcia is playing slide as well and drops another notable solo and Brent Mydland even gets into the action a little as well with some standout organ play.
Afterwards, the Dead rip through a pristine take of “Brown Eyed Women,” with Garcia back on lead vocals and Weir and Mydland ably tending to the harmonies.
From “Women” the music then shifts almost immediately into the ever poignant “Looks Like Rain.”
The Dead then close out the second set of Halloween at Radio City with a rousing “Deal” that’s carried by the strength of two more powerful Garcia guitar solos.
To start the third and final set at Radio City, the Dead kick things off with a short but sweet “Don’t Ease Me In.”
Next, it’s time for another signature pairing of songs, with the Bob Weir-helmed “Lost Sailor” that flows seamlessly right into “Saint Of Circumstance.”
With the third set energy peaking, Garcia initiates the familiar opening chords of “Franklin’s Tower” and the band is off and running once more. Playing his legendary “Tiger” guitar, Garcia obliterates another run up and down its fret board, spearheading a brief jam that reaches a quick peak before mellowing out and devolving into the “Drums” only portion of the evening.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be video of the “Drums” > “Space” sequence for this evening, but emerging from the psychedelic mist are the opening notes to “Fire On The Mountain.” While not necessarily jammed out, it’s a clean and pure take of a Dead classic, with Phil Lesh coming in loud and clear now, his bass issues a thing of the past.
The band takes a nice, relaxed approach to the introduction of the “Not Fade Away” that follows. The Grateful Dead deliver their own bluesy take of this Buddy Holly cover, with Radio City singing along in earnest.
Instead of keeping up the pace and stretching it out, however, the tempo slows to a crawl. This sets the stage for Garcia to take lead once more for “Stella Blue” and to unleash one last gorgeous guitar solo.
As the last notes of “Stella” drop, the Dead immediately steer back into the show’s closing sequence with a blistering cover of “Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad.”
Instead of ending the set right then and there, the Dead throw in one last cover for the Radio City faithful. This time it’s The Young Rascals’ “Good Lovin’,” sung by a spirited Bob Weir in the only way he knows how. He even throws in some Pigpen-esque vocal riffing at the end for good measure as the crowd eats every bit of it up.
Weir then wishes both the audience at Radio City and everyone else around the country “good night” and the Grateful Dead encore with “Uncle John’s Band,” closing out quite a memorable three-set show in the heart of the city.
View this and more Grateful Dead shows from across the years in New York State with our interactive map below
Grateful Dead – Radio City Music Hall – New York, NY 10/31/80
Set 1: Heaven Help The Fool, Sage And Spirit, Little Sadie, Monkey And The Engineer, It Must Have Been The Roses, Cassidy, Bird Song > Ripple
Set 2: Jack Straw , Cold Rain And Snow, Me And My Uncle > Mexicali Blues, Ramble On Rose > Little Red Rooster, Brown Eyed Women > Looks Like Rain > Deal
Set 3: Don’t Ease Me In > Lost Sailor > Saint Of Circumstance > Franklin’s Tower > Drums > Space > Fire On The Mountain > Not Fade Away > Stella Blue > Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad > Good Lovin’
Produced by Brandon “Brick” Lohr and Jason “J” Hubert, the inaugural Ramble Festival held at Camp Ramblewood in Darlington, MD from October 7-9, transpired smoothly, as fans enjoyed nearly perfect fall weather near the Susquehanna, mere miles from Pennsylvania. Camp Ramblewood has held other music events, but Ramble Fest hosted a wide variety of bluegrass, brass, indie rock, blues, country, Americana and folk music from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Indiana, Colorado, California, and many other states, with fans traveling from all over the US and internationally to enjoy fun in the sun with cool nights & campfire jams.
Headlined by Leftover Salmon, Keller Williams, and The Traveling McCoury’s, along with many local and national bands, Ramble Festival had numerous activities, a busking competition, kids’ shows and play areas, yoga, charity auctions & raffles, live art painters, an on-site art gallery, and numerous clothing, food & art vendors. Art Director Lindsay Jamison and her staff of volunteers spent weeks getting the site and the art gallery in the Beer Hall ready for the event. Street Team lead Will Gibbons also ran the instrument raffle, where two fans won a guitar and banjo signed by the headliners, with proceeds donated to Backline and Rage Against Addiction.
Camping was superb. Ramblewood has 200 pristine acres on a rolling hillside, with a lake, fire pits, large cabins, and wide fields, with ample trees & grassy shade. Food & drink vending was plentiful, including local microbrews, and food trucks with typical festival fare such as pizza & burritos, as well as veggie and farm-to-table options. There was onsite parking for the thousand or so attendees (though the lot nearly filled up during the peak on Saturday night). There were a few RV spots (no power & water hook-ups), as well as car camping, but the best camping was near the stages.
Fri. Oct. 7: Abby Bryant & The Echoes, Caleb Stine Band, Kendall Street Company, Rufus Roundtree & Da B’More Brass Factory, Arkansauce, Bella’s Bartok, Big Something, Keller Williams Grateful Grass feat. The Hillbenders, Kendall Street Company & Dirty Grass Players – late-night in the barn.
Friday started off smooth and sunny, with Rufus Roundtreee and his band leading a second line march from the campsites down the hill, where Abby Bryant & The Echoes kicked off the weekend on the Main Stage. Abby is a vocalist & guitarist from Charlotte (since relocated to Asheville), who performed a mix of soul & Americana, with great instrumental work by her band & cohort in songwriting, guitarist Bailey Faulkner.
A quick jaunt up the hill and past the food trucks brought us to the Beer Hall, an indoor stage with standing room for a thousand. Caleb Stine & Band treated us to cool country with a tinge of bluegrass. Kendall Street Company from Charlottesville next played on the Main Stage, with thoughtful and often funny lyrics, great harmonies, and energetic, punk stylings, deft guitarwork, sax, and engaging vocals by lead singer Louis Smith.
Back at the Beer Hall, Rufus Roundtree, who is from Parliament Funkadelic, led his band Da B’More Brass Factory on vocals & trombone, with fiery NOLA-style, Go-go tinged funk, supported by trumpet, sax, tuba, guitar & drums. Arkansauce next tore up the Main Stage with speedy banjo riffing by Adam Collins, Ethan Bush on mando, Zac Archuleta on guitar, and Tom Andersen on upright bass.
The wildness of Bella’s Bartok engaged our feet as we returned to the Beer Hall, with fast, energetic fiendish horns, driven by lead singer Asher Putnam, with Alex Kogut on accordion, synth, and keyboards, Riley Goodemote on trombone, and Julia playing feisty washboard. Mixing sonic styles of Googol Bordello with punk, folk, and klezmer music, an amalgam of genres and theatrical sensibilities. They were a new discovery to me, and fan favorites by the end of their set.
Big Something, a hip hop pop rock fusion jam band from Burlington, NC, heated up the Main Stage at sunset, with Casey Cranford’s signature EWI and sax work driving the melodies along with dueling guitar monstrosities Jesse Hensley and Nick MacDaniels, with Josh Kagel on keys and trumpet, Doug Marshall on bass and Ben Vinograd on drums holding it down. Stylistically chameleons, they drift from tight riffs to expansive jams, sometimes evoking Lettuce, other times Lotus, and at times channeling Umphrey’s McGee, basically all over the place, with aplomb.
The incredible sound and lights apparently challenged the main stage power generator, which failed shortly thereafter, and was not resurrected until the next day. This only major glitch of the weekend was trouble, but thankfully, the production team planned generous stage switchover times, so crews had time to migrate Keller Williams over to the Beer Hall. Stage Manager George Barrick reactivated that stage, which had prepared to close for the night.
Keller and The Hillbenders treated us to his widely-popular Grateful Grass set. The Beer Hall was a bit crowded, so staff asked fans to help move tables and chairs out of the way, which quickly added enough space to get everyone inside – just in time, since the only few raindrops of the weekend fell outside and chilled the night air as temperatures fell into the low 40s. Keller & friends treated us to a fun-filled set of Dead classics, including a killer Scarlet > Stranger, and a trippy They Love Each Other back and forth into and out of Cumberland Blues, followed by a lovely Bird Song > Cassidy [24-bit SBD/Stage Matrix recording by George Barrick].
No proper first day would be complete without a late night set, held in the Ramble Stage, aka “The Barn” (a nice, cozy place to warm up as temps dropped further at night). Kendall Street Company joined The Dirty Grass Players, which was the most musicians jammed onto that tiny stage. The Barn was well-appointed, with brass chandeliers, hanging flower arrangements and festive lighting. There were two late-night picking circles, one at the Hill Camp w/ Bella’s Bartok, and another down at the Lake Camp, with Deer Creek Sharpshooters & Fishing for Hippies to end the night.
Sat. Oct. 8 – Dogs in a Pile, Arkansauce, Armchair Boogie, Dirty Grass Players, Toothless (kids set), Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Underground Springhouse, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Kyle Hollingsworth Band, Leftover Salmon, Neighbor.
After much-needed rest, I arose Saturday morning to the distant sounds of another second line by Naptown Brass Band from Annapolis, MD. I ran up the hill to meet them as they marched down into the main field and kicked off the day for Charm City Junction, towing along recently-rousted dancing campers, led by the Vibe Tribe‘s Holly Reasner.
Arkansauce fired up the Beer Hall next. Saturday Bands played with some overlap, as there were 17 or more performance on Saturday. Dogs in a Pile was another great band that all my friends recommended. They had a great turnout, especially since they started around 1pm, and many campers partied quite late the night before.
Baltimore’s finest, the Dirty Grass Players kicked it up in the Beer Hall, with some overlap with Armchair Boogie on the main stage, another new band I really enjoyed. Toothless played a kids’ set on the small barn stage. Underground Springhouse continued in the Beer Hall, while Caleb Stine returned in the barn.
We kicked our socks off to Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band (a funny name, because it’s only 3 people). Hailing from Indiana, the “Big” is for Jayme Peyton, who is a ginormous human as well as guitarist. They’re a wild country blues band, with heavy guitar shredding and “reckless” washboard by Breezy Peyton. Breezy actually lit her washboard on fire in the middle of a song!!! The band and audience had a good laugh; neither eyebrows nor hair were burnt in the process.
AJ Lee & Blue Summit, a bluegrass/Americana band from Northern California, continued at the Beer Hall, playing towards dinnertime. Heading back to the Main Stage, I wolfed down some tasty mac & cheese from Cosmic Charlie’s Grateful Grill, one of my favorite food trucks conveniently located between the two biggest stages.
Maryland native Kyle Hollingsworth (from String Cheese Incident) and his Band lit up the main stage, with a mix of organ and keyboard-infused jammy rock, tight & funky drums, bass & guitar. They played a variety of originals and classics, rearranged with speed & intensity, sprinkled with riffs & quotes from various well-known songs. Kyle is a killer clavinet and synth player, playing with percussive rhythm, electric piano and effects, his talented band adding fuel to his fire.
Ramble’s resident emcee, Libby Eddy (plays fiddle in The Jakobs Ferry Stragglers), got up to announce Leftover Salmon dressed as a giant avocado. She wrote page-long summaries of each band. As she rattled off superlatives, Vince Herman (in a blue unicorn costume) laughed and told the audience, “first time our band has ever been introduced by an avocado“! Ramble Festival founders Brick and J dressed as a tiger and bumblebee, to fit the costume theme, “furry creatures”.
Another favorite band, Neighbor (founded by Pink Talking Fish’s keyboardist Richard James), capped off Saturday night in the barn, followed by late-night campfire jams by Fishing for Hippies, Caleb Stine, Annie Sellick, and Pat Bergeson.
Sun. Oct. 9 – Travers Brothership, Country Current, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Woody! kids set, Neighbor, Bella’s Bartok, Busking Competition, Empire Strikes Brass, Armchair Boogie, Pink Talking Fish, The Travelin’ McCourys, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Arkansauce, & Armchair Boogie – late-night in barn.
Travers Brothership, based near Asheville, started the last day off with searing blues guitar intensity by frontman Kyle Travers, who formed the band with his twin brother and drummer, Eric. They’ve played all over the US & Europe, and are widely praised. Their new album is slated to be released next year, so they played a song or two off their new album.
The bluegrass band, Country Current, is the US Navy’s official band, formed in 1973. They’ve played for Presidents Bush, Clinton, Obama, and have toured nationally as well as overseas. They are all Musician Petty Officers, wearing their uniforms proudly on stage in the Beer Hall, playing guitar, banjo, bass, drums, fiddle, mando, and pedal steel guitar.
AJ Lee and Blue Summit returned to play the main stage, followed by Muskrat Flats in the beer hall, and another special kids’ set by Woody!, who is Jon Wood of Dancing Bears, ELM, Psycho Killers, and other Baltimore-based bands. His 7-yr-old daughter Ella helped her dad set up his mic and danced with her friends and other kids in the barn.
Neighbor treated us again to another tasty set on the main stage in the mid afternoon, followed by another wild dance party by Bella’s Bartok in the Beer Hall. The horn-heavy Empire Strikes Brass hit the main stage in the afternoon, and Armchair Boogie returned to the Beer Hall to close out the afternoon.
Pink Talking Fish brought resounding thunder and intermingling of songs by Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and Phish to the main stage, as a massive flurry of bubbles filled the air and caught the brilliant light trackers scanning over the field, filling it with geometric patterns and a spectrum of color.
Emcee Libby Eddy introduced The Traveling McCourys as “the best band on the planet!!!” – the final headliner set of the weekend. This long, wonderful weekend of music ended with a joint collaboration between AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Arkansauce, and Armchair Boogie, packed into the barn with as many fans as could still stand or dance, with a couple more campfire jams that lasted until 3 or 4 am.
Few festivals are successful upon inception, but through great planning, Ramble Festival attracted over a thousand people to its first annual event. They sold a hundred tickets at the “steepest discount” to fans on site.
“It takes a village”. I met dozens of staff, volunteers, artists, campers, production crew from Harford Sound, lighting engineers, photographers & videographers, vendors, artists, medical personnel (Bear Care), and vendors. There were zero injuries or problems, nobody got stuck in the mud, the weather was absolutely perfect, and the camping is the best of any music event I’ve attended. Everyone was friendly, helpful, fun, and smiling all weekend.
Brick and J are music lovers first and foremost. They hired a skilled team, adept at multiple roles. They asked their friend Phil Chorney (Charm City Bluegrass) to recruit a wide cast of musicians from all over. Skilled directors & coordinators were carefully chosen for Volunteers, Artists, Hospitality (Sandee Taylor), Marketing (Kelsey Riegger) and Media Coordination (Zach Ubaldini), as well as staff photographers Chris Gamber among many other pros.
Some of these bands I’d heard about, and saw them for the first time at Ramble Festival, a sentiment shared by many fans. I’ve seen all the headliners multiple times, which got me interested when J told me about Ramble at B Chord. I did some research on only a few of the bands I hadn’t seen, which left the rest as pleasant surprises.
Ramble Festival was quite smooth, even though it’s only in its first year. Everyone felt like family, with an atmosphere reminiscent of Catskill Chill, Bear Creek, and High Sierra Music Festival. Brick, J, Phil, and their wonderful cast & crew deserve accolades for making Ramble the best music and art experience of the year.
