Previously mentioned in my road trip post, my trip to St. Cloud was to attend a music festival, but I had three additional treats that day.
1st I got to spend time with a friend who I rarely see, Rebekah..... 2nd I got to meet the famous Beatles-loving, hat-wearing, cooler than cool, Phyllis: a woman I have heard much about but never had a face to a name. Rebekah had spent Friday with her and we met up at her place. I got to see her music studio, admire her wall of music cds, and listen to her darling little boy stroll around the living room singing along with the film on the TV, A Hard Day's Night..... 3rd I spent the night at a quaint bed and breakfast called Edelbrock House. We stayed in the green room in sweet little twin beds and were treated to a plate of sugar cookies and the makings for tea in our room. We didn't spend nearly enough time there but we did have a delicious breakfast Sunday morning: cold peach soup, vegetarian quiche, warm caramel rolls, and bread pudding. Plus coffee and OJ. I haven't eaten that much for breakfast since I don't remember when.
The 26th annual Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival was held on August 11th through 14th at El Rancho Manana Campground near St. Cloud. Throughout the festival there were twenty professional touring groups on the Main Stage, plus specialty shows and nightly dances in the Showcase Tent, over thirty workshops in the Workshop Tent, children's shows and activities in The Family Area, jam sessions in The Gathering Place--this was one of my favorite parts. This pavilion is meant to be a meeting place where people can get to know one another but mostly to gather and play music. Coffee is served and the impromtu music is a real treat.
My friend, Rebekah and I attended the Saturday events and we watched nearly all the main stage shows, saw one of the showcase tent events, ate mini donuts and cheese curds and corn dogs even though we brought a cooler full of treats from home to avoid the festival food... who can resist, really? We also sat in on the Gathering Place for awhile and even looked in on the dance at the end of the evening, but we were too worn out to participate.
The mainstage acts were all new to me. Rebekah knows her bluegrass more than I do, for certain. We watched The Dick Kimmel & Co., Tim O'Brien Band (pictured in the field--I liked the guitarist, John Doyle, quite a bit), Jawbone, Jack Norton and the Mullet River Boys, Uncle Earl, Rarely Herd and Pine Mountain Railroad. My favorites were definitely Jack Norton and the MRB and Uncle Earl.
Each of these bands has a website with great bio information and some even have links to hear their songs. All of them were fun to listen to. If nothing else, I found myself wondering between every song what instrument the various musicians were going to pull out next.
Jack Norton and the Mullet River Boys is a Minnesota group that certainly won me over with their performance style. They had a ragtime, 1920's, vaudeville feel to them. Not sure if I'll invest in the cd, but I wouldn't miss a live performance. You can listen to several of their songs on their website. Two I liked were "Are You Ready for a Miracle" and "Everybody Loves My Baby."
Uncle Earl is an all girl group. Each of these five women has a solo career and how they ever got together as a group amazes me since they are from all different parts of the country. You can view some pictures of them here. During their shows it is clear that there isn't a single talent with a back up band but a meshing of talents and abilities and each song showcases different girls and instruments and vocals and even some clogging. I simply loved every song they did. Wonderful. Amazing. Talented. A pure delight.
No comments:
Post a Comment