The Americana and roots music authority
Americana Fest wrap-up
Yesterday, on the plane back to Seattle from Nashville, I sat next to a woman who was also returning home from a conference. She asked what conference I'd been to. "The Americana Music Association," I told her.
"What kind of music is that?"
I had to laugh. It's the question which tends to follow whenever someone asks what I do for a living and I respond with "I write about folk, roots, and Americana music." I make up a different definition every time, because it keeps the conversation more interesting for me. This time, I happened to be returning home from a weekend where a single day, for example, included sets from Baskery, Caitlin Rose, Elizabeth Cook, Jerry Douglas, Missy Raines & the New Hip, Buddy Miller, Works Progress Administration, and the Bottle Rockets. Somehow distilling all that down to some kind of buzz phrase this woman would understand seemed laughable. I settled with just listing a series of genres she may have heard before, descriptors which mean nothing, really: "country folk indie alternative roots rock bluegrass." She nodded, so I take it that jumble of categories triggered something.
Meanwhile, back in Nashville, as you may guess, the weekend was packed. If you've never visited the Americana festival and conference before, let me orient you. There's the convention center, where panels meet to discuss matters like what artists should do about press releases, where Americana radio is these days, what's up with print versus online media, and where the association as a whole sits this year versus last year, among other things. Then there are five venues all over town which play host to a series of official showcases running, on average, from 8pm-1am every night. Then there are parties and unofficial shows, various other events and gatherings happening in tandem with the event. That is, more or less, a blanket summary of what went down this weekend.
More specifically, fair to say the music is central to the whole thing. The awards show itself felt a little like watching the Superfriends from their headquarters. Onstage at once for a giant collaborative cover of "Dixie Chicken" to close out the night were Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, John Fogerty, Jim Lauderdale, Justin Townes Earle, Band of Heathens, and the list goes goes on. (Miller, incidentally, took home almost every award but the Lifetime Achievement honors, scoring four out of five of those for which he was nominated, including Album of Year. He also delivered an excellent set Saturday night, elevated even further by guest stars Patty Griffin and Greg Leisz.)
But, it wasn't all about Americana mainstays. The showcases delivered a notable amount of new and emerging talent, folks whose musical tastes and styles ran the gamut from the Western swing of Belleville Outfit (easily one of the best sets of the whole weekend) to the noisy and distorted indie roots rock of Canadians Elliott Brood (another favorite). In fact, the Canadian artists were a big highlight of this festival for me, particularly those who played a sort of songwriters-in-the-round showcase during lunch on Friday: Oh Susanna, Amelia Curran, Kendel Carson, and Luke Doucet.
Still, nobody rocked as hard or thoroughly as the Bottle Rockets, who unleashed the festival's final set after midnight on Saturday. Packed tightly into the tiny basement below Grimey's record store, those of us still awake and upright enough to absorb the as-loud-as-it-could-get rockingness of one of Americana's finest bands were sent off the right way. Frontman Brian Henneman noted it feels a little bit like 1995 again, with so much great music (however one chooses to define it) suddenly pouring out of this community and so much buzz in the air. Coming to the end of such a weekend, it was hard to argue with that.
"What kind of music is that?"
I had to laugh. It's the question which tends to follow whenever someone asks what I do for a living and I respond with "I write about folk, roots, and Americana music." I make up a different definition every time, because it keeps the conversation more interesting for me. This time, I happened to be returning home from a weekend where a single day, for example, included sets from Baskery, Caitlin Rose, Elizabeth Cook, Jerry Douglas, Missy Raines & the New Hip, Buddy Miller, Works Progress Administration, and the Bottle Rockets. Somehow distilling all that down to some kind of buzz phrase this woman would understand seemed laughable. I settled with just listing a series of genres she may have heard before, descriptors which mean nothing, really: "country folk indie alternative roots rock bluegrass." She nodded, so I take it that jumble of categories triggered something.
Meanwhile, back in Nashville, as you may guess, the weekend was packed. If you've never visited the Americana festival and conference before, let me orient you. There's the convention center, where panels meet to discuss matters like what artists should do about press releases, where Americana radio is these days, what's up with print versus online media, and where the association as a whole sits this year versus last year, among other things. Then there are five venues all over town which play host to a series of official showcases running, on average, from 8pm-1am every night. Then there are parties and unofficial shows, various other events and gatherings happening in tandem with the event. That is, more or less, a blanket summary of what went down this weekend.
More specifically, fair to say the music is central to the whole thing. The awards show itself felt a little like watching the Superfriends from their headquarters. Onstage at once for a giant collaborative cover of "Dixie Chicken" to close out the night were Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, John Fogerty, Jim Lauderdale, Justin Townes Earle, Band of Heathens, and the list goes goes on. (Miller, incidentally, took home almost every award but the Lifetime Achievement honors, scoring four out of five of those for which he was nominated, including Album of Year. He also delivered an excellent set Saturday night, elevated even further by guest stars Patty Griffin and Greg Leisz.)
But, it wasn't all about Americana mainstays. The showcases delivered a notable amount of new and emerging talent, folks whose musical tastes and styles ran the gamut from the Western swing of Belleville Outfit (easily one of the best sets of the whole weekend) to the noisy and distorted indie roots rock of Canadians Elliott Brood (another favorite). In fact, the Canadian artists were a big highlight of this festival for me, particularly those who played a sort of songwriters-in-the-round showcase during lunch on Friday: Oh Susanna, Amelia Curran, Kendel Carson, and Luke Doucet.
Still, nobody rocked as hard or thoroughly as the Bottle Rockets, who unleashed the festival's final set after midnight on Saturday. Packed tightly into the tiny basement below Grimey's record store, those of us still awake and upright enough to absorb the as-loud-as-it-could-get rockingness of one of Americana's finest bands were sent off the right way. Frontman Brian Henneman noted it feels a little bit like 1995 again, with so much great music (however one chooses to define it) suddenly pouring out of this community and so much buzz in the air. Coming to the end of such a weekend, it was hard to argue with that.
Views: 15
Tags: americana, bottlerockets, buddymiller, canadiana, community, conference, festival, magazine, nashville, nodepression
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Comment by TwangNation.com on September 21, 2009 at 6:36pm -
Agreed. Standing front and center at the Battle Rockets show was ear shattering icing on the Americana cake (yes I had ear plugs!) I noticed today that the Rockets tweeted they were reviewed in Rolling Stone! Mainstream cred?! yikes! Don't let it go to your head boys!
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Comment by Mary Sack on September 22, 2009 at 7:27am -
Did you miss DADDY at The Basement?? There were so many bodies in that room, I was having visions of Great White fire codes violations. But the only pyro happening was the killer notes being played by Will Kimbrough, Tommy Womack and the band.
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Comment by Kathy Sands-Boehmer on September 22, 2009 at 7:36am -
Kim, I find myself trying to explain the kind of music that I gravitate toward ALL the time. It's so far under the radar for the majority of people whom I meet. The whole concept of going to hear live music anywhere other than a football stadium, a hockey rink, or a large outdoor theater is unthinkable to many. I try to explain who cool it is to go to a small folk club that holds no more than 100 and how you can actually get to talk to the performer before or after the show....or how insanely wonderful it is to go to a house concert and sit in a friend's living room to experience the music close-up and personal. I get blank stares when I rattle off names like Greg Brown, Hot Club of Cowtown (they giggle at the name), John Gorka, Ruthie Foster, and on and on. Nope.. all these folks have never heard of them....so I guess they equate if these musicians aren't on the pages of People or Entertainment Weekly, they can't be any good...or something. They'd rather spend $200 for a ticket to watch Paul McCartney on a jumbotron in a baseball park and pay $50 to park and $15 for a beer than come to a coffeehouse located in a church that is practically in their back yard. Anyway...just one of my pet peeves.
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Comment by Kim Ruehl on September 22, 2009 at 8:47am -
Mary - Yes, I was at that DADDY show. Can't believe I didn't mention it here! It was definitely a highlight of the weekend - shame on me!
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Comment by Katherine Webb on September 22, 2009 at 10:44pm -
As I am a huge fan of Americana Music, I must say that it does encompass ALOT of different types of music. The festival was extremely enjoyable, educational and downright fun ESPECIALLY the evening of Sarah Watkins, Sara Janesz(sp), Nanci Griffith, Mary Gauthier, Elizabeth Cook and Diana Jones at the Station Inn! I hope that during the next ten years, more of the general public will get smart about what constitutes GREAT MUSIC !!
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Comment by eD cAMPBELL on September 24, 2009 at 6:52am -
Just wanted to tell you I heard that booger eating moron, Mojo Nixon, on XM/Sirius say he talked with you at the Americana Fest and then he urged folks to check out No Depression.com.
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Comment by declan culliton on September 24, 2009 at 1:04pm -
Kim - Bob Harris from BBC Radio dedicated his show last week to the festival including interviews `with Jim Lauderdale and Elizabeth Cook... sounded super line up. Many of the artists you saw have played over here in Ireland in recent years.. Sarah Borges, Mary Gauthier (regular visitor and what an unique talent), Eliott Brood, Jim Lauderdale etc. Luke Doucet toured here earlier this year supported by his wife Mellisssa Mc Clelland, both of them are increidle artists and a really down to earth decent couple. Have to make it over there to that festival one of these years!
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Comment by Robert Dene on September 24, 2009 at 3:09pm
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That's good that you don't let yourself be pegged...keep up the good writing...
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