In Review: Mountain Song Festival 2014

If you are taking a trip from Greenville in the fall on Highway 276 and you take a right near Table Rock, it takes you up to Caesars Head. It is a great place to stand and breathe in the clean air and admire the beautiful colors. If you are in shape you can take a 2 mile hike and see some fantastic water falls.

For those of us who are more in tune to good music, good food and Dale’s beer, you can travel a few more miles to Brevard, around the middle of September, and you can enjoy the Mountain Song Festival. (Note — if you do not enjoy winding mountain roads, or are prone to motion sickness, you can always go up to Interstate 26 toward Asheville and catch highway 64 to Brevard).

The town of Brevard has a population of 7,500 lucky people and a main street where most of the business is transacted. If you go to the end of Main Street and take a right into the great unknown, you can follow the signs to the Brevard Music Center. It is an incredible place to listen to a concert.

I went on a Saturday. If you can get off work early, there are also shows on Friday. The weather was perfect. The hall is nestled at the base of the Pisgah Forest. There is no need to worry about the rain because the hall is covered, with two open sides. There is also plenty of room on the lawn if you want to bring your chairs.

The revenue for the festival goes to support the Boys and Girls Club of Transylvania County. This year the festival raised $70,000. Woody Platt, lead singer of the Steep Canyon Rangers, is a driving force behind this festival. He is a native of Brevard, and you can still see the name Platt in large letters on the office where his father still works.

I got there early to check out the food tents. It was a tough decision, but the crab meat sandwich and a Dale’s root beer were excellent choices. The show started at 2:00 p.m., right on time. The people who planned and executed the festival were really on their toes.

Chatham County Line was the first group to perform. The band was started in Raleigh in 1999. They have recorded several records with the prestigious YEP studios and are popular in the United States, Europe, and Canada. Members are Dave Wilson, John Teer, Chandler Holt, and Greg Readling.

One of my favorite songs, ‘The Carolinian’, was written by Dave Wilson and beautifully performed by the group. ‘The Carolinian’ is a sweet melody about a man facing a difficult decision about his imminent wedding. I will let you listen to the song and draw your own conclusion.

A song co-written by John Teer and Dave Wilson, Speed of the Whippoorwill, brings back a lot of good memories of sitting on the front porch with my parents, sister, and brother at twilight listening to the comforting song of the whippoorwills. It was sad when they cut all the trees to build houses. The whippoorwills have gone away in my world, but the song’s optimism makes me think there is still hope.

The best bargain in blue grass music is at the Isis Restaurant and Music Hall in Asheville. Shannon Whitworth and Barrett Smith are performing there in late September for 15 bucks a ticket. They were our next performers and they are well worth a drive to Asheville from Columbia to hear them.

Shannon and Barrett started playing together in 2010. I love the album they released in 2012, Bring it on Home. The title song was a big hit for Sam Cooke in the 1960’s and I think he would have been proud of them keeping his memory alive.

It takes a brave person to perform one of the legendary Paul Simon’s works. Barrett sang the lead and Shannon the harmony on the 1972 hit song ‘Duncan’. Their interpretation was worth the risk. It was a classic in itself and I have added it to my music library.

Then when you thought it couldn’t get any better, they performed the big hit of the “singing governor”, Jimmie Davis, You Are My Sunshine. It reminded me of every family reunion I have attended over the last 30 years.

‘High Tide’, the feature song on Shannon’s 2013 album of the same name, should have been a major hit. The soothing sound of her voice and the soft rhythm of the guitar gives the feeling of waves softly hitting the beach.

The Seldom Scene Band has been around since 1972. Ben Eldridge, one of the original founding members is still playing the banjo and guitar. Lou Reid, Dudley Connell, Ronnie Simpkens, and Fred Travers are newcomers. They have been around since 1996. Their album Scenechronized was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007. They are scheduled to play 45 events in 2014. That is a lot of picking.

They perform everything from ‘Nadine’ to ‘Were You There’ with an authentic bluegrass sound. Their version of John Prine’s ‘Paradise’ was a big hit with the crowd. They have a new album that was released in April this year. Long Time Seldom Scene has nice a version of Gram Parsons ‘Hickory Winds’ with Emmy Lou Harris featured.

I was really excited when I heard that Noam Pikelny and Stuart Duncan were replacing the Milk Carton Kids. These guys have credentials. Stuart won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Sound album in 1994 and 1996. He won the American Country Music Fiddle Player of the year in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004. Noam was the recipient of the 2010 Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass and was nominated for Best Bluegrass album in 2013.

They performed several Kenny Baker songs. (Baker was named to the International Bluegrass Hall of Honor). Stuart shared a nice story about buying a Kenny Baker fiddle when he was young and proudly held up the fiddle he still uses today.

It was a nice set, but I think my expectations were too high. They never connected with audience.

Now what can I say. It was time for the The Steep Canyon Rangers and they did not disappoint. Graham Sharp makes you want to ‘Stand and Deliver’, or close your eyes and you can hear the rushing water from Mike Guggino’s ‘Knob Creek’. It is an honor to hear Nicky Sanders play the fiddle. He is the best. Let me say it again. He is the best.

I don’t know who decided to add Sam Bush to the act, but they should get a medal. His energy brought the band and the crowd up to a higher level. He played dueling fiddles with Nicky and dueling mandolins with Mike. Woody was playing his guitar as fast as he could.

Then there was the finale. Noam and Stuart joined in and it was a seven minute jam session with the best bluegrass music you will ever hear. Charles Humphries played a fantastic standup bass solo. All the musicians bowed to Woody when he was performing his guitar solo. The crowd was really at a fever pitch and the musicians were enjoying it as much as they were.

The folks who planned the event and the volunteers who kept everything in order are to be thanked. It was a blast.

I think I will look at the website to see how many days it is until the 2015 Mountain Song Festival.