Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: Artist Associations
Each year I scan the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass line up to see what names pop out. Who can I get stoked about seeing? How to plan my day around who's performing? Truth be told, I don't usually recognize a lot of the performers, but when I do I latch on and think, ooh yeah, that's who I'm gonna see! Nick Lowe, Patti Smith, Dwight Yoakam, Gillian Welch to name just a few.
And too often, when I land in Golden Gate Park, blanket and food and drink in tow, ready to hear the artists I've wrangled to see, I'm disappointed. This is what I call mindless artist association.
I do not like Nick Lowe. I didn't know that. I liked him when everyone liked him because everyone liked the song Cruel to be Kind. To be honest, I liked Letters to Cleo's cover even better in 10 Things I Hate About You. So as I sat down with my friend Tina to settle in for Nick's set this year and heard his first two songs we looked at each other, packed back up the wine and cheese, and jammed off to catch the end of Dwight Yoakam.
Now Dwight does a sweet little cover of Crazy Little Thing Called Love. And I've seen him in some movies. So naturally I'm thinking, gotta check him out! We made our way through the crowds in time to hear his last two songs which were decidedly better than Nick's but nothing that got me jumping on my feet and certainly nothing that I recognized, not even a cover (that I knew) to close the set. What's up with that, Dwight?
Fortunately, thanks to happenstance and friends' recommendations, I discover new bands that I like each year, new names to look for in future HSB lineups. Punch Brothers, Robert Earl Keene, Del McCoury Band. And it's always a plus to look for the killer line-up: Doug Sahm's Phantom Playboys with Dave Alvin, Steve Earle, Delbert McClinton, Boz Scaggs, and Jimmie Vaughan. Now of course I didn't know who Doug Sahm is (was, RIP) but I'd heard of most of them individually. Couldn't name one song any of them ever sang but I knew they were HSB all-stars and chances were good that a band like this would rip off an inspired set. Which they did.
Of course, back to my pattern of following artists based on mindless associations, we caught Patti Smith (I know her from her autobiography, her one song Gloria, and her friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe who always intrigued me) who seemed meh after the Del McCoury Band. Not worth jumping off the blanket for.
But by the end of the last day, the band I truly wanted to see - another all-star mix of Keller Williams (stumbled across his music in April and loved!), Steve Kimock (Zero) and Kyle Hollingsworth (String Cheese Incident) with some other guys I've never heard of - delivered huge! As the day turned to dusk and they were the last band performing, the crowds gathered to dance, drink the last of the wine, smoke the last of the weed and sing along. They played one of my favorite funky jams, Freaker by the Speaker, before closing it out with a cover of Women are Smarter and like that I was back at a Dead show twirling and smiling and tapping my hands along with the music. They were AWESOME.
It ain't me
It's the people that say
Men are leading the women astray
But I say, it's the women today
Smarter than the man in every way
I can tell you right now if I'd managed to get to all the bands I thought I wanted to see - I don't doubt I would've been disappointed by the Cowboy Junkies (they did that Sweet Jane cover and um...?) and Robyn Hitchcock (know the name, can't think of a single song , random 80's association and....?). But seriously, how disappointing is being at a free show in the park on a beautiful fall weekend with a multitude of choices for music and a chill, entertaining crowd? Not disappointing at all.
Thank you Warren Hellman.
And too often, when I land in Golden Gate Park, blanket and food and drink in tow, ready to hear the artists I've wrangled to see, I'm disappointed. This is what I call mindless artist association.
I do not like Nick Lowe. I didn't know that. I liked him when everyone liked him because everyone liked the song Cruel to be Kind. To be honest, I liked Letters to Cleo's cover even better in 10 Things I Hate About You. So as I sat down with my friend Tina to settle in for Nick's set this year and heard his first two songs we looked at each other, packed back up the wine and cheese, and jammed off to catch the end of Dwight Yoakam.
.JPG) |
| Del McCoury Band |
Fortunately, thanks to happenstance and friends' recommendations, I discover new bands that I like each year, new names to look for in future HSB lineups. Punch Brothers, Robert Earl Keene, Del McCoury Band. And it's always a plus to look for the killer line-up: Doug Sahm's Phantom Playboys with Dave Alvin, Steve Earle, Delbert McClinton, Boz Scaggs, and Jimmie Vaughan. Now of course I didn't know who Doug Sahm is (was, RIP) but I'd heard of most of them individually. Couldn't name one song any of them ever sang but I knew they were HSB all-stars and chances were good that a band like this would rip off an inspired set. Which they did.
.JPG) |
| Yes, they were naked. 2 in a sea of thousands. And cute - in that Woodstock, Summer of Love way. |
But by the end of the last day, the band I truly wanted to see - another all-star mix of Keller Williams (stumbled across his music in April and loved!), Steve Kimock (Zero) and Kyle Hollingsworth (String Cheese Incident) with some other guys I've never heard of - delivered huge! As the day turned to dusk and they were the last band performing, the crowds gathered to dance, drink the last of the wine, smoke the last of the weed and sing along. They played one of my favorite funky jams, Freaker by the Speaker, before closing it out with a cover of Women are Smarter and like that I was back at a Dead show twirling and smiling and tapping my hands along with the music. They were AWESOME.
It ain't me
It's the people that say
Men are leading the women astray
But I say, it's the women today
Smarter than the man in every way
I can tell you right now if I'd managed to get to all the bands I thought I wanted to see - I don't doubt I would've been disappointed by the Cowboy Junkies (they did that Sweet Jane cover and um...?) and Robyn Hitchcock (know the name, can't think of a single song , random 80's association and....?). But seriously, how disappointing is being at a free show in the park on a beautiful fall weekend with a multitude of choices for music and a chill, entertaining crowd? Not disappointing at all.
Thank you Warren Hellman.
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