August means Roots and Blues time. As I usually say, it's one of the highlights of my summer. And, as usual, I only get one day to take it in. Sunday, August 21st.
This year, I was a bit more prepared for the festival. I took the time to pick up a portable chair I could easily pack around, to save wear and tear on my feet from standing all day. I also picked up a portable phone charger so I could take more photos and videos. Turned out that was a great idea, and I got video from almost every band I saw, which I'll be embedding in this blog.
Saturday at the festival was blisteringly hot, up to 36 Celsius. Sunday was cool and cloudy, windy most of the day. The sun started poking through the clouds just as it began to dip behind the mountains, so it was a very nice and cool day with very little oppressive heat. It got very cold once the sun went down though.
I got to the fairgrounds around 12 noon. I always have the best of intentions to get out of Kamloops by 10 AM, but those plans always get dashed. Eh, I'm used to it. After checking the schedule, I decided to go to the Barn Stage to catch the Latin Quarter workshop. The workshops are usually really entertaining, bringing together musicians in an impromptu jam with a theme of sorts. This one was hosted by Joe Craven, who's a mandolin player from the States, who equally adept at folk music as he is at jazz. He led the other performers, classical/world fusion band Quartetto Gelato and Salmon Arm's own gypsy jazz band the Willy Gaw Quartet, though some Django Reinhardt inspired tunes. It looked to me that, outside of Craven and Willy Gaw, the rest of the performers hadn't had much experience improvising on stage. Quarteto Gelato only half heartedly pitched in until it was their time to play, where they did a nice Eastern-European inspired tune that everyone played along to. Craven was a joy to watch on mandolin, and when that didn't fit in, he eagerly joined in on a pair of bongos. Good start to the musical day.
I went to the Blues Stage next, hauling out my newly acquired portable chair, which was a great purchase. Here we had a set from Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett, both ex-members of the legendary roots rock band Little Feat. Both were seasoned musicians, clearly well versed in their music. While their style started clearly in the blues, Tackett often played the mandolin on stage, which added a bluegrass style to the blues, which was a real treat. Their music was subtle in instrumentality, but very southern in lyrics, with a boozy rhythm riding underneath the intricate picking that they brought to the music. This was a set that had many layers to enjoy, and was quite laid back. Very nice late morning music.
I had a bit of lunch, then headed over to the Shade stage, where I spent most of the rest of the day. Another workshop, this one called From Gravestones to Touchstones. This one was more on the blues end, with Vancouver's Paul Pigat leading things. Pigat is a country guitarist, but also played in the rockabilly band Cousin Harley and in the old time folk band Boxcar Campfire. He was joined by Manitoba's Brent Parkin, a blues/rockabilly player and singer, Martin Harley, a rootsy blues player from the UK, and some of the members of Vancouver gospel group The Sojourners. The Sojourners, I saw with Jim Byrnes at Salmon Arm a few years ago. Pigat and Parkin I also saw the last two years at Salmon Arm. I was really interested to see Martin Harley, who's last album was a wonderful take on blues that the British often take on it, a few degrees separated from American blues with a UK folk feel, The workshop went better than the first I saw, with the players more comfortable picking up off of each other. Pigat and Harley were the stand outs here.
Sticking by the Shade stage, I waited on Jerry Lawson, a soul singer who worked with the Persuasions in the past. Parkin stuck around to lead the band, with Lawson coming onto the stage leaning on a cane, and sitting for the entire set. Lawson was an amazing singer, deeply soulful and deeply moving. You got a sense from him that he meant every work he sang, and he punctuated his songs by repeating some of the lyrics afterwards, often with a “Oh Lord”. When he said to the crowd, “God Bless You”, you felt he really meant it. This was a God-fearing soul singer who grew up in the church. He tackled some originals, and also did a stirring rendition of “Blueberry Hill” and “Georgia On My Mind”, ringing from someone who had actually played the song with the legendary Ray Charles. This was a highlight of the festival for me, truly inspirational and moving music!
Next on the Shade stage, a band I've wanted to see for years, but always missed them playing at Salmon Arm: DiggingRoots. They're an First Nations band from Ontario that blends rock, blues, folk, reggae and First Nations music. Their sound is truly unique. Raven Kantakta sang like a 60s rock and roller, and played guitar with wild abandon. His wife Shoshona Kish had a more poppy and folky vocal approach, which made some great accompanying vocals. Their son played percussion and a Grandfather drum, a First Nations drum that could only be played by men. Just before their last song, the clouds began to drift away and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds for the first time. At the crescendo of their set, they invited several men from the audience to play the drum, while the rest of the band jammed, with Shoshona coming out into the audience to get the crowd circling in a huge round dance! This was the most inspiring thing I saw the whole day. Amazing concert!
By this time, it was time for the Main Stage and the Barn Stage to start hosting the late afternoon and night performers. On the Main Stage, Vancouver/Mexico Latin/roots band Locarno started things off. Locarno is fronted by Tom Landa, who used to play with the Latin roots band The Paperboys. Locarno drew influences from traditional Mexican music, with mariachi horns, and South American styles like the mambo and cumbia. They had a light hearted style to them. I listened while chowing down on my traditional Festival dinner, a donair. I think it's been a year since I ate a donair at the last festival!
Back to the Barn stage, where I caught the last few songs from blueswoman Samantha Martin and her band Delta Sugar. She had a unique style, focusing on vocals. He sang and played the guitar flanked by two other soul singers belting out vocal accompaniment. There was a mix of soul, blues, roots and old time R&B here, with Martin having a true blues belter voice similar to the late Etta James. They were super fun!
The New Orleans Suspects were up next, an all-star band of New Orleans players, featuring Mean Willie Green, the long time drummer for the Neville Brothers. New Orleans music is wonderful in it's simplicity and for its ability to play off of different styles. You'll hear Dixieland styles, gritty Delta blues and driving funk in their music. This was music for a street party and dance. They were great music to have around to go with the swiftly setting sun.
My last concert of the night was Jarekus Singleton, an up and coming American electric blues player. He started with Albert King's “Born Under a Bad Sign” before diving into his own catalogue. Every song he did was a bruising style of electric blues with funk undertones, with Singleton himself driving into a five minute solo pretty much every song. Watching him was exhausting. The music was very loud too, much like when I saw Buddy Guy, he was extremely loud for playing on an outdoor stage. This style of blues isn't really my thing, the soloing gets tiring after a while, but it's apparent that Singleton is an amazingly talented guitarist.
With the constant wind, the whole day was amazingly cool and I rarely found myself tired out from walking around or from being in the sun. Another perk was that they wind kept away the mosquitos and wasps that usually come out of hiding when the sun went down. Only negative to the day's festivities was a guy that ran up and screaming into my phone camera when I was filming Jarekus Singleton.
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