Rhythm & Roots

August 29-31, Ninigret Park, Charlestown, RI

www.rhythmandroots.com

 

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So many performers at the 17th annual Rhythm and Roots Festival proclaimed it among the best festivals that they had played that one began to realize that they just might be right. Located on the acreage of Charlestown, Rhode Island’s coastal Ninigret Park, from August 29-31, the three-day festival offered everything one could desire including great food (I had a delicious seafood salad sandwich that included chucks of lobster, shrimp, and crab). There were swings, slides, and climbing structures for youngsters, a lake for cooling off. An eclectic range of roots music from the United States and Canada, including blues, bluegrass, western swing, ja m band, Cajun, Zydeco, New Orleans R&B, Cape Breton fiddling, Quebecois folksongs, and the traditional Celtic/Francophone music of Prince Edward Island, kept five stages jumping.

Co-producers Chuck Wentworth and Mary Dowd have brought the Rhythm and Roots Festival a long way since it emerged from the ashes of the Cajun and Bluegrass Festival of the mid-1980s and early-90s.

The weekend kicked off on Friday afternoon. The dance tent radiated with ninety-minutes sets of Cajun two-steps and waltzes by the Pine Leaf Boys and Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys and the Americana-rooted jams of Donna the Buffalo. A heritage tent spotlighted the Canadian roots music of Prince Edward Island’s Ten Strings and a Goat Skin, Quebecois folksinger Yves Lambert and his trio, Perth-Andover-born folk/blues singer Matt Anderson, and Winnipeg-based folk-fusion band, The Duhks.

A large main stage was the site of much of the weekend’s highlights. The diversity of Americana music provided the theme on Friday. Red Dog Run, a new alt-stringband group featuring Richie Stearns (Horse Flies) and Donna the Buffalo veterans Jim Miller, Rosie Newton, and Jed Greenburg, opened, followed by local favorite (and now Nashville-based) Janis Joplin-esque vocalist Sarah Potenza. Former Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen guitarist/vocalist Bill Kirchen, and Too Much Fun, treated a dancing crowd with truck driving songs, western swing, and inspired rockabilly. Multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons came next. Accompanied by a jazz-influenced standup bass player and drummer, the ex-Carolina Chocolate Drop brought new life to the earliest sounds of African-America. Blending country music and pop, Florida-born Elizabeth Cook followed with her first of two main stage sets.

The evening concluded with the hill country strains of the Travelin’ McCourys (with bluegrass legend Del McCoury’s sons, Ronnie (mandolin) and Rob (banjo), with Jason Carter (fiddle), Alan Bartram (bass), and Cody Kirby (guitar)), joined on several tunes by Nashville singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale.

Two additional stages added to Saturday’s festivities. On a workshop stage, artists joined to explore Creole Classics, accordions, songwriting, Canadian blues, and fiddling styles. A family stage kept youngsters involved with storytelling, mask making, and a Mardi Gras parade. The dance tent continued to fire up with extended sets by the Pine Leaf Boys, accordionist Jeffery Broussard (son of Zydeco pioneer Delton Broussard), Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, and C.J. Chenier (son of Zydeco originator Clifton Chenier) and his turbo-charged Red Hot Louisiana Band (with this scribe playing congas). The heritage stage continued to live up to its name, presenting an eclectic mix of Brazilian jazz-rock (Mutato), rockabilly (Chuck Mead & His Grassy Knoll Boys), country music (Jim Lauderdale), and blues (Sarah Potenza). Grammy winners Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Express and the Band Courtbouillon (featuring Wayne Toups, Steve Riley, and Wilson Savoy) delivered high spirited sets.

Ten Strings and a Goat Skin got the main stage started, on Saturday, with Anglo/French/Breton-flavored fiddle- guitar-frame drum interplay. Dom Flemons and Elizabeth Cook built on their sets from the night before, with Matt Anderson, accompanying his gutsy vocals with virtuosic guitar picking, in between. Natalie MacMaster joined with her husband, Donnell Leahy, and their children, for a masterful demonstration of Cape Breton fiddling. Americana’s cutting edge displayed during sets by The Duhks, Allman Brothers Band-like Southern Hospitality, and Boulder Colorado-based jam band, Leftover Salmon.

The third and final day continued the good spirits of the days before. Workshops included explorations of old styles, accordions, fiddling, and guitars, as well as intimate sessions with alt-country band, The Handsome Family, and the “Screaming Eagle” – Charles Bradley. Kicking off with the Cajun Kids Academy, the Heritage Stage gave attendees another opportunity to hear Potenza, Flemons, The Handsome Family, The Band Courtbouillon, and Southern Hospitality. The Dance Stage continued to reverberate with extended sets by Jeffery Broussard, the Pine Leaf Boys, and CJ Chenier (joined by Broussard).

Diversity was the theme of Sunday’s performances. Mutato sparked the day’s flame with folkloric rhythms (especially Brazilian) Appalachian fiddle tunes, and inspired improvisation. Combining bluegrass, blues, hip-hop rhythms, and fast-tongued rapping, Brooklyn, New York-based Gangstagrass introduced the next step in roots music’s evolution. The excitement continued with dance-inspiring sets by Chuck Mead & His Grassy Knoll Boys and Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience. While the AJ Ghent Band (led by the longtime frontman/slide guitarist for Colonel Bruce Hampton’s Band) and the James Brown-like Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires, delivered high-charged R&B, New Orleans-based Anders Osborne wove intricate jams.

As beautiful as the weather was for most of the weekend, things changed dramatically late on Sunday. What began as a light rain turned into a major storm resulting in the cancellation of a set by Donna the Buffalo (with friends), on the main stage, and Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys in the dance tent, and the quick evacuation of the festival grounds. One left eagerly waiting for next year.

— Craig Harris