Interview with Chris Pandolfi at The Festy Experience

Chris Pandolfi (maven of the banjo for The Infamous Stringdusters) was gracious enough to provide me with some insights on the quintessential elements of bluegrass music, the integration of musical genres, and his favorite crowd.

BW: I know you are super busy so if you need to run off just let me know. In a brief summary, I was listening to some of your IMBA speech today on your blog, and if I was to write that up inside of a brief bit and then tell people how to get to the whole speech, what synopsis would you give?

CP: I can, I will also tell you that I put a brief on my blog yesterday and it is like one paragraph and it explains the basic idea. And it explains that bluegrass music is in a real good place, and it is also evolving in all these cool ways. No one should be afraid to integrate these musical worlds together for all of our mutual benefit.

BW: There was another part on your blog in which you were talking about the integrity of bluegrass- what would you say are the integral parts of bluegrass? If bluegrass were to continue to shift, what would be the parts that would still make it absolutely bluegrass?

CP: That's a good question. In the research that I did leading up to that speech I was sorta ambigous on that for a while and then I talked to this amazing ethno-musicologist guy from Nova Scotia. He wrote the book called Bluegrass, his name is Neil Rosenberg (http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/35pyc6pm9780252072451.html). The early guys, they developed new specific techniques to play the instruments. For example, the banjo player uses three finger picks and plays these roll patterns, and the madolin player plays these um-chi-chi (making a strumming sounds), you know back beat chopping and pick sixteenth notes, you know up-down, up-down. Fiddle players play in a very specific style, double stops on slow songs. So songs and lyrical content always change to fit the times, will always reflect what's on the minds of singers, things going on, current events, ect... but what stays the same are the picking styles. And they develop and evolve over time and they change over time, but they have to. All art evolves by definition that's what it is. But that is kinda the thing to me that makes it bluegrass Whether or not you want to call it bluegrass doesn't matter; atleast it is related. That's my point. You can't deny that the Punch Brothers wouldn't be around with out it. We wouldn't be around... I mean I've studied Earl Scruggs and so has every good banjo player. That's kinda the thing that needs to stay the same.

BW: So it is the style of actually playing?

CP: I think so, yeah.

BW: So with all these evolving bands like The String Dusters, Punch Brothers, Railroad Earth, I don't mean to lump you all together, but I instead of that bluegrass label that you all receive, would there be a genre title that you would go with?

CP: We use the term high country. And you know we don't play country music per say, we play original songs, like I say. We're a bluegrass band, that's the thing about it. I mean we use the term high country because from a marketing standpoint it helps to brand yourself as something different because that the time that you reaching people that don't know anything about broader music. So, I don't know- you know the funny thing about all this and I think the reason that we are in to any of this is because dwe are a bluegrass band. And not only that but bluegrass is really just one of the coolest styles of mu sic, one of the real American styles of music. It's amazing, so many cool things about it. So that is the tricky question, I don't have the right word and it changes.

BW: But if you could choose for yourself now, you just call it high country?

CP: Yeah we'd call it high country.

BW: One of the interesting things that a few of us were talking about earlier was how comfortable and at ease bluegrass / ole time music festivals tend to be. If you could point to some things that cause the people that come to these type festivals to have a more concious, gentle culture, would you attribute that to anything in bluegrass music?

CP: In don't know. I don't know if I would make that generalization. This is not a Bluegrass festival. I mean look at Telluride Bluegrass Fetsival, there are a couple of bluegrass bands but the headliners bands like Robert Plant and Mumford and Sons. So we're trying to find a crowd of people who are concious and cool and aware of each other. People who are trying to live the good life and also there is this conservation, outdoors element that is very real for us because we have guys like Travis a mountian biker, I use to work as a fly fishing guide, we got guys who ski. You know I think there are a lot of festivals like this but they are not bluegrass festivals per say, but that's the thing, the communities are very integrated these days. You get pieces of bluegrass but these are just kinda music festivals at this point.

BW: I guess regardless of the label these days, what you guys have created here has a very different feel than lots of the other festivals these days. Lots of other festivals seem to be full of hustlers and chaos. And I wondering if there is something about y'alls style of music or intention that causes this atmosphere.

CP: I don't think it is much our style of music as it is sorta our style of life. I mean the more time that guys in the band go on, the more we figure out who we are, the more the crowd is more like us. Because we present the show that we really want to present, that really is us. You know that includes everything from looking the way that we normally look to these days, you'll see tonight, there will a lot of lights and smoke and we love that stuff. We want to put on a big show, an experience that starts the minute you buy your ticket till two weeks after the show is over. We are like a lot of bands, we sell concert tickets, we don't sell records that much. We love that- that is what this whole event is about. So we are real conscious of that and that comes out in our fans. But musically, stylistically the reality is people like me and probably you like lots of styles of music. So we want to bring this thing together. That is the common thread of this community and that's what is cool about our band. We kinda sit at the crossroads of this big acoustic scene that includes Yonder and Railroad Earth mixed with this bigger musical world that we are connecting with more and more in these recent years.

BW: Ok, I love that idea that your fans sorta become more like you as far as your lifestyle.

CP: In think so, that is a great goal anyway because you feel so at ease. The greatest success of this whole event is that I can't think of a crowd that I would rather play for. So when I go on stage at this thing, these guys are the best crowd we play for and what more could you ask for.

BW: Absolutely! I think you guys have defintely cultivated that with the local food and the appreciatiionn for the enviroment. I am really thankful for what y'all are doing here.

Now you guys colaborate with folks all the time which has been evident here atb the festival. Is there anyoine playing around these days that you would really like to collaborate with that you havben't?

CP: Specifically not necessarily. We have been so lucky to play with all of our bluegrass heroes, which has been amazing. Now last night I sat in with Toubab Krewe. I don't know man, all these bands are great- I just saw Lake Street Dive, this soul band, and now we have Emmit-Nershi band coming on and I was the first banjo player in this band for a year. So it is just family like that.

BW: I'm looking forward to seeing you guys tour with Toubab and come to LEAF. I guess what I am thinking about is in terms of bluegrass evolving is there a band even outside the bluegrass family that you would like to play with?

CP: There are so many bands I'd like to play with but no one specifically jumps to mind. But you know the string band revolution that includes Mumford and Sons and The Avett Brothers- that's a pretty amazing thing. That's a pretty amazing scene. They are taking it bigger than it has ever been before. You know I don't know.. I have so many heros. I listen to a lot of sorta electronic bands these days and we are going to the DeLuna Festival coming up and there are all kinds of cool bands. We took a band outing recently to see that guy Pretty Lights play. It's a different scene, but scene aside the show is amazing to see. His head is in a different place, he's presenting the show different, but there is a lot to learn from that. It is amazing what you can do. We are curious about trying all sorts of new things.

BW: You would be open to that?

CP: Yeah I mean that wouldn't be our ticket. We are not going to roll with a semi full of lights, but a show that has more production.

BW: Yeah that style of music is picking up a lot of steam. Could you ever see bluegrass maintaining the style that you were talking about but having room to move bluegrass into an electronics stage?

CP: Well that is kinda what String Cheese has done. There festival is like half electronica and half bluegrass. So yeah I guess the connection already sorta exist. We everything.. our band is all about a eclectic range of influences. I like everything.. movies, writing, art. And we've got guys who love all styles of music, so it's great. That is part of the strength of our band.. how eclectic our group is. Oh.. I gotta go introduce these guys (referring to the next act).

BW: Absolutely, Thank you much, and I look forward to tonight.

CP: Your very, very welcome.

Your can find Chris' keynote speech for the IBMA at: http://chrispandolfi.com/

Give a read to my review on Jambands

http://www.jambands.com/reviews/shows/2011/10/26/the-festy-experience-nelson-county-va-10-7-9

Josh Garrels- Love & War & The Sea in Between

I must admit that when my brother-in-law first told me that I needed to download a  Christian artist named Josh Garrels from a music marketing website named Noisetrade (http://noisetrade.com/), I was a bit tentative.  My father is a pastor, and in my formative years I was subjected to far too many “uplifting” albums that seemed to be thin and drippy with cliché lyrics and overly produced instrumentation. However when Stephen mentioned that Derek Webb (Christian musician with a sense for metaphor and organic orchestration) was one of the primary creators of Noisetrade, I decided to give it a try. I was shocked to find many budding artist from all kinds of genres. Not since In Rainbows have I downloaded a quality album in which the price was left up to the tipping sensibilities of the listener. I will not ramble on about the proven success of this publicity model, but I can definitively say that I will buy all of Josh Garrel’s previous albums, and eagerly wait for the opportunity to pay full price for his next album.

Last week I was trying to write a short review on The Givers new album In Light. Although that album is quite exciting, it seems that they should be prosecuted for blatantly stealing their sound from the likes of Vampire Weekend and The Dirty Projectors. With no intended disrespect for anyone who has enough skill and inspiration to create an album, I quit the review because I could not tease out very many uniquely identifying elements.

A prodigious new voice with a diversity of styles that aptly create layers of atmosphere was exactly what I was yearning for the first time that I listened to Josh Garrel’s  Love & War & The Sea in Between. Within the first five tracks I began to believe in the manifestation of my yearnings for something new. While some of his lyrics do fringe upon prosaic sentimentality, he sings them with a rooted sincerity that could encourage even the most cynical skeptic to seek ”A Far-Off Hope”. As with all things on this album, there is another dimension, and for every moment of conventional writing there are also songs like “Beyond The Blue” and “Bread and Wine”, which contain the type of well-crafted wisdom that might be found on a Bruce Cockburn album. The depth of this artist and album is also shown in his ability to drop knowledge with the fluid hip-hop style of “The Resistance”.

Josh Garrel’s hopeful writing is enhanced and even surpassed by the gift of his voice, which ranges from woodsy lamenting to angelic intoning. It is hard to compare him to any one particular voice, but he vacillates between strong parallels to Ray Lamontagne, Citizen Cope,  JJ Grey, and many soul-filled R and B singers.  His strong intonation, warbling inflection and ability to hold almost any note can quickly make him a top candidate for comfortable residency in your ear.

After many listens now, the exploratory mixing of this 18 track album only continues to grow more intriguing. Garrels has cross-pollinated a dizzying collection of music genres, sampled beats, instruments, moods, and backing vocals. And the end result is an unpredictable, adventurous hybrid that is versatile enough to engulf an individual or soothe the contrasting request of a group. To sample Josh’s innovative blending of fragile classical instruments with hard driven street beats, listen to “A Far Off Hope” into “The Resistance”. But if you think you know what he sounds like after that, just try another track. There is more evolution between the tracks of this album than most musicians experience in their entire careers. If you are of a similar faith as Garrels, the last three tracks can be an intensely moving spiritual experience. His intentions to create community, inspire consciousness, and encourage the downtrodden are still powerful even if you do not share his faith.

One sign of a great album is that you can listen to with an almost obsessive plentitude, but still find a colorful array of layered affect.  I have listened to this album for nearly a week straight now, but instead of it setting like the sun, it is still awaking me with luminous vibrancies. Josh Garrel’s previous four albums were constituted on more of a lo-fi basis. With this release he embraced a more meticulous production process that might have been a little too plastic for some rustic moments on the album. That is really the only negative observation I have for an otherwise rejuvenating album that may challenge other musicians to be more deftly experimental.  

Review of The Harrow and The Harvest by Gillian Welch

I feel as if I’ve waited a lifetime for a new album from Gillian Welch and even longer for one that moved me like Time (The Revelator). And after eight long years of their need for perfection and periods of frustration, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have at last delivered a fine, ten course regalement for her fans to savor. While many musicians may succumb to the pleadings of their fans, Gillian was commonly unsatisfied with the quality of the tracks they were composing, and she was dedicated to releasing only that which she found to be of sincere quality. It was this professional poise that brought about what Gillian calls the most unified collaboration ever created between she and her guitar whisperer, David Rawlings.  Gillian’s perception of The Harrow and The Harvest rings true as the practically ordained duo makes their interconnectedness evident with seamless transitions between and composite communion together.

In accordance with her previous four releases, Gillian candidly delves into the struggles of the laboring class while also openly sifting through her own sensibilities to enhance her kinship to a broader human condition. At times, Rawlings guitar riffs are almost too pleasantly reminiscent of previously recordings, but he does ripple into novel experiment ion with the nimble cadence of "Down Along the Dixie Line" and the subtle percuss in "Scarlett Town".  There is no real need for too much deviation when his meticulous fingerpicking in alignment with Gillian’s innate sense of vocal effect is what we have come to expect. Throughout this album, Gillian’s frail, haunting voice carries us through themes of crumbling losses, destructive cravings, languid remorse, begotten promises, and arcane mysteries. This album also dons one of her most hopeful tracks to date, which is ironically entitled "Hard Times". Though this may sound overwhelmingly depressing to a listener unfamiliar with her courageous realism, Gillian instinctively purls notes until they wade into the recesses of the soul where they may commiserate and pacify the deepest longings and regrets. 

Mumford and Sons stoke the Asheville Civic Center

Normally I find the square cavernous likes of the Asheville Civic Center to be an underwhelming drag. The conservative concrete walls have never accurately represented Asheville’s largest venue. But on Tuesday, June 7^th that cold hypnotic square found crackling coals inside. It was Mumford and Son’s biggest headline show to date and I was blessed to be amongst the sold- out crowd. The show started a bit slowly with the title track to their album, Sigh No More, but  quickly found pure foot stomping adrenaline as Roll Away Your Stone and Winter Winds brought the entire crowd to their feet. This British foursome turned a normally mediocre, drone ACC crowd into a raging fir e by consistently switching instruments and sincerely embracing the raw energy of music.

Sporting vest, tattered jeans and even a mohawk style mullet, the eclectic crew had a wide range of styles for an equally diverse crowd. Throughout the night the core four (Mumford, Lovett, Marshall, and Dwane) were joined by an assortment of guest including members from the opening band and a trio of horn players. Because their first and only full length release includes only one song with prominent horns, it seemed that the deep-lunged trio would only be out for a song or two. However much to the fans pleasant surprise, Mumford and Sons courageously tried out many new numbers from an album that should be finished shortly after their present tour. Many of the fresh tracks provided the horns section with plenty of opportunity to create an evolving emotional range. At one point the formulaically happy band even ventured into some slightly intriguing dark space. However it did not take them very long to veer back into their contagiously charismatic style. And in the end, the respectful newcomers paid tribute to their mentoring friends, The Avett Brothers, by playing Go to Sleep.

As the last notes were plucked, the entire civic center exhaled.  Then Mumford and Sons bowed and waved under a single strand of bulbs that glowed like poarch lights in the deep south. The line of lights looked so casually strewn that one might guess that the quartet had hung them on their own, and judging from all the other comfortable glowing warmth they brought with them tonight, I would not would not be surprised at all.

Personal best ten shows in the past month (in order)

Mumford and Sons (Asheville)

Xavier Rudd (Hangout)

Paul Simon (Hangout)

Big Gigantic (Hangout)

Josh Phillips Folk Festival (The Barn Set- LEAF)

Acoustic Syndicate (LEAF)

Ween ( Hangout)

The Honeycutters (LEAF)

Railroad Earth (Smile Festival)

The New Mastersounds (Smile Festival)

Surviving the rapture with the Avett Brothers

The end of the world had been predicted by an established radio evangelist named Camping, and it seemed to be a matter of providence for the thousands of devoted followers who plowed across the sands of the Hangout Music Festival just in time to see The Avett Brothers. 20 minutes before the proposed rapture, the North Carolina bred brothers exploded onto stage with a healthy “good afternoon” and a rowdy rendition of “Tin Man”.  This song was an indicator of things to come in the 90 minute set primarily festooned with songs from their 2009 release I and Love and You. The sharing community of front men also pulled many classic tracks such as “Will you Return”, “Paranoia in B Flat”, and “Shame” from their Emotionalism bag. As the proposed 6:00 pm end to the world approached, the band faced it with a cover of John Prine’s “Spanish Pipedream”. The courageous song implored all to “blow up your TV, throw away your paper, move to the country, build you a home”.  In the last chorus they harmonized simple directions for clarity- “try an find Jesus (rapture, added by Seth Avett) on your own”. Without further observation of deliverance, the band then tore into a fervent version of “Kick Drum Heart”, complete with a Neil Youngish guitar solo by Scott Avett. As the beach balls bounced across the crowd, Seth’s pattering precision on keys transitioned directly into a rhythmic “Colorshow”.  Towards the middle of the set the sun-drained band / crowd conglomeration easily slid into a “January Wedding”, and a spontaneous display of affection spread amongst the couples in the crowd. From there, cellist Joe Kwon slowly swooned all into the opening of a hypnotic “Go to Sleep> Down with the Shine”. Just as the setting sun seemed to be draining all remaining energy, drummer Jacob Edwards pounded into a “Pretty Girl from Cedar Lane” and the sands began to stir beneath the stomping stage again.  Drenched in sweat, the band passionately swung and swirled through several more engaging numbers such as “And it Spread”, “I and Love and You”, and “Head Full of Doubt”. In tribute to the hospitable Alabama Coast, they came out for the encore playing a first-time bluegrass number now labeled “Pretty Girl from Gulf Shores”. The first few notes of the second encore song, “At the Beach”, brought the crowd to an expected roar, and every verse seemed to be perfectly placed in that moment on the sandy white shores of Alabama. By the time that “Talk on Indolence” was played for the final encore, the majority of the crowd was already in heaven, and it seemed that some sort of rapture had indeed occurred.