Sweetwater 420 Festival (Day Two) - Candler Park, Atlanta, GA (4.18.2010)

Listen while you read...

The Packway Handle Band, Live at The Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO (7.27.2006)

or...

The Stanton Moore Trio, Live at The Jewish Mother, Virginia Beach, VA (5.22.2006)


But definitely not both... that might get a little confusing.

It was Sunday morning when we decided to head back to Candler Park for another afternoon of 420 festivities. We had so much fun on Saturday that it just seemed to be the most logical decision. Minimal traffic and accessible parking made the trip to Candler a much smoother one and as soon as we got inside the gates, it was clear that the festival grounds were much less crowded than the day before (which was fine by me). The Sunday music lime-up sounded like another solid billing with George Porter Jr. filling the main slot and the Stanton Moore Trio featuring Anders Osborne warming up the early evening set. We strategically made our way around to the art booths early in the afternoon while a less-than-exciting Donna Hopkins Duo sang some folk music in the background. The vendors at 420 Festival had some really captivating work on display. There seemed to be a recurring trend that focused on the use of recycled art which I thought was pretty cool. But as it usually happens when you attend a shindig like this, most of the goods were overpriced and we walked away empty-handed.

After the Donna Hopkins Duo wrapped things up a local group, dubbed the Jamie McLean Band after their talented guitarist and lead singer, took to the stage. Jamie spent a number of years playing funk guitar for the Saturday night headliners, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, before exploring the possibilities of a solo career. This classic example of a power trio sounded fairly good but I felt like their music could have used one or two additional personnel. Jamie’s knack for songwriting was definitely recognizable as the trio laid down a fairly straightforward blend of swampy, southern rock ‘n’ roll. It was bluesy and it was catchy, but at the same time, it was somewhat repetitive and we were ready for a change.

As the changeover was taking place, I noticed a man walking an enormous instrument case onto the stage that I knew could only be an upright bass. After him, 4 more musicians came walking out wielding various stringed instruments and I knew that we were about to be treated with some bluegrass music. The Packway Handle Band, as they call themselves, hail from Athens, GA and have been making waves on the bluegrass scene ever since their formation in 2001. The band began receiving national recognition after becoming finalists at the 2002 and 2003 Telluride Bluegrass Festival. They took 2nd place in 2004. From reading up a little bit about their background, I get the sense that none of these musicians have a real extensive history of performing bluegrass music. Drawing from a diverse set of influences such as Bela Fleck and building off nothing more than an interest in the bluegrass genre, the band has developed a style that is fresh, innovative, and anything but “traditional” in the bluegrass sense. This approach has allowed them to conduct this ongoing learning process and establish their own unique ideas about what can be accomplished in the realm of “newgrass” music.

Two tightly spaced condenser microphones were set up in the center of the stage – a traditional approach to amplification that I’m not sure I have ever seen at a bluegrass show before. These days, you tend to see each individual instrument with its own personal mic rigging, but I really liked the idea of this “gather round the microphone” set-up. It not only gave the band a very cohesive and playful facade, but it allowed them complete control over the volume and intensity of each individual instrument. If one musician was taking a solo, he would step close to the microphone and let his presence be known while the others backed off a bit and gave him the spotlight. Right from the start, The Packway Handle Band played with a cheerful exuberance that reflected just how much they enjoyed performing. Their on-stage antics and facial expressions contributed to an almost theatrical interpretation of the stories they were telling through their music. The lyrics were playful and original and the band broke out these 4 part harmonies that were almost humorous to listen to. Of course, a couple of whiskey drinking songs and one or two traditional bluegrass tunes came out throughout the course of the afternoon. For without these, some might not even consider them to be a “true” bluegrass band! But that wasn’t all. About halfway through their set, PHB busted out an outrageous cover of The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind”. Although most only recognize this song because of its appearance at the end of the movie “Fight Club”, the crowd was really into it and I truly think there is nothing more fun than a bluegrass interpretation of a song that was never meant to be a bluegrass song.

Towards the end of the set, I had my head turned talking to Heidi when all of the sudden, in the middle of a classic bluegrass song “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss”, I heard the sounds that were once emanating from the stage speakers come to an abrupt halt. Before I could turn my head, the entire band had leapt off the stage and were a mere 20 feet away from us jumping around and dancing amidst the crowd. I quickly grabbed my camera and rushed over to join the party. I was nearly knocked over a number of times as the band was thrashing around and sprinting from one side of the crowd to the other all while jamming away on their respective instruments. The bass player, Zach McCoy, struggled to keep up as he lifted his enormous upright bass above his head and still managed to keep plucking away at his strings. Fiddle player Andrew Heaton seemed to be at the forefront of this follow-the-leader type of game the band was playing and he was shredding so hard that the strings of his fiddle bow began to fray and hang loosely off of the bow’s shaft. Josh Erwin had an enormous smile on his face as he flatpicked his guitar into a delightful bluegrass frenzy. It was clear that this was the band’s favorite part of the show. The crowd was even feeling loose and comfortable enough with the chorus to sing along to this traditional tune as the closing notes brought an uproarious applause from the entire festival.

After this engaging performance from The PHB, it was time for New Orleans native Stanton Moore to take the stage. On this occasion, it was Anders Osborne sharing the spotlight with the trio and it made for an exceptionally badass musical experience. Stanton Moore is a true professional. He has quite literally written a book about funk drumming (titled Groove Alchemy) and is one of the founding members of the veteran jamband Galactic. Moore has had an extensive solo career as well, collaborating for albums and live performances with A-list musicians such as Charlie Hunter, John Scofield, Karl Denson, Warren Haynes, John Medeski and Chris Wood… the list goes on. Not only that, but Stanton’s jazz-funk side project, Garage A Trois, is a quartet of insanely talented musicians including keyboardist Marco Benevento and the infamous saxophonist, Skerik.

Osborne, a Swedish born drifter, spent a number of years traveling through Africa and other parts of the world before ending up in New Orleans, the place he calls home. Anders came out on stage looking like a rock star with aviator sunglasses and a blonde, well-established beard that hung down past his collar bone. With a hot-fingered keyboardist to add to the mix, Stanton and Anders blew the 420 stage apart. I found it shocking that Osborne had ever lived anywhere but the Southern United States because his style was just oozing with this dirty, down-home, blues rock tone that came pouring out of his guitar amp.

Anders, with a glass slide on his pinky finger, was completely lost in his music as he stood and told the stories of his past and let this bluesy, psychedelic sound come ripping off of his strings. It was unbelievable how well this trio kept things together without the steady, rhythmic foundation offered from a bass guitarist. This, in large part, was due to Stanton’s incredible timing and spot-on chops. This was some of the tightest, most funky drumming that I had heard in a very long time. And don’t count the keyboard player out either. Taking visual cues from Osborne, he would let loose on some outstanding organ solos that really complimented the band’s overall sound.




It was another incredible afternoon at Candler Park. Jo and I once again had to pass up the main act, George Porter Jr., since we needed to get her to the airport in time for her flight home. Nevertheless, I was extremely happy about the music we got to see that afternoon. Discovering great new music is like opening gifts on Christmas morning. And discovering great new music in the LIVE setting is the bow on top.