Bristol’s 10th Annual Rhythm & Roots Reunion
September 22nd, 2010
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Having just recovered from all the fun had at our hometown’s Americana Music Festival & Convention, Tuff Tiff, John Gillis and myself loaded up the old GMC Jimmy and headed east to Bristol for the 10th annual Rhythm & Roots Reunion this past weekend.
For the uninitiated, Bristol is actually comprised of two sister cities (Bristol, VA and Bristol, TN) that straddles the Tennessee/Virginia border and is widely recognized as the birthplace of American Country music, being the place that recording pioneer Ralph Peer “discovered” such country music luminaries as the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest Stoneman. Also of importance – if any of you fine readers care – is that Bristol’s State Street is the precise spot where I was born into this world thirty years ago. Hurray for that!
For the past decade, Bristol’s Rhythm & Roots festival has provided fans of Americana and Roots music one of the absolute best bang for a buck. For a weekend price of only $40, festival goers this year were given the opportunity to witness 167 different bands performing on 22 stages scattered through historic downtown Bristol. Yes, you read those numbers correctly. In only a few city blocks of real estate there was music to be heard absolutely everywhere- in coffee shops, bars, restaurants, theaters and on outdoor stages. Though it was virtually impossible to see every single act, the task was made much easier by the fact that bands played multiple times throughout the weekend.
We tip our hats to the festival organizers for lining up such great talent for such a low fan friendly cost and for hiring so many of our talented (and starving) musician friends to perform. Our only complaint was that our request for permission to film bits of this year’s festival was unceremoniously rejected. Oh well- its not the first time we’ve gotten the shaft when trying to play by the rules. Perhaps they’ll reconsider us for next year?
Fortunately for you, our fine reader, John was able to snap a few photographs to share with you. Here’s a few of the highlights according to us…
Playing on one of the outdoor stages, the Infamous Stringdusters packed the street on Friday night. Though there are murmurings of their impeding relocation, these boys have been based in Nashville for a while now and are familiar faces at our Wednesday Night Old Time Jam at the Eastside’s 5 Spot. We’ve been fortunate to catch these guys quite often over the past couple of years and have come to expect nothing short of a fiery performance from them. We definitely saw that on Friday night as they likely converted many newgrass naysayers with their rendition of U2’s “In God’s Country.”
Hands down, Cutthroat Shamrock is our absolute favorite Appalachian influenced bluegrass tinged Irish punk band so there was no way we were going to miss their performance Friday at midnight. The last time we saw these guys was over the winter at what used to be Matty’s Alley on Gallatin Road in East Nashville. Although that particular night was marred by a dysfunctional sound system, we enjoyed their acoustic set and were excited to see them in their full glory again at Rhythm and Roots. They did not disappoint. The crowd was amped up as they boozed through the set with the encouragement of Mr. Derek McRotten and company. Our only complaint was that the show eventually ended. Afterwards we found ourselves wandering the all too quiet streets of Bristol burdened with the question… What DO you do with a drunken pirate?
On Friday night we had hoped to catch The Two Man Gentleman band’s performance at Macados’s but due to the bartenders’ inability to serve us beer in less than twenty minutes, we didn’t stick around there for long. Luckily, we had a second opportunity to see the Gentleman’s second set on Saturday at the dance tent. These fellas were absolutely fantastic with their disarming stage banter, uniquely modern vaudevillian act and original songs about such relevant topics as chocolate milk and fancy beer.
For the past few years we’ve followed the career of Hot Seats (formerly known as Special Ed and The Shortbus) from a relatively safe distance and were happy for the chance to see their stage show up close and personal this year. Melding the zaniness of Frank Zappa with the stylings of the the Red Clay Ramblers, we are happy to report that these boys are tastefully keeping tasteless music alive. While we enjoyed their more PG-rated family friendly show early Saturday afternoon at the dance tent, we were floored by their late night performance at O’Mailley’s. Our particular favorites were a rousing rendition of John Prine’s “Sam Stone” as well as the classic Special Ed & The Shortbus tunes “F the SB” and “Dirty Woman.” Great job on keeping it UNclean boys! This was easily one of our favorite performances of the weekend.
For those of ya’ll that have been following us over the past two months, you probably know how smitten we are with this gal. Once we were finally able to score some seats, she definitely didn’t disappoint on Saturday afternoon. Her voice was hauntingly perfect for Bristol’s Cameo Theater and her performance endearingly intimate (as we’ve come to expect.)
Previous obligations prevented us from seeing this Austin based trio last week at the Loveless Barn’s Music City Roots show so we were happy that we got another chance so soon. The harmonies of Katy Rose Cox and Jenny Parrot were delightfully fun and called to mind female Opry Stars of years past, such as The Cackle Sisters and The Coon Creek Girls. In our estimation it shouldn’t be too long before these gals grace that same Opry stage (that is, if there is any justice in the world.)
Saturday afternoon we relaxed with our sweet teas, to the soothing melodies of Bailey Cook as she sang for a packed house at the Sunny Side Up Café. Bailey has been hard at work for the past several months on her debut album and we are looking forward to hearing the finished project soon!
Woody is a great friend of The Rooster whom whose particular brand of ragtime blues we’ve yet to grow tired of. Woody and his band (also called Woody Pines)were in fine form as they played for a packed house at The Billiard Room on Saturday night, inspiring even the most uncoordinated of audience members to bust a boogie on the dance floor.
They were also slated to play “early” Sunday at high noon but we’re somewhat embarrassed to admit that we missed that one due to the fact that we couldn’t rouse our lazy tails out of bed in time. We normally rise pretty early here at the Rooster but after spending Saturday night drinking corn liquor until the sun nearly came up, we had to catch up on our beauty sleep. (The fact that the alarm clock in our hotel room wasn’t plugged in didn’t help our cause much.)
Keep an eye out for Woody’s artist page to appear soon in our Coop!
Our absolute favorite free-styling ukulele artist was once again included in this year’s lineup at Bristol. Though we missed his Friday performance, Matt played to a packed room of folks on Saturday night at the Manna Bagel stage where we stopped by to get a quick caffeine fix. The children really love Matt. As do we.
Unfortunately for Matt, he was also scheduled to play at Macado’s on Sunday afternoon. This meant that- armed with only a ukulele and his creative wit- he was tasked with trying to captivate an audience distracted by a plethora of television screens displaying football games. Ah… America! Matt held his own, though, as he free-styled a football themed song and called people out in the audience. We’re proud to say that we know this guy.
After getting all jacked up on coffee at Matt Lindahl’s bagel shop show, we stopped by to see our buddy Nate Leath showcase his phenomenal fiddle talents on the Virginia folklife stage (which, ironically, was on the Tennessee side of the street.) Joining Nate were the Harris Brothers from Lenoir, NC and our good buddy Matt Kinman. Though we were only able to stick around for a little of their performance, we were blown away by their refreshing interpretation of Black Jack Davy. Nate also pulled out his best Jimi Hendrix impersonation, playing his fiddle through a wah-wah pedal. We can honestly say that we’ve never heard anything quite like that before.
An East Nashvillian who is a regular at the Wednesday Night Old Time Jam, Derek brought his Nashville honky tonked flavor of Americana to this year’s reunion. If you’re ever in our fair city of Nashville on a Tuesday night, be sure to check out the Two Dollar Tuesday that Derek hosts at The 5 Spot (you really can’t beat the price of this one as a $2 cover + $2 Yazoo beer + $2 hotdogs= Good deal.)
The blazing hot sun didn’t keep us from witnessing The Carolina Chocolate Drops this past Sunday afternoon, as they awed one of the largest crowds at this year’s festival with a variety of especially wired songs learned from still living legends Joe Thompson and The Roane Mountain Hilltoppers. Their personalized version of Blu Cantrell’s R&B song “Hit em up style” was also a crowd favorite.
These guys have weaved their way across the world preaching the gospel of traditional music. We sure like you Chocolate Drops!
Another act of acts that were high on our “must-see” list, Uncle Monk is the latest endeavor of punk rock legend Tommy Ramone. Alongside Claudia Tienan, Tommy with soothing versions of both original and classic traditional tunes. And Ramones fans in attendance weren’t let down either as Tommy dusted off his old repertoire with the classic “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.”
We had a blast at this year’s Rhythm & Roots Reunion. If you were one of our many readers who happened to be in attendance, please comment and let us know your thoughts. For those of you that missed it, be sure to mark your calendars for next year as it is highly unlikely that you’ll be able to find a better festival for your money. This is America at its finest.
Your pal,
Buck
4 Responses to “Bristol’s 10th Annual Rhythm & Roots Reunion”
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Thanks for the great coverage of our festival, we are so glad you were here and hope you had a wonderful time! Sorry about the videotaping thing, too many requests…not enough room!
Come see us again in 2011!
Thanks for hitting & recapping some of the acts I highlighted, but just didn’t manage to get to. Perfect weather this year led to a nearly perfect BR&RR. I’ll ride shotgun with you on the Sarah Jarosz bus!
Thanks for your comment! There were definitely plenty of acts that I had highlighted but didn’t manage to see as well. What were your favorites? Was there anything that I missed that might be worth mentioning to our good readers?
Thanks for stopping by the Rooster, Charlotte! No hard feelings on the filming restriction… perhaps we can revisit that next year. We promise not to take up too much space. I’m just a little feller anyways:)