DBT #235 Great River Folk Fest 2023
After Adventures in Americana posted their recap of the Great River Folk Fest, I kind of felt a kick in the pants to get my recap up. Come on I'm retired I should be able to find the time. Ok I did have all the videos that will be in this post available to watch in my Around Town playlist two days after the fest, and they take enough edit time, and riding the e-bike 5 miles into town to upload at the library.
2023 was the second year that after 7 good years of being on the committee or the chair of the fest that I could just sit and enjoy the music. (well mostly) I love the fact that retirement has allowed me to change my look and some people don't initially recognize me, but if I recognize them a smile and a hug always makes this fest feel like being with family.
Friday night concert with Them Coulee Boys and Jerrika Mighelle we didn't attend since Lori was selling her jewelry at the Cameron Park Farmers Market. We did drive by after we packed up to see that it was super attended and at night it truly looked warm and inviting. The boys always put on a great show too.
So that left us talking at home about when we needed to leave Holmen to get to the fest, oh my... Lori (my wife) is not an early riser and we agreed we couldn't miss the first song swap of the day, "Funny Songs" with Susan Werner and Robbie Fulks.
We made it on time for the first song, and oh my after paying for Saturday and Sunday I had already felt I got my money back in that first hour. I recorded four songs but would have loved to have the whole hour. If you want to see me in the front row laughing, Keely Zynda captured us having a great time and this screen shot is from Adventures in Americana's (AiA) post.
Ok let's get this out of the way early, I have quickly admired everything about Keely Zynda, and I knew that Carol Roth (AiA) couldn't make it this year because she was at Storyhill Fest. I always love who takes pictures and yes I've been known to schmooze with good looking women; put two cameras on them and now I have a question of why two? When she told me she was on assignment from AiA, I knew she would be talented; but when I read her Instagram post after the fest I know this woman has a huge heart and soul. Here's what she had to say about the fest.
Spent last weekend in LaCrosse photographing @greatriverfolk !
I had a splendid time. It’s always great running into old pals at these fests and making some new. I’m over joyed by the new connections I made and look forward to seeing them again.
The festival arranged for me to stay with the woman in the fourth picture, Laura. I arrived a day early and went on to spend 4 days and 3 nights with her.
Anxieties about staying with a stranger were alleviated by a phone call I received from her the night before I departed from Duluth, and furthermore the moment I arrived. We became fast friends and had many heartfelt conversations. She showed me around LaCrosse; took me to the coolest guitar store with an insanely eclectic vintage section, we galavanted at a bookstore, and she invited me to play music with a group of her friends. I typically stick to my fiddle when playing in groups, but did not have mine with me. So I played the guitar the whole 2hr jam. They made stepping out of my comfort zone yet again feel so at ease. Before the fest even started, she made me feel at home and excited to get to the grounds.
Once I did, I was even further blown away by the music community LaCrosse has. Everyone was so friendly and inviting. The festival has some board members around my age who are trail blazers in their community. I love seeing young folk step in and engage with these festivals. It breathes new life into them, and is what will continue moving them forward.
My cup was so full leaving.
I cannot wait to return and to see all those friendly faces again.
thank you @greatriverfolk 🖤
I had a splendid time. It’s always great running into old pals at these fests and making some new. I’m over joyed by the new connections I made and look forward to seeing them again.
The festival arranged for me to stay with the woman in the fourth picture, Laura. I arrived a day early and went on to spend 4 days and 3 nights with her.
Anxieties about staying with a stranger were alleviated by a phone call I received from her the night before I departed from Duluth, and furthermore the moment I arrived. We became fast friends and had many heartfelt conversations. She showed me around LaCrosse; took me to the coolest guitar store with an insanely eclectic vintage section, we galavanted at a bookstore, and she invited me to play music with a group of her friends. I typically stick to my fiddle when playing in groups, but did not have mine with me. So I played the guitar the whole 2hr jam. They made stepping out of my comfort zone yet again feel so at ease. Before the fest even started, she made me feel at home and excited to get to the grounds.
Once I did, I was even further blown away by the music community LaCrosse has. Everyone was so friendly and inviting. The festival has some board members around my age who are trail blazers in their community. I love seeing young folk step in and engage with these festivals. It breathes new life into them, and is what will continue moving them forward.
My cup was so full leaving.
I cannot wait to return and to see all those friendly faces again.
thank you @greatriverfolk 🖤
Here it is on Instagram and yes I now know that you'll see all the text, but go to her post, follow her and enjoy pictures that weren't shared in the AiA post.
Thank you Keely and Laura for hosting her; and I look forward to seeing you at future fests. Keely, you need to bring the fiddle next time. The coolest guitar shop is Dave's Guitar Shop who is a sponsor of the fest.
Back to the music, Susan did a great song about cataracts, and it was so new she had to refer to her lyrics mid song.
Robbie Fulks was as dry and funny as I remembered him from his concert at Moccasin Creek Festival, but to have him laid back and relaxed talking to Susan and us was such a treat. He's such a smooth liar, I mean storyteller, that I don't know if he was true telling us that he had never met Susan before. He did one of my favorite songs, and I got most of the intro on this video; and most of the time the intros were as good as the songs for these two.
Susan did her classic, Egg Money which is really not truly a funny song if you would read the lyrics in a serious tone, so it's all Susan's acting delivery. (watch those eyes) The instrumental and the ending are so so so much fun and how much of the song swap went, so even if you knew the song it was just so entertaining.
Robbie was talking about how the pandemic should have a been a ripe time to write music, it wasn't totally.
Quickly ran over to another tent to hear Lou Shields for one of the first times (yes I keep missing him when he plays in the area), but it was Dandy L Freling from Milwaukee that blew me away. Pairing them in the song swap felt like going back to the 50's to the Appalachians, rich traditional sound. Funny I wasn't the only one who was admiring Dandy's boots and frilly socks, Keely took a much better picture of them. And she took a picture of me listening intently, but you'll have to go to the AiA post to see it. Here you go, a song swap:
I had to leave a little early from the song swap because my wife bought a new sign for our Bluff View House Concerts room that I needed to take to the car. It's hanging now over the door, it looks great. Yes she has a great eye for that kind of stuff.
While High & Rising's set was great, the next video I took was Robbie Fulks opening song that Jordon Duroe described as,
For fans desiring a more traditional folk performance, Robbie Fulks was no doubt a highlight. Accompanied only by a fiddle player, Fulks started the set un-mic’d and walking around in the audience. Later into his set he launched into a riverboat song in honor of the La Crosse Queen sailing by the festival, which is perfectly placed alongside the Mississippi—a river that has inspired and appeared in so many songs old and new.
Robbie has been around for a while and it was only last year I had a chance to see him live; boy many people came up to me and said "Wow" after his set.
I was looking forward to seeing the Sweet Lillies for the first time, and while I really am not a fan of hip hop; I get it that I'm just old. They were super talented, and I loved how they brought mic'd up heavy reverb washboard into their music.
Susan Werner was up next and I figured I had her taped earlier. Still she is so good; from buying raffle tickets on stage to scolding loud drivers as they went by during her set; you felt like you were in a house concert and she was talking to you. She did, like Sweet Lillies, bring the trumpet player Dawson Redenius up for a song that I picked up the ending and then added it to one of his later solos:
Ah... then I was lucky as all can be deciding I'll get up in front of the dancers for one song from Good Morning Bedlam. Oh my goosebumps all over again each time I watch Kat do her solo.
Next day I was the hosted and coordinated the Songwriter Contest finals, where Annie Bacon, Alex Toast and Sarah King were the final three after over 175 songs were submitted. Read about it in the program article.
I already posted about this in Edition 232 so you can read about it there; and congrats again to Sarah King for winning.
Either it was the high of being at the fest, working the songwriter contest, and still being sought out as a fest leader by the audience, the only other song swap I sat down and listened to and recorded were one with three friends. Luke Callen (blog favorite and has played the house concert three times), Nicky Nieling (a hard working musician that has helped the fest and the songwriting phase one) and Jaspar Lepak (another blog favorite and after the song swap I booked to play our house concert series). Jasper was like playing all my favorites (B&W Dress & Devil song) so it was like it was her audition Ha... so enjoy.
Oh there was another first, the fest was protested by some odd far out God freaks.
The leaders of the fest put on a great fest, and it sounds like they have the energy to make next year even better. Mark your calendars, the weekend before Labor Day LaCrosse WI
Next steps if you have time:
- Browse the rest of the blogs by stopping at this "Theme Page."
- Enjoy Tune Tuesday which brings you one song from a past blog post.
- See what other post have been most popular recently with our Stats Page.
- Find out who in the world thinks he has the authority to write this blog in the About.
- Let me answer why you won't find the playlists on Spotify here.
- Finally, the Mission page explains why there is no advertising cluttering the page.
If you use Facebook, we have a page that will help you remember to read the next post.
