Could it be nicer: the view from the stage

The lovely late-summer weather drove a huge crowd to the gates of the Rhythm and Roots Festival on Friday and Saturday. It seems as if today promises more of the same.

I've been emceeing, as I have all of the twelve years the festival has been held here, and the music is as good as it's ever been.

Highlights: The Lee Brothers and the Travellin' McCoury's doing a gospel jam to end Friday night's festivities. Member of the Frank family jamming in the workshop tent. Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole on the main stage, and Keith Frank insisting with his irresistible music that the crowd dance and sweat.

Out of touch in little old Rhode Island

I know it's a dangerous assumption, but I assume that when I rent a summer cottage at the shore for hundreds of dollars, that along with TV/DVD/cable, one might expect an internet connect.

Wrong.

The Rhode Island shore is perversely behind-the-times. There are plenty of grown-up-like-topsy cottages, some on stilts, as if awaiting a glimpse of the hurricane which will eventually carry them into the waves, some pushing skyward for a glimpse of the ocean, or the great salt pond of Charlestown, past the bramble and saltmarshes, some hunkered-down, shingles sodden in the humid ocean air, for the long haul. Most of them filled with well-worn, second-hand sofas and appliances stalwartly braving the careless hands of vactioneers and wintering URI students. Folks smoke as if they've never heard the surgeon general's warning. They swill Bud Light, though Narragansett is making a brave comeback. And greeting each other in that loud, made-to-be-heard-above-a-foghorn, South County honk. "Grab me anuther bee-uh, would ya? And the hot sahwce too."

But try to find a wifi zone (outside of bohemian Wakefield), is like trying to find even a cheap knock-off of the Holy Grail.

And yet the triumphant natural beauty, and the man-made, joie de vivre, all make it exotic and seductive. Maybe even addictive.

And so, I submit my absence on these internets to you. Awash in Rhode Island clam chowder, thick frappes, and loud, loud music from Louisiana (if you've been to Louisiana, you'll understand the affinity for that music here), I was happily disconnected for a few days.
This year's Rhythm and Roots Festival featured a number of familiar acts, and a few newcomers. The music was totally satisfying, often danceable, and frequently referencing the menacing Gustav, which was then heading for a dance on Poydras Street.

(Me and Kev Russell from the Gourds)

The festival site, which had been threatened by some civil action by the town of Charlestown, suddenly seems nearly out of jeopardy. The Pine Leaf boys have a new line-up, minus Cedric Watson (who is off "to do his own thing"). The Gourds were the highlight for me (though many others mentioned the Marcia Ball revue). And Saturday (gloomy) was less fun than Sunday (sunny and breezy), but by that time many of us didn't have the energy we began the weekend with.

NOTE: I forgot to mention in the earlier post that several of the Louisiana musicians left the festival early to try to beat Gustav to landfall. The Pine Leaf Boys, and the rhythm section of the Mamou Playboys left early to secure home and family against the impending hurricane. Thank God its impact was less than anticipated.

Rhythm and Roots

For the past two decades and more, I've marked the passing of summer by attending a roots music festival in Rhode Island.



In the old days it was called the Cajun and Bluegrass Festival, and was held at the Stepping Stone Ranch in Escoheag. I saw, and met some of the greats on that stage, Dewey Balfa, Ralph Stanley, Doc Watson.

This weekend, I'll be on stage at the Rhythm and Roots Festival at Ninigret State Park in Charlestown, for the 11th year. The fabulous Pine Leaf Boys are the host band, and their neighbors, the Red Stick Ramblers will be there among many others.

There's alway plenty of music and dancing, and I've watched my fellow fans mature and have children of their own who have grown into men and women.

This evening kicks off with bluesman Paul Geremia, and ends in the dance tent with Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-chas.

Summer's over

The Rhythm and Roots festival ended last night with Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys playing a packed tent. It was a tradtional end-of-festival jam with members of the Red Stick Ramblers, the Pine Leaf Boys, and Marty Stuart himself joining the raucous assembly.

Highlights of the festival for me included Marty Stuart's impromptu session with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the Buddhahood horn section providing a boost for the Creole Cowboys, and a late night accordion jam with three young Creole and Cajun up-an-comers, Cedric Watson, Drew Miller and Corey Ledet.

Three days of R&R begins

The humidity was a dripping 70% but it didn't discourage the musicians or the dancers.

The Rhythm and Roots Festival at Ninigret Park in Charlestown RI kicked off with Ray Bonneville's undeniable groove and a dance tent full of revelers kicking up their heels to the Red Stick Ramblers. First timers, the Buddhahood played a stunningly varied set, and Racines, the Cajun super-group celebrated a first-time-outside of Lafayette gig.