This Pickathon was the best…Pickathon…ever. I heard it more than a couple times. I felt it. This festival always thoughtfully hand selects the best roots rock, old timey, bluegrass, etc… It’s all so good! Every year, for the past 4 years, Captain Bogg and Salty has played the opening slot on Sunday @ 10am. You might, as I did, feel like this could quite possibly be the absolute worst time to play. There is music all day, for 3 days straight, and most people are out late for the rollicking late night shows. Me too! But, for some reason it has never been a problem for me to find the energy in the 10 am slot on Sunday morning.
photos: Quinn Owen
Anyway, I found a couple of new bands I really like. One is Langhorne Slim. This guy played an incredibly spirited set on the woods stage, set back in an old tyme looking setting in the woods, as you might imagine. I also saw Bonnie “Prince” Billy and the Cairo Gang and Breathe Owl Breath. A Portland band that I have known about, but have never heard, Richmonde Fontaine, had a sound that invoked a vintage 70′s style blues that was incredible! I talked to the drummer, Sean (I think,) after one of their shows and he told me they have been playing steady for 15 years! You can tell. I saw Foghorn Stringband play a to a whirlwind crowd of line dancers. It was pretty surreal to see such a HUGE group keep it together on such an incline as the Pickathon hill. I was glad to be on the side of the stage where I could get a good view of Foghorn, which included my daughter, Zoe’s classmate Elijah, on guitar.
Other bands that I really liked that I just heard from my tent or some other place I could hear them well, but not see them are: Dr. Dog, Sean Hayes, The Heartless Bastards, T-model Ford, Red Stick Ramblers, The Dust Busters, Cotton Jones, and Typhoon. There were so many conversations I had with people that included “…oh, and make sure you don’t miss ____________….” Of course you can’t see everyone with 45 bands over 3 days, and that is what makes it so exciting. There are too many great acts that you can’t see them all. I’ll catch them next time they come through town, or I’ll see them next year at Pickathon
Enjoyed the review. Pass to Quinn that I think he is one heck of a photographer — one of the youngest to have a photo credit on the web, I’m sure.