Musical Memory 2007
Adelaide Guitar Festival 2007
Part of this journey to America will involve some live music. Some of the folks mentioned here will cross my path.
In 4 days I will be at the Hill Country Picnic in Mississippi.
Temperatures will be hot and so will the blues.
15 years ago I got some Hill Country Music mixed into this festival and had the opportunity to interview Luther Dickinson, Jorma and many others on the line-up.
Here is a clunky review I wrote back then….
Adelaide International Guitar Festival Hits A High Note
by Paul_Busch
From Deep Purple to Jimi Hendrix, jazz to folk, blues to Brazilian, and electric to the acoustic, these were just a few of the permutations given to us over 10 days at the 1st Adelaide International Guitar Festival (AIGF). For once, at an inaugural event, all seemed to go according to plan and the punters who came along to experience one or many events will bring along more people next year as this was a special configuration of music, space, and feeling. Over 30,000 people attended the festival in this small. yet charming, capital city, Adelaide.
Christine Schloithe, the Executive Director (and her team) along with David Spelman the International Artistic Program Advisor and Founder of the New York Guitar Festival, brought along a mixed bag of talent from Australia and around the world that was bound to please guitar aficionados and fans of many forms of guitar music. The team of organizers and staff and everyone I met involved with the festival made it a joyous celebration of life and music.
Jorma Kaukonen, of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna fame, was the International Artist in residence and he was joined by the fabulous ‘Australian singer/songwriter (also an artist in residence) Jeff Lang. These two gentlemen gave so much of themselves over the week and a half that even announcer John Schaefer joked on the last night that Jeff was making his “107 appearances at the festival.” But even though ‘there were concerts and panels and workshops and late nights, everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives.
On the second Wednesday of the Festival, we were graced by three very special ‘jazz’ guitarists at the Festival Theatre. To an almost packed house Wolfgang Musthspiel, Ralph Towner and Martin Taylor picked, caressed, and plucked some of the most beautiful sounds out of their electric and acoustic guitars. Martin Taylor was truly delighted to be playing even as he fought with his jetlag and the sound at the start of the concert. His hands were thrilling to watch as they seemed to play more guitar than two appendages could handle.
That same evening at the late-night gigs at The Wah Bar, Jeff Lang and his guests Bob Brozman and Lucky Oceans played slide and pedal steel during a remarkably miscellaneous set that took us to Madagascar and back to Australia. After a short break, Jeff was joined by the Adelaide local Chris Finnen on electric guitar (what a blissful version of ‘Ravenswood’!) and after that by the fiery Vernon Reid (US) from the band Living Colour. It was a rocking closure to my first day in Adelaide and the crowd who had jammed the bar all looked tired and pleased as we bounced home at 2 AM.
The opportunity to catch up with Diesel the next day will be written about in another article but he was there for a couple of chances to play and he seemed as thrilled about seeing some of the players as he did about playing. As he said at the Deeper Well gig that evening, “I am going to enjoy not living like a mushroom and getting out and hearing some of this fabulous music”.
The Deeper Well Concert was titled as such to show the depths and the various places where these musicians draw their inspiration. Kerianne Cox, from Beagle Bay near Broome in Western Australia, kicked the evening off. Her voice, her presence, and her delivery were eye-opening for me and the many who had never heard her sing before. She was truly enchanting and with her brother joining her on acoustic guitar she took us on a soulful journey while telling us tales of her Aboriginal Community.
Diesel followed with a powerful set of lungs and a lot of guitars that he crammed into his 15 minutes. But finishing off the first half were two brothers from Hernando, Mississippi. Luther and Cody Dickinson, the progeny of the great producer and musician Jim Dickinson, were in the house! Luther and Cody have their band, The North Mississippi All-Stars and they played a condensed version of their usual 2-3 hour show in about a ½ hour.
Kicking off with an instrumental piece ‘IM’ and then switching to electric slide and drums, they showed the Festival Theatre crowd their pedigree and the joy they have in evangelizing about the music from the hills where they are from. Luther proclaimed from the stage that they were living their dream by traveling the world playing music and let’s hope they continue to come our way to share the joy!
After the intermission, Jorma Kaukonen and Barry Mitterhoff played a short seven-song set that included the Jefferson Airplane classic ‘Embryonic Journey’, Reverend Gary Davis’, ‘Search My Heart’ and Lightnin’s ‘Come Back Baby’. Barry is a virtuoso on the mandolin and he played acoustically throughout the set showing off not only his playing but the acoustics of the Festival Theatre.
Rounding out the show was the laid-back and peaceful Corey Harris and then the tall and gangly playing of Ross Hannaford and his trio close it out before we all headed off to The Wah Bar once again.
The Wah Bar on Thursday presented us with the 75-year-old guitarist from Jamaica, Ernest Ranglin. Ernest was joined by a band he had met the day before and had to introduce them from a sheet of notebook paper. Ranglin is known for playing on many Jamaican recordings and is known for blending jazz and reggae successfully. The saxophone and the rest of the band built a funky little sound in The Wah Bar and for the first time, I saw some dancing take place! Please note Ross Hannaford was particularly funky shaking his bones! Just watch out for those swinging arms!
Kicking off the evening were The Pigram Brothers from Broome and they were joined by Kerryn Tolhurst on the slide. Kerryn, now living in New York City, added some smooth licks to the gorgeous vocalizing and playing of Stephen, Alan, and Peter Pigram. I gushed to Lucky Oceans, while we bopped to Ernest, how I had never heard them before and he told me this was just a slice of the Pigram Brothers because there are 4 more siblings! I await the day to hear the full ensemble.
Luther Dickinson caught up with me on Friday to tell me about the new album due out in January from the North Mississippi Allstars. Entitled, Hernando, Luther said, “Man, this album is all over the place with guitars from all over. It is probably the hardest rocking album we have made.” He even mentioned Black Sabbath in the same breath, but I will await the release to hear that comparison and the pyrotechnics of his playing!
Luther and Cody and bassist Chris Chew, who make up the band, have had a busy decade! They played the last couple of years touring a bit with John Hiatt: recorded with The Black Crowes and kicked off 2007 with them at Madison Square Garden; put out a retrospective of their musical career so far; recorded an acoustic record only available online and most recently did 6 weeks with gospel/soul singer Mavis Staples and harp player Charlie Musselwhite in the US.
“Charlie is the real deal, man. His travels from growing up in Mississippi and then moving to Memphis and Chicago and playing the harmonica and blues there are pretty wild. Then in 1967, he moved to San Francisco and he has all those stories to tell. He is one of the few people who can mention Muddy and Owsley in the same sentence,” Luther laughed.
Luther had a lot of praise and love for his heritage and his Dad. “My Dad, Jim is now 66 and doing well. He has stopped producing large record company gigs and is now producing local Mississippi artists. I think people will look back at his career and what he has done for the local music scene as something very special in years to come,” said Luther.
The North Mississippi Allstars shoot back to America for some gigs before a short tour as The Word (with John Medeski on keys and Robert Randolph on pedal steel) and then see 2008 in playing with Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. In short, the Dickinsons do not stop, and Luther admits he is a confessed workaholic!
Besides the concerts and the gigs at the Wah Bar, there were lively discussions at some of the forum/panel discussions on Friday and Saturday. These topics included a lively discussion about roots music in Australia and America, an attention-grabbing panel of women discussing the navigation of the music industry for females, and a fantastic dialogue with Vernon Reid, Jorma, Anne McCue, Jeff Lang, and Chris Finnen about artists and their obligation towards social responsibility. These panels were stars in the crown of the festival as you were able to hear what these artists and managers and publicists had to say about their roles and thoughts on the industry and the art of making music.
Friday night at Elder Park, known for its free concerts in Adelaide, saw it closed off once again for the paying crowds. For 50.00 dollars the middling-sized crowd was treated to several guitarists under the banner Slideshow. Bob Brozman, Lucky Oceans, Jeff Lang, Dave Hole (at the last minute he was booked to take Cindy Cashdollar’s spot!), and others played some spectacular guitar under the stars. Never do we get a chance to see so many slide players at once! There were a couple of late no-shows as Roy Rogers and Cindy Cashdollar had to bow out of the fest due to family and airline issues respectively. Closing the evening at the Wah Bar was the lovely Kerianne Cox who once again gave us the warmth and vision of her music and words.
Saturday we headed to the Blues with the Culture Of Kings Concert, again held at Elder Park, for the penultimate concert there. The crowds were up on the Friday night attendance and Fiona Boyes, Jeff Lang and John Hammond were the highlights. Jeff Lang can play anything on his guitar and his lovely vocals are a bonus. Fiona Boyes, possibly one of our most unknown Blues guitarists, is a fabulous soul. The joy that she generates can be felt when she speaks and when she plays. Her voice will be heard for many years to come, you can guarantee it!
We had one more chance to see a legend in the Wah Bar up close as Jorma Kaukonen and Barry Mittterhoff gave us a very special set of acoustic mandolin and fingerpickin’ guitars. Barry played brilliantly and Jorma, who had mentioned earlier in the day to me that he might pull out his electric guitar, unfortunately, left that in the hotel room. During the 14-song set that included a gorgeous version of ‘Serpent Of Dreams’, we also had John Hammond on hand to play and sing 3 tunes. Jorma let John pick them as he went and they shared the stage as old friends do, drinking in the moment and enjoying the glow.
Sunday was the last chance to dance and groove at Elder Park and the organisers would have been happy with the turnout. The cross-generational audience on hand for a Tribute To The Music Of Jimi Hendrix was just the perfect way to end this guitar festival. The trio of the Dickinson Brothers and Alvin Youngblood Hart (with Alvin and Luther trading bass and lead on their headlining sets) was one showstopper, especially Luther’s wailing rendition of ‘Spanish Castle Magic’. Anne McCue slammed out ‘Machine Gun’, Adalita Srsen rolled around on the stage during ‘All Along The Watchtower and Jorma and Fiona and Barry covering ‘Hey Joe’ were just a few of the jaw-dropping moments. Jorma finally had his electric out and the memories of Hot Tuna jamming the night away came back to me.
The First Adelaide International Guitar Festival will be on again for at least the next 3 years and hopefully, many more to come. The artists involved all praised the staff and the organization saying this is how a festival should be. As someone in attendance for 5 days, I found little to complain about, except maybe the lack of sleep. Mark this very special event on your calendar for next year, a very pleasant way to ease into the silly season for sure.
See ya’ll next year!