| Sat night party | Sunday Concerts |

Last year we started, "When a festival features over 50 bands on four stages, where do you begin?" It wasn't easy, and this year there were 65 named bands on five stages! On top of that one or two unnanounced bands such as The Wranglers appeared, so we had a hard time, but the kind of hard time we can put up with.

Following the pattern of the previous two years, the festival started on Friday with a morning show aimed at schoolchildren, billed as "A program on the History of Bluegrass Music for Local Schools (and the general public)."

The Peasall Sisters performed once again but the big band this time was "P.M.W.," better known as Poor Man's Whiskey but with a name change to protect the kids! The Peasalls have been covered in our previous articles (HSB photo 2005 by Jon R. Luini ) and PMW is covered below.

Saturday 1st October 2005

Dale Anne Bradley

'Twas A Misty, Moisty, Morning in Golden Gate Park for the 5th Annual HSB Festival, but Dale Anne Bradley & Coon Creek soon dispelled the mist and hoisted our spirits, kicking off the festival in their own inimitable, high octane style. San Francisco wonder fiddler Joe Craven guested this time, but apart from that not much changed from previous years (how could it be better?) so click these links for stories:

Gilroy Bluegrass Festival 2005 | HSB 2002 | HSB 2003 | HSB 2004 | CD Review |

Good old Paul Mann was MC again and, though not a performer, he put in an excellent performance as he has done ever since the first time.

It was clear that it was going to be a hard day because of the sheer amount of activity, what with five stages this year and even more SuperStars guaranteed to attract humongous crowds. Five stages would take some covering at the best of times, but on top of that we had to consider the schedules... many of the acts we wanted most to see overlapped at times, which made things very difficult. As we moved around the festival on our travels from stage to stage we overheard several times "There's too much going on." It really was hard to plan a tour taking in all the better Bluegrass acts and celebrity "Hardly" acts. Somehow we worked out a plan of attack that started off with a fleeting visit to the Porch Stage, new this year.

Poor Man's Whiskey

A photo speaks a thousand words!

Over on the Arrow Stage, we found Poor Mans Whisky dressed in prisoner's uniform, supervised by Warden Hellman (AKA Warren Hellman, who finances the festival) dressed as a prison warder to make sure they don't escape before the end of their performance! He introduced them, saying "This band is in San Quentin State Prison but the parole board has decided that it would help their rehabilitation if they had some social interaction, under close guard. So here they are and you needn't fear them because I am keeping an eye on them and they will be chained." And chained they were - the funniest sight at the festival was PMW wandering around the site strung together at the ankles!

Well, Wow! What a wall of sound. Yeeeehaw! From the Bay-area, PMW is a real fun, entertaining band. Click here to view a very good YouTube promo video and
see this review for more band details.

Alison Brown

Photo: Percussion using Alison's banjo head!

On the Main (Banjo) Stage was the Alison Brown Band. As usual, Alison provided some impeccable banjo picking, but often not bluegrass style. Her set this year had a definite Irish flavour, beginning with The Wonderful Sea Voyage of The Holy St. Brendan.

Alison doesn't exactly play the type of music we like, but there's no denying she's extremely good, and obviously enjoying herself here! It's so hard to get a decent photo without mics on... sometimes photographic plastic surgery is necessary - can you spot it?

Jodi Stecher

Jodi Stecher's band appeared next, but we had to fly away to catch Del McCoury. Jodi was covered in a recent article here.

Del McCoury

One of our great favourites playing on the Banjo Stage was The Del McCoury Band. They had a new bass player who provided a good, solid underpinning. This was "Definitely Strictly Bluegrass" and definitely gentleman pickers in suits and ties with Del resplendent in grey to match his hair. Travelling Teardrop Blues opened their set, followed by Count me Out. Ronnie rocks on mandolin and Del is the consummate showman. Ronnie sounded just like Del on Body and Soul, with Rob providing some hot picking on banjo. Jason Carter (fiddle) played a great version of Cotton Eyed Joe. Other outstanding offerings included All Aboard (stomper in a minor key) followed by Rawhide, ripped up by Ronnie on mandolin. And Del is every bit the nice guy gentleman he appears to be.

It must be at least fifteen years since we saw them for the first time, at a Bluegrass Festival in England but, just like a very good wine, they just seem to get better and better with age!

The weather on the day was quite cold and grey, but in spite of that the park was just awash with people. We were surprised to see a new park rule, "No smoking in the park." There was smoke, but we didn't really smell any tobacco anywhere! The groups of dancers and arm wavers were there in force, as usual.

Doc Watson

Still on the Banjo Stage we saw the legendary Doc Watson, accompanied by David Holt. Doc is now getting on a bit, but at 82 years old he hasn't lost any of the magic that has made him a household name amongst the Old Time and Bluegrass community. His rich warm voice is as distinctive as ever.

This was a very diverse set. David Holt played great clawhammer banjo, the perfect foil for Doc's innovative guitar picking style. I loved the old timey sound of these two instruments playing melody and harmony together on such old favourites as Way Down Town, Shady Grove and RagTime Annie. Oh dear, that was magic! After a couple of instrumentals, (Fiddlin' In The Lane and Little Old Log Cabin in The Lane) Dave began to teach the crowd hambone licks, slapping with his hands on his thighs and cheeks, creating percussion for Rain Crow Bill, played on harmonica by Doc. Dave explained that this was what people did to keep time for singing and dancing when they were short of instrumentalists and it sounded great to us!

Photo right: David Holt

They continued the set with a bluesey version of Sitting On Top Of The World, which Doc learned from an all-black group the Mississippi Sheikhs many years ago. David acompanied him, playing slide on his National Steel Guitar with a broken bottle neck, followed by Steel Guitar Blues.

Doc said he was going to use the 'Cheater' on the next number, The Train That Carried My Girl From Town By that we presumed he meant the Capo, as we hadn't seen him use one up to then. Doc then welcomed his grandson, Merle's son Richard Haley Watson, to join him on the last few numbers. These included Blue Yodel No. 12, I was A Stranger Passing Through Your Town (an instrumental version of Summertime) followed by a minor key version of Columbus Stockade Blues (sung by Doc), I Am A Pilgrim and the Mississippi John Hurt song I Got The Blues And I Can't Be Satisfied. What quality stuff!

Hot Rize

We were very upset that we couldn't stay to the performance by our favourite band, wonderful though it was sure to be. There are plenty of reports and photos in previous years: | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |

New this year was another hot guitarist Jim Hurst. Jim has played with many BG bands over the years, notably with Claire Lynch, as well as his own band with Missy Raines Jim Hurst & Missy Rains CD review.  Concert review with Suzanne Thomas.

Earl Scruggs

Earl Scruggs, who also appeared on the main stage, was an absolute 'must see' for us. Now in his 80's, (and, just in case you've been hiding in a cave on Mars) he's been another old stalwart of the Bluegrass scene through the years. Today's line-up included his son, Gary (bass), Keith Sewell (electric lead guitar), Brad Davis (rhythm guitar), Jason Carter (fiddle), John Gardiner (drums)(er, was that drums?) and Jennifer Kennedy (dobro). Because it was Scruggs, Derek forgave them the drums, which actually were OK.

They played and sang all Earl's best tunes /songs and one or two contemporary ones, cracking off with Salty Dog. Earls Breakdown followed and well, his picking is still hard, fast, clean and solid despite his 80 years! Bob Dylan's Down In The Easy Chair (Ooh Ee, Ride Me High), followed by Soldiers Joy played in real Bluegrass style. Earl did a great job on that one; this is the first time we've heard it played in BG style and it rocks!! Superb picking also from Keith Sewell (lead guitar).

What a set! After Doin' My Time and Sitting On Top Of The World it was clear that Old Earl seems to have plenty of stamina still, playing all the fast numbers at a cracking pace. Foggy Mountain Rock was led by stunning new, young talent, Dobro picker Jennifer Kennedy (photo, above right) and boy - is she hot! By way of a change Earl gave a nice break on guitar in You are my flower.

It was a real treat to see two or more generations playing together, with old bluegrass Icons like Del and his boys, Doc and his grandson and Earl and his son. And every time Earl finished a break which he knew was special he broke out in a grin all round.

Earl and Jason played duet lead in on Sally Goodin'. It was a really hot set, and an unbelievably fast version of Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms had even the security guards dancing. Not bad, considering that even a smile  from themis hard to come by.

In the comfort of the front row, Jean prepares to lay an egg.

No set from Earl Scruggs could be complete without The Ballad of Jed Clampett, for which Keith Sewell sang Lester Flatt's part on the vocals. For a finalé they played Foggy Mountain Breakdown, very appropriate choice because the fog had moved in from the nearby Pacific Ocean and was all around the site. And that's why the photos are as they are. But Jay Blakesberg caught a great photo that Derek  couldn't get to in time...

Steve Earl and The Bluegrass Dukes

When Paul Mann introduced festival host Warren, the people went wild. Warren seemed very nonplussed about it as he introduced Steve Earl and The Bluegrass Dukes, with Tim O'Brien (mandolin & guitar) and Casey Dreason (fiddle), plus banjo and bass. Warren thought that Steve Earl must be very, very popular for the crowd to get so excited before he had even mentioned his name! Steve performed as always with great feeling about things that are obviously very important to him, such as democracy, freedom and preserving the earth.

Most of Steve's set was from his own inimitable songs about love, war and protest, including: Forever Blue, Find Your Good Girl Gone, I Love You 'Til the Day I Die, Texas Eagle (a train song) and Harlem Man (written about democracy and the trade unions), The Devil's Infantry (an anti-war song) and We're All Going Down To Dixie; the last in an Old Timey style.

We can't say it was bluegrass, but it was great stuff, full of fire and passion. Steve writes a good song, as demonstrated by Willing, Nothing Brings You Down Like Your Home Town, Carrie Brown and Jerusalem (and what a cracking song that last is!)

By the end of their set it was getting dark, which gave a whole new ambience to the show. So for us Steve Earl brought to a close the first star studded, talent filled amazing day of this years H.S.B.

One regret - everyone back home tells Jean that she sings like folk legend Joan Baez (she doesn't) so it would have been nice to hear her live for the comparison, but it was too difficult to fit her in.

Derek & Jean BrandonWrite to us

Chester, England