North West Bluegrass News
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
VII
6th October
2007: Saturday
Daytime
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 By Derek & Jean Brandon
| Introduction | Sat night party | Sunday Concerts | Contents | We finally arrived in Speedway Meadow, in the Golden Gate Park, at 12-45pm to begin our 7th HSB weekend. Late again, after a great but hard Friday night out. The view of the Main (Banjo) Stage (Ricky Skaggs)
Our first band of the day was The Good Old Timey Band, fronted by that old-timey old-timer, Mike Seager. They kicked of with number typical of their material - the Carter Family song Across The Great Divide. As I love Old Timey music particularly the old ballads this was right up my street and they continued in similar style including Farewell Sweet Jane, The Coocoo Bird and Hop Little Ladies Three in a Row. There was also a Scottish Song from the Blue Ridge Mountains featuring the Jews Harp and a Cajun song with accordion. (Photo)
Warren Hellman, who funds the festivals, spares nothing for the best of everything, and the sound systems are usually excellent. However, this time it let down the Good Old Timey Band - it wasn't brilliant and the engineers seemed to be having technical problems. Suddenly the sound went out but the band carried on regardless, like the professionals they obviously are. They were very well received by the now-enormous crowd which had gathered to enjoy this beautiful sunny day in the park, even though it was a little cooler than last year. The next up were The Roan Mountain Hill Toppers who had the 'mosh pit' bumping with more great Old Timey Music and stories, including a great roof-rattling version of Good Old Mountain Dew. Derek was busy elsewhere with his camera....
Alison gave her usual immaculate performance with local special super-guest
Joe Craven on fiddle. As usual it was mostly instrumental with not enough
vocals for me; but her
Left: Joe Craven and Alison Brown on Main Stage
Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder
In the afternoon Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder opened to the
sound of the Blue Angels roaring over head
(video
clip with Uncle Penn). Yes, they're both back again and
Their first number was I Want To Be At The Meeting with the usual powerful powerhouse of sound but, having said that, the gremlin that had plagued the sound during the morning was still around which detracted a bit from an otherwise faultless performance. The big photo of Jim Mills (right) is for banjo pickers - I know they love him!
The inclusion of Bruce Hornby's 88 string guitar and vocals has, in my
opinion, changed the sound making it much more contemporary. I was just beginning
to think that they'd
I reckon the bass is the most important instrument in a BG band because without it there's little there. So here's the bassist for you.
Here are video clips of the Skaggs band playing Bela Fleck and The Flecktones
| Clip 1 | Clip 2 | Clip 3 | Clip 4 | Clip 5 |
We didn't get to see Keller Williams, but here are some Video Clips: | Clip 1 | Clip 2 | Clip 3 |
Left: revolutionary design for a sprung seat. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
Belle Monroe and Her Brewglass Boys It was by now 4-30 p.m. and time to set off for the Porch Stage to see Belle Monroe and Her Brew Glass Boys, who were closing the day. On the way we passed by the Star stage where the Symphony Bluegrass Ramblers were playing. I've heard everything now!!! It was quite a way between stages and though we left in time and walked as briskly as possible to the Porch stage, we still missed the BM&HerBGB band's opening number, Fire On The Mountain. That went over like a lead zepplin with our daughter. Whatever, those who hadn't seen them before were in for a treat. The band was certainly on form, belting out Bluegrass with a capital B.
We thought they's do well, but nonetheless we were amazed when they were booked to play for Hilllary Clinton! (Photos sent by Hillary)
I would have got someone else to write this if I could because some people could say I'm biased, but people who know me know that I'll tell it like it is, warts and all (and there are some…) BM&HBB have certainly become a force in Bluegrass in the Bay Area in the last ten years with Belle Monroe (rhythm guitar, vocals), Ted Silverman (mandolin, vocals), Jordan Klein (banjo, vocals), Diana Greenberg (fiddle, harmony vocals), Tom Drohan (bass) and Rick Hendricks (Dobro, vocals).
Starting with their own version of M.W.Tani's Vocal version of Fire On The Mountain blended in with the traditional instrumenral version, they did a great job on a wide range of material from standard Bluegrass to pop to modern country, including Walls Of Time (by Peter Rowan & Bill Monroe, with Belle on lead vocals) and Gillian Welch's Tear My Still House Down. Their own compositions included Ted Silverman's Feel It In Your Bones (with a lot of words) and Rick Hendricks' Johnson County (about going to a barbeque). They played with energy and drive, a great set which gathered quite a crowd, fans and strangers alike.
The sound guys did a superb job and Belle and her Boys delivered some kick-ass Bluegrass (to use the American vernacular!) as they finished off what had been a great festival day in fine style. Some links relevant to this band:
Ted has contributed several articles for NWBN - do an in-site search. Already tired, we had the evening to look forward to - so off to Slim's for the party. It will have been a very hard day before we hit the sack.
Derek & Jean Brandon,
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Artists and Bandlists list for Saturday:
Alison Brown Quartet w/ Special Guest Joe Craven |
The Good Old Timey Band
Stage left: The Man, Warren Hellman, happy-man,
smiles as he gets his dollars worth watching Emmylou joining in with Gilliam
Welch & David Rawlins.
Alison Brown
medley version of the theme tune from The Beverly
Hillbillies and Ba Ba Black Sheep with Joe Craven drumming on
the Banjo skin at the same time, well - now that was good! But at the end
of the day we feels she now plays brilliant jazz banjo, not Bluegrass. And
who can blame her? Which pays the rent?
this
time Ricky brought special guest Bruce Hornby on that great Bluegrass instrument
the piano! Well, you can always pretend it's an 88-string guitar… (how
many remember Tom Lehrer's introduction to The Folk Song Army?)
lost
that great Bluegrass soul which has been the trademark of this group when
they gave us a roof-rattling version of Uncle Penn and Sis Draper
with Jim Mills on the banjo in fine form. Security had been stopping dancing
in front of the stage until Ricky asked, "Hey! Let them dance to this one!"
which they did. After that Ricky said, "Oh, what the hell, let them dance
to every one!" and they did. So the Security have a good boss. As a reward,
here's another photo of Richie (out of disguise - he always wears a cap!)
There
were lots of rip-roarers including a very fast Foggy Mountain Breakdown
(
We
left the Main (Banjo) Stage at this point for the Star Stage to see Bela
Fleck and The Flecktones, featuring Victor Lemonte Wooten, Future Man
& Jeff Coffin as The Flecktones. It was a first for us and as
we approached the stage we heard a lovely rolling banjo tune which Bela was
playing seated . He was accompanied by a guy who looked like he'd come straight
from the set of Pirates of the Caribbean, missing only the parrot on his
shoulder. He had a weird and wonderful box of electronitricks (is that
a new word? Ed.)
which
he played like a guitar. I'm not going to list the tunes that they played,
suffice it to say it was very modern, folky, jazzy, brilliant music, all
not for us. It was a shame; we've heard what fantastic Bluegrass Bela can
play, and one would have thought that for this festival he could have pulled
it out of the sack. To show what I mean here are some Bela Fleck video clips
online: Is clip 6 a good example of contemporary bluegrass?
We
didn't get much time with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, but they were
terrific as usual. We heard some of their best songs such as Tear My
Stillhouse Down and we have reported them in depth in previous years,
including a guest 
You could say that we (Derek and Jean) were in at the start; our daughter
Pam (a.k.a Belle Monroe) and some friends joined in to support us some years
ago when we first started visiting San Francisco and played the odd gig whilst
we were there. We stopped gigging after a few years but they continued, gaining
a banjo, fiddle and Dobro, as Belle Monroe and her Brew Glass Boys.
The rest is history - check these links... 
Belle Monroe
Dianna Greenberg
