It was a solid line-up on Sunday at The Santa Cruz American Music Festival at Aptos Park in Aptos, California. The weather around Santa Cruz had been a little spotty in days prior so everyone was happy to wake up to early morning sun and “no jacket necessary” temperatures.
Festival logistics were super smooth, a shuttle was ready to pick up festival-goers almost as soon as cars were parked. Once at Aptos Park, lines moved quickly and efficiently through the banding process. The festival site was great and reminiscent of perhaps one of the larger stages at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park. There was food, beer, wine, and lots of smiles as friends descended the trail carrying all the supplies necessary for the day with kids strapped in slings or pulled in tow.
The first artist of the day was Barnes Courtney with his band. It’s tough to have the opening slot at a festival and it was clear that Barnes was compensating to impress the crowd on hand and those arriving. The kid has an impressive resume having opened for the likes of The Who, Ed Sheeran and a couple other larger names, and there’s no denying his talent but his performance was bombastic and his between song banter bordered on crass. Rock and Roll is going to be Rock and Roll but, given the setting, it would not have taken much to just play the set and let his music speak for him. And his music was good, it needs some time to grow but it was good.
And when The Brothers Comatose took the stage, the crowd was ready. It took a mere mention from guitarist Ben Morrison to get dancers to fill the area at the front and wings of the stage. These guys have mastered the art of getting a crowd up and bouncing and this has everything to do with their attitudes. These guys smile, they laugh, they joke on each other and they can really, seriously play. It has been a real pleasure to watch this band evolve and mature over time and, yet again, BroCo is poised and ready to take to the summer festival circuit and light it up. Their set was not necessarily unique to the day but this was not even remotely noticeable. The combined talents of this band is the true sum of it’s parts. Tight harmonies by brothers Ben and Alex Morrison, imaginative bass lines by Gio Benedetti, soaring fiddle leads by Philip Brezina and alternating acoustic and electric guitar work as well as mandolin by Ryan Avalone makes this band a tight bluegrass goodtime unit. Augmenting the set, the band was joined by the T-Sisters who lent their unique harmonies to the mix.
The Wood Brothers followed. Santa Cruz was lucky to have one of the tightest trios of the genre back into town for the second time in three months. What can be said of this band that has not yet been said? Brothers Oliver Wood and Chris Wood along with bandmate Jano Rix, have done something amazing. Together they play some of the finest songs on stage. The lyrics are consistently thoughtful, relevant and crafted in a way that make them incredibly thought provoking. That said, the lighthearted “Loaded” set opener brought wide smiles and cheers from the now lubricated crowd. The set screamed through a tight “Atlas,” calmed with the always touching “Keep Me Around.” A good, old “Tried and Tempted” brought a soft, greasy soul and was followed up by a recently recorded barn burner called “Snake Eyes.” This is the jam, folks. “Snake Eyes” is tight and fast, it is all about the victory of chasing the payoff and the crowd got it. Hands were thrown in the air, cheers and shrieks rent the air with whistles and hugs were freely given. This is also the song that gets Chris Wood dancing, literally, all over the damn stage. There might not be anything better than The Wood Brothers crushing a gig in California sunshine. But then they brought it down again.
We all knew it had to come during this set and it did. Gregg Allman had passed the day before and the band had heard the news just following their performance of “Midnight Rider” the previous night. Oliver said it simply: they had to play it again. Their rendition of this song is slow and pragmatic, full of intention and flips the coin on the main character of the tune. He is darker than originally recorded and more mindful too. But this day it was all about remembering the man that played a role in inspiring the music of this band and so many others. “Midnight Rider” was followed by an appropriate “American Heartache” and then the band was joined by the T-Sisters for “Sing About It” which worked well with the girl’s added harmonies. A punchy “One More Day” was juxtapositioned against a touching “Luckiest Man” that followed and found the crowd taking lead vocal duties while the band basked in the fact that this song has found a place in the hearts of so many. The outstanding narrative, “Postcards From Hell” came next and then an absolutely raging “Honey Jar” finished the set. The Wood Brothers, thus far in the day, were the highlight and the crowd hugged the lip of the stage until the last note was finished and the band had finally exited. If you are not listening to this band, it’s time to start – like right now.
After a quick stage change out she came. Mavis Staples, at 78, is still a force. She remains a voice for activism and the rights of the downtrodden. She consistently reminds her listeners that the fight of Dr. King and those who bled for the Civil Rights movement of the sixties is not over but that only a measured march to a progressive cadence will get us to the end of the freedom road. This is her message but it is imparted by smiles, by her stories that encourage her audience and call them to bigger things. Her songs span over fifty years of history in which choice covers like Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” is played with Staples Singers’ funk and soul standards like “Respect Yourself” and “What You Gonna Do?” But it was probably “Freedom Highway” that truly brought the astounding history through which this woman has weaved her way into true perspective. This was a song she wrote on the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and sung countless times with her father Pops Staples. As she told the story of the song and remembered her father, Mavis fought back tears and a trembling lip. Those memories, still so fresh, immediate and vivid, of family and friends past, urge Mavis to keep on and in her songs and message. A touching cover of The Band’s “The Weight” got the crowd singing along in full voice but it was the set closer, “I’ll Take You There,” that brought those in the crowd, still sitting, up to their feet and dancing. When Mavis finished the crowd roared. The reality here is that we are losing these performers. Col. Bruce Hampton, Gregg Allman – the hits continue to come and their living voices are silenced one by one. Go and see these folks while you can. Listen to their stories and meditate on their songs – soak up what they have to tell us while we have them here.
The Devil Makes Three were up next and this hometown band was welcomed with loud cheers by the sun soaked crowd. Their brand of acoustic rockabilly meets bluegrass meets blues meets tent revival throwdown whipped the festival into one final frenzy and the audience danced and pranced, polka’s and swayed to the sounds. Band members Pete Bernhard, Lucia Turino and Cooper McBean wasted no time in getting down to business. Augmented by a drummer, the music was fast and unrelenting, the set punched and kicked as banjo lines twisted and turned over rhythm guitar and deep standup bass. Drawing heavily from their latest record, “Redemption and Ruin,” the band reimagined such classics as Robert Johnson’s “Drunken Hearted Man” their way and twisted the song into an offering uniquely theirs. And like the album, the translation to the stage meant that the light and dark, the songs of redemption and the songs of ruin, worked together to build a set that won. The highlight had to have been Muddy Water’s “Champagne and Reefer.” Water’s original version is slow and plodding but DM3 took the song in a completely different direction that called for kicked up heels and the occasional headbang. And of course there were the standbys like “Old Number 7” and “Graveyard.” This band has a fifteen year music well from which they can draw tunes. There was no shortage of choices. But the diversity of this band is what sets them apart, their reverence for past musical stylings is balanced by their punk rock ethos and that is rad.
And when the set ended so did the festival. All in all this was a great day for music and taken as a whole it was a really great festival. If you find yourself in the Bay Area next Memorial Day weekend, you would do well looking into this weekend of great music in a great location.
Authors Note: The Santa Cruz American Music Festival took place on May 27 and 28 2017. I was only able to go on the 28th so that is what this review covers.
One Response
Nice writing, Andrew. Thanks for mentioning Gregg. You’re right, we’re losing them so go to see live music while they’re still with us.