Great Pinewood Bluegrass Festival Brings Greensky Bluegrass, The Devil Makes Three, Leftover Salmon to Lincoln, Nebraska (FESTIVAL REVIEW/PHOTOS)

On Sunday, May 20th, Lincoln, Nebraska’s Pinewood Bowl Theater hosted the Great Pinewood Bluegrass Festival, headlined by Greensky Bluegrass and featuring The Devil Makes Three, Mandolin Orange, and Horseshoes & Hand Grenades.

Before Sunday’s festivities, there was an official pre-party on Saturday night in downtown Lincoln at the Bourbon Theater, featuring none other than Leftover Salmon, a band that’s been getting parties started for about 30 years now.

Missoula, Montana’s Lil Smokies, who’ve been steadily rising in progressive bluegrass circles since their beginnings in 2009, opened the show. Whether playing traditional staples such as “Little Maggie” or one of dobro player Andy Dunnigan’s original compositions, The Lil Smokies bring exuberance and tight musicianship to the stage.

Leftover Salmon has been riding yet another creative wave, as evidenced on their new album Something Higher. Apparently for Leftover Salmon, staying fresh means defying even their own expansive “polyethnic cajun slamgrass” brand. They gave Lincoln a little bit of everything with their usual energetic delivery. Salmon played some tunes from the new album, including the expansive psychedelic rocker “Astral Traveler,” and the Danny Barnes-style punkgrass number “Analog.” Dunnigan joined the band early on, and came back with Smokies’ banjo player Matt Cornette and fiddler Jake Simpson later on for a certified cluster pluck. Leftover Salmon ended their set with their classic “Euphoria.”

Sunday was a pretty dreary day in Lincoln. Cool and drizzly, at least it was consistent, without any heavy downpours.. Spirits were high, however, with an afternoon lineup that had something for everybody.

Horseshoes & Hand Grenades were the first to hit the stage. These Wisconsinites have been touring hard for the past several years, making a name for themselves in the acoustic music scene. Playing barn-burning bluegrass, a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Time,” and honoring their midwest roots with some polka music, everything Horseshoes & Hand Grenades does is rooted in joy. They are so obviously happy to be there that after a couple of songs, the audience is bound to feel the same way.

When Mandolin Orange hit the stage, lead songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Martin said that they were going to play a set of afternoon siesta music, before the next bands would liven things up. The self-depreciating humor just made Mandolin Orange all the more endearing. This band’s music is sweet and soothing, even when their lyrics take on subjects like aging and politics. Formed around Martin and fellow North Carolinian and multi-instrumentalist Emily Frantz, the band seems to follow its collective intuition rather than any formula, and the results are well-received. The crowd was enraptured by the time, toward the end of their set, they played the popular “Wildfire,” from 2016 album Blindfaller.

Since 2002, The Devil Makes Three has made a tasty stew out of bluegrass, old time, country blues, jazz, folk, and ragtime music, releasing seven albums and gathering a dedicated following. In addition to the core three of Lucia Turino on upright bass, Pete Bernhard on guitar and Cooper McBean on guitar and banjo, The Devil Makes Three also employed a drummer and fiddle player to give even more depth to their sound. For an hour and a half, fans were treated to a wide range of tunes spanning the band’s career, including some cuts from 2016’s Redemption & Ruin.

During their set, Bernhard mentioned that he didn’t understand how the festival worked, in that there were a few people down front, some sitting in seats further back, and even more standing behind the soundboard. The fans in the back took that as their cue to rush the VIP area, which was a rather large section at the front of the venue, and stay there for the remainder of the day. Not sure how the organizers, or people who paid extra to be up close, felt about it, but it did make for a more intimate feel, since people weren’t scattered all over the sizable venue.

At eight o’clock sharp, Greensky Bluegrass took the stage and kicked off their set with a cover of the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle With Care.” Horseshoes & Hand Grenades’ Adam Greuel came out to play guitar on “I’d Probably Kill You.” Dobro player Anders Beck said that although they wouldn’t normally have a guest come out on the second song of the night, Greuel had to get down to the Bourbon Theatre to prepare to play the festival afterparty. After that, Greensky busted out “Clinch Mountain Backstep.”

Whether you call their music high octane bluegrass, jamgrass, or rock n’ roll music played on bluegrass instruments, Greensky Bluegrass brings the heat and gets audience involved and dancing. They’ve worked their butts off for years to become one of the premier bluegrass touring bands in the nation. Whether driving hard through traditional bluegrass numbers like “How Mountain Girls Can Love” or getting spacial and psychedelic like on the set closing “Run or Die” from 2016’s Shouted, Written Down & Quoted, the energy of Greensky Bluegrass cannot be denied. They also remain personable and consider the audience a key component of every show. The band didn’t play any songs about Nebraska, but they did encore with a song from Bruce Springsteen’s album Nebraska. “Atlantic City” brought the evening to a close.

The Great Pinewood Bluegrass Festival delivered to the fine folks of Lincoln and the surrounding area an eclectic collection of progressive bluegrass and Americana acts, shining a bright light on the future of the genre and independent, authentic music in general, on an otherwise gray Nebraska day.

Greensky Bluegrass, 5.20.18, Pinewood Bowl Theater, Lincoln, NE

Set 1: Handle With Care, I’d Probably Kill You*, Clinch Mountain Backstep, Living Over > Bottle Dry, How Mountain Girls Can Love, What’s Left of the Night > Miss September, Take Cover, Run or Die

Encore: Atlantic City

* = With Adam Greuel on guitar (Horseshoes & Hand Grenades)

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter