The 2023 Green River Festival in Greenfield, MA delivered on an impressive folk-leaning line-up and its reputation as one of the most endearing local festivals in the country. The three-day festival took place over the weekend of June 23-25th with a number of regional and national acts performed on three main stages. The festival has a strong camping presence and a community feel and although it focuses on roots and folk music, it brings in a variety of acts. Although the headliners are a strong draw for many, the undercard of lesser-known acts is what makes this festival so special and this year was no different. Here are some of the highlights:
Miko Marks
It is surprising that at a festival full of nationally touring acts (Little Feat, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, The Wood Brothers, etc…) that a local and relatively unknown act would stand head and shoulders above all the others, but in this reviewer’s opinion that was the case. Marks took a run at a country music career in the early 2000s, but despite her vocal talent, she found few breaks, (not an unfamiliar experience for an African-American country singer) and decided to focus on raising her family. Fortunately for us, her passion for performing and recording music resurfaced in 2020 and she put out three releases: Our Country, Feel Like Going Home, and Race Records. Her performance was mesmerizing.
Aside from her powerful and undeniable vocal chops, she brought honesty, a sense of community and enthusiasm to the stage. Her band, guitar, bass, and drums meshed with her well, but there is no denying that what made the band stand out was her warm, powerful, and soulful voice coupled with her palpable love for music. Give “Feel Like Going Home”, “One More Night”, or “As Long As I Can See The Light” if you want a taste. In fact, her singing was so impressive, she was asked to sit in with Little Feat as a guest vocalist to close out the Festival. After her performance, there was the longest line this reviewer has ever seen at the Green River Festival for Marks’ meet & greet. She was surely special.

Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
At first glance, this four-piece outfit (drums, bass, pedal steel, and two guitars) seems like a cookie-cutter Nashville act, but as the entire crowd that hung on every note can attest, they are much, much more. There is a hard edge to their music that seeps outside the Americana outlines of their songs that feels like there is a punk band trying to get out. It doesn’t come across as much on their records, but see them live and the interplay of the three guitars (Phil Sullivan on pedal steel, Shooks on a Gretsch hollow body, and Eric Peterson on a Fender Stratocaster) and you will surely be convinced. They still played a set rooted in Americana, with stand-out songs like “Fuck Up”, “Been Lovin’ You Too Long”, and “Poison”.
Although there were times in each of those songs one could feel the hard edge creeping out, but the band left no doubt of their rock chops when Shooks introduced their last number by saying “we are going to close the set with something a little different” and went into a ripping instrumental called “JCBC” that started slow but built into clashing guitars including screaming pedal steel riffs that utilized a set of effects pedals, Peterson wailing on the Strat, and Shooks playing the Gretsch with such force that must have had the strings wondering what they had done to deserve such treatment. The result was an epic closing to the Dean’s Beans stage, complete with a beautiful rainbow, that left the traditionally folk-loving Green River crowd screaming for more, late on a Sunday evening.

Eilen Jewell
Eilen Jewell spent a few years early in her career playing the local club scene when she lived in Massachusetts, so it made sense that her two sets at the 2023 Green River Festival felt like a coming home party. Jewell seemed at ease as she and her very professional band were unfazed by the rain as they worked through their hour-long set on the Greenfield Savings Bank Main Stage. She played a nice mix of old songs, including Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Green River”, but still managed to focus on her ninth and most recent album, Get Behind The Wheel, with standouts, “Crooked River” and “Lethal Love”.
The band sounded great, especially the guitar stylings of Jerry Miller which highlighted Jewell’s strong, but understated voice. However, the real magic happened at the second set of the day, an 11:00 intimate set at the Back Porch Stage (a sawdust-floor barn area that the Franklin County Fairgrounds uses to judge the goats, sheep and other farm animals) that was billed as Butcher Holler – a tribute to Loretta Lynn. Jewell and her backing band (guitar, upright bass & drums) started off playing six or so Loretta Lynn tunes accompanied by a Loretta Lynn primer. They focused on banned songs that made Lynn the sassy country music rebel she was, culminating with a great version of Lynn’s classic “The Pill”.
After that, Jewell worked back to her own material. The band seemed even more relaxed and seemed to be having a great time playing together. Jewell explained “this is probably the first time we have performed twice on the same day of a festival about nine hours apart, so you’ll excuse us if we are a little loopy.” Her voice and demeanor were perfect for the Lynn covers and the smiles on all the band’s faces, combined with the intimacy of the venue made the rest of the set memorable.

Alisa Amador
Amador played the very first set of the festival, and although she was unknown by many when she started (save those who knew of her as NPR’s 2022 Tiny Desk Contest winner), she ended with a slew of new fans. Her warm voice and impressive range brought life to many of her songs. Some of the songs, like “Timing” and “Slow Down”, show off a jazzier side of her vocals, while others like “Burnt And Broken” and “Nada Que Ver” fit much more into the folk box. Given the location, it was hard not to make the vocal comparison to Rachael Price, the lead singer of Lake Street Dive. One of the qualities that struck this reviewer was how comfortable and poised she seemed on stage for a newcomer. She created a sense of community with the audience immediately and shared her background, upbringing, and hopes so honestly, one couldn’t help rooting for her. She played songs from her debut EP Narratives, but also shared a number of great new songs slated for a forthcoming album that seems worth waiting for.

Jupiter & Okwess
From the first note, this band from the Democratic Republic of Congo had the entire audience of predominantly melanin-challenged New Englanders dancing their asses off with their brand of African funk. The six-piece band played a scorching 75-minute set of high-energy songs that must have allowed many in the audience to reach their entire day’s step goal in a single set. If you want to get a feel for the pace of the show, give the song, “Ofakombolo” from the 2017 release Kin Sonic a listen. If the music doesn’t draw you in, the band’s stage presence will – from the lead singer’s outfit to the shirtless masked drummer to the impossible large smiles of all the band members, all of which seem to be screaming “dance!” to your subconscious mind.

AJ Lee & Blue Summit
AJ Lee is a mandolinist and singer that fronts this band from Northern California. Of all the bands at this year’s Green River Festival, they had the most traditional bluegrass sound even though they don’t sport a banjo. Lee is joined by two acoustic guitars (Scott Gates & Sullivan Tuttle), an upright bass (Chad Bowen), and a fiddle (Jan Purat). Lee’s voice is perfectly suited to this genre, and her mandolin playing is pretty stellar as well. She kept saying how lucky she was to be playing with such a talented group of musicians, and as the set went on, that statement became more and more obvious.
Blistering solo after blistering solo left the entire crowd awestruck and made this reviewer wish for a slow-motion camera to take in the intricacies of the furious fingerpicking. They showcased each band member’s songs one of which was written by fiddler, Purat, who fell in love with bluegrass fiddle in an apartment with a downstairs neighbor named Rodney who hated every note and titled the song “Rodney Dangerfield”. They finished the set with “Lemons & Tangerines” the first cut from their new Album I’ll Come Back. They are also touring throughout the US for the rest of the year so be sure to catch them if they come through your town.

Sammy Rae and the Friends
The previous time Sammy Rae played Green River in 2021, the band was fairly unknown and if this reviewer remembers correctly, they opened one of the stages. Fast forward to 2023 and the band is headlining the Greenfield Savings Bank Main Stage on Saturday night of the festival. That seems like a pretty significant upgrade for this upbeat, party band with supportive messages for all. Each member of the band oozes good times and positivity, and that spirit infected the entire crowd as they danced and sang right up to the 10:55 curfew.
Rae’s vocals are jazzy without being pretentious. You can hear the mix of Sammy’s vocal prowess and the band’s commitment to fun on “Closer To You”, “Denim Jacket” and “Jackie Onassis” all of which kept the young contingent of the Green River crowd celebrating into the night. She did a great job of interacting with the audience, from introducing herself to those in the front row to dousing the entire crowd with the happiest and most prolific bubble machine on earth.

Moxie
On Friday night, the Back Porch stage was owned by Moxie a young four-piece indie rock band from nearby Brattleboro, VT. They are fronted by the diminutive Rei Kimura, who proved that size doesn’t matter. Her powerful vocals coupled with her infectious energy got a crowd on their feet and dancing at a stage that had predominantly seated crowds all weekend. It wasn’t Kimura’s first time performing at Green River, she first played as a young teenager in 2017 in her band Nomad vs Settler. The band slipped between laid-back, soulful numbers like “Pet Peeves” and harder rocking songs like “Hard To Be”. The band created a joyous atmosphere and the crowd seemed to absorb and reflect that energy back at them. Just back from a national tour, keep an eye out for Moxie; they are definitely on the way up!

Cory Wong
Wong brought a nine-piece band to Green River and cranked out a funk and soul-filled, 90-minute set. He drew heavily from his Turbo and Elevator Music For An Elevated Mood releases. The band, dressed in matching cornflower blue windbreakers, amplified the funky soul that Wong was laying down. The music was danceable and upbeat. At times the sound shifted to have a jazzier, poppier patina, for example, “Airplane Mode”, seemed to have a similar feel to Earl Klugh’s “Soda Fountain Shuffle”. However, even the jazziest of numbers clearly kept one foot in either the soul or funk camps. The groove was so infectious, even the woman tending the leaf-free gutter tent couldn’t help bopping to the tunes in between customers.

There were other fairly strong performances from:
- Bridget Kearney, Lake Street Dive’s bassist – who is putting out a pretty solid solo record, with songs like “I Bet Ur” that have more of an indie rock sound than her full-time band;
- GA-20, delighted the Dean’s Beans Stage with a mix of gritty blues, but played too many covers for this reviewer’s taste;
- Rachel Baiman – used her warm voice and banjo skills to keep an attentive audience waiting on every lyric;
- Sandy Bailey played the first set at the Back Porch Stage and pulled in listeners with her powerful vocals and heart;
- Felice Brothers put in a solid set and played their old and new hits including “Jazz on the Autobahn” and “Frankie’s Gun”. Unfortunately, their set didn’t have their usual element of “a train about to go off the rails” that provided such positive tensions in past performances as they have become better musicians and seemed to follow a more-structured setlist.
All in all, it was a great festival, socially, logistically, and sonically. And given the pre-weekend forecast which threatened delays and closures, surely surpassed all expectations.

























































One Response
“In fact, her singing was so impressive, she was asked to sit in with Little Feat as a guest vocalist to close out the Festival.”
Her band is on tour with Little Feat and my understanding is that she is regularly singing with them.