The phrase “Best weekend of the year” has grown to be synonymous with the Briggs Farm Blues Fest which celebrated its 26th year, this past July 6-8. The event, held on the Briggs family farm that dates to the 1700s, consistently draws thousands of mostly camping fans in northeast Pennsylvania and surrounding states. With fourteen consecutive years of growth in attendance interrupted only in 2020 by the pandemic, this writer has witnessed its ascent from a family festival that featured a range of primarily genuine blues artists to its current status as one of the country’s top blues festivals drawing over 10,000, mixing the genuine with leading contemporary acts. The phrase itself sets a high bar, and although the fest almost always delivers on that promise, some years stand above the others.
This year’s programming felt like a return to the fests of five or six years ago as it included acts of interest to both blues purists and the rocking variety that appeal to the ever-increasing younger audiences, which are key to sustaining the festival well into the future. It’s a tough balancing act. This year had the authentic presence, past favorites, and some of the rising breakthrough bands over the past year. In short, a job well done by Bobby Kelchner.
This writing/photography team attended the full days of Friday and Saturday but did not make the opening acts of Thursday evening although we heard that it was the most attended Thursday night yet. In any case, here’s what went down on the Back Porch Stage on Friday. Frequent festival performers, the Uptown Music Collective, a five-six-piece electric blues band comprised of students from the school so named, kicked off the Back Porch with a professionally done set of blues covers (“Key to the Highway,” “Hootchie Cootchie Man,” “My Babe.” “Wang Dang Doodle,” et. al.) featuring two lead guitarists and three different lead vocalists – bringing plenty of energy to set the festivities in motion.
Solo act New Moon Acoustic Blues (Karl Schwartz) followed, displaying a mastery of Hill Country, Delta, and Piedmont blues from such artists as R.L. Burnside, Robert Johnson, and Reverend Gary Davis among others. The guitar-violin duo of Craig Thatcher and Nyke Van Wyk performed a sublime set of covers and originals with Thatcher’s beautiful Martin acoustic guitars and Van Wyk’s richly toned violin meshing together gorgeously. A clear highlight was their stellar rendition on Hot Tuna’s “Hesitation Blues.” Unfortunately, a brief thunderstorm curtailed their set by ten minutes or so. (Luckily the only rain that fell during the weekend). The Justin Mazer Trio, a skilled guitar-led unit, fell victim to much of the audience now viewing acts on the Main Stage but stayed the course, delivering a worthy jazz-blues-jam set.
The clear highlight of the day on the Back Porch though was the electrifying set by seven-time BMA nominee harmonicist/vocalist Brandon Santini and his blues rocking band which featured guest Pat Harrington from Victor Wainwright’s band sitting in for one blistering guitar duel. In a set that began and ended with staples “Watch Yourself” and “Turn On Your Lovelight,” Santini also got in his song on the Peacock series Poker Face, “Got Good Lovin’.” Although the heat precluded much dancing during the afternoon, folks were out in big numbers during Santini’s set. Santini has terrific stage presence, harmonica chops, and vocal power – a consummate frontman.
Friday’s Main Stage began with North Mississippi Hill Country blues from one of its leading purveyors, 2023 National Heritage Fellow R.L. Boyce, from Como, MS, backed by the Briggs Farm “house band,” The Cornlickers. The seated 67-year-old Boyce took the audience through a set of hypnotic guitar-driven blues that, in retrospect, played better in the Back Porch on Saturday afternoon. His set on Friday was also curtailed, albeit briefly by the storm.
James “Super Chikan” Johnson & The Fighting Cocks followed, putting on a dazzling show that at times defied description. Super Chikan is from Clarksdale, MS and is the nephew of bluesman Big Jack Johnson. He has a distinct flair for showmanship and custom makes his guitars, some extensions of the primitive didley bow, others of a cigar box. His mimicking of chicken and rooster sounds as well as his suggestive gyrations on stage make him a favorite at Morgan Freeman’s hometown venue, Ground Zero. His act translated well for a Briggs Farm audience primed to party. The photographers had a feast zeroing in on his antics and those of his all-female band, especially Laura “LaLa” Craig on piano along with Heather Falduto on bass, and his daughter Jamiesa “Pinky” Turner on drums. Apologies to Joanna Connor & The Wrecking Crew as my stay at Brandon Santini’s set went longer than intended. Connor is also a returnee, like Boyce from 2017, and her renowned guitar playing continued to stoke the fire that Super Chikan had lit.
Friday’s closing act Victor Wainwright and his sextet, The Train, capped the day with a blistering set with plenty of variety. He did a superb job of showcasing his band, especially guitarist Pat Harrington and the Roomful of Blues horn men -trumpeter Doug Woolverton and saxophonist Mark Earley. Wainwright is a Briggs favorite, appearing for the third time. He is also understandably a four-time BMA winner including the coveted B.B. King Entertainer of the Year from 2016. He knows how to engage an audience and they were with him every step of the way, even during the improvisational moments, one of which occurred when Victor invited Santini to join the festivities on harp. Another high moment was Wainwright’s original, a heartfelt tribute to B.B. King with “Lucille.”
A rain-free but rather humid Saturday had more than its share of highlights as well. Old Man Mojo, a five-piece band from Maryland delivered a rousing two-hour set, paying tribute to the masters. Frontman, vocalist, and harmonicist Lane Whigham knows how to engage an audience that started dancing early. A highlight was a harmonica duet between Whigham and a youngster from the audience. That kind of thing happens at Briggs Farm and probably not at too many other places.
The Back Porch’s most shining moments were during veteran Benny Turner’s set. The 83-year-old Turner, the late Freddie King’s half-brother, is of course one of the last few links to the original bluesmen. Backed by the more than solid Tommy Z Band, Turner’s deep tenor voice and high-pitched emotive bass solos had the audience both mesmerized and dancing. Sure, he played blues staples, but few can conjure the deep emotion that Benny did on “Bring It On Home,” “Let the Good Times Roll,” and especially Howlin’ Wolf’s “Going Down Slow” and “As the Years Go Passing By.”
Turner began some songs perched on a stool but became so inspired that he began strutting across the stage, singing at the standing vocal mic. Tommy Z commented to me later, “He was giving the band chills too.” While most of the balance of Saturday was spent at the Main Stage, shout-outs to fine performances by the trio that featured guitarist/vocalist Chris LaRose and bassist/vocalist Emily Neblock of the Hex Highway Blues Band and the one-person band (drums and multiple guitars) that was Ghalia Volt.
Saturday’s Main Stage began with incendiary guitarist, Jackie Venson from Austin, TX. Supported only by a drummer, she had plenty of fire powers to stoke the readied audience. Eddie 9 Volt aka Eddie 9V sustained the energy with a soul-rocking set by his fiery quartet. Keyboardist Chad Mason and his whole rhythm section were especially impressive as the band focused on covers and originals from his eponymous 2023 album. They closed with a most up-tempo version of Blind Faith’s ‘Can’t Find My Way Home” and, ironically Robert Randolph did as well, albeit in a more customary tempo.
Toronto’s seven-piece Bywater Call, another emerging 2023 act, followed. The band features gutsy vocalist Meghan Parnell, guitarist Dave Barnes, drummer Bruce McCarthy, bassist Mike Meusel, keyboardist John Kerwin, trumpeter Stephen Dyte and tenor saxophonist Julian Nalli. Each of them got ample solo opportunities, cresting in a mind-blowing extended version of Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With,” obviously a fine choice for the revved-up audience.
While for a moment or two, it seemed that we may have reached the musical peak of the weekend Robert Randolph and his quartet annihilated any such notion. Their set boasted the highest energy level over a consistent 90 minutes that this writer has ever witnessed. Randolph and band took us to the stratosphere. At one point only midway through the set there were two dozen audience members dancing on stage (another first for Briggs).
Randolph was clearly inspired – swinging his legs out from his pedal steel and standing on his chair. Even a relatively slower blues song “The Skies Are Crying,” which featured guest Parnell, became a totally different song when rendered by Randolph, in call-and-response sequences on his guitar with Parnell’s vocal. The set began with Skip James’ “I’m So Glad” and included Hendrix’s “Red House” and “Foxy Lady,” the former rendered by guitarist Tash Neal as was the aforementioned “Can’t Find My Way Home.” Other Randolph staples such as “Baptize Me” and “I Need More Love” had the crowd in a delirious frenzy, a climax like no other. His act alone would have justified what by now is an iconic phrase – “The best weekend of the year.” Visit www.briggsfarm.com to plan for July 11-13, 2024.
Photos by Tina Pastor
