What is it about festivals these days? How come every-time I visit a music related blog that’s not hyping Vampire Weekend, they are announcing another festival whose lineup card is bragging “my lineup can kick your lineup’s ass.” And more likely than a $5 bottle of Aquafina, that lineup will include Flaming Lips, NIN and Wilco.
Roots rockers from upstate Vermont must have felt quite at home landing a gig in a Flagstaff, Arizona brewery in late January: laid back town, snowy mountains, pony tails and appreciative music fans. After all it was just a little over three years ago Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were regulars at cozy dining/drinking holes like Halvorsons and Nectars in their hometown of Burlington.
At the Jammy Awards, the musical reach is broad and a sense of history is cherished. Not only that, but it's done so in an organic way that, despite similarities in intent, manages to pull off the type of shaggy genuineness that the museum-enshrinement theatrics of the Grammys and the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame just can't seem to nail.
