MBOTMA Festival (cont')

For me, one of the highlights of this year's festival was the old-time Banjo Showcase on Friday afternoon. I don't play the banjo, but both Riley Baugus and Mike Seeger were part of it. Riley opened by singing a haunting melody with his banjo (danged if I can remember the title). After this, Mike Seeger said ... 'maybe I'll just do an instrumental'. As the showcase went on Riley would mention a banjo player that influenced him and then comment that Mike had actually got to meet and play with his 'banjo hero'. (Riley is in his 30's I'd guess, Mike Seeger is over 70).

Mike Seeger was recovering from a cold, so his voice was a little rugged (he actually tuned his instruments a half step flat to accommodate). I think I caught most of his main stage and showcase appearances. I especially liked the showcase on 'Early Southern Guitar Sounds' - I had already heard the CD , but it was good to see him demonstrate the styles. He is working on a DVD so I'll probably get that as well. (We bought a couple of his CD's that I didn't already have).

In the 'bluegrass' side of things, I enjoyed the Brennen Leigh set quite a bit - since she has local roots, I had seen her name for the last few years but never got a chance to hear her. Nice alto voice and the songs were good.

Another group I had looked forward to seeing was the Stairwell sisters. For their first set, the sound was a little off, so I wasn't 'blown away'; however, the more I heard them the more engaged I became. They played an unamplified set in the marketplace tent at Saturday Super time. For the last 2 numbers I finally got a place under the tent and I really appreciated hearing them in the real old time way - no electronics between you and the music.

I could write more and may post another blog another day, but for now, that's all ;-)