'Twas a beautiful weekend to park your lawn chair on a Schwenksville hillside, and the sun was surely shining on Jesse Lundy and Rich Kardon, the new and first-ever non in-house bookers of the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Lundy and Kardon aimed to put a spring in the step of the Philadelphia Folksong Sopciety's 47th annual shindig, bringing in ukulele whiz Jake Shimabukuro and Moldy Peach Kimya Dawson to go with old standbys like Judy Collins and Tom Paxton. Their well-intentioned (and solidly executed) efforts might have been in vain if the Fest got hit with a wave on thunderstorms as it did in '07. But instead, it was frisbee flinging, guitar pickin' weather all weekend long, and on Sunday, when Philly folks Hoots & Hellmouth and society's child Janis Ian and accordion squeezer Terrance Simien all played, Lundy reported that attendance was "definitely up."
On Saturday afternoon, the Old Pool Farm was pretty sweet place to be. A 40 minute drive from Center City took you to a world away. (Even if it was a world where Ben & Jerry's and La Colombe coffee were on sale 'round the way from the tie dye and Hanna tattoo stands.) Well-dressed Alaskan boy-girl bluegrass band Bearfoot (pictured below), who come back to the area to play Juniata College in Huntington on Oct. 25, were making a high and lonesome sound in the cozy tent off to the side of the main entrance. And down the hill on the main stage, country stunner Allison Moorer was singing Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home."
Soon enough, Moorer's husband Steve Earle came out sporting his Civil War beard, looking just like that ex-junkie drug counselor Walon he played on The Wire. Except he was toting a Martin guitar with his name on it, and putting over achingly understated acoustic ballads like "My Old Friend The Blues" and "Goodbye," the latter from 1995's Train A Comin', which Earle, fresh out of jail, was touring behind the last time he played the Folk Fest.
Earle sang "Sparkle & Shine" about Moorer, then brought her out to duet on Washington Square Serenade's "Days Aren't Long Enough" and kept her around to argue for an open border policy on "City Of Immigrants," before ordering the assembled folkies to sing along on the Pete Seeger-deidcated "Steve's Hammer." And as un-pholky as it may sound, DJ Neil McDonald, who supplied moderately interesting backing beats on the Tom Waits' Wire theme song "Down In The Hole" and "Oxycontin Blues," didn't cause a zeitgeist shifting cultural upheaval on a par with Dylan going electric at Newport in 1965.
Earle, Moorer (and McDonald) play the Grand Opera House in Wilmington on Sept. 6.
Here's a bunch of yellowy cell phone photos from around the Fest, of Earle and Moorer, Bearfoot, and a caricature of beloved Fest host Gene Shay.
Comments (2)
I used to go to the Folk Festival in the 70's and 80's and I miss it. It was like a different world. I never saw violins, violas, and cellos jamming with the rest of the crew. I was amazed an overjoyed to hear Klezmer music live for the first time. This was the Klezmer Conservatory of CA. Maybe someday I will be back.
Posted by Joyce Oxfeld | August 18, 2008 11:53 AM
Posted on August 18, 2008 11:53
As the Chairman of the Society Sales Merch tent I want to thank you and all your readers for your great support of our event. This years fest went so well that we are all confident that we will be back in 2009 and with support like we've had this year we are all looking forward to the big blowout at the 50th anniversary in just a few years.
Posted by John McGlinchey | August 19, 2008 9:46 AM
Posted on August 19, 2008 09:46