We woke early Saturday to the sound of portables being cleaned and shook off the drowsiness to examine the day's schedule. Like all festivals, there were many difficult choices to make on who to see. Like most Floydfest mornings, the day started with
Kat Mills in the Beer Garden. No beers served yet, just nice acoustic music to allow us to collect our thoughts and literally charge our batteries. We decided to plan our afternoon around seeing
Hackensaw Boys again and
Joe Pug with our evenings revolving around the Main Stage:
JJ Grey & Mofro,
Old Crow Medicine Show, and the
Levon Helm Band. What a core lineup, right?
From 10:00 am until 2:00 pm, we basically criss-crossed back and forth across the festival grounds listening to parts of many artist's sets:
Mitch Barrett,
William Walter & Co.,
Rocknoceros,
Blue Mule,
Rising 
Appalachia,
Hackensaw Boys,
Holy Ghost Tent Revival, and the
Ralph Roddenberry Band. Except for the first and last, we had seen these acts before, all incredibly entertaining. Yes, we could have slowed down and stayed at the same stage - but then you end up missing so much good music. The biggest surprise among these was the
Ralph Roddenberry Band - this year's festival theme appeared to be more roots rock and less bluegrass.
The afternoon ended with the main event - finally being able to see a live performance from
Joe Pug. We've followed this artists since receiving a two song demo containing
Nation of Heat and
Hymn #101. We worked instantly hooked; the songs are full of powerful vocals and lyrics. Pug continued this craft with
Messenger - just an awesome CD. And today we finally heard live sets to these songs. I don't want to come over as too dramatic, but his performance was chilling - spectacular. We missed his Front Porch performance that day, but we heard Jon Lohman sing his praises for
Hymn #101. Watch out for this guy - he is going places.
In order to catch our breath, we headed to the beer garden to hear
Possum Jenkins before returning to the Hill Holler stage and
Mountain Heart.
Foothills Brewing had also recommended
Possum Jenkins and since
Big Daddy Love was a hit, we figured why not. Plus we were able to try the brewery's awesome Sexual Chocolate stout. We enjoyed that brief interlude - good music and good beer - but returned to meet Echo Propp from
WAMU Bluegrass Country. Echo has posted her
travelogue of the festival that we recommend reading. Plus she had highly recommended that we see
Mountain Heart - a very good "choose". The band is basically a bluegrass band that "crosses over" to other styles. How else to explain their rendition of
Whipping Post. This band has the entire package - instrumentals, harmonies, Jake Stargel, humor; you name it. Definitely planning to see them Sunday at the Front Porch.
Besides
Joe Pug, the other artist that was a must see was
JJ Grey & Mofro. Since our first exposure at
ACL in 1994, we watched and listened to Grey mature from a raw blackwater blues artist to a funky, soul, R&B, blues sensation. And now he's touring with a full band - not just Grey and Daryl Hance - but a full band: horns, keyboards, a third guitar. And he did not disappoint - from playing
Lochloosa to
Everything Good Is Bad to
The Sun Is Shining Down to
Orange Blossoms. Not convinced that Grey compares to the greatest soul singers of our generation - listen to
A Woman. Hats off to the promoters for scheduling JJ Grey - that was the highlight of the day.
While the main stage was being cleared we decided to get a beverage from
Starr Hill Brewing,
The River Company Restaurant and Brewery, or
Foothills Brewing, and see who was playing. The first band turned out to be
Tennessee Boltsmokers, a bluegrass band out of Memphis. They had a nice Americana vibe to them as did the next act -
Dangermuffin. Our friends, Steve and Jo from
Blacksnake Meadery, had recommended this band so we pushed back our return to OCMS to see about the fuss, which is, the trio gets more sound out of an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, and a drum kt than most five or six piece bands. Let's head to the beach.
Instead we headed to the main stage and the rest of the
Old Crow Medicine Show. This band has been playing for a decade now, hard to believe, since their breakout CD
Old Crow Medicine Show. They are worthy of all accolades, but sometimes I wonder why the
Hackensaw Boys haven't reached the same level. Maybe the absence of a hit song? And whereas the crowd exploded when
Wagon Wheel started, I prefer their more bluesy roots tunes:
Tell It To Me or
James River Blues. In any case OCMS puts on a good show and they definitely set the stage for the
Levon Helm Band.
This was the second time in four nights that we got to see the old master perform - following their Wolf Trap
performance. Even though the set list was practically identical it was still a thrill watching Helm interact with the crowd and the band. And what a band: his daughter Amy Helm, bassist Byron Isaacs,
Larry Campbell,
Teresa Williams, keyboardist Brian Mitchell,
Jim Weider, and the entire rhythm section. I could listen to Amy Helm sing all night and Williams vocals on
Long Black Veil were still chilling. Then there's Campbell, Williams, and Weider; who all masters of their craft. But the crowd was ready to hear Levon and he mustered all the energy that his frail body can exert and electrified the audience. And the photographers; the paparazzi was out in full force. But the crowd loved him - and we could barely hear the stage when they played
The Weight. Another great performance.
After a quick refresher at the VIP Tent it was back to the beer garden and the second set from
American Aquarium. And they didn't disappoint. These guys can rock - their set from yesterday was more alt-country - tonight was pure jamin'. The crowd was all in and demanded a second encore. Good for them. This second encore forced us to drink a few more
Starr Hill beers waiting for
Rose's Pawn Shop - alt country from the west coast. These guys can also play and were quite impressive with a now standard lineup: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, fiddle, upright bass, and drum kit. That works for me.
Thanks again to the
promoters and all the wonderful volunteers for making this another amazing day. And once again more photos are available at the
MyJoog Gallery.
The last day of any festival starts with a little anxiety. For campers, the gear has to be packed; and then there's the ride home. We had to return early for sitter reasons, so we were determined to see as much music as possible in a shortened day. Luckily Floydfest obliged. We started off with husband and wife team The Honey Dewdrops on the Front Porch. Loved their version of Prine's "In Spite of Ourselves". We were remaining on the porch for Mountain Heart so in the break we rolled down the 
hill to see a few songs from the Jason Spooner Trio. The trio had traveled down from Maine and they exude a more west coast sound than the folk tunes usually composed in the northeast. We really liked this sound and the trio is a tight little outfit. As soon as we heard Mountain Heart finish their sound check we raced up the hill to grab a seat. This was an extremely informal performance with 
the band playing requests, responding to questions, and wondering where Aaron Ramsey was - he was actually back at the hotel waiting for a shuttle that never arrived. This was an entertaining set as the band interacted with Jon Lohman and the crowd. Another version of Whipping Post ensued - this time with telephone sounds from the keyboards. There was also a train song and a gospel a Capella. Very nice.
The rest of the afternoon was a blur - we started with the final set of the weekend for the Hackensaw Boys. Another tight performance by the band and the first where Ward didn't have to change a string while singing harmony. They also brought aboard a special guest who jammed right along. Afterward we headed to the VIP Tent for more craft beer and our first look at 
Town Mountain. Unfortunately we spent more time talking to newly made friends that we could concentrate on the set - maybe next time. Then it was off to hear a few songs from Tift Merritt, Rose's Pawn Shop, and then Bearfoot. I feel for the later, they are trying to find a flat picker and Jake Stargel filled in finely. And a typical great performance by Jason, Odessa, and Angela. We finally found ourselves back at the Beer Garden in order to see The Steel Wheels. We had missed Trent and the boys at Ocrafest 
and in our last stop at Harrisonburg - so we really made an effort to fit them in. Love their sound. Finally, we had a decision to make, stay and listen to William Walter, stick around for Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, or start the trip to relieve the sitter. Sadly we picked the latter - next year we will stay through Sunday night. But for now, thanks to the volunteers and Across-the-Way Productions for a fabulous weekend. And once again more photos are available at the MyJoog Gallery.
