Article and all photos by Bill Foster
Now in the middle of its third year, Charleston’s High Water Festival continues to successfully demonstrate the evolution of music festivals.
Mega festivals try to appeal to wide swaths of the population, while smaller, curated experiences like High Water send out a narrowed cast to a specific genre and focus on highlighting local culture. The Cooper River in North Charleston, South Carolina, makes for a beautiful a location for a festival. With only two stages (which alternate acts) separated by a small hill, attendees and staff alike can see almost every moment of every act. The festival is curated by Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent of Shovels & Rope in conjunction with Knoxville’s AC Entertainment and is as focused on food as it is on music. A low-country boil happens on Friday evening, while “Pass the Peas” brunches take place on Saturday and Sunday. Food offerings inside the festival also include local favorites such as Lewis Barbecue and Geechie Rican. There are even oyster-shucking classes onsite.
The music leans heavily towards Americana and roots music and features one of the strongest lineups of its kind this year. The day started with a captivating set by Lilly Hiatt. Her set was a lot more rocking than expected, and she has grown tremendously as a performer since I last saw her. Maryland’s Michael Nau followed Hiatt. His songs were witty and profane yet touching, as well, and the guitar player was a find; angular and weird and never playing a predictable note.
Two o’clock in the afternoon on the first day is early to declare something the show of the festival, but I don’t think I will see anything better than Butch Walker. Admittedly, his Springsteenian stage presence, Wilco-like guitar shredding and thumping anthems are aimed with focus-group precision at my personal tastes, but it was his songwriting that really grabbed me. He has a rare ability to be profound without being verbose. The highlight of the set was a swinging version of “Bullet Belt,” where he was joined by Shovels & Rope and Lilly Hiatt. (Shovels & Rope also made an appearance onstage for the next show, a set by the Shrimp Family Records band that was unexpectedly psychedelic.)
The War and Treaty were up next on the Stono Stage, and they now feature three Knoxvillians in trumpet player Joe Jordan, sax player Chuck Mullican and drummer Nolan Nevels. New guitar player Sam Wilson took their sound in a more bluesy direction. The War and Treaty are still learning to build the same sense of community and connection in larger crowds that they did on small stages. This wasn’t a show the equal of some of the legendary shows they have put on in Knoxville and Bristol, but it was as entertaining as always, and the crowd up front was frenzied. Portland’s Blitzen Trapper were up next on the Edisto. Frontman Eric Early occupied center stage, as they played a fine set of melodic indie rock. This didn’t feature a lot of flash or much in the way of onstage camaraderie or joking; it was just great song after great song.
Leaning heavily on 2018’s “Be the Cowboy,” Mitski was a revelation. She performed with an excellent four-piece band and a table. A table? Well, yes. One had to be there, but she performed a set of carefully choreographed, slow-motion movements in which she performed in front of, under, on top of and across a white table, which she also turned on its side and hid behind. It reminded me of David Byrne’s carefully choreographed performances but seemed to speak more of alienation than of celebration. It was spellbinding. Phosphorescent also mostly stuck with their most recent album, the excellent “Cest la Vie,” but also hit a few from “Muchacho.” Matthew Houck was in fine voice and prowled the stage during a ferocious “Song for Zula.”
As the sun began to set, Lord Huron performed in front of the largest crowd of the festival to that point. The Los Angeles based four-piece expands to six for touring. Singer Ben Schneider was the epicenter as he danced, swung his guitar and leaned on everyone on stage. This is a band that gets better continually, and this felt like a coming-out party, a demonstration that they are ready for the larger stages they are finding themselves on these days. Opening with “Love Like Ghosts” and closing with “The Night We Met,” they played most of their newest record, the excellent “Vide Noir,” in between.
Jenny Lewis cheekily had “867-5309” played as her bumper music. Her 12-song set included a couple Rilo Kiley numbers (“Silver Lining” and “With Arms Outstretched”) and a couple from “Rabbit Fur Coat,” but she mostly leaned on her most recent album, “On the Line,” released less than a month ago. With the avoidance of her better-known songs and some truly puzzling lighting choices (the entire set was bathed in dim blue and red), the set never seemed to catch fire, but it was as enjoyable as always and convinced me to spend some more time with the new record.
Finally, Leon Bridges played in front of what looked like every person at the entire festival. In contrast to Lewis, Bridges was bathed in bright light, as was the band in red behind him, and both stood in front of a beautiful stage set. Bridges danced, yelled and flat out owned the stage. He was great at Bonnaroo a couple years back and has improved tremendously since then.
