Hot Tuna, Nora Jane Struthers, L.A. Edwards, Keller Williams dominate solid third day of Virginia festival
Article and photos by Bill Foster
FloydFest is special. It’s as simple as that. Even with a hard sellout, it doesn’t feel crowded. The amount of activities other than music, the chance for once-in-a-lifetime, up-close experiences with artists, the variety of music and perfect weather (it hasn’t hit 80 yet) have combined to make for an unforgettable experience. Day three dawned with a few puffy clouds to keep the sun away and temps around 60 with no humidity. It was a day when I wasn’t as into the headliners (my apologies, Cheese-heads) but got to discover band after band that simply played great songs.
The day began with Hot Tuna playing an acoustic set on the main stage. As an acoustic duo, they are relaxed and charming with an offbeat sense of humor. It was the perfect start to a day when a lot of the audience was still in a stupor from the previous day. Nora Jane Struthers played the Holler afterwards. Like Becca Mancari yesterday, the early start time provided a nice opportunity to sit in the sun and just appreciate how great her songs are. Struthers is hitting her stride as a writer and has a band that executes her vision perfectly, showing great aptitude for bringing energy to her mid-tempo ballads.
L.A. Edwards is Luke Andrew Edwards. His most recent record is a perfect slice of Laurel Canyon pop produced by Heartbreaker Ron Blair. He performs with a four-piece band that includes his younger brother, who dueted with him on a beautiful version of Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You.” A fantastic band and, like many here, you can see them soon at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion.
I’ve never been a Keller Williams fan. I like his songs, but the instrumental portions get a bit too repetitive. That may have changed after his fantastic main-stage performance today. Onstage, Williams is charming, goofy, effusive and technically skilled, as if both members of Tenacious D merged into one ordinary, barefoot dude. It’s fascinating to watch Williams loop together three or four guitar parts, a bass part, drums, recorder, kazoo and vocals into lengthy jams where he prowls the edge of the stage and mugs for the front row. There is a heavy dose of irony in his lyrics and perhaps a bit more sincerity wouldn’t be amiss, but all in all, it was a wonderful experience.
After Williams, I caught Mountain Heart and Arkansauce. Both are great bands with solid chops and interesting, fun songs. Then it was back to the main stage for New Orleans Suspects. Anyone who knows me knows my affinity for the Crescent City, and I was excited to see this band which features superstars from the Dirty Dozen Brass band, the Neville Brothers and James Brown’s band. Unfortunately, I just heard standard blues rock and, while I really wanted to like it, all I could think was, “This is why people hate jam bands.” That said, I only heard the first few songs and I heard good reports about the rest of the set so I look forward to giving them another try in the future.
Next, I cleansed my pallet with my fourth show by the Jon Stickley Trio. The fourth, in the beer garden, was also the best of the bunch, with a lively, interested crowd that brought the best out of the players. It was on to the Holler for Yarn next. Lately, the long-running band has shed some of their jammier tendencies and focused more on songwriting, and it shows with a tight, well-received set of solid material. I then jetted back to Leftover Salmon on the main stage and caught some of The Volts and The Northerners (two more great bands with decent songs) on the way there and back. However, the high point of the afternoon and maybe the festival was seeing Hot Tuna perform at the Front Porch Cabin. The duo sat in rocking chairs, played and told stories going back 50 years about playing in asylums for $20 or playing five sets a night at the height of the Bay Area music scene. They were relaxed and charming, they talked as much as they played and the capacity crowd sat and listened with nary a cell phone to be seen or a word to be whispered.
A blur of shows followed: The Wooks, Virginia Gentlemen (I did not expect to hear a beautiful, 13-voice a cappella rendition of Billy Joel’s “Vienna” here), Songs From the Road Band, Shots Fired, Vintage Pistol and If Birds Could Fly. All were great, strong shows leading into String Cheese Incident. As for the Cheese … look, y’all know me … they have a great light show.
FloydFest is famous for its Buffalo Mountain Jam, a weirder cousin of Bonnaroo’s Superjam. The jam began with bandleader Keller Williams and Vince from Leftover Salmon singing Simon and Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound.” The theme of Floyd this year is “The Voyage Home,” and every song was to relate to that theme, making a cover of The Beatles’ “Two of Us” a natural fit. Erin Lunsford then joined with members of Travers Brothership for a so-ridiculous-it-was-sublime version of “Sweet Home Alabama,” in which Williams sang no more than 10 percent of the original lyrics and instead made up newer, more appropriate ones. Out of left field, the next song was a surprisingly touching, reggae-based version of Supertramp’s “The Long Way Home.” Yeah … I get it: I know how that sounds, but you just had to be there. Next, Caitlin Krisko from The Broadcast absolutely scorched Motley Crüe’s “Home Sweet Home” while Keller threw his neck out headbanging. And after that, it really got weird. Williams walked around backstage and asked anyone who played anything to come up as the setlist was abandoned. Steve McMurry from Acoustic Syndicate led a blistering blues number that featured an epic guitar duel. There was a tribute to Jeff Austin. The jam closed with “Angel From Montgomery” and “The Letter” in one of the oddest yet best shows I’ve seen in forever.
Now, a sensible person would have gone to bed after that, but I had heard good things about the Kyle Hollingsworth group, and I was not sad I went, as they closed the night at 2:15 a.m. with an incredible version of “Baba O’Reilly.” Bring on day four!
