by Luke Brogden
photos by Bill Foster (and featuring photos by Carleigh Gordon, D-B EXCEL STEM Academy in Kingsport)
On a Saturday morning marked by hours of steady downpour, it didn’t feel like festival-goers were in for the most comfortable ‘main day’ of Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion 2022.
But the clouds dissipated early into the third flight of artists mid-afternoon and the day heated up with strong performances and good vibes abounding and the day progressed to a fever pitch by the time primetime headliners 49 Winchester took the State Street Stage later that night.
BLANK hit up Adeem the Artist on the Cumberland Park Stage first, opening the day at noon to a smattering of hardcore fans in a torrential downpour. They kept the crowd’s spirits up with hilarious stand-up style banter and crowd work between songs, creating verbal storm sounds and describing the music video ad nauseum to humorous effect when covering Garth Brooks’ “Thunder Rolls.” BLANK has followed Adeem the Artist for years, and one constant with this one-of-a-kind artist is change. The setlist is almost never the same, with constant prolific production pushing brand-new material into every set, and Adeem almost never performs any song the same way, often interrupting themselves to wax poetic or crack wise about a tangentially-related thought that maybe just occurred to them onstage. The storytelling-centric style pays off with new audiences who almost gasped in delight before naughty conspiratorial cackles and ‘laughing with you’ style supportive heckles. Adeem the Artist was a great start to the day and look for big things from this unique star on the rise.
Throughout the day Some other acts we loved throughout the day (in no particular order):
“The Student Section”
(photos by D-B EXCEL student Carleigh Gordon):
Coming up today (Sunday):
-Carson Peters and Iron Mountain hit the Country Music Mural Stage at 2:30pm.
-Longtime festival favorite, folkster Paleface returns to Bristol Rhythm and Roots at the Stateline Bar and Grill Stage at 4pm.
-Hot indie-pop artist Briston Maroney hits the Cumberland Park Stage at 3:45.
-Junior Brown brings classic early rockabilly goodness to the Piedmont Stage at 4:30.
-Bailey George and Jukebox Jess bring retro early country sound to Theater Bristol stage at 4:30.
-Roseanne Cash headlines State Street at 6pm.
The staff at BLANK thank you for supporting live music and thank Bristol Rhythm and Roots for giving us the opportunity again to cover this one-of-a-kind festival that does the region proud and reunites old friends year after year. See you next time!
