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| Mountain Jam @ Hunter, NY :: June 6 -9, 2013 |
After a crisp 22 song performance on this soggy June 7th Friday night, Widespread Panic’s uber-talented John Bell (affectionally known as JB in my circle) walked off the rear of the stage with an oversized umbrella and headed for dry land.
As JB approached me he switched his umbrella from his right hand to the left…then reached towards me to shake, and looked me in the eye to thank me for coming out in the rain to catch his show.
Don’t get me wrong; me and John Bell aren’t buds. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time…but that sort of things seems to happen more often than not at Mountain Jam.
For me, the JB moment his was just the icing on the cake (or a Patron floater on an already potent margarita).
Despite the pounding rain and ensuing mud pit in front of the stage, Mountain Jam fans flocked to see one of rock and roll’s most underrated talents this crazy evening on Hunter Mtn.
Last year’s title went to Lotus…read that story here.
The 2011 title went to Soulive…read that story here.
Like Garcia and the Dead back in the day, Widespread has the ability to reach very high peaks of performance, but can also stink up the joint…nothing vanilla about them.
This particular night’s show provided us a “best-in class” display of JB’s sweet sounding voice and tightness of the band’s complex rhythms and well-packaged songs.
The smile on bass-man Dave Schools face (see picture to the right) while JB led the band through “Jack” memorializes this special performance at Warren’s Haynes’ party of the year. Schools’ Entwistle-like approach to thumping dazzled fellow concert goers in the front row.
Here is the setlist.
The “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” with Bill Evans on sax and Danny Louis on piano stills whispers daily in my head.
John Bell’s lyrical pace on Stevie Windwood’s timeless masterpiece was all his own. (Click the not so great quality video below to get a sense of JB’s take.)
I am always a big “Blue Indian” fan too! Great set.
I would be negligent if I did not toss a chunky kudos to Widespread’s newish lead guitarist Jimmy Herring.
After several tries at finding a band right for his style, Herring has found a home as JB’s wingman. With his head down, bearded, baseball-cap low-key style and fluid Michael Hauser-like fingers, Herring is a perfect match for Widespread.
For the first two full days, Mother Nature pissed down like a racehorse on Mountain Jammers.
Thursday night’s Les Claypool + Primus performance was a excellent “screwball” selection by Warren Haynes and his merry group of Mtn Jam event planners.
Claypool’s act is the modern day version of early Pink Floyd’s visual-heavy performances.
Having a bass-man play lead is fun and funky and makes people dance hard. In fact, a bit too hard for me…
I had to run for cover (with my long lens camera) when a hippie-driven mosh pit erected like a tornado from the pond of mud in front of the stage.
I’m either getting soft or smart, and definitely old.
Claypool’s “Wynonna’s Big Brown Beaver” was my favorite of his tunes (click the video clip below).
His set was strong with giant obscene visuals (think 40 foot rabid squirrel and astronaut) with crazy man Lester wearing his signature Clockwork Orange costume.
The Thursday night late night show was impressive too.
Big Gigantic!
Two wonderfully talented music livetronica nerds from Boulder, Colorado…
One (Jeremy Salken) on drums, the other (Dominic Lalli) on the horn.
The Big Gigantic drummer reminded me of the Ben Stiller character from Royal Tennanbaums. I still prefer Lotus as early morning mountain music, but these guys did a nice job making the place jump during the 1 AM to 3 AM slot.
Beyond Widespread and Warren, my favorite performance was by Simo (yes, I said Simo).
The power trio Simo was on my pre-show must see list (so was White Denim, but I missed them) and lucky for me played to a small crowd on the indoor stage (which was way too overcrowded — due to the rain — for the Thursday night Kung Fu show and White Denim on Friday).
Simo rocked as hard as humanly possible…like Led Zeppelin in Song Remains The Same (certainly one one of the greatest rock and roll movies).
Seeing relatively unknown bands like Simo (much like The Sheepdogs last year) is one of the super fantastic things about going to Mountain Jam.
On Saturday the rain stopped and the mountain turned majestic. Mermaids, witches, wizards and fairies emerged from the forest.
Their performance of “No Quarter” into “1983: A Merman I Should Turn to Be” was a killer end to their solid Saturday night.
The song selection was eerily insightful. Unless, Warren saw them too while walking the hills and decided to throw us a bone.
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Deer Tick (above) was my biggest surprise. They were awesome. Their Nirvana and Replacements cover songs were perfectly timed to fire up the wet Friday afternoon crowd.
They reminded me of The Clash, with a style all their own. Their lead guitar was a one man wrecking crew. After seeing them last year at Clearwater Music Fest and this year here at Hunter… I am now a fan.
Gary Clark Jr (one of the few repeats from last year) was hot.
Really hot. The man has catapulted into modern day rock guitar god as fast as anyone with tremendous staying power. I expect to be hearing from him for many years to come. See his video clip below.
The Revivalists were cool, very cool. I had a chance to talk with them and they re humble and hungry. Their songs were upbeat and the band members had a nice hop in their step. I see a pop-ish song in their future.
And anytime you have a pedal steel guitar player who tilts his music table like Robert Randolph without copying him…you are ultra cool.
The Lumineers were terrific. These bluegrass Americana musicians got deep heart. (See pic below.)
Although I like their music, The Avett Brothers reminded me too much of a Gap commercial…or like a tampon commercial.
Roots revival rock spearheaded by corporate America…not such a bad thing, just not my speed.
The gents are quite photogenic and fun (for an after lunch set).
Amy Helm played with the Levon Helm band. I caught their “It Makes No Difference”. Very pretty.
It made me think of Richard Manuel and Danko. I couldn’t stay for the rest of the set though…wish I did.
But then again, you can’t see everything and wisely used the two hour window to grab some downtime at the TBR HQ next door at Hunter Highlands townhouse complex.
Soulive followed Government Mule as the late night Saturday act. As always, they were rock solid. Warren even strolled out after 2:00 A.M. to play “Manic Depression” and “Eleanor Rigby” and “I Want You”.
Adding an additional day (Thursday) threw off my “pace” for Mountain Jam. On Sunday I just ran out of gas.
There was no more room for music. I was 100% completely satisfied.
Hence I missed Jackie Greene (whose recent time with Black Crowes is notable) and London Souls and Phil Lesh and Friends (yes I missed them) …but I am going to train really hard this year and maybe finish the marathon next year (or not).
Either way the Thunderbird Ranch Ramble high holy day was duly observed…wings a flappin’.
BTW…when I was doing a last walk through the Festival grounds with me buddy Bone on Sunday, we ran into Sister Sparrow. She was hanging out enjoying the music, and super friendly as always.
(Uncle Warren: Please bring her back to the stage next year!)
Next year possibles…
moe. Alabama Shakes. Calexico. Galactic.
Bruce Hornsby. Assembly of Dust. Ben Harper.
Drive By Truckers. Mumford and Sons.
Black Crowes.
Neil? (And I’m not talking about Diamond or Sedaka.)
Schools back with Stockholm Syndrome?
The return of Grace Potter?
As Jerry says, “As good things in all good times.”
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(NOTE: All the pictures in this story are original from me camera. All of the video was taken by others and found on YouTube.)
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