Railroad Festival: Day Three, Sunday October 12
October 12, 2008 7:26 AM
Sunday Morning
Around 4:00 or so Saturday afternoon, the festival crowd had started to thin out. I made my way over to the Appomattox Courthouse Grounds to catch Square Peg, the last set scheduled on the Arts Stage Saturday. When I arrived, the trio—Jeremy on electric guitar and vocals, Andy on electric bass, and Daniel on violin and vocals—was in the middle of a very cool take on “Eleanor Rigby.”
While the trio had been billed as jazz, they played everything from blues to standards (”Georgia on My Mind”) to wacky nonsense. In the latter category, the band finished its set with a flourish - despite the meager crowd of a newspaper writer, a sound person, and a few folks from the Appomattox Courthouse Theatre—with the risqué “Big Bamboo” and the bizarre (in the best sense) folk standby “Plastic Jesus.” These guys are from Lynchburg, and it’ll be worth the effort to catch them next time they play the White Hart or the Academy of Fine Arts.
Around 6:00 I joined a few folks from the Appomattox Courthouse Theatre (including my wife Elizabeth), and we walked down Main Street to Baine’s. There, Deja Moo’s show was in progress, and we settled in for the next couple hours (see photo).
After a day full of sitting at picnic benches and on concrete steps, the couch at Baine’s was quite cozy. When Deja Moo’s Ken Swanson delivered a soulful version of “Jersey Girl” later in the evening, the festival dovetailed into that “just right” moment…Or at least it did until a noisy sound check - in preparation for the street dancing at 8:00 - started on the Main Street Stage (directly across from Baine’s) around 7:30 PM. Deja Moo is a power house in its own right, but an acoustic power house, so there was nothing to do but give it up for the day.
Best Bets for Sunday
The Railroad Festival starts a little later on Sunday…but there will still be a lot going on music-wise between 12:00 and 5:00. The Good Ol’ Days Folk Stage in Abbitt Park is still a good bet on Sunday afternoon with Petr Liska at 12:00, The McKenzies at 1:00, Pablo at 2:00, Jason Ring at 3:00, and Freshwater at 4:00. The Main Street Stage offers a strong line-up with Tray Eppes at 12:00, Deja Moo at 1:00. Blue Line Highway at 2:00, and Front Street at 4:00. There will also be a full line-up once again on the Appomattox Courthouse Grounds with the Railroad Festival’s newest music addition, the Fine Arts Stage.
October 12, 2008 7:07 PM
Sunday Afternoon
…The lovely fall weather held out for another day with plenty of sun and temperate temperatures. Guitarist, singer, and harmonica player Trey Eppes and bassist Pat Lawrence gave the Main Street Stage a buoyant kick-off at 12:00 PM. Eppes specializes in traditional blues like “Sitting on Top of the World,” but ventured afar with fine acoustic versions of rock classics like “Layla.” It was blues with a twist, and Lawrence’s intricate bass work added another layer to the mixture.
For those who didn’t catch Deja Moo on Saturday night at Baine’s, the band returned to the Main Street Stage at 1:00. After watching the first half of a fine set, I wandered over to Abbitt Park to catch the McKenzies, an authentic old-time duo that performed crack versions of “Old 97″ and “Just Because.”
On the Fine Arts Stage in the afternoon, David Mitchel delivered a diverse set of jazz and classic country. Mitchel delved into a couple fine standards, “Autumn Leaves” and “Stormy Monday,” before cutting loose on a Johnny Cash classic, “Big River.” Following Mitchel’s set, I made a quick b-line back to Abbitt Park to see Freshwater, a brother-sister duo featuring Kristin (guitar and vocals) and Justin Freshwater (mandolin and vocals). Kristin Freshwater’s resonate vocals were brought to bear on solid takes of “Jolene” and “Angel From Montgomery.”
Appomattox Railroad Festival 2008 was fun, exhausting, and - music-wise - hard to beat. As Freshwater ended with Iris Dement’ “Our Town,” it seemed a fitting nod to Appomattox itself. Once a year, our quiet little town grows to 40-50,000 folks for a no-holds-bared festival with an invitation extended to all friendly people. Monday morning, though, we’ll be able to stroll downtown for coffee at Baine’s in relative quiet.
NOTE: See photos of some of the above performers.
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