Folks, much like my number one set last night this portion of my series will also feature several acts I have never featured on here before. I got to the Junebug Ranch early on Saturday in order to catch this fellow who is on the texas scene a lot and his name is Cale Tyson. He has several small EP albums out and is currently financing his debut major album. I have been keeping him on my radar for many months now and I keep having to miss his shows, so festivals are the best bet.

He opened his set with “Gonna Love A Woman” and right away he displayed his nostalgic throwback sound that I so long for in music. As he played his next song called “Gabriella” he showed us his two step songs laced with that old steel guitar solos. What an awesome band he had up there that day, this was truly an awesome set.

Next was a song called “Careless Soul” and “Long Gone Girl”. But perhaps the pinnacle of his set today was the song called “Somebody Save Me”. THAT SONG just blew me away..it was truly well written and composed really good. One of the best songs of the weekend.

“Two Timing Blues” was next and also he played “Long Time Gone”. I have been told that most of these songs are going to be on his debut album and right now I’m not sure what label will release the record. “Can’t Feel Love” and he closed his set with a song called “Easy”. I left that set VERY impressed and I will certainly be covering his shows again soon.

Lou Shields is another I have never covered on here and he’s a super great guy. VERY talented with music and artwork, having designed the first cover of the Urban pioneers album and much more. What I began to do this weekend is catch portions of the majority of the sets all at once, running back and forth from stage to stage writing down stuff. Mr. Lou is a one man band based out of Chicago and you can truly see his appreciation and influence in different styles of blues.

He opened his set with “61 Highway” and another called “Back Country”. As I previously stated I didn’t get to catch entire sets and I didn’t get to hear him play favorite song he does “Coffee Song” but I did get to hear him play “Cabin In The Woods” and another called “Travelin All Around”. I plan to get to one of his local shows sometime in the future and I shall indeed feature him more, the last song I heard him play was “Hard Road Rag”.

Another new feature for me on here was this next band The Howlin Brothers now as I have delved into their music..they aren’t really brothers BUT they ARE a well oiled machine. These three guys make a good amount of music for only three guys. “Hard Times” was the first song I got to hear from their set as I scurried up to the wood stage for the next two acts this afternoon.

Some other songs were next and as I watched their set I was sold on their music I HAD to go get their albums. I still have to get them on vinyl as well, I strongly suggest you go get their music. “I Was Wrong” was another song I noticed from the set, now this is another band I’ll be catching their local show as well and I will be bringing you as much news as possible from these new features.

“Going Down South” was next as their set pretty much steamrolled and didn’t really stop and talk much or play any games. These guys were here to whup our asses with string band fury and as they unveiled the song called “Yuma Train” this band is one that I am truly regretful I haven’t featured earlier but I simply cannot cover everyone at once no matter how I try to remedy that. They closed their set with “Tennessee Blues”, and I did get to briefly visit with them at their merch booth before returning to the wood stage for a gal that is NO stranger to this website.

Sarah Gayle Meech has been busting up Lower Broadway for years now and in my opinion she is one of the top 3 COUNTRY acts in the downtown area. She plays the Palace a lot and her new album (her second release) called Tennessee Love Song was a stellar addition to her arsenal. All I need to say is it was once again produced by Andy Gibson formerly with Hank 3.

She had the whole place dancing EVEN ME as she opened her set with “All I Want’s A Honky Tonk” and “Old White Boots” both off her first album which is in my current rotation. This woman just KILLS any show she does and I’d pay big money to see her play ANYTIME. When she has Tommy Hannum on steel guitar it just adds to the greatness of her show.

She began to delve into her new material with songs like “Love Of Mine” which I got to hear at the Nashville Palace early this year before the album came out and she followed it by “Watermelon And Root Beer”. She brought along a GREAT band with her and I got to buy her new album on vinyl and ran that to my truck after the show.

She carried on with “Stormy Weather” and “Get It Over” when she played the title song from her new album “Tennessee Love Song” afterward. “sad And Lonely” was next and she followed that by my personal favorite song she does called “Foolish”. I LOVE that song because it’s simply written well and easy to understand, I think if Hank Williams Sr was alive he would LOVE that song too. She sings so pretty you just can’t not enjoy her set.

“One Good Thing” and “Say Goodbye To You” were her closing songs for her set so I loaded up my chair and my notebooks and wandered over to the Cracker Swamp Productions Stage for a man I have indeed covered frequently and I intend to keep doing so. This was a monumental period of Joshua Morningstar’s career as this was his VERY FIRST Muddy Roots.

He opened with a Billie Gant tune “Ballad Of Ruben Dixon”. He and I got to become closer with Billie Gant when we met at Altamont years ago, and got to become closer yet at other festivals. He followed that with “Talk Me To Texas” and one of his originals from his first album called “From The Top To The Bottle”.

“Brand New Angel” was a song he released early last year followed by his favorite song by Lefty Frizzell called “I Never Go Around Mirrors” which was wrote by Sanger “Whitey” Shafer. He got the whole crowd riled up when he went into his rendition of Billie Gant’s anti Pop Country anthem called “Stop Fn Up Country Music”. Everybody always loves that song no matter WHO plays it.

Two of his best songs he plays were next “March To The Gallows” and his best song that is VERY cleverly wrote was “As Long As You Ain’t Coming Back”. I was REALLY GLAD he included that song into his new album out now on Little Class Records called “Songs For Fools With Broken Hearts”. He followed that with another song on that album called “Motel Madness”, which made this one of his best sets ever.

“Drivin Nails In My Coffin” was an old Ernest Tubb song that I share an equal love for. You know me and Mr. Joshua share a mutual love and respect for the Legends of Country Music, we crave the facts and history of this great genre. “Dope Sick Blues” is one of his signature songs as he shares his sordid past and how he has overcome his demons and rose a champion.

He closed his set with a tribute to our hero Hank Williams with a song wrote by Songwriting Legend Billy Don Burns called “Hank Williams Lonesome And Keith Whitley Blue” followed by a GREAT version of “I Saw The Light”. WOW This day was only half over before I witnessed the second best set of the entire festival from another Legend that absolutely TORE the wood stage apart and at the same time also became my third favorite set. I shall include them in my next installment!

Radney Foster
Franklin Theater November 7th

The Willies
Lane Car Museum November 7th

Emi Sunshine
Kentucky Opry November 7th

David Church
Troubador Theater November 11th

Jody Jinks
Exit Inn November 13th

Cody Jinks
Warehouse Mt Victor Bowling Green Ky November 14th

Scott H Biram
Exit Inn November 19th

Ashley Monroe
Music City Winery November 20th

Drive By Truckers
Cannery Ballroom November 20 and 21st.

Larry Cordle
Station Inn November 9th, 11th, 16th and 23rd.

IIIrd Tyme Out
Station Inn November 25th

The Willies
The East Room November 25th

The Time Jumpers
3rd And Lindsley November 30th

Mandy Barnett
The Franklin Theater December 5th

The Time Jumpers
3rd And Lindsley December 7th

Old Crow Medicine Show
Ryman Auditorium December 30th

Lee Roy Parnell
Franklin Theater Feb 5th

Radney Foster
Franklin Theater November 7th

The Willies
Lane Car Museum November 7th

David Church
Troubador Theater November 11th

Jody Jinks
Exit Inn November 13th

Cody Jinks
Warehouse Mt Victor Bowling Green Ky November 14th

Scott H Biram
Exit Inn November 19th

Larry Cordle
Station Inn November 9th, 11th, 16th and 23rd.

IIIrd Tyme Out
Station Inn November 25th

The Willies
The East Room November 25th

The Time Jumpers
3rd And Lindsley November 30th

The Time Jumpers
3rd And Lindsley December 7th

Old Crow Medicine Show
Ryman Auditorium December 30th

Well folks this is the THIRD ONLY TIME I have ever stepped aside from the keyboard and welcomed a guest writer BUT MAN when Mr. Jashie P from the Moonrunners organization in Chicago contacted me and asked me I was thrilled to read what he would submit. So to put the spotlight on him here is his story!

Live Review: Merle Haggard at Riot Fest

Riot Fest got it’s start in Chicago in 2005 as a single venue, one day festival focusing purely on punk rock. Living in the area, I have watched the fest grow year to year and have been lucky enough to cover the fest, and even perform on occasion. As the fest established in size, the lineup also started branching out to include many musical styles along the way.

Beginning in 2012, the festival out grew the indoor venues, and made it’s way to Humboldt Park for the weekend. Other than the alternative rock festival, Lollapalooza, Riot Fest has easily become the second largest multi day fest in the city of Chicago. Each year, the festival announce the lineup, a few surprises are always included.
2015, however may have been the most diverse schedule to date, as it included artists such as Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, System of a Down, among others. But, the name that caught my eye and made this a must see festival was none other than Merle Haggard.

This marked the third time I have attended a Merle Haggard performance, but, the only time where he was certainly out of his element. When I first saw his name included in the lineup, it brought back memories of Waylon Jennings performing at the aforementioned Lollapalooza in 1996, and not going over with the younger audience waiting to hear the Ramones and Metallica.

Merle had a 7:00 time slot on one of the four main stages, competing with three other well known artists. I was waiting on the side of the stage as I slowly saw more and more people headed over the the stage in anticipation. As soon as he hit the stage, the area was packed. Some older fans made there way over singing along to the songs, but, the crowd was made up of mainly younger attendees ranging from teenagers to folks in their mid thirties. And, Merle Haggard put on a clinic.
Opening with the one-two punch of, “Big City” and “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink”. The Strangers were dead on as his long time backing band, although I did notice a few new players in the bunch. Merle’s son, Binion Haggard, is still on lead guitar, and, since my last time seeing Merle, many years ago, Benny has certainly grown completely comfortable into his role of lead guitar player as he swayed and walked the stage with a smile on his face.

Because this was a festival setting, Merle was limited to a 45 minute set consisting of mainly hits (“Mama Tried”, “Fighting Side of Me”, “Tonight the Bottle Let me Down”), but managed to pull out an instrumental jam near the end of the set highlighting the immense talent of his band. Every song was welcomed with cheers and genuine excitement. There were even some body surfers making their way across the hands of the unexpected audience. This was something I thought I would never witness at a Merle Haggard performance!

With little banter in between songs, Merle made the most of his short set and chose “Okie from Muskogee” to end his time. Whether or not the younger audience expected what to hear, or if if they even knew the name Merle Haggard before this festival, one thing was for certain, Merle Haggard and the Strangers left them in absolute awe as his set was a highlight of the entire weekend. These kids got to witness country music royalty at it’s best, and this was a set they will not forget and be telling their own children about.

Before I go forth into this installment of my Muddy Roots articles I have to say in my opinion this article holds the number one set of the festival. Southern Culture On The Skids blew me away and I was so impressed with their set even though they didn’t play my favorite song. Now you might cringe at me because all of the Bluegrass Legends to come Sunday..BUT I have seen those acts and I have NEVER seen SCOTS. I REALLY enjoyed their set but I want to discuss some other sets first, ok?

If you remember my coverage of the Nashville Boogie this past spring also a Muddy Roots event you will remember me talking about Woody Pines that recently released a GREAT album out on Muddy Roots label. Both sets I saw this band perform were truly awesome and I enjoy this band’s music. The set opener was “Counting Alligators” and the second song was the awesome “Chew Baccer Rag”.

The band quickly barreled into “Crazy Eyed Woman” and as I was amazed at the steel guitar player I got to enjoy them play a Hank Williams classic “I Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind”. And like last time they did their HANK…HANK…HANK hollar with the audience. I’m pretty sure the next song was “Addicted To Blood” however I was approached by some readers and I was meeting new friends! YOU GUYS mean the world to me and I ALWAYS LOVE to meet you…don’t be afraid to come meet me.

“Stella Blue” was next which was off their new album. I truly suggest you get the album it is awesome. And then they played a song I REALLY liked called “Ham And Eggs” off their album “You Gotta Roll” which includes some KILLER steel guitar licks..I’m so glad it was included in this set. “Walking Down The Road” was next and the last song I got to hear them do was “Red Rocking Chair” because I was headed up to the wood stage to catch the next band. To be honest I will be going to see their house shows in the future I just love to jam with this band.

Carrie Nation And The Speakeasy is the next band I got to see play on the main Wood Stage. I have never brought them to my website before and I have been wanting to feature them for some time now. They are a string band with a trumpet player and they have some damn fine jams and can easily whip the crowd into a frenzy.

I have never saw their live act before or had any idea they had a huge stage prop of a monster dressed as a nun with a hatchet and a Bible. And as they jammed songs like “Consume” and “at Least It Fits You” their monster danced all around the stage. It truly was a great set in every fashion. They opened their set with “When You Plan To Stay” and then played “Consume”.

They went on to play more of their original songs from both of their albums “Way To Kansas” and another called “Sewanee River”. One of my favorites “Speakeasy Solution” was next and they followed it by “A Panegyric On Power And Darkness” and the last song I watched of theirs was “Promised Land”. I will for sure feature their shows again on this website in the future.

Moving on to another set from a great band I have featured on here before The Calamity Cubes are from the Kansas area and are frequently at Roots Music festivals, in fact they have already been announced for the Spring Weekender in Indiana.

They opened their set with “Lilly belle” and played a few more, I got steered off their set for a moment for meeting some new readers and old ones as well. Just SO MANY people to see and SO MUCH to take in at one time, and so much going on around you at all times. They had Rachel Kate up there with them to perform “Devil In Her Eyes”.

After they played “Delia Rose” they had what I thought was perhaps the most stellar lineup of the afternoon sets!
To perform “Barter Love” they had Rachel Kate up there with Liz Sloan and Jared from the Urban Pioneers and Many more as well all playing and singing along with Brooke and the Cubes. They closed their set with “Ivan” and their best song they play “Empty Bottle”. those three guys never fail to satisfy the Muddy Roots festival goers.

Well folks this brings us to my personal favorite set of the whole dern festival Southern Culture On The Skids. You might be dropping your jaws right now with all the Bluegrass Legends and Bobby Bare yet to come…why them? DAMN good question, this trio from North Carolina needed no fancy lights or explosions or anything but some good old fashioned rockabilly rowdy music. These guys (and gal) are LEGENDS, they have been around since the 80’s doing this and I finally got to see them. They got up there and slammed right into the song “Skullbucket” and then played “Voodoo Cadillac”. They had the crowd going absolutely ballistic and later had the stage FULL of people dancing so full you couldn’t even see the band!

This band played a HEAPING set with over 15 songs and every one was awesome, “Liquored Up And Lacquered Down” followed by “Nitty Gritty” and “Soul City”..many of these were from the 90’s and man I was TRULY amazed they were digging deep into their catalog of songs! Even though they didn’t play Too Much Pork where the pork chops get thrown out they later DID PLAY “Eight Piece Box” and threw out fried chicken.

The second half of their set was even more impressive and included “69 El Camino” “King Of The Mountain” and “House Of Bamboo”. But honestly when they TRULY started rocking the HELL out of the wood stage this first night was when they started playing “Hillbilly Surf” and barreled into “Cheap Motel” and then they played “Bone Dry Dirt”.

They brought up as many people as could fit on the stage to dance freely and frantically to “Daddy Was A Preacher Momma Was A Go Go Dancer”. by the time they finished up playing “Eight Piece Box” I was forgetting to take notes and resorting on memory. I was completely blown away before they went into “Camel Walk” and closed with “Banana Puddin”, I RAN to find their merchandise area before Hillbilly Casino was starting up. I was getting really tired from the day’s activities and the heat was draining me badly. I stayed for Hillbilly Casino and then went back to the hotel and got organized for Saturday, so let’s go into one of my last year’s winners for best set Hillbilly Casino.

I have covered their set MANY MANY TIMES on here,celebrated my last birthday with them and I saw their set more times than I can count. These guys are Muddy Roots veterans and have performed every year the festival has been held AND played this year’s inaugural Nashville Boogie. They opened their set with “County Jail” and “One Cup Beyond” and as usual lead singer Nic Roulette did a super fine job of running all over the place!

“No Toll Taken” and “Trainwreck” were next and also as usual was the rest of the band going nuts as well. Those four guys put on hell of a great show every time I ever witnessed them. I enjoy their recent LIVE album form this past July at the Exit Inn. “Dog On A Chain” was next and one of my favorite songs is “The Hole”. My all time favorite song they do is “Big Dan” but they didn’t play that one that I knew of, I did have to make my way back to the truck after about four songs. They were “PBR” “Jibber Jabber” and they played “80085” and the last song I noticed was “Violets In May”. I had a long weekend to get ready for and needed to get a good night’s rest at the hotel and PLUS my buddy Joshua Morningstar was coming to town! This was like Christmas Eve!!!!!

Day 2 coming with Cale Tyson, Sarah Gayle Meech, Bobby Bare, Margo Price AND MORE!

Friday morning when I woke up in my hotel room it finally sank in..I was headed to Muddy Roots in full swing. The vendor booths will abound with goodies to make my wallet sigh as I gleefully support this music the festival features. Oh yes people we MUST open our hearts AND our wallets to help this festival and the music thrive, now I’m NOT telling you to skip your electric bill and live in a milk crate if all you can buy are stickers that’s FINE! EVERY little bit of support helps, if all you can do is offer a free couch to these bands do that. It all fits together and everyone is integral and needed in their own way, there is nobody involved that is useless or not needed. Last year James Hunnicutt said it best “Everyone is equal, there are no rock stars here”.

Home..that’s what this festival feels like to me. This IS my favorite one of all and it would take a pretty darn epic festival to beat it in my opinion. The people that run it are VERY good to me and they care about their patrons.
Mr. Jason and his staff go above and beyond our safety and enjoyment, do what you want but be good to others and respectful of the property and the music. I’ll be honest I had three good sized pulls of moonshine but I went the entire weekend without drinking at all, I have a job to do. So pull up a couch and crack open a beer and ENJOY my articles friends, because Mr. Jason and Mr. Chris and the bands deserve this!

So my first set to cover was Matt Woods and this was his second year at the festival. In fact, last year his set was one of my top 3 best of the whole festival. I had many good things to say about him and to be honest I got a few more.

So he is recording a new record to be out this winter and he played a new song off this forthcoming album, and also he is currently on tour with a full band. I’ll be reporting later about on that in a separate article for him and his tour. It’s just too much information right now to process that plus all the acts I witnessed. Mr. Matt is a Knoxville artist and he frequently comes around my area in fact he is a really hard working road dog.

He opened his set with “Ain’t No Living” from his second album called “With Love From Brushy Mountain”. Both of his albums are really good and both are self produced. His next song was from his first album “Manifesto” and it was called “Days Of Walking”. One of my favorites was next and it’s called “Tiny Anchors” it’s a well written song with many good descriptive aspects.

“Port St. Lucie” is one that usually is always included in the sets I have witnessed of his. This is the third time I have got to see him play and every time I never left sad or disappointed. He then played a brand new song called “American Way” which was very cleverly written, I’m telling you folks this new album is going to be REALLY GOOD and he can just take my money now. I’ll support this man until I’m dead and I hope I can help him continue on to play for younger generations to enjoy.

My all time favorite song was next “Snack Bar Mary And The Ten Pin Priest”, this song is his best story song he does. In fact it is one of my favorite songs period. There are several lines included in this song that are terrific and placed well. “Real Hard Times” was next followed by a song called “Lucero Song”. That particular song came with a really good story of him and his friends trying to pick up some girls and ending up alone. He went into songs like “Bedsheets” and “West Texas Wind” which was off his second album as well.

“Lying On The Floor” and his title song from his album “With Love From Brushy Mountain” were followed by another of my favorite songs “Dead Man’s Blues” where he actually gave up the mic ability to come forth closer to us on the stage and sing it for us with no amplification. It was truly a personal way to hear a song and he had everyone crowd up close and sing with him it was a great way to close a set and I truly encourage you to check him out and buy his albums. And tell him I sent you!

Mikey Classic And His Lonesome Spur was next. Mr. Mikey is the frontman for the Goddamn Gallows and this is his solo work much like their bassist Fishgutzz has his own side band as well when they aren’t on tour. I’ll be reporting on them later because right now they are touring 25 states in four months and they are heading to the Exit In in October.

I got to catch him playing “Pass Me The Bottle” and “Ya’ll MFers Need Jesus” which are actually Gallows songs and I did get to see him close his set with “Oil Fields Are Burning”. I was sort of in the middle of writing and listening to him play as well. I was getting ready to head over to the big tent stage to cover this next duo I have never covered before, every time they come to town I miss them…

Folks I bring you the Barnyard Stompers a HARD WORKING road band consisting of two members whom are two of the nicest people you’ll ever meet out there. And I strongly urge you to go support what they do. Miss Megan plays drums AND guitar BOTH she’s all over the place, they’re loud and they’re wild and they were just what I expected them to be! I have never brought them to Gary Hayes Country so folks here they are!

They opened their set with “Road To Knoxville” and if they played one song before it I didn’t catch it because I was talking with Mr. Mikey about some upcoming Gallows stuff and I ran into Mr. Jared from the Urban Pioneers on the road there and I stopped to talk with him about their new album, more on that in just a bit. They followed with a song called ‘The Auctioneer Song” and one called “The Devils Horn”. Now The “Auctioneer Song” is a pretty well known song by Leroy Van Dyke but you don’t hear any local bands playing it, I was indeed impressed!

“Trying To Cook” was a thumping bad ass song about making drugs and being bothered. Even though I’m a recovery I still enjoyed the song it was fast and loud and Outlaw as all get out! “Outlaw Country Blues” was next followed by ones I did recognize as theirs called “The Saw Is Family” and “Measure Of A Man”. They both have a really good stage presence and they aren’t up there to impress nobody they just play their asses off for you. I highly suggest going to one of their shows in your area, you’ll be glad you did. They played “Country Boy Can Survive” by Hank Williams Junior and one called “Truck Drivin Son-Of-A-Bitch. They closed their set with one called “Corn Liquor”.

The Urban Pioneers are a never ending road band and I have featured them many many times on here. Every time they come to town I usually go to see them and I truly enjoy crossing paths with them both. I love them very very much, and every time they get better and better. Their album is one of my top choices of 2015 so far, it’s for sure in my top ten albums. Their new album Vehicle In Transit is on Muddy Roots label and you can buy it on their website. They opened their set with “Muddy Roots” off their first album and I was waiting in line for some food and returned to hear them play “Harvest Time”, which is one of my favorites.

“Apparition In The Fog” was next and that’s a good song they play also off their first album. I’m telling you what these folks have a HUGE sound and a HUGE stage show, I love Miss Liz’s dresses she wears and her style of playing. She is a true professional player, probably one of the most talented musicians in Roots Music. She has classical and other styles too, very smart young lady. Mr. Jared is equally well talented in his style of playing and as they went into “Please Give Me A Highway” and my personal favorite song they do “Liz’s Reel” they had that tent jumping around and I couldn’t even get close to the stage! They did “Liz’s Reel” as one of their closing songs.

“Chocolate Easter Bunny” was a song that was given credit to Phil Hummer on the album. And they also did “Found About You”. WOW, It was only dinner time and I already saw so many awesome bands in a place that makes me feel so welcome and comfortable. I don’t go there to drink a lot but I am partying in my own way and enjoying it and I did have a couple good pulls of shine. My next article will begin with a band I recently covered at the Nashville Boogie called the Woody Pines, and it will be coming at you in a few days!

IT IS THAT TIME AGAIN..for TONS of my friends to converge upon the Junebug Ranch in Cookeville Tennessee for my personal favorite music festival of ALL TIME Muddy Roots Music Festival , now we are expecting REALLY bad heat this weekend so there will be NO vinyl sold in the merch booths by the festival. I’m pretty sad about that because I wanted to focus on buying a lot of vinyl but it’s ok because I plan to spend a BUNCH of money on CD’s.

You’re going to be getting told about a BUNCH of bands I have never covered on this website but have always wanted to. Some of them just don’t always get close to my area for me to feature, and to be honest there’s just so many bands to cover I can’t always catch them all. You know there’s a ton of websites out there ripping on pop country and honestly I even enjoy some of it…but here I have so much to write about and dwell on I just don’t have time to write about how crappy it is.

I’m home right now but I’m getting packed up and ready to go to Cookeville and get settled into my room at America’s Best Value Inn and this year they gave me the best deal I have ever had while attending this festival. I am extremely happy with my price for three nights and it gives me the option to spend more money on the festival so I can support the bands and some places to eat that are locally owned.

I’ll admit I’m so excited tonight because I have never seen some of this years lineup live in a setting like this and I’ll be featuring most of what I get to see in this weekend’s articles. WHO will be my top 5 acts this year? Will it once again be Hillbilly Casino? I am not sure right now…I have so many past shows there that have just blown me away, Joseph Huber is always a sure bet as is one of my first bands I’ll cover in the morning..Matt Woods.

This hotel is extremely nice and looks clean VERY good price. I had several hotels competing for my business and they set me up with discounts upon mentioning the festival I arrived in town around 1PM and took a swim and got settled in. I got to the festival around 4 and reconnected with so many people and had some new readers come introduce themselves to me.

This article here is from the Pre show last night which took place in the big tent stage across from the Muddy Merch tent and included this fine young man who is having his album release party tonight Dylan Walshe who is now on Muddy Roots Records. Mr. Dylan is a truly gifted performer and songwriter from overseas and I loved his Irish folk laced roots music and I plan to get an album today.

His first song “Raggle Taggle Gypsy O” was an old Irish Folk ballad that immediately got the crowd whipped into having fun and dancing. I’m excited and buzzed just to be sitting on vendor row down here folks surrounded by old friends and new ones. He proceeded that with a song called “At Sea” and another one called “Death Dance” however my favorite songs of his were forthcoming.

“Blind Is Blind” is probably my favorite song he does I just love the melody and the way he presents the song. Very different and unique in it’s own right. Mr. Dylan deserves recognition for his authenticity here this weekend, he definitely sticks out from a musical standpoint. ‘Gone” was his nest song he played followed by a song he wrote when he was injured and couldn’t play called ‘City Sisters”, I enjoyed that one too.

He played a song originally by the Clash called “Straight To Hell” (not to be confused with Hank 3). I enjoyed his version very much with his style of it all and he followed that with “Same Old Prayer” and closed his set with a Pogues song “If I Should Fall From Grace With God”. After his set I went out to a friend’s camp for hot dogs, yum.

This next band I have been wanting to cover for some time now and they are also now on the Muddy Roots Records label and they are the mighty Tillers. Their new album Hand On The Plow is a truly awesome album. Now then I’ll be featuring them later this weekend as well with different songs, but for now they opened this set with “Train That Carried My Gal”..honestly they played one I missed.

‘There Is A Road” was a toe tapping hopping song, this band is very energetic and has good stage presence. They drew a fairly good sized aura about the tent tonight. They followed that with a good fiddle song called “The Carolina Breakdown”, which featured some great solo work. You know their album “Live At The Southgate House” is an underground classic that I secretly enjoy, well it’s no secret anymore that’s what this website is for to tell YOU about these hidden gems that you don’t hear about most places.

They followed their next song with a song about Cincinnati in the 1920’s called “The Georgia Street Beat” which was my favorite of this set. I love their song “Willy Dear” it’s VERY sad and a truly vivid story of pain..anyways they followed that with “New York Town” which is a Woody Guthrie song originally.

“Jake Leg Blues” and “I Gotta Move” were two of their closing songs of this set and like I said I’ll be featuring them again this weekend soon. This band is a true Cincinnati Legend and in their area they are a big draw at local clubs and festivals and I think they will have great growth as a band.