Gary Hayes Country

Well this weekend is the two year anniversary of the Outlaws And Icons festival weekend in Altamont Tennessee and that means it’s my two year anniversary of re-launching my website! That’s right folks I have been at this “job” for five years total but this is my second year on this format.

In that two years I have brought my website to 16 states and have covered hundreds of shows. I have featured many many bands and songwriters and have brought exposure to many new artists and old ones I stumbled upon. I have developed promotional plans for local shows in my weekly article I update that features local venues as well as national acts.

I have literally met thousands of venue owners, booking people, and festival directors and have been blessed enough to be able to promote their shows and make profit off my work without taking ANYTHING from the folks I feature. I THEN TAKE that profit and invest it BACK INTO the music I get it from through door fees, merchandise sales, hotel travel and more. I have handed out hundreds of my popular “road bags” to artists that travel, including toothpaste and soap, shampoo and shave cream for the folks I know travel 365 days a year.

I have been saying this for years to those of you who love local music and the national music that is not over produced or watered down bullshit, if we do not INVEST into that music it will not and CANNOT flourish and grow.
If we do not share it with others and expose others to it..the media sure the hell won’t. Many people will not even know about the great talent that lies within the halls of Nashville and other cities in this great country.

Joshua Morningstar has been a true friend of this website for the entire two years I have been under operation. He’s been featured at over 6 festivals on this website and countless house shows on here. I have been honored to have been part of his life, his sobriety and his growth as an artist.

He played Douglass Corner Lounge last night as many of his heros…hell OUR HEROS have cut their teeth on, and as he opened his set with “Say Goodbye” as a solo act along with “March To The Gallows” he acknowledged his respect for the venue before he went into Billie Gant’s song “The Night That I Shot Rueben Dixon Down”.

He brought Jeremy Pittman along with his awesome looking “Buck It” upright bass, whom you might remember from Crooked Smile Music Festival during my coverage of Husky Burnette. Mr. Jeremy has performed with many local acts like Hank 3 and more!

“Talk To Me Texas” was next before his favorite song Lefty Frizzell sang and wrote with Whitey Shafer “I Never Go around Mirrors”. He then played his cover of Ernest Tubb’s “Drivin Nails In My Coffin” but the song he perofrmed last night that garnished the greatest reaction from the crowd was “As Long As You Ain’t Coming Back”.

His first single form his Little Class Records new release “Motel Madness” was next followed by his usual song he closes ALL sets with the Hank Williams classic “I Saw The Light”.

So after a really good night’s rest at the hotel I woke up starving and had a really huge breakfast before heading back to the campgrounds to cover the last day of the festival. The first act I got to cover was my good friends Mr. Eric and Miss Amanda Bestul now known as Lonesome Red And The Blue Strings along with Mr. Ryan Zylka. Now Mr. Eric and Miss Amanda were the band that played with Mr. Owen before we lost him to Hillbilly Heaven and I finally got to catch up with them to see what diabolical scheme they had up their sleeve to carry on that Traditional Country Music I KNOW they both live for.

This is it, THIS is their newest project and I tell you what…it is a GRAND project indeed. I met him for the first time several years ago when he and Mr. Owen played The Slider House, and I got see Mr. Eric show off his ability to play upright guitar and steel at the same time reminiscent of the great Junior Brown.

They played a set of cover songs to give us a feel of their intentions once they release an EP of original material which shall be soon. They began with “Mama Tried” and one of my favorites “Seminole Wind” by John Anderson. By December they should have their EP completed and ready to purchase and I’ll keep close tabs with them to feature it.

They continued with “Good Timing Woman” and the Jamey Johnson song “in Pictures”. Quote of the whole festival was made by Mr. Eric “Hearing people clap for Waylon Jennings makes me happy”! As they continued on to play a Billy Joe Shaver classic “Georgia On a Fast Train” and “Simple Man” they finally hit on another pinnacle in their set I enjoyed.

They played A-11 in the style of Johnny Paycheck…before he took on the Paycheck identity, I’ll give you a short lesson..Donnie Lytle got his stage name from a boxer in Chicago named Johnny Paycheck and in 1964 he legally changed his name to that. Before he did he performed under Donnie Young and wrote “Apartment #9” for Tammy Wynette while he played steel as a Jones Boy for George Jones. A-11 was the first charted hit he had under the moniker of Paycheck and it was later covered by Buck Owens and several more.

They closed their set out with “Fire On The Mountain”, Alan Jackson’s “Buy Me A Mercury” and “Man Of Constant Sorrow”. What a GREAT START to a GREAT festival folks! I was already VERY excited to see more music.

The Piss Poor Players I finally got to cover their set on this website. I have been close several times but never caught the opportunity to get there, they are from the Wisconsin and Michigan area.

Mr. Dustin opened up their set with “You’ll Never Understand” and another song I recognized called “Piss Poor”. Honestly before coming to Crooked Smile I knew very little about this band, and it was really nice to get caught up with them.

As they continued their set with a pretty good song called “Sin Eaters” and another called “Take That Walk” they truly entertained us today as did everyone else. I was getting geared up for more of the new bands I was about to cover and doing two things at once but I did get to hear them play “Watch The Sky” and ‘Stone Sorrow”.

“Cold Dead Fingers” was their next song along with “No Good Until I Die” and they followed that up with my favorite one they play called “Never Gonna Change”. They closed their set out with a song called “reach Out” by the Dad Horse Experience.

Matt Olson whom plays for Filthy Still played a solo set and although I did not catch the first song I did catch ” Real Eye In The Sky” and ‘Motorhead”. I also caught another song he played called “Dinosaur Shit” which wasn’t a bad song, and I thought that was a pretty good set.

Mickey And The Snake Oil Boys were the next band on the roster. They opened their set with a song called “Wedding Bed” and followed it with a song called “Simmah Dahn”.

This is a Pittsburgh based band that I enjoyed before the bands I’d been waiting for the whole weekend. “Saddle Up” and “Who I Am” were two more songs I got to catch along with several other songs before closing their set with “Southern Comfort”.

The last band I caught of the afternoon was called The Drunken Cuddle which was a three piece band from Denver Colorado. Now I didn’t get to catch a lot of their set because I was getting things ready for the last three acts of the festival which I shall touch upon in my last installment of this series.

Their drummer Katie Marie Sternig really breathes a lot of life into the band with her talent on the drums. She’s a firecracker on the stage and the whole band sounded really good I recall a song called “Naked” and another called “New Mexico”. I was visiting with many folks and eating and getting geared up for the next few sets!

Today at Crooked Smile Music Festival I learned about just how The Urban Pioneers came to be, and it’s an interesting tale of nature..that you’ll read about later on in this installment. This portion of my festival coverage will include the headlining acts from the first night.

I was extremely tired from driving and running around but the music kept me going. When I went to bed that night I had 40 hours in very little sleep so when I arrived back at the hotel I had no trouble falling asleep. The first act of this portion is none other than Matthew McKinley or as we call him “Mule”.

He is the upright bass player for Filthy Still (which will be touched on later) and right now he did some solo songs for us. Filthy Still also came up on stage for Carrie Nation And The Speakeasy’s set. He opened his own set with “Hair Of The Dog Blues” and another song called “The Evil”.

His album called “Blood In The Still” is really good and that song was also included in this set later on. He played “Problems” and “By Your Name”. I got some time later on that night to talk with him and he was really nice to everybody, and as he played “Frickin Frackin” `and his album’s title song we all were getting ready to be blown away by the rest of the acts of the first night of music. He closed his set with a song called “Mustache Ride”.

Smokestack Relics were next and they describe themselves as “Dirty Swamp Rock” on their website. They opened their set with “61 And 49” and as they played their entire set I went merchandise shopping and was working on the WordPress prep for the final shows of the night. I got to see the Relics play “God Damn My Soul” and a few others.

I finally got to cover Farmaggedon Records artist Jimmy Swope. His album “The Wages Of Sin” is one that labels finest releases to date in my opinion. And I got to spend quite some time with him and his wife. VERY nice folks indeed.

He began his set with “This Old Town” and with the folks he had on stage backing him it sounded really good, I enjoyed his set. He then went into “Dust Train” and my favorite song he does “5 Chambers Empty”. One of the first places I heard about him was Mr. Owen Mays who was honored with a tribute before we all went on our ways Sunday, and also I listened to this song on the Farmaggedon Festival CD sampler that Mr. Darren mailed me.

“By Myself” and “Drifter” were both next and as he went through a couple more songs he went into “The Crack Whore Song” and ended his set with “Tip Jar”. I’ll tell you folks if you do not have his album, shame on you. It is truly one of my favorite albums in my rotation as of now. I strongly urge you to go check him out live when he comes to your area.

Before the Urban Pioneers took the stage this night our buddy Dave Congrove got up on stage and explained JUST WHERE they came from and I even learned what happened to Mr. Keith’s sleeves! I mean all this time I had NO IDEA Miss Liz got sucked up in any F5, I thought she met Mr. Jared in Bob Wayne’s band? That had to be the most inventive and clever story I ever heard!

When they began to play they opened with “Ain’t Gonna Work” and “Something That’s Never Been Done”. In fact right now I am listening to them on vinyl and I’m amazed at how beautiful they sound on my record player. I was honored to review their new album first and I can never say enough good about them. Not only are they talented people they are some of the best friends you’ll ever meet. I have been around them for many many years and saw them many times and every time they just grow and get better.

“Apparition In The Fog” was next, and that’s one of my favorite songs they play. I LOVE Miss Liz’s fiddle solos on that song, and it’s well written in the lyrics. I’m telling you folks these three ARE the real deal. In her vintage clothes and Mr. Jared’s claw banjo style, they are one of the bands in this group of music that is growing and consistently releases quality songs.

“Please Give Me A Highway” was next and they followed that with some NEW songs that I’ll contact them and ask if I can write about in some future articles I have planned for them.

They just blasted the place with “Chocolate Easter Bunny” from their new album on Muddy Roots Records, and followed that up with “Liz’s Reel” another of my favorites. And how fitting they should play “Autumn Time” cause it’s time to chop up some carrots and celery for stew right now! And they closed their set with “Just Over The Horizon”.

This is always a sure bet to be one of the BEST sets of ANY festival, and trust me I have watched them at MANY different festivals all over the country. And as soon as their new album is pressed on vinyl I’m buying it! And like I previously said I’ll be reporting on their new songs when I can.

Filthy Still was the last act of the night, and by now I was pretty darn worn out. I had been up for almost 45 hours but I was so excited to see these guys tear it up I didn’t care. They played a GREAT SET this night which began with “Tijuana Mexico”…don’t drink the water!

Their next song was “Tomorrow, Today and Yesterday” and they played one called “Nothing’s Ever Burned Quite Like You”. The next bunch of songs were just completely awesome and had every one of us completely pumped as they steamrolled into “Lord I Do When I Don’t Try” and “Work With What You Got” it was evident they came to kick our asses.

“Dance All Night” was followed by “Smoking Crack With Jesus” ummm yeah they can hammer you with songs like “Everybody’s Sinning But Me” and “Another Bottle”. I have featured them before in previous festival coverage but this was indeed a longer set than I have ever seen them play. “Bigfoot Bones” and “Dirty And Low” were next and their last song was called “Shitty City”.

I truly was having a good time but I was completely wore out, in fact I slept nine hours that night. That hotel bed wasn’t bad at all, and I felt like that F5 grabbed me and tossed me around. But I’ll leave that for the Pioneers.

Well you have heard me speak of Muddy Roots many times, last week they made a huge announcement. Now I just finished my coverage of their main festival in Cookeville and I am doing prep work for next year’s Nashville Boogie which you will hear about soon. And as always I shall help them promote the Spring Weekender in Indiana.

But just recently the CEO of Muddy Roots, Jason Galaz announced that he has been booking shows for the Nashville Palace. He remained quiet about this project for a little while as he is booking for the main festival and promoting other things. He is working VERY HARD to bring real music to town, I’ll be covering one of the shows and in fact, I’ll be celebrating my birthday at this show!

On December 12th Muddy Roots and The Nashville Palace presents The Riders In The Sky as they perform Christmas The Cowboy Way. Folks this will be the classic lineup of Woody Paul, Too Slim, Ranger Doug Green and Joey Mesculin.

These four goofballs will be performing their trail songs and western comedy routines for us all evening, along with some classic Christmas songs in their true classic western fashion. These guys have been Opry favorites for many many years and have pretty much had a big role in my raising from youth.

Now the next week to follow at the Nashville Palace another show will follow. This one will feature Del McCoury Band and The Tillers. You can purchase tickets for THIS event HERE.

BOTH of these acts performed really good sets this past year at the Muddy Roots main festival and I’ll tell you what The Tillers released their new album “Hand On The Plow” off Muddy Roots Records label, and their song ‘Willy Dear” is one of the most well written songs I have heard in some time now.

So JOIN ME on my birthday (which is officially on November 29th) celebration at the Nashville Palace with Riders In The Sky!

The remainder of the whole festival was spent by me on the wood stage, and I remained in my chair and never moved the rest of the night. I was pretty wore out but man I had a wonderful time, the heat was really wearing on me. It was INCREDIBLY HOT them three days with some times of relief and it was cooling off nicely on Sunday night for the powerhouse Bluegrass Legends to follow, heck I should hope I wouldn’t even need to place links on their names…

None other than Dr. Ralph Stanley and his Clinch Mountain Boys were first up for the main acts, as of course they opened with “Man Of Constant Sorrow” which is a song that dates back to 1913, or older. It was originally called “The Farewell Song” possibly wrote by a partially blind fiddle player named Dick Burnett. I have spent many months researching to find out WHO TRULY wrote this song and have not gotten a final answer, even my CMA resources confirm it is indeed public domain. However the Stanley Brothers recorded the song in 1950 and the public grew interest in the song when Dan Tyminski and Union Station recorded it under the guise of the “Soggy Bottom Boys” in the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou”. This film was loosely based on “The Odyssey” By Homer.

He followed that by “Little Maggie” and I’ll tell you what for being such an elderly man he was in really good shape for the festival, although I did hear he recently fell and injured his hip. He was ushered onto the stage to perform but he has the form and poise of exactly what he is…A LEGEND that is deeply forged into our hearts.

“Worried Man’s Blues” was next EVERY SONG in his set was an absolute timeless classic before he introduced us all to his grandson Nathan Stanley who sang us a truly heartfelt song called “Papaw I Love You” off his “Legacy” album. I bought it it’s truly good you MUST BUY IT!

Next came an instrumental song that lies within the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C and it is called the “Clinch Mountain Back Step”. They followed that with such classics as “Pretty Polly” and “Rank Stranger” and the rowdy fast paced song “Lost All My Money But A 2 Dollar Bill”.

The Clinch Mountain Boys played some songs called “Lee Highway Blues” and “Old Country Church” before the defining pinnacle of a Ralph Stanley set and when he delivers this recitation…you can hear your blood flowing. I never ever heard the Muddy Roots field this quiet before in the 6 years I have been coming there….EVER. He stood up there steadfast and recited “O Death”…TWICE. He performed it for us twice in a row and the crowd couldn’t get enough of it, in fact this was perhaps the largest group of people I ever saw at the wood stage tonight.

His encore (of course) was “Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone”. Folks I’m glad I was sitting down cause I had rubber legs and goosebumps on my back. There was NOT a dry eye in the house.

Bluegrass Legend Ricky Skaggs has contributed more to Country Music and Bluegrass than anybody I can think of at his age or placement in his career. He attempted to break into Country Music for a short time but returned to his Bluegrass roots and acquiring more success there. After all, Ricky Skaggs began playing Bluegrass at an early age of 7 when he was seen playing with Flatt And Scruggs. He is also more known for forming an early Bluegrass partnership with Keith Whitley who died in 1989 at an early age.

His first song of his set was called “Ridi’n On That Midnight Train” and was featured on Kentucky Thunder’s first album Bluegrass Rules. Even though they didn’t play my favorite song off their album Ancient Tones called “How Mountain Girls Can Love”, this was STILL a totally awesome set altogether.

“Selfish Heart” was next and he and his top notch band went on into “Pig In A Pen” which is always a good toe tapping fast paced barrel ride. I song I have never heard live was called “Toy Heart” and that song is off his “Fathers Of Bluegrass” album and he also played “Mother’s Only Sleeping” which was good.

The next song was AWESOME choice off his “History Of The Future” album called “Sawing On The Strings”, that’s always a really good banjo picking song he does. The last time I saw them on the Opry they played that song. He began playing some newer songs off his newer albums from 2012 and so forth like “Blue Night” and “Tennessee Stud”.

“Can’t Shake Jesus” was next VERY good inspirational song he does, along with “The Kentucky Waltz”. Before I headed back to the merch area to get a picture with him I heard him playing “Black Eyed Suzie” from his first album. I had to head back and buy some albums and such. Thankfully I parked close enough to the main aisle so I could keep going back to the truck and dropping off every load of merch I was buying…WOW.

The last final act I attended at Muddy Roots was the Legend himself Del McCoury and the Del McCoury Band. He really is a good entertainer as he jokes and talks to the audience between the songs, and I was going up to the main stage after spending some time in the tent with Ricky Skaggs. I missed the first song he began with but the second song was ‘Bluest Man In Town”.

After going into an instrumental song he went into “Hand On My Heart” and followed that by “Nashville Cats”. Then the fiddle player went into a really great instrumental and the band came back to play “You Win Again” by Hank Williams.

One of my favorite songs of the set was “Blackjack County Chains”, man what a great song. Well written and well played. “Lights On The Hill” was next and “Train Wreck”. There was still a pretty good sized crowd out there for this set, and I tell you what “Race Horse” was a truly good choice to place in this set. “Snake In The House” was one the crowd hollared out for them to play.

My second best song they play was next “Vincent Black Lightning” and “Smoking Gun” had this crowd going crazy and was probably the best part of the set as I heard him finish up with “High On The Mountain”. That pretty much summed up my last night at the festival, the heat had worn me out for the four days I spent out there but I tell you what..out of ALL the festivals I go to and cover Muddy Roots main festival is my PERSONAL FAVORITE ONE of them all. And honestly I don’t see much changing that!

I want to thank Mr. Jason and Mr. Chris for always going out of their way to accommodate me and everyone else. On behalf of my website and myself as a fan, I’d like to thank them for the music..and making it feel like home.

IF WE DON’T SIN THAN JESUS DIED FOR NOTHING is what my good buddy Squirrel form the first band of Sunday declared! They talked about dunking a lot of people through their always awesome set at Muddy Roots. The Glade City Rounders have been featured on here before and here they are again! You know last year they amazed me because they brought out my inner geek by playing a song by Ambrose Gaines Stuart, or “Uncle Am” as they called him. Some of the most well renowned and nostalgic music from the EARLY 1900’s the likes of Riley Puckett and Gid Tanner.

So they opened with “Leaving Home” and went into “The Grey Eagle” which is the aforementioned Uncle Am song. In fact quite a few performers today really impressed me like Dom Flemons who I’ll cover in just a few minutes..this time the Rounders played a Gus Cannon song too. I have indeed delved into Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers from the 1920’s and 30’s Blues banjo music for a few months years back, and I really enjoyed their version of “Viola Lee Blues”. In fact in the 1920’s he recorded for Paramount as “Banjo Joe”, see there was MUCH MORE black performers within Country Music before Charley Pride (not that Charley isn’t anything short of an Icon to me).

I LOVE these guys because they leave me wondering WHAT they will pull off next to amaze me. I LOVE ANYTHING Pre-1930’s and I LOVE to learn or be triggered to delve into someone. “Georgia Crawl” was next and through all the jokes and comedy these guys entertain you much like Riders In The Sky or Mike Snyder. It’s just plain fun and it’s FUNNY, it’s just down home simple humor everyone can listen to. The played “Whoa Mule” before the Gus Cannon song and went into “Fly Around” and an Uncle Dave Macon song.

Honestly in my opinion Hank Williams was the first COMMERCIAL superstar Country Music ever had, but the first superstar was Uncle Dave Macon. Even Roy Acuff would agree with me having come to the Opry in 1939 like he did. there is just SO MUCH to delve into form that era like Uncle Jimmy Thompson and Deford Bailey another famous black star. The Uncle Dave Macon song they did was “Don’t Get Weary Children” and they closed their set with “They’re After Me” and “In The Jailhouse Now”. I got a FULL BOOK chocked with stories for you folks as this was the Bluegrass day at Muddy Roots and Mr. Jason outdid himself on this one.

I stopped over to see the County Graves who were on Little Class Records and I’m sad to say they are no longer a band but their set was indeed awesome! I missed their first song but I caught their second song “Sometimes They All Call Back” and their next song was “Arkansas”.

The tent was pretty darn packed for this set and I sat in the back for the duration of this one so I didn’t get to see very well but they JAMMED the place really hard core, as they tore into a song called “Hellfire Victory”. They went into a song called ‘Illinois Blues” and another good song called “Williamson” before closing their set with some old time gospel songs mixed together “I Saw The Light” and “I’ll Fly Away”. Man what a good set they did it’s a real bad shame they are no longer together but you never know what time will ever bring.

Dom Flemons is a former member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops who I first found out about on the Marty Stuart Show a few years back. This man KNOWS his history and he PROVES it in his set, I’ll tell you what today’s acts ALL amazed me to a high level of geek as they inspired me to further learn things for myself.

His first song was “Have I Stayed Away Too Long” and another song off his album called “Hot Chicken”. He played “Polly Put The Kettle On” before going into a Roy Acuff tune called “Lonesome Old River Blues”. I LOVED Roy Acuff and I’m truly sad I didn’t get to meet him in person before he died, but I have gotten to talk with June Stearns who sang with his Smokey Mountain Boys”

Then he brought out “Big Head Joe” which was a HUGE banjo fitting for the Muddy Roots HUGE banjo we all enjoy taking our pictures by. He played a song called “Milwaukee Blues” now this song was one I learned about, I learned about Charlie Poole who died in 1931 at only 39. Many regard him and the North Carolina Ramblers as the Godfathers of Stringbands although they only recorded from 1925 to 1930. Although Charlie didn’t actually write the song his rendition of it was one of the best ever done.

“I Can’t Do It Anymore” and the really cool song “But They Got It Fixed” were the closing songs before he played “Keep On Truck’n for his last song. He left me wanting to rush home and start learning about all these songs and people he talked about. Some of them I knew and some of them I didn’t, and I will SURELY be going to see this man again!

Before I finish my final portion of Muddy Roots coverage with the big three powerhouses of Bluegrass Music the big stage was filling up with droves of people FAST. It was one of biggest daily attendances I ever witnessed at a Muddy Roots Festival of all the years they have occurred in my opinion. I’m not quite sure what the sales were (I don’t ask the directors that stuff) but I tell you what…it was jammed up pretty hard. But, before I cover those three let me tell you about underground Legends Cincinnati’s own The Tillers.

They are on tour right now with J.D. Wilkes from the Shack Shakers and they are touring along the Ohio River, running all the way to J.D.’s home turf of Paducah Kentucky. This from their website:

We are proud to announce our next great adventure. The Tillers will be back on tour this fall, spanning the length of the entire Ohio River. “The Great Ohio River Tour” will feature JD Wilkes of the Legendary Shack Shakers, and will storm cities from the river’s northern source in Pittsburgh to Paducah near its southern terminus, October 15-23. We will meander along river roads, bringing our trademark stomp and holler to small towns, big cities, and various refuse along the way. It’s a tribute to the tributary that birthed our hometowns. Hear us pay it back in song. Let the great river rumble!

-The Great Ohio River Tour-

10/15- Pittsburgh PA / Thunderbird Cafe

10/16- Pomeroy OH / Court Street Grill

10/17- Huntington WV / Heritage Station

10/18- Newport KY / Southgate House Revival

10/20- Madison IN / Red Bicycle Hall

10/21- Louisville KY / The New Vintage

10/22- Owensboro KY / International Bluegrass Music Museum

10/23- Paducah KY / Maiden Alley Cinema

I’m having to skip this tour to attend a festival in Indiana so I will not be able to hit any of their shows but this IS a tour NOT to be missed if you can go GO!

They opened this second set (I covered them during the pre-party) with my favorite song they have EVER done “Willy Dear”. This song is so well written I’d say it’s one of my favorite songs in the last ten years of ANY genre and they followed that song with “Migrant’s Lament”.

“I’ll Be Calling” was another really good song as I can tell they changed their set list around to be a little bit different from Thursday’s set and that was an awesome thing to me. I truly enjoy their music and their album “Live At The Southgate House” is a classic album in my opinion.

“Georgia Street Beat” was one I noticed both sets form both nights and they played “Shanty Boat”. Both were truly good choices. They played my other favorite song called “Old West Side” and closed with “We Shall Be Reunited”. So sit tight folks because my final portion contains three Bluegrass Legends that you don’t see combined on the same stage too often! O DEATH IS NEXT PEOPLE!!!!!!

Hey folks I’ll be honest I have covered Ray Wylie Hubbard before but he REALLY slayed Muddy Roots tonight. HE WINS my number two spot. AFTER his set was another Country Music Legend I covered last year Bobby Bare, and he won my third place for the whole festival! So before day three even happened my personal favorite sets were already sunk into my mind. Now DON’T THINK for ONE moment I have no love for the three Bluegrass giants to come…no no no. But honestly I myself personally enjoyed the 70’s honky tonk era of Country Music the best and like I said it’s JUST my opinion and it’s not meant to take greatness away from Dr. Ralph Stanly or the others. But FIRST a few MORE acts I got to see before the two best sets I saw this weekend.

Now this portion of day 2 includes a gal I have been wanting to cover for some time now Margo Price. She is an upcoming Country Music POWERHOUSE, having been the former front woman for the band Buffalo Clover before venturing out on her own. Now she has lined up a STELLAR band that she has billed “The Price Tags” and has slammed Nashville with some traditional Country Music that is more country than anything I have heard in months.

Jack White has announced that in spring of 2016 Third Man Records will release her debut album “Midwest Farmer’s Daughter”. And from what I have heard at Muddy Roots THIS album has most likely already earned a top spot on my albums of the year before it even launches A FIRST for my website!

She opened her set with “This Town Gets Around” and almost right away I witnessed some of the greatest songwriting and lyric placement this whole festival..heck I was so captivated by her first song and taking so many notes I missed what her second song was. She continued her set with “Weekender” and then her BEST song yet called “Since You Put Me Down”, which was her most well written song yet, combined with whiskey drenched vocals the likes of which this generation lacks in it’s “country music” today.

The last two songs of her set I recalled were “Don’t Say It” and “Heartaches And Hangovers”. I’m telling you she is REALLY up and coming in REAL Country Music and I’m sure she will be featured at this festival again and many other places….like this website.

Now folks I had to meander down to my friends campsite to catch some supper as I was getting very hungry and I listened to the great Chuck Mead play his set on stage 1. As I sat and ate I got to hear him play some really cool hits from his tenure with BR5-49 like “Little Ramona” which was my favorite from their first album.

He touched on many others that were recorded only on live albums like the underground classic “Live From Robert’s” like the song “Me And Opie Down By The Duck Pond”, and the song called “Waiting For The Axe To Fall” was included in one of their live albums. Lately they have been releasing more live albums from their glory days of the original lineup, and have had a few rare resurfaces.

The last song I recalled from his set was “Eighteen Wheels And A Crowbar” from their second album and also this was a staple song during their Robert’s sets. They were known for their multi hour sets on lower broad for tips and donations. When I recall Split Lip Rayfield coming from Bloodshot Records I recall these guys coming from Lower Broad.

Now as I made my way back up to another stage to feature more music for this coverage I passed the tent stage to listen to Joseph Huber’s set. I have featured him many times on here and I often described his music as my “Feel Good Music”. I just love his voice and the way he sings his songs and delivers his lyrics.

I got to catch “Same River For The Second Time” as his show was PACKED, this man drew quite a big crowd in that tent and I always agree with why. I myself really love his music solo even though I enjoy his former band as well. And as I got to listen to “Drop In The Bucket” I sat there and enjoyed his presence.

I did get to greet him and buy some stuff from him and the last song I heard from him was “Hanging Road” the title track from his new album on Muddy Roots Records.

I made it to the main Ol’ Wood Stage to see a true Country Music Legend “Ramblin” Jack Elliott. Now I have seen many many Legends in my time but none as revered as him by Country music and Folk Music historians alike..and many others as well. He was actually born Elliot Charles Adnopoz in the 1930’s from New York, and has influenced many genres of music.

I missed the first portion of his set for others but when I arrived and set up my chair and books he was playing “Don’t Think Twice” while simply seated on a folding chair and holding his acoustic guitar. Simple and basic was the best description of his set this night and he told stories of his life on the road with fellow Legends in a very slow and basic form. I mean there were so many instances and scenarios he touched on and one could tell, he was there. In my opinion he was just as fantastic as Billy Don Burns and many other Legends that lived this life.

“Salt Pork West Virginia” was next and followed by “If I Were A Carpenter” and “Cuckoo”. Like I said none of these songs have I ever heard live and in person in my life, for me this was indeed a rare life happening for me. To see this many Legends performing on the same weekend bill was just absolutely GEEK CENTRAL for many people like me interested in Country Music.

“Waiting For A Train” was next and he closed his set with “Talking Sailor” and he was later brought out to join the next Legend that played after him and that man was none other than Bluegrass Legend Peter Rowan.

Peter Rowan’s contributions to music in general date back to the 1960’s where he played with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys and for a year he played for Bill Monroe before forming bands like Old And In The Way which included Vassar Clements. He contributed many songs that were recorded by New Riders Of The Purple Sage” which I will mention next.

He opened his set with “Moonshiner” and “Walls Of Time”..and went right into one of his songs the Purple Sage recorded called “Panama Red”. It is one of his most well known songs of his tenure in many genres of music and that was followed by “Midnight Moonlight”.

Many of Peter Rowan’s songs have been performed by people like Emmy Lou Harris and Gillian Welch on some of the most prestigious stages and venues across every genre of music and he is also highly loved and admired by people like me. I was just absolutely in awe of his presence there, and he was in awe of the festival and of our admiration for him in return. His comment to my knowledge of his music was “Remarkable for a young man like this”….

He went on to play a few more before he got to my favorite song he does “Dust Bowl Children” and like I mentioned before he played “Walls Of Time”. Both songs have certainly stood the true test of time and are remarkable timeless classics loved by many. He began to close his set with “Land Of The Navajo” and he brought out Ramblin Jack Elliott to play “Mule Skinner’s Blues” with him. That in itself was something you will ONLY SEE at Muddy Roots, timeless memories I have written in my brain and now I’m sharing them with those who will take the time to read them.

The second place of BEST SET goes to none other than Ray Wylie Hubbard with one of the most blatantly loud and rowdy sets I have ever seen him play before. He just got up there and tore the field apart with his unique sound and tone and slammed right into “Rabbit” for an opener.

Now then folks I would have bet money on him playing the song “Snake Farm” last..but NO he played it next and got the WHOLE crowd going completely bonkers! His dirty blues soaked anthem of his whole set got the crowd yelling SNAKE FARM….yeah it sounds kinda dirty…SNAKE FARM…yeah it pretty much is….

As he played “Drunken Poet’s Dream” the crowd was still riled up from two songs ago before he fired off the other barrel of his weapon. He then played “Down Home Country Blues” and “Train Yard Blues” and a few more before going rocket fast into “Mother Blues” and then proceeded to play his version of “Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother” which was played twice by two different acts that followed each other. The other being my third place winner Bobby Bare who was next.

But first he went into random ramblings and stories about road life while the beat and guitar was still red hot slinging out fast paced music as he went into “Choctaw Bingo” that being my other favorite song he does. He left the crowd wanting more and came out for an encore “Conversation With The Devil” before leaving the place in shambles…The show never stopped and it was like a fast paced train ride through hell itself, he stands there and waves his arms while raising cain about life’s struggles and then just burns up the song!

Finally for me this day was ended with my third place winner Bobby Bare who in my opinion was one of the first true Outlaw Country Singers that went against the grain and developed his own style. He performed a longer set this year with more variety than last year and some rare songs you don’t usually hear him play during live sets.

He opened his set with “Ride Me Down Easy” a popular Billy Joe Shaver song, and went right into “Tequila Sheila”. Most of Bobby Bare’s commercially successful hits are from the 70’s Honky Tonk era. He then went into more classic hits from his catalog like “Winner” and “Streets of Baltimore”.

A bunch of Bobby’s hit songs were wrote by the Legend himself Shel Silverstein, in fact he often recorded whole albums wrote by Shel. Many Country Music Legends had writers that provided much of their signature material like Bob McDill did for Don Williams and Bill Anderson did for Connie Smith. He recorded an entire album of Shel’s songs with Mel Tillis, Waylon and Jerry Reed called “Old Dogs” and he played “Still Gonna Die” from that one.

He continued with Classic that everyone knows like “Miller’s Cave” and “Drop Kick Me Jesus” before going into some more rare ones you don’t hear live much like “500 Miles” and “Four Strong Winds”. Another one he played both times he played Muddy Roots was “Quaaludes” and “How I Got To Memphis”.

He had the whole crowd chanting “I Wanna Go Home” and singing along with “Margie’s At The Lincoln Park Inn” before going into “Mermaid” and closing his GREAT SET with “Marie Leveau”. And THAT pretty much wrapped up my Saturday and I packed up and headed back to the hotel for a beer and a swim in the pool.

I got two more coming soon folks with POWERHOUSE Bluegrass Legends GALORE! THIS WAS my personal favorite lineup of all the 6 festivals.