Lately I have been so busy at festivals and CMA Fest ( to me it’s STILL Fan Fair) that I haven’t been able to update this as much as I’d like to, and I apologize. It’s NOT easy to do what I do, but I keep on rolling on as best as I can. So if YOU have a show YOU would like added to my list PLEASE email me at
garyhayes2@yahoo.com

Cody Jinks
Ryman Auditorium October 20th and 21st

Joe Diffie
Owensboro Kentucky October 21st

Cody Johnson
Cannery Ballroom October 21st

Austin Lucas
High Watt October 23rd

Kristiana Murray
Radio Cafe October 26th

Legendary Shack Shakers
Basement October 28th

IIIrd tyme Out
The Nashville Palace November 2nd

Kathy Mattea
Madisonville Ky November 2nd

Ray Scott
War Memorial Nashville November 2nd

Cory Branon
The East Room November 3rd

Lukas Nelson And Niki Lane
The Basement November 9th

Pinata Protest
Exit Inn November 10th

Riders In The Sky
City Winery November 12th

Flatland Cavalry
Exit Inn December 13th

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
The High Watt November 15th

The Steel Woods
The Warehouse Bowling Green November 17th

Lilly Hyatt
Exit Inn November 19th

Leftover Salmon
City Winery November 18th

J.D. McPherson
Basement November 18th

Stoney LaRue
3Rd And Lindsley November 18th

Lydia Loveless
Basement November 18th

Martina McBride
Carson Center November 30th

Whitney Rose
Basement East December 2nd

Asleep At The Wheel
City Winery December 3rd

Tyler Childers
The Basement December 9th

Shooter Jennings
3Rd And Lindsley December 17th

Greensky Bluegrass
Marathon Music Works January 20th

Willie Watson
3rd And Lindsley Feb 11th

Well folks here we are finally on the last day of this event, I MUST SAY we have had some truly enjoyable performances as of now. To be honest the Legendary Shack Shakers pretty much won the BEST SET award so far..will they rule the roost here…we shall see.

One of the great things about Muddy Roots is the diverse patronage of groups and different walks of life that attend. We have Sunday morning Church services here is the video. We have sobriety meetings for people like me that don’t really drink much there. I have seen Wiccan ceremonies, weddings, baptisms and all sorts of things.

You have groups like the New Bloodtubbs that assemble here, nice bunch of guys to me. Mr. Jason calls them all “Tribes” of people that assemble, and I could care less what they do it’s always peaceful and respectful and that’s all that matters. EVERY public gathering has a few problems and this wasn’t perfect but all in all it is a truly fine display of all different types of people.

When I’m into the music shows I leave my politics and my religion at my home and I observe RULE #1..Don’t Be A Dick. I WATCH crowds for pickpockets, card theft, merch theft and many other things. I’ll text Mr. Jason if I see things I deem dangerous or hazardous to his brand or public safety, and I’ll damn sure look out for the bands.

Mr. Monzie Leo Brummett: Guitar / Slide guitar / Vocals and Mr. Derek Long: Banjo / Guitar / Vocals make up this Kansas based folk Americana duo called Monzie Leo And The Big Sky and they were kind enough to send in a set list, even though I did see them too. “Let her go” opened their set. You know he and I have crossed paths quite a few times and I haven’t really been able to sit and listen to his music for long, so this was quite enjoyable.

“Locust street murder” was next followed by “5th of July” and another called “Dark Angel”. They displayed wonderful harmonies and well written songs bearing relate able lyrics and guitar musicianship. “Dirty ol River” was next followed by “I gave you Time” and one song I thought had a really cool name was called “The heart is a pomegranate
Trestle”.

Mr. Tim Vee came to us from New York to bring his music there. I have seen him on social media and we have shared comments but I didn’t get to see his music until now. I think that’s the true beauty of music festivals is that many people and bands are brought together.

“Runaway” was first, from the very beginning I could easily tell he was having FUN up there. This gentleman is ALL about business, and he works very hard on the road. I watch him…I watch many others too, I see all the ones working 300 plus shows yearly.

“Poison (rancid cover)” and another son called “Live your life” were two next songs I got to hear during his set. You know today was a true challenge for me with all 3 stages pumping all day again. I had three chairs set up at every stage bouncing back and forth. He closed his set with “I’m Breaking down”.

Video property of Miss Lisa Wells

John The Revelator This band I just didn’t get to see enough of but here is a nice piece from their website:

John the Revelator is the solo project of Jake Garrett. Jake is more known for his blues rock trio MasonJar Menagerie and his newly founded record label, DeepRoots Family Records and Productions. Along with MasonJar, Jake plays with 6 other bands regularly. Many of which, he writes the music for. Jake has been writing songs for over a decade, compiling 100’s of songs. John the Revelator acts an outlet for these numerous songs that he isn’t using with other projects.

The name John the Revelator derives from an old Blind Willie Johnson song. This is also where Jake draws a lot of inspiration from. Jake does a brilliant job at mixing all of his inspirations and sounding like something completely unique. Using a variety of instruments and his rare vocal styling, John the Revelator dares to do what many artists won’t attempt. John the Revelator is raw and electric.

Jake displays many of his musical talents in John the Revelator. Simultaneously playing guitar along with a bass drum, snare, and high hat. On top of all that, he manages to bust out some mind-melting lyrics. This act is unique, exposing, and riveting. I got to watch this man perform his songs called “whiskey Kisses” and he played another called “Feel Like Dying”.

Mr. Soda Gardocki was an artist I have covered for many years. Moonrunners also brought me to this artist as well as others. He played the first two Muddy roots festivals and a few more as well, I do remember him. He comes to us from the Chicago area and is always a sure bet for a fun time.

He played “Liza Jane” as Mr. Puppy hammered on the drums like he did for Husky Burnette and for Soda in the past, and then Mr. Soda played a song for Izzy Cox, who also played the first Muddy Roots and lost her life to cancer. I also remember him playing “Sleight Of Hand” and “Gutter Queen”, and it’s always nice to have the opportunity to catch up with him and his music.

The Tejon Street Corner Thieves (Yes I realize the video is spelled wrong) come to us from the Denver Colorado area. Much like Mr. Moose Allen and Mr. Monzie Leo I have talked to these boys on social media a lot, and never had the opportunity to see their music live.

Connor ‘Crawdad’ O’Neal – Banjo, Lead and Backing Vocals, Shawn ‘Spicy Fingers’ D’Amario – Washboard, Guitar Lead and Backing Vocals and the rest of the band bring their string band roots music to stage 2 this morning, with great songs like “Fat Girl” and “Take Me Home Tonight”.

These boys from Denver are part of the Triple Nickel crowd and are part of the many tribes of Muddy Roots community, great group of guys and I look forward to having a lifelong friendship with them all. I’ll try very hard to bring them to my area sometime, it’s something that is in the works in my mind.

You can go on their website and purchase their albums that have songs like ‘Whiskey”…I mean WHO DOESN’T like Whiskey? I also got to hear them play a song called ‘Morning Child”. Now that brought me back to stage 1 where I got to re catch up with my buddy Mr.Sweet GA Brown who has some of the best and inventive songwriting you’ll ever hear.

Along with Mr. Dave Dowda he brought some damn fine songs filled with sharp wit and profanity filled quips from his Wordsmith album and his newest release Catfish Sullivan. He too played a song called “Whiskey” but perhaps one of my favorite songs I ever found at Muddy Roots years ago was a song called “I Broke Wahoo’s Leg”.

In fact TODAY on stage 1 it featured three of my favorite songs I have ever found at Muddy Roots, and that’s one of them. He also played a song called “Words” and followed that up with several more. I got to see him play a cover of Roger Miller’s “Dang Me”.

Mr. Greg Gemberling: Vocals, Guitar, Songwriting, Mr. Chris Robles: Bass, Taxidermy, Miss Hana Marie: Banjo, Vocals, Mr. Ryan Davidson: Dobro, Goddamns and Miss Michelle Elaine: Fiddle, Vocals make up the band called Woodland Remedy that brought some DAMN FINE Bluegrass into the mix.

As if Miss Liz Sloan and Miss Lucy Cochran were not enough talented fiddle playing ladies this weekend this band brought out another, that I couldn’t stop watching play. They had a pretty darn good stage presence and the crowd responded well to their music, also they seemed to mix with one another well.

I have known Mr. Chris for many years now from previous festivals, he like me goes every year, and he was telling me about this project as well as gave me a CD of their work. The recording was alright and the songs were good but it didn’t GRAB ME until I saw them live.

They had songs like “Should Known Better” and included “Danger Love” in their set. If you visit their Facebook page I’m sure you can buy an album on there. “Defying Gravity” was next followed by “Moonshine” and the best song of their set in my opinion was called “King Of Sunny Days”.

I was pretty much getting geared up to move onto stage 1 for one of the top shows of the day and as I was preparing to move on over I heard them close their set with “Evil Monkey”  and another called “Trippin Balls” . Their final song was called “Ram Down”.

Now this next band is somebody I wanted to heavily focus on Mr. Pat Reedy, Mr. Brad Tucker, Mr. Leo Grassl, Mr. Ryan Elwell, Mr. Lyle Werner, Mr. Tony Frickey, Mr. John James, Mr. Corey McGilvary, Mr. Gabe Acita, Mr. Nokosee Fields, Mr. Derrick Spivey, Mr. Riley Downing, Mr. Logan Ledger and more DO OR HAVE MADE UP Pat Reedy And The Longtime Goners who are now recording on Muddy Roots Records.

For an independent album with no cover art his first album still attracted my attention immediately. As did his unique sound of Honky Tonk Country and hardcore sounds. He works a lot out of Kansas City now and is enjoying much success in the underground scene, however I think he needs to now embark on a push to go national and I intend to help do that.

This band blew me away this weekend with their craftsmanship but simple lyrics on songs like “True Blue” which is just simple two step Country Music. “Blood Shot Heart” was next followed by “Big Wheels” . One of his best songs in my opinion was called “Burgundy In The Rain”, and many of the songs displayed some truly fine steel guitar work.

The wood stage boasted a plethora of music tonight for me as the next four acts I wanted to heavily focus on…and did. However right now I was enjoying “900 Miles” and “Highway Bound”. Highway Bound has some really good beats and good steel guitar solos, and it is Country Music like Country Music SHOULD be played.

He played a good cover of Hank Williams “Ramblin Man” and Dave Dudley’s “Six Days On The Road” before going into his own songs again like “Coal Train” and ‘Slow down”. All together this set was one of the best of the weekend by far…and stage 1 was only going to get better!

So there were a few bands and artists I only caught pieces of C.W.Ayon was one of them and I got to hear some of his set tonight while walking. Gravelroad was another one, here’s a video courtesy Of Mr. Dave Flewelling . I want to THANK so many that helped me do this by contributing videos for me to use.

Lost Dog Street Band was another one I missed today, I can touch on them all but I just cannot actually cover 110 bands. This was truly one of the biggest jobs I have ever been faced with by all means. However Mr. Tim Easton was the only other act I missed.

Mr. Michael Oberst- banjo, vocal, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, kazoo, Mr. Sean Geil- guitar, vocal, dobro, banjo, mandolin Mr. Aaron Geil- upright bass, vocals and my good friend Mr. Joe Macheret- fiddle, mandolin, guitar, vocals make up the Cincinnati based band The Tillers.

This band has recorded what I consider one of the most iconic live albums in Roots music Live at the Southgate House. and as I mentioned earlier about those HUGE songs, one of them is called “Willy Dear” and it’s off their album Hand On The plow. You Must listen to it REAL CLOSE to get the full effect.

‘Ruben’s Train” was first followed by “Shanty Boat” and then they played some new songs for us, at this time I haven’t much info about their new album. They played ‘Georgia Street Beat” and the ‘General Store Song”…I don’t think that’s the name but it’s cool. I have always enjoyed the way they hover around the mic like they do, it gives a good vibe of comradery within the band.

They closed their set with “Road Never Ending” “500 Miles” and one of my favorites called “old West Side”. As i made way over to stage 3 for one of my personal favorite bands I recently wrote about called Hillbilly Casino. I recently wrote an article about their new album you can read that HERE.

“Knocking At Your Door” was the first song from Mr. Nic Roulette, Mr. Matt Amnn, Mr. Ronnie Crutcher and Mr. Geoff Firebaugh who absolutely knocked the shit out of the Muddy roots crowd tonight. They are one of the only bands to have played all of the Muddy Roots festivals since 2010.

Then they played “No Toll Taken” and my personal favorite “The Hole”. My favorite song they play is Big Dan however that song was not included today songs like “She’s Got Tricks” were. I covered them during the Muddy Roots Nashville Boogie where they played many of their new songs for us.

The new songs abounded during their set today including “Give It All Up” and “Low Down”. Now there were a few songs on the new album that were on the LIVE album like “Trainwreck”. They played “Jibber Jabber” and as I was getting ready to move on I heard them play “Violets In May” and I had to get out of there before they induced the crowd into mayhem for “The Tennessee Stomp” their anthem.

Underground Legend Mr. Bob Wayne And The Outlaw Carnies played one hell of a show here on stage 1 as he played songs from his new album “Bad Hombre”, with a newly sober lease on life. He began with “Hell Yeah” and went right into his classic song “Sam Tucker”.

“Till The Wheels Fall Off” was next followed by “Still Truckin” as he went through his entire past list of songs for us today with songs like “Dope Train”. after all isn’t “Everything’s Legal In Alabama” a great song folks? It’s been several months since I had the opportunity to catch up with Mr. Bob Wayne and it’s always good to see him.

We put a metal chair off to the side of the stage for Mr. Bandana as he sang his new song “Mr. Bandana” he closed with several others that I listened to as i moved on to other stages to see the very first band Mr. Jason ever booked for Muddy Roots…The Calamity Cubes!

 

Mr. Joey Henry, Mr. Kody Oh and Mr. Brook Blanche make up this three piece Kansas band I have featured many times before, and I got to hear them play “Battle Of Hair Ribbon” and another song “Lillie Bell”.  Many of the acts tonight garnered HUGE crowds and it was impossible to get full frontal band pictures of them all.

It truly was fun to see this band around again, and I hope there are plans to continue it onward as they all three have good solo projects going as well. one of the side stages had a good Rockabilly band that won an Ameripolitan award last year and that was Lara Hope And The Ark-Tones. For some odd reason EVERY TIME I am around her band something comes up and I miss her set.

Mr.James “Slim Hand” is truly a Country Music Legend in his own right, he’s been doing this for a long long time now and I regard his album Mighty Lonesome Man a classic album in my collection. He brought Country music royalty to Muddy Roots once again with songs like “Don’t Tell Me That” as well as covers like “I Still Miss Someone”.

‘I can’t Help It” was next followed by his “Parakeet” song we all enjoyed, folks were yelling out all kinds of his songs and it was flattering him we knew them, what he didn’t realize was how much we love him. “Mighty Lonesome Man” was next followed by “When you Stopped Loving Me, So Did I”.

Unlike many other Country Music icons time has not faltered his voice at all, nor has it slowed him down on stage. He was absolutely stunning tonight, and in songs lie ‘In The Corner Lies A Jukebox” you could easily tell his originals still shine vibrantly. “Get Rhythm” was part of his set as well as Hank Snow’s “I Been Everywhere”.

‘Shadows For The Magic” was next followed by the song “Little Bitty Sip”. Mr. James was one of the few acts that I made sure to stay for the entire set before moving on to other stages tonight, and as he played ‘Baby Baby Baby” he played a few more before closing with “Tumbling Tumbleweeds”.

I had to quickly recharge my batteries and eat me a bite, before seeing more music tonight. This truly was a busy and blessed trip, what a wonderful weekend. I want to THANK Mr. Jason and the Junebug Ranch for everything. Another band I had to forgo seeing was Mr. LiL Poochie And Mr.Hezekiah Early. to say I was a little heartbroken to have to miss this was true.

One cool thing about Muddy Roots is that Legends always abound within it’s ranks, and they usually get to mingle and mix with the audience. That’s not something that happens at every festival or music function folks, trust me. And to say that these men are not true Legends is wrong, they are true hardcore Legends in their ilk.

The mighty Black Eyed Vermillionwas next tonight with an absolutely amazing show like always. This band is usually insane and full of energy and as they opened with “20/20”, I got over there quickly.

“Jesus In The Waiting Room” was next followed by “Box Of Pine”. This set was so immensely crowded I couldn’t get close to the stage at all, and was forced to stand back. So I quickly jotted down songs like “Pass The Bottle” and “Hard Time Believing”.

We haven’t heard of any new music from them for a little while and I have been keeping my ear to the ground for new announcements, this set included the song “Bones To Pick” as well as “Worst Of Times”. I was glad I had a camper this year and I didn’t have to drive at all, I was quite tired.

They closed their set with “Fare Thee Long” and “Hate And Whiskey” Quite a damn fine set they played here tonight and even though we don’t hear from them as much as some of the other bands, they still put on a good show. I missed most of the band Poguetry In Motion and some of Mr. Scott H Biram in order to see more of Mr. William Elliott Whitmore tonight.

Mr. William Eliott Whitmore played an amazing set here tonight, I mean he had the audiance completely mezmerized. One of the songs he played was called “Come Hell Or High Water”. Another one he played was “Lee County Brew”, and he also played ” Good Day To Die”.

Mr. Scott H Biram was an absolute madohuse here at Muddy Roots, and in fact he pretty much is insane wherever he plays…period. His new album has garnered HUGE attention by the independent media, and Roots Music festivals everywhere.

“Going Home” was one of his first songs tonight, I was standing behind the stage pretty much the entire show, and I thank the stage manager for allowing me to do that. HEY I work third shift…so the song “Graveyard Shift” was mine. His shows are always choked full of heavy instrumentals and guitar wizardry with songs like ‘Hard Time”.

Possessed By Paul James we haven’t heard any new music from in some time, and we don’t care. Because his 2013 album There Will Be Nights When I’m Lonely was an absolute masterpiece. His stage presence alone is well worth traveling any distance  to see.

His set included the song “Hurricane” and a really good foot stomping version of “Heavy”, as he propped himself up on top of a picnic table and just absolutely jammed up there. And as he played “There Will Be Nights when I’m Lonely” we jammed into the night and enjoyed him.

Every time I ever ran across him and his music I have always had a truly fun and blessed time, and he does a LOT for his community and for youth in his area as a school teacher. And as he played the “38 Year Old Cocktail Waitress” he completely mesmerized us once again tonight.

The weather the last two days was perfect and gorgeous and the music was amazing this weekend, a lot of us were glad to finally go back to our own beds and dry socks…but many of us didn’t this to end. But alas the entire festival did end and left us with many great memories and newly discovered bands. So once again this was a beautiful experience and I’m glad to have been a part of it.

MAN alive was it a perfect day to wake up to on Saturday after the morning rains, Mid 80’s and sunny. Attendance was up this day and all the vendors were finally in full display swing. We actually did already have some pretty epic music sets so far, to be honest in my opinion the Legendary Shack Shakers won the award for best set of the weekend.

So first up from Texas we have my buddy Moose’s Last Stand which is a thrashbilly trio made up of Moose Allen – Upright Bass/ Vox/ Writing, Ian Brown- Rhythm Guitar/ Vox/ Writing and Justin Collins -Drums.

He and I have been internet pals for years and we comment on the same threads and such, but THIS IS the beauty of festivals. We finally got to meet in person for the first time today, I finally got to share with how I do things on here and he finally got to expose me to his live set.

They pretty much played their entire album Throat Punch here today and that video above is from the song “Shut Yo Mouth”. They played a song called “Irish Bell”, and “That Been Said”. I’m pretty sure if you stop over at his Facebook and hollar at Mr. Moose he can sell you a copy of the album.

“Rooster” was next followed by “Fear” and “Decent”. The title track of the album “Throat Punch” is most likely one of my favorites on this album, it’s just high octane pure grain bad ass music folks. Seriously who the HELL CARES what it is, punk, rockabilly….who cares? It’s good, buy it cause I said so!

Because you’ll hear song like “Bottle Of Sorrow” and “Whiskey, Hops And Honky Tonks” I mean WE ALL like whiskey right? This ain’t a hipster craft beer band. They closed with “Last Stand” and “Lamb And Wolf” here today before I went off to see this next band called `W.D.Miller And The Revolvers from Miami Florida.

This video is from their song called “Outlaw”, and I also got to see them play another called “Greed” before I went to the Reverend Red Who is currently on tour with Mr. Duane Mark which was my next act here. Their duo record together was really cool and their combination shows are fun to go see.

“Bad Love Gone” was first today along with the powerful song called “People die That Way”. My favorite song either of them play is “Truckstop Whore”. Mr. Duane plays it solo too, as he did at Moonrunners in Chicago. They played the same stage back to back before joining up afterwards to tour. “Blood Of The Lamb” was next and he followed that up with “Come for You”. Let’s watch this video from this fine artist:

“Hang Him In Front Of Me” was included in his set as well as the song called “I Did It For Denver” off the album Goode Hill Road. “Muddy Boots” was another one I noticed him play here as well as Knock Three Times”. The album This Dammed Town boasted his last song I heard called “Jakub’s Farm”. Much like many others I finally got to meet him and shake his hand, tell him how much I liked his music and what I do here.

Before checking out Mr. Duane I went across the road to see Mr. Bruno AKA Lone Wolf OMB another of Muddy Roots beloved one man bands. He played an R.L. Burnside song called ” Poor Black Mattie”. He also played some Muddy Waters songs and went into playing “John Henry”. he always does a really energetic and super fun blues induced set at any Roots Festival I see him at.

 

Mr. Duane Mark was my next fine musical act I saw today. He and I have been friends for quite some time, now to be honest I hate the damn guy but I have to be nice to him for professional reasons. Just kidding folks, you will NOT meet a nicer fellow on the road than Mr. Duane seriously. He is truly a gifted performer and an all around damn fine friend, I could call him now and have his help if he could.

‘A Shot And A Beer” was first (I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s called) and he also played “Miner’s Blues”. He also played the song called “Broke Down”. I have featured Mr. Duane many times like this one HERE and as I mentioned he is currently touring again with the Reverend Red.

He played “I’ll Fly Away” very nicely and the last song I watched him play was “Red Letter”. Then I went over to watch Mikey Classic And His Lonesome Spur which is the front man for the Goddamn Gallows doing his solo work on banjo. He just released his second album and you can buy it at the Vinyl Bunker here in Nashville.

He and Fishgutzz played “Bow Down To No Man” first and then they played “Nowhere Left To Roam” which is a Gallows song off the 7 Devils album. I also heard them play “Old Dusty Trail” before I passed around again for more coverage. Folks you know one thing that’s really cool about Muddy Roots is the friendship that’s there, I mean here we are watching other bands with Sean K Preston.

Here is where the weather began to drastically change for the better and the sun came out for us to enjoy stage 1 fully and even though it was truly still muddy, we enjoyed ourselves.  There were several good bands playing while I took a lunch break to meet with some Ohio friends from Duck Creek festival.

Video property of Mr. David Flewwelling

Some of the bands I missed were El Escapado which was a punk band from Nashville made up of Abe Mesaris – Vocals, Eliott Virula – Guitar/Vocals, KD Bell – Bass/Vocals and Joey Shrum – Drums. That was going on over at stage 1 while I was eating.

Mark Porkchop Holder was another one I missed, he put on ONE HELL of a set from what I heard. The sun….man the sun has come out here today! We were all basking in the joys of the GREAT weather for the rest of the weekend here in Cookeville Tn.

So due to a sudden cancellation we had The Saddle Of Southern Darkness fill in for us over on stage 1. Trent Williams- Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin, Chase Williams- Vocals, Dobro, Guitar and Mark Rossi- Upright Bass make up this band which is currently on tour with the Trejon Street Corner Thieves.

Their set contained heavy hillbilly songs like “Sitting Bull” and others like “Owl And Crow Sign”. This band was just a mixture of all kinds of styles of music and I REALLY enjoyed them for sure! I would highly suggest you go catch them on tour.

“Ordered 1 Shot” was next followed by another called “Hang In A Tree” off their album that is self titled. “Blasphemous Bill” was next followed by one called “Bad Times”. Let’s watch a video here from them courtesy of Bluedevil Dixie.

“Folk Singer” was next followed by the song “Compelled To Dig” which displayed some truly fine solos and craftsmanship from this band here from Denver. They closed their set with a song called “Rattlehead”. What a truly pleasant surprise unannounced band here today.

Everymen TORE UP stage 2…no I literally mean they tore the stage up with silly string and swimming noodles. Confetti and other debris followed the chaos in there, however I was elsewhere getting electronics charged up.

Dead Bronco has a new album out now called Bedridden And Hellbound, and they come to us from Florida. The band consists of -Matt Horan: Vocals, Guitar -Oscar Calleja: Upright Bass -Danny Merino: Lap steel -Manu Heredia: Lead Guitar and -Danel Merin: Drums.

They opened with “My True Love” and another called “Liberation Of A Married Man” off their three album catalogue of material. This blend of metal and roots music with a lap steel was really cool, I’m still enjoying their albums right now.

They also played “Don’t Care About Drinking Alone” and another called “Freight Train”. I didn’t catch mnay other songs on this set as I was on the move again, are YOU keeping up with me? It wasn’t easy this year trust me. King Mud comes from Fort Wayne Indiana and they played on stage 3.

Freddy Joe Evans from Left Lane Cruiser and Van Campbell from the Black Diamond Heavies make up this band as they played songs like ‘War Dancers” off their album Victory Motel Sessions followed by “Keep It Out Of sight”. Let’s watch a video property of Bluedevil Dixie:

I didn’t get any pictures of their set and for that I’m sorry but I did get the set list with songs like “Smoked All My Bud” and another called “Rat Time”. Even though the sun was fully out now around supper time we still had a VERY muddy roots, everybody was in muck boots and nobody had dry socks. I think I changed socks three times today!

“Blood River” was next followed by ‘Take A Look’ and another called “Buck It Up” and they closed their set with one called “Arthur’s Hooked”. This was another high energy smaller band today, however we all were having a truly great time out here.

Richie Owens And The Farm Bureauis a band I have covered many times on the website here. Mr. Richie and I had a wonderful conversation in 2014 about Country Music History, and many other things. He’s been a band I have admired for some time now.

Mr.Richie Owens, Mr. John Reed, and Mr. Brian O’Hanlon make up this band from my neck of the woods out here in Tennessee. They played “She Overuns My Heart” first and then played “L + N” and another that is called “Rebel’s Pride”.

They have their own unique sound and a signature blend of different flavors of music, and you can easily see that with songs like “Used To Have A Lot” and others like “Pigeon River Flood”. My personal song he does is called Franklin Town. Their set included “See You On The Other Side” and the Jimmie Rodgers classic “T For Texas”.

I sadly didn’t get any video of this act or the next one which was Joe Buck Yourself because my phone was charging. The Farm Bureau closed their set with ‘Why Can’t I Leave” and finally “Rye Whiskey”.

Black Irish Texas I did not get any photos or video for their set this time. However I did use my amazing resources to find their set list for the evening, their first song was from off their album To Hell With The King and it was called “Come Out All Ye Black And Tans”.

“thrills of Yesterday” was next followed by ‘And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda”. The album An Ode To Saint Cecilia boasted a few more of their songs tonight like “Puke” and “Complicated Man”. One of their last songs was “Red Haired Mary”.

Dallas Moore is a name I mention VERY frequently over here, now this was the very first time he played Muddy Roots. I had to make absolute sure everything was charged up for the rest of the night. I recently reviewed one of his local shows during the time I was writing this from Bowling Green Kentucky and you can read that HERE.

They played one hell of a set out here tonight in Cookeville beginning with Willie Nelson’s “Whiskey River”. He then played “Twisitn Through Texas” and rolled right on into “Bottle And A Bible”. One of my favorite songs was next called “Raising Hell And Slinging Gravel”, it’s got the upbeat tempo and groove to get ANY crowd going.

Photos of the Urban Pioneers and Mr. Chris Irwin of Texas AKA The Hillbilly Muslim.

Mr. Dallas makes that guitar his bitch basically, and he is WELL SCHOOLED in MANY areas of music. His band is equally schooled in various types of music. Mr. Chuck is a powerful right arm to Mr. Dallas, and he helps make Mr. Dallas all that more stalwart. They are seasoned road veterans that play a whopping 320 shows a year all over the United States, and you can pre order his new album by clicking on his name up there.

He played some new songs along with the new title track “Mr. Honky Tonk” and then went into a song he wrote about Altamont called “Up On That Mountain”. I met him in fall of 2013 at Altamont, I had heard of him but back then I hadn’t formed an Ohio alliance yet. My website was just taking shape…He played his signature long drawn out version of the song “Whipping Post”.

Left Lane Cruiser was tearing up stage 3 to my right and stage 2 was preparing for my buddies at Viva le Vox I’ll touch on them in just a moment here.

The Pine Box Boys were moving in over at stage 1, and I was helping a band with some van technical issues at this time while STILL doing MY thing…it’s what I do. I did not get any of the set list from Left Lane Cruiser tonight nor did I get any videos as a result of other things transpiring.

The Gravedigger (99 Holes) was first off the Child Of Calamity album followed by “Arkansas Killing Time” and next was the song called  “Grandfather’s Clock”.  You know this band is one of the west coast bands that don’t always get to my area, and that’s another great thing about festivals.

“The Crow” was next followed by “Will You Remember Me” off the STAB album, which was when I became familiar with them. Right around the MySpace days when I was loving the song “Mr. Skeleton”. Mr. Lester always plays a great show and it makes me laugh, the lyrics are funny you just have to have a laid back sense of humor.

“Teddy Bear Has Teeth” was next and then came  “St. James Infirmary” and  “Walk Through Walls”. I tell you the weather was absolutely perfect now this evening and we were all ready for music, and as they closed their set with
“Tardy Hearse” , “I Kept Her Heart” and then the song called  “Stab”! I moved on to other stages.

Video property of Bluedevil Dixie.

Viva le Vox   is a three piece band made up of Mr. Tony Bones, Scarecrow Jenkins and Johnny Tugboat.  Their set began with “Tiger Blood” and “Exercise Your Demons” . This is the third time I have encountered them at festivals in 2017, and every time I have enjoyed their set.

“Wayward Ones was next as I went onto catch the band over on stage 1….Viva Le Vox really was going crazy up there! So let’s watch this video of their set here before we move on to American Speedway.

Michael Kerchner, Bob King, Anthony Marinacci, and Lorraine “Dirty” McGurty make up the Pennsylvania based American Speedway. Just a flat out bad ass rock and roll outfit with songs like “How Ya Doin”, filled with ripping guitar solos and songs about killing yourself….they were all about killing yourself…hmmmm. Seriously this band was just absolute fun, and roaring loud.

Video property of Throwmaple

I stayed to check out one more song by them and that was “One Foot In One Foot Out”.

James Leg is an absolute legend in every sense of the word, there just isn’t any other word to describe him. I only got to catch him play the song “What Else Can I Do” before taking my butt to stage 3 for my buddies from Tennessee The Glade City Rounders.

The Rounders played a surprisingly TOP SET this weekend I didn’t anticipate some of their antics. They heavily involved the crowd by having a HUGE square dance there. I got to hear them play “Ticklebritches” and also “In The Jailhouse Now”.

They hit one another with beer bottles and play REAL obscure old Country Music, this band IS THE REAL DEAL when it comes to the history of Country Music and jug band music. I enjoy talking to Mr. Richard about old obscure stuff like one armed fiddle players from the 1930’s…good stuff.

The Goddamn Gallows were moved to tonight on stage 1 as a result of weather cancellations from day 2. They are one of the crown jewels of Muddy Roots and are by far one of the most popular crowd building bands featured on it. I went in through the security side this time because I knew it was going to get wild!

They opened their set with “Shattered” and then played “Ragz And Bones”. It certainly DID turn out to be a wonderful evening for music tonight and Sunday was even better weather wise, all in all I’d say this was an C + weekend with two days of miserable and two days of great weather.

As they played older songs like “Pass Me The Bottle” and “7 Devils” and “Yall Motherfuckers Need Jesus” off Gohst Of The Rails album and 7 Devils album we enjoyed their set.

BUT SEE Fishgutzz knows we want new music in 2017, so I heard it IS recorded and it IS coming. And as they played “What Was The High” off The Maker their latest release the crowd went wild. They went on to play “Everybody Dies” and another off an old album called “Gutterbilly Blues”.

As their set drew to a close for me I got to catch “Raise The Moon’ before moving on to stage 3 for Joseph Huber. The Gallows are always a surefire bet for entertainment and fun for me. It’s in NO WAY Country but BY GOD it’s good stuff y’all need to go over and order some stuff from them, keep them on the road.

Video property of Mr. David Flewelling

Joseph Huberalways plays a great set here or anywhere really. I featured him many times on here and he opened with “Playground Battlefield” from his new album that I featured, you can read that HERE.

He played many songs off the fourth album like “16-10” and another called “You Showed Me”. many of the songs were longer in length than his previous albums. He played “Drop In The Bucket” and “Same River Second Time” from older albums.

He played ‘Coming Down From You” followed by “Shovel Off Your Shoulder” and he included “Suffering Stage” in his set. I had to take a short break to eat a snack to keep myself going. I missed the Antiseen set however I will include a video property of Mr David Flewelling.

I know they played “Law Abiding Citizen” and from what I could hear it was a good set. They played “No Apologies” and I heard the song ‘Up All Night”. I also missed Muddy Roots originals The Sawyer Family as well as Restavrant.

Nobody really expected Jayke Orvis to actually play with the Broken Band again, but it did happen. And it was just as great as it was in Kansas City. Both times this year it was truly a beautiful set with those classic songs, in fact his first album has been recently released on vinyl.

They played “Streets” after Mr. Jayke played a few songs by his lonesome, and the Broken Band joined him later on. They played a powerful “Thunderbolts And Lightning” and showed no signs of rusty absence at all. It was like they just picked up from 2014, when I last saw them!

THANKS GUYS for smiling at me there, these guys just plain out have fun up there. They are such good friends and such good musicians that it’s always a good show and as they played “Gone Forever More” they went into a version of “Kaw Liga” that everyone loved. I still keep both of his albums in my constant rotation, and always will.

“Shady Grove” was next and then they played “Crooked Smile”. This place was going absolutely crazy for this set, and I was too because I love the songs these four play together. This is an epic happening here in the Roots music world. The last songs I heard them play were “Feelings Like This” and “pick Up The Steam” and finally the last song was “Bound To Ride”.

Whiskeydick those two bastard sons of Texas were the last band of the night, and I kind of went between both stages, I was pretty worn out by this time. I’m SO glad I had that camper not far from me, and didn’t have to drive to any hotel. Hotels are indeed nice, but they aren’t as good as being convenient and close.

They played “Rebel Flags And Whiskey” as well as “Yehaw”, from their endless list of albums to choose from. Their middle song was the long title “Train Robbing,gun toting, dope smoking guitar picking, motherfucking good time man”. They were a little bit inebriated tonight and had a small interruption with a stool that wouldn’t cooperate but once we got that fixed they were at it again.

They played “Drunk As Hell” their title track for the 2015 album, and that was pretty much the wrap of day 3 for me at Muddy Roots. This was indeed a very tough job touching on so many bands but I was pretty happy with my endeavors.

WELCOME EVERYONE to my coverage of The Muddy Roots Music Festival which is held every labor day weekend at the Junebug Ranch in Cookeville Tennessee. This is BY FAR one of my biggest endeavors every year and this year was beyond any exception I have ever encountered yet. So right now as I attempt to expound to you of my experience at Muddy Roots I want to begin by THANKING Mr. Jason Galaz, and Mr. Chris Cahill, Miss Destiny and ALL the entire Muddy Roots crew for their love. Miss Kimber Maxwell for graciously allowing me to retire each evening in her camper, and also to Miss Amber Lee and Mr Herbert for their wonderful breakfast plates and hospitality. They ALL set me up so I could do what I do and BY GOD I think I got some damn good footage for those of you that couldn’t make the event this year.

Upon arriving that Wednesday it rained like a cow pissing on a flat rock for two days it basically was damp, misty and chilly. When I pulled up to Scooters Bar it was pouring rain all afternoon. Most early arrivals set up camp in the pouring rain, and as the roads got muddy I decided my truck would mostly stay up on the hill by the bar. I basically had nowhere to go for five days, I had anticipated that.

Acousta Noir is also Mr. Joshua Esterline from Southern Oregon. Here is a website description of his work:

Coming from a background shaped by punk, rock and roll, roots, and various traditional folk styles, Acousta Noir brings a unique, yet oddly familiar, set of original songs to the table, along with his renditions of select and obscure covers.

Joshua first began playing music in 1994, and has been a part of a varied array of musical projects. These include punk bands (as a singer, guitarist, and drummer), singing for a heavy metal band, and a couple projects playing the upright bass.

Acousta Noir sets itself apart from the crowd by being akin to many acts, but defiantly unique from them all.
Life tends to work a little differently in Douglas County, Oregon, and Joshua works hard to embody that lifestyle in his music, while creatively utilizing his influences of traditional folk and country music, as well as punk rock and the good old story tellin’ side of things.

“Just how much punch can one guy pack into a set? You’ll be reeling as he blends raw bluesy soul with a rough and rowdy edge. If you like to dance, stomp your feet, or just have a good time, be there.”

So the sound in all of the tents in my opinion were not bad even though the weather and elements purposed a nefarious threat the first two days. I basically had a chair setup at all three stages the entire weekend and just bounced from stage to stage. I missed a few bands to be honest and I’ll have to find some helpers that will be willing to assist me with videos and pictures from this event. Speaking of videos let’s watch Acousta Noir.

His set contained a few strong Hank Williams Sr covers performed in a different dark demeanor that included the song “Ramblin Man” and he used the song “Angel Of Death” for an intro to the song “Radio Negrille”. He opened his set with “When The World Explodes” and went into “Wretchedness”.

This festival is choked full of great one man bands with a darkness to them and a morbid stomp of a one man kick drum and I look forward to supporting Mr. Joshua even further after this. “Tempest” was another song that displayed amazing rhythm ability from him today. He then played a song called “Firestorm” and another last song called “Bones”. See this event had so many bands that each band played a 30-45 minute set, and the first full day was rained out on stage 1 which forced them to move all of those bands into the tent stages.

This year I chose to linger longer at many of the bands instead of bouncing as much as I usually do and I’ll be up front and honest, I missed MANY of the bands last weekend…but I’ll do my best to cover as many as possible and I have tons of footage on both video and photo as well as notes.

Broken Bow was a metal band with a washboard and other influences, they had a dark death metal sound with like sounding vocals. Corpus Deorum, Taylor Imourtos, Chris Muerto make up this trio of a different genre.

You know Muddy Roots is a great melting pot of different music and it’s all so wonderful I think there is something here for everybody, and the audience is always attentive and appreciates all of it! Broken Bow also came to us from Colorado as did a few of the bands this weekend.

They opened with “Occum’s Razor” and went into the song called “Scraps” as the lead singer displayed a strength and lead vocal growl reminiscent of a death metal band. Their album Desolation brought their next song called California Is For Fuck You, Nowhere Is For Anybody to us.

Their next song was called “Rats” and they played another called “Plastic”. Before I went over to the Rusty Knuckles mobile store to set up my charger and my base station I watched them play “Poison The Well” and finally the song “Digitize The Dirt”.

The Smokestack Relics are a duo of brothers from the west coast that I have featured many times on this website from many festivals. Here today they got to play an earlier set to begin the festivities here at Muddy Roots, and they did an amazing job for sure.

They opened their set with the song called “Alabama Choogle” from the album Trailer Park Panhandlin. They have impeccable timing and have always played like a well oiled machine every time I have ever watched them play. Mr. Colin and Mr. Cameron Webb make up the duo of the Smokestack Relics.

The above video is a song about the Voice, and it was followed by the song “Celia Marie” and another one called “Give Your Ass To God”. As you can see the rain and mist still kept going and it was choppy wet mud, both tents housed plenty of straw to keep us comfortable as they played.

They continued on with songs like “Devil Song” and the song called ‘Ticket To Ride”, at that time I was preparing to have a meal break as they played “God Damn My Soul”. That closed out their portion of the festival here, and I look forward to seeing them again soon.

One of the things I noticed about this year’s festival I did NOT like was that the doors to enter and leave the port a pottys faced the road, I think that’s a BIG mistake and a automobile or golf cart hit waiting to happen. There were many children this time, and children run everywhere and don’t think about those things with all this fun going on.

I’m going to focus later on in this series about how integral this festival was for a younger presence. It had a strong number of children enjoying the music and I would be remiss if I didn’t touch on that.

Mr. A.J.Gaither is one of the one man bands I have encountered at three major Roots Music festivals in 2017, they were Moonrunners Music Festival In Chicago The Westport Roots Festival In Kansas City and here.  He opened with “Biscuits And Gravy” and I was talking with someone and missed a few songs before focusing back on him play “Bad Decisions”.

He resonates the party atmosphere and whips the crowd into a frenzy with his guitar licks and stomping drums. He’s different from the other one man bands here with a style all his own. He is a multi instrumentalist in every sense of the word, featuring many different songs.

He proudly represents the Kansas City area crowd and the Westport Saloon is one of his homes away from home, and as he played “Pushing My Luck” he just had a wonderful time up there playing for us. Every band is proud to play Muddy Roots in their own element and their own style.

“Truck Song” and “Don’t Wanna Go To Heaven” were next, to close out his portion of the set for us. Which brings me to the next band here and that was my friend W.T.Newton from Chicago. He  got thrown into the mix from a cancellation and was ready to play.

He played the great song called “Pine Grove Holler” and another called “The Whites Of My Enemies Eyes”. I went to the other stage however he stated upon communication that he also played “Auburn” “A Million Miles” and brought out his true mountain sound to us by playing “Carolina”.

I have been friends with Mr. Travis for several years on social media and we met a few years back, much like many other artists here we were at many of the festivals. He played “Keep In Touch” and another called “Coffin Nails”.

Mr. Chris Bissell and Mr. Henry Berger from Milwaukee and they are the mighty S.S.Web.  folks I’m going to be completely honest…my stupid ass forgot to release the auto turn on my phone and I filmed a video for S.S.Web sideways. It looks horrible and I couldn’t include it in here…live and learn. If I told ANY of you I never made mistakes in the field I’d be a liar, I make mistakes daily.

S.S.Web played “North” first and followed it by the song “Chaser” and displayed great stage presence, as they often do on Muddy Roots. They played “Gambling” and “Drag Me Straight To Hell” off the North album. Now S.S.Web I believe they have three albums out you can get them by clicking on their name there.

Video Property Of Miss Delane Chavez

“Most Anything” and “Pullin” were two more songs off the North album they played, as the entire crowd started going nuts for them. They had one of the biggest crowds of the day on this Thursday of full music. Once again off the North album we had “In The Ground” and then they played “Let It Burn” off the Skulls Will Sink album.

“Any Old Thing” and “So I Pray” were two more off the Skulls album that they played before I went to the Ham Law Tent to watch The Menders. I didn’t get any video footage of them of the band, but I did manage to get pictures, I had to head back for a quick recharge.

The Menders are a band from North Carolina with a very energetic sound and a more traditional rock sound, with songs like “Unbreakable” And “Lost And Found”. They continued a very powerful performance by playing “Can’t Be Seen” and a song off their 2014 album called “Long Way Down”.

I’m not as familiar with this band as I am some of the others and I didn’t find them to be amazing however I didn’t dislike them by any means either. With songs like ‘Down Below” and “Bring In Your Bones” they did once again bring forth a heavier rock flavor to the mix, which was something that was needed.

They were placed fairly well schedule wise too, in either tent there wasn’t a majority of one type of music strong arming the others. “All Fall Down” was next followed by “The Demon”, and their set ended with a song called “Howlin At The Moon”. It would be safe to say they administer a little Rockabilly and other influences as well.

Mr. Tom VandeAvond was another act I was truly looking forward to seeing this weekend. His new album ‘You Ought To Know These By Now” is available for pre-order on his website. He played a few new ones before going into my personal favorite song “Weber’s Deck”.

I got to watch him play “Stay Away From The Whiskey” and one of his most popular songs “Even The Olives Are Bleeding” before I wandered on to the other stage for another great band, I was slowly getting into my Muddy Roots war mode here! I’m slowly realizing that we have all of these original Muddy Roots bands from my very first one in 2010, Mr. Tom was one of them!

The Imperial Rooster tore the tent up this weekend, I mean they absolutely SLAYED IT here. Cootie LeRoux, Nat King Kong, Khorn Syrup, Dusty Vinyl, Carlossus – The Count of Monte Carlos make up this New Mexico band that began with “Smilin Ed”.

They have a new album called Volume 4 out now and they steamrolled on with “Dangerous Times” and brought many other great songs to us this weekend like “The Great Wage Slave Revolt” all of these off the new album.

“45 Seconds Of Blood” and the popular song “Kohrn Syrup Sundae” were also included in their set this weekend, as they displayed many good guitar solos and a well arranged system of playing together. They closed their set with “Never Cold Again”.

Gallows Bound is a band of six childhood friends that play punk roots and Bluegrass together. Jordan Joyes – vocals, guitar, Jesse Markle – vocals, guitar, Justin Carver – banjo, Aaron Blow – bass, Forrest Veatch- mandolin, and Rob Shultz- drums make up this fine band that has toured with God Damn Gallows and other Roots Music bands.

They played ” Empty Flask” along with “Damaged” off their new album released earlier this year. they had an immensely strong stage presence and drew a really good sized crowd despite the other stage having Husky Burnette starting. I was pretty much bouncing quite well here.

“Appalachian Witch” was a really good one along with ‘Shake” and they went right into “Black Widow Woman”. This band fits completely well into the Roots Music schedule and actually shines quite well because of their prominent Bluegrass style, while still maintaining the punk style too.

“Del Fuego” and “Dominion Flowers” were next and they closed their set with ‘Dog’s Howli’n”.  But I’ll be honest I was rapidly preparing to have my face melted off by the next band, the mighty and dirty blues slide wizard Mr.Husky Burnette.

Mr. Husky started his set with “Kick Rocks” when I was approaching the stage, I tried to stay for his entire set that was powerful he knocked the power out twice and continued to play. Hell…nobody really cared, and it didn’t matter. We jammed in the dark tonight and lit up the night.

Miss Caroline is a stick of dynamite on stage and makes Mr. Husky a prominent figure in any festival. Like many others I had the chance to feature him at Moonrunners as well, this set here by far was ten times more powerful and energetic. His dirty slide blues is a sound unlike any other in the Roots Music scene.

“Beat And Low Down” was next as they paused the vocals to drop heavy guitar solo bombs on us backed by Mr. Puppy’s punishing beats. He plays for Mr. Soda Gardocki whom will pop up in my Day 4 article here, was featured in my Moonrunners series and will be at Crooked Smile next month. Here is Mr. Puppy now pounding away at those beats for Mr. Husky, much like many of the others Husky Burnette is another 2010 original band.

The power faltered many times during this set and despite the problems they ignored them and roared on with no sound and no lights. They electrified the air with Roots blues music tonight! Mr. Husky and Miss Caroline absolutely tore up the floor tonight on the Ham Law Stage. Their last two songs were “Dog Me Down” and the closing song was called “Rising”. It’s totally fun and refreshing to witness people having FUN up there on stage and dumping their heart out onto the floor, however you perceive the lyrics.

Call Me Bronco has been creating quite a stir here on my website and also over at Rusty Knuckles. (Taken right from the CMB page, this band is) Matt – Upright bass, Barefoot, All around good guy.
Sam – Guitar, Vocals, Mustache, Arm-bars, Not Bobby
Bobby – Guitar, Backing Vox/crazy eyes, Dumpster scores, Bad ideas, Not Sam
Murph – Drums, Flows, Good ideas, Lady killer.

They played a top notch set this weekend and that’s for sure. This band truly is growing and drawing up their own audience with their signature blend of different styles of music rolled up into one.  I got to see them play “4 AM” along with the song “Drunks Walk The Docks” off their new album called Beating A Dead Bronco.

The new album contains some newly recorded versions of older songs and I truly enjoyed their fresh sound, not to say the old EP was bad by any means. In fact I have always enjoyed this band in their own right. The last song I got to see them play was “If I’d Done Right”.

Video property of Miss Delane Chavez

I missed Larry And His Flask one of the Muddy roots original bands from 2010. They are a very energetic string band that plays a variety of instruments and songs, although we haven’t heard of any new music since 2013. Still they remain a prominent Roots Music band whether they are active or on hiatus.