32nd Ann Arbor Folk Festival

The annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival, another reason to love Ann Arbor. This was my first festival and I hope to be back next year. I've learned from Pandora.com that I like a vocal-centric aesthetic, acoustic rhythm guitar & piano, folk & blues influenced, acoustic sonority, subtle vocal harmony and a good dose of guitar picking. It just so happens, The Ark is the perfect place to explore this genre, if that is a genre.

On a more personal note, I am truly fascinated by the number of people who can play the guitar and sing at the same time. I want to be able to do this. The fact that so many people seem to be able to play and sing at the same time encourages me to continue in my efforts, but it's going to take some practice. I want to be able to sit down 2-3 times and master this skill. That isn't possible for anyone. I lose patience and begin playing classical music on the guitar, like Mozart and Bach, which is fine I guess, but you can't really sing and play that sort of music in a rock/bluesy/folk kind of style. Well, maybe you can. Anyway, my point is that this only enables my addiction to the printed page.

Back to the festival

This is the Friday night line up in no particular order. But I will say that I was very impressed by the first 5, and not so impressed by the last 4.

Carolina Chocolate Drops
The Ragbirds
Katie Herzig
Jeff Tweedy
Joe Pug
Old Crow Medicine Show
Chelsea Williams
Ryan Montbleau
Jim Lauderdale, MC

This is Joe Pug performing Hymn 101. If there is one song that struck me from the show and that I will remember for a long time, it's this one. I remember hearing it the week before the show on the Acoustic Cafe. Brilliant. The lyrics are so deep.



and i've come to know the wish list of my father
i've come to know the shipwrecks where he wished
i've come to wish aloud
among the over-dressed crowd
come to witness now the sinking of the ship
throwing pennies from the sea top next to it

and i've come to roam the forest past the village
with a dozen lazy horses in my cart
i've come here to get high
to do more than just get by
i've come to test the timbre of my heart
oh i've come to test the timbre of my heart

and i've come
to be untroubled in my seeking
and i've come
to see that nothing is for naught
i've come to reach out blind
to reach forward and behind
for the more I seek the more I'm sought
yeah the more I seek the more I'm sought

and i've come to meet the sheriff and his posse
to offer him the broad side of my jaw
i've come here to get broke
then maybe bum a smoke
we'll go drinking two towns over after all
oh we'll go drinking two towns over after all

and i've come to meet the legendary takers
i've only come to ask them for a lot
oh they say i come with less
than i should rightfully possess
i say the more i buy the more i'm bought
and the more i'm bought the less i cost

and i've come
to take their servants and their surplus
and i've come
to take their raincoats and their speed
i've come to get my fill
to ransack and spill
i've come to take the harvest for the seed
i've come to take the harvest for the seed

and i've come to know the manger that you sleep in
i've come to be the stranger that you keep
i've come from down the road
and my footsteps never slowed
and before we met i knew we'd meet
before we met i knew we'd meet

and i've come here to ignore your cries and heartaches
i've come to closely listen to you sing
i've come here to insist
that i leave here with a kiss
i've come to say exactly what i mean
and i mean so many things

and you've come
to know me stubborn as a butcher
and you've come
to know me thankless as a guest
will you recognize my face
when god's awful grace
strips me of my jacket and my vest
and reveals all the treasure in my chest