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With ticket prices at close to half what Reggae on the River once charged and a lineup to fill almost two festivals, one could have been a little skeptical about this year's Reggae Rising Music Festival. But the sold-out 4th annual Reggae Rising Music Festival, which ran July 30-August 4 on Dimock’s Ranch in beautiful southern Humboldt County CA, delivered everything it promised and more—musical abundance, great weather and well organized festival logistics.

Luciano, Capleton, DeMarco, Freddie McGregor, Aswad, Chezidek and many more of reggae's biggest acts all impressed, but it was a handful of reggae's female artists who stole the weekend. In an industry dominated by men, the women of the weekend shone.

The trend began on Friday with burgeoning reggae heavyweight, Jamaica's Queen Ifrica. All I can say is that her mentor Tony Rebel had better be careful his protege doesn't soon upstage him. On Saturday, it was roots singer Dezarie, out of the U.S. Virgin Islands, backed by members of the Midnite Band and exemplifying that region's slow, heavy sound, that most caught my ear. This was clearly message music, not just entertainment.

Photo: Marcia Griffiths

 

Wow, did that just happen?

As the audience at Fort Adams State Park was reminded more than once over the weekend, as recently as six months ago it was by no means clear that there would be a folk festival in Newport this year. (Or a jazz festival either, for that matter, but that’s another story.) That there was one is pretty miraculous in itself; that it was a resounding success in both artistic and financial terms almost defies belief.

But I know it happened, because I was there.

If I believed in this sort of thing, I would be tempted to say that God (or the gods) gave the festival a big thumbs-up on Saturday, when the weather, after a week of very iffy forecasts, turned out to be almost perfect: a trifle hot for my taste, but sunny and clear. Sunday was a different story, with clouds and fog all day, but even then the weather was a lot more cooperative than it might have been: it didn’t start to rain until the festival was almost over.

Steep Canyon Rangers

Our Sunday began with the Steep Canyon Rangers, who we've had a chance to see before at Colorado festivals. This North Carolina quintet was looking dapper in their Sunday finest and delivered traditional music with equal flair. Being Sunday, the gave us some bluegrass gospel, with four accapella voices around a single microphone, on "Who's That Yonder" and "Be Still Moses." Otherwise, guitarist Woody Platte takes most of the vocal leads with a clear, strong attack.

But vocals aside, the instrumental sparks were flying. Mike Guggino on mandolin put his all into the Bill Monroe tune "My Side of Town" while Graham Sharp's masterly banjo on "A Ramblin' Man Is A Ramblin' Man was a delight. "Tennessee Blues" and “Knob Creek” gave everyone got a chance to shine, including Charles Humphries on bass and Nicky Sanders on fiddle.

The newly renamed San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival is ramping up to present the biggest and most ambitious program in its 18 year history. With top name musical performers in three gala evening concerts, cutural events all week long, free outdoor festival day—plus sponsorships and tourism tie-ins, the festival is making a play for national recognition.

It is already the largest festival of its kind in the nation, San José is a great home for it. It is the nation’s tenth largest city and fourth largest Latino market. The festival is organized and produced by Heritage Corporation, a non-profit provider of music and dance education in local schools, museums and community centers.

Pete Seeger performs at the Clearwater Great Hudson Revival in June. Photo courtesy of Russ Cusick.

While there will be no shortage of young talent on view at the upcoming George Wein's Folk Festival 50, the new name for the venerable Newport Folk Festival, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary August 1-2 at Fort Adams State Park in Newport RI. But there is little doubt that the man of the hour will be the festival's 90-year-old co-founder, Pete Seeger, who has been having a summer to remember.

In May, Seeger celebrated his milestone birthday with thousands of fans and an all-star cast of musicians at Madison Square Garden in New York. Last month, he was honored again at another festival that he founded, the Clearwater Great Hudson River Revival (photos). At Newport, he will close the main stage on both nights of the festival, returning the event to its roots at least one more time.

One of last year's breakout debut performers, Mike Farris and The Roseland Rhythm Revue, will be back in 2009.

Roughly half of the 75 acts named so far for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9 will be first time performers at the influential Americana festival, according to a Festival Preview lineup analysis.

Notable first-timers include comedian-musician Steve Martin, who will appear with bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers, afro-blues duo Amadou & Miriam, who have broken out the past two years at big U.S. rock festivals, Texas singer-songwriter icon Lyle Lovett with His Large Band, alt-country songstress Neko Case, roots rock throwback Little Feat and British folk-rock pioneer Marianne Faithfull.

On the other hand, 20 performers on the list will be making their fourth or more appearance at the festival, with another 18 appearing at their second or third festival. See the related article with a ranked list of HSB regulars. A second round of announcements expected later will add up to 10 more acts to the lineup.

A number of first-timers are indie-rock crossover acts that HSB has targeted to appeal to younger audiences. In this group, I would include Tom Morello (playing as the folkie Nightwatchman, not Rage Against the Machine), Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Okkervil River, Dr. Dog and a few others.

After warming up their act at this weekend’s California Worldfest, singer-songwriters Jackie Greene and Tim Bluhm will reprise their collaborative project, Skinny Singers, with top billing at the American River Music Festival in September.

Both festivals take place in the California Gold Country where Greene and Bluhm are local heroes—Greene because he is one of the few genuine music stars Sacramento can call its own and Bluhm who came out of the Chico music scene to make his mark as a founding member of San Francisco roots rock band The Mother Hips.

Besides their geographical commonality (they are now neighbors in San Francisco), Greene and Bluhm are slim and trim, thus the band’s name. They toured together in 2006 and followed that with a supporting role on the Phil Lesh & Friends tour last year. They have also released one record together, Skinny Singers Strike Again.