Another Mountain Jam has come and gone, and as usual the weekend meant plenty of cold, rain and great music. The lineup for Mountain Jam this year represented a bit of a departure from traditional jamband heavy festival lineups, featuring a stronger emphasis on singer/songwriters and Americana roots rock. Most of the bands were hand selected by festival host Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule, and he deserves a congratulations for yet again putting together a diverse and interesting lineup. Haynes was the busiest man of the weekend, delivering two strong marathon shows with Gov’t Mule and sitting in with a number of bands including the Sunday headlining Levon Helm & Friends set. Mountain Jam continues to be one of the best festival experiences in the country, with great music and people in the beautiful catskill mountains of upstate New York. Seeing Levon Helm sing the music of The Band so close to where The Band and their music came to be was a magical experience to cap the weekend with.
Here are reviews of some of my favorite sets of the weekend:
Friday
Highlights:
1. Gov’t Mule
Gov’t Mule’s Friday night second set and encore featured the band at their very best, delivering one smoking performance after another. Gov’t Mule do better covers than anyone, and also incorporate special guests better than anyone, and the show was heavy on both covers and guests. The second set opened with a couple of flawless Pink Floyd covers, as they segued from “One Of These Days” into “Fearless” and Warren Haynes absolutely nailed both the guitar playing and vocals. The covers continued with a gorgeous version of Hendrix’s “The Wind Cried Mary” before Les Claypool started a string of guest sit ins.
In addition to Claypool, Kofi Burbridge and Grace Potter also appeared with Mule towards the end of the set. Besides Warren Haynes, Kofi Burbridge was the most popular guy on the Mountain Jam stage, playing keyboard and flute in the Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band and sitting in with Gov’t Mule both nights, the New Mastersounds, and Lettuce. He was great sitting in with Mule Friday, adding some jazzy flute solos and cool interplay with Warren. Grace Potter has sat in with Mule countless times over the last few years, and they absolutely nailed “Gold Dust Woman.” The rotating verses between Warren and Grace and harmonies on the chorus were powerful, and Warren really let it fly on the guitar solo, ending the set with a bang. For an encore, Gov’t Mule abandoned the cover songs and guests and played three originals from their new album, By A Thread. And it’s hard to believe, but the encore was probably the best part of the show. These new songs are great, and the band has a lot of fun playing live and really jammed on them. The encore was almost like a third set, lasting around a half hour. “Inside Outside Woman Blues” and “Any Open Window” were heavy psychedelic rock songs that would have fit right in on Electric Ladyland and showcased some of the best guitar playing I have ever heard from Warren Haynes. Gov’t Mule’s new album is truly fantastic, and the new lineup with Jorgen Carlson on bass is gelling better any of their configurations since Allen Woody’s passing in 2000, and simply put, the band is a golden age right now, at the peak of their powers, and it’s a treat to watch.
2. New Mastersounds- Since Les Claypool was performing outside, Colonel’s Hall was pretty empty when New Mastersounds started playing. But their energetic Meters-esque funk drew in everyone that walked past and soon the room was full of dancing fans. The New Mastersounds are a four piece instrumental funk band, with the rhythm section laying down funky grooves and the guitarist and keyboardist took some impressive solos. As is the case with most instrumental funk, most of the songs and riffs were very repetitive but the New Mastersounds spiced things up by inviting Kofi Burbridge to sit in on flute for a couple of songs, which produced some really fantastic and unusual music.
3. Les Claypool- I had never listened to Les Claypool’s solo material before, but I don’t like what I’ve heard from Primus and thought Oysterhead was nothing more than your typical overrated supergroup. So I had low expectations for Claypool’s set, and intended to just check it out for a few minutes and then head back to catch the rest of the New Mastersounds. But I was entranced with Claypool’s music and ended up staying for the last hour of his show. He’s obviously a very talented bassist, but I was just as impressed by how complex, spacey and psychedelic his compositions were, some very cool stuff. Mike Dillon’s percussion and the cello player added a lot of unusual sounds, and I was pleasantly surprised by this set.
Disappointments:
1. Dr Dog cancelling because of an illness in the band.
2. Missing Gandalf Murphy & the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, Toots & the Maytals, and the first set of Gov’t Mule because inefficient security led to crazy long lines to get in and it took forever to get all the stuff up the mountain and set up.
3. The Avett Brothers- Energy was great, old stuff was great, wasn’t a fan of the drums and electric guitars that drowned out the vocals and lyrics and didn’t have to hear all of I & Love & You. Not a terrible set, but not like the last time I saw them in 2008 either. Unfortunately I missed the first 1/3 of the show, which consisted of old material…
Saturday
Highlights:
1. Gov’t Mule
Another brilliant show as usual from Gov’t Mule on Saturday night. The first set featured the band running through some more new material, opening with a passionate version of “Railroad Boy” from the new album. The first set was heavy on Gov’t Mule originals, but did feature Kofi Burbridge for a gorgeous cover of Dave Mason’s “Sad And Deep As You,” Derek Trucks also joined Gov’t Mule onstage for a version of “Kind of Bird,” a lengthy, jazzy jam written in the early nineties by Warren Haynes with Dickey Betts. The second set may not have had the consistent excellence of the first set, but Jackie Greene’s sit in for the Rolling Stones “Ventilator Blues” and “Monkey Man” produced the best rock and roll of the entire weekend. In another highlight, Warren Haynes sandwiched Jimi Hendrix’s “Machine Gun” in the middle of a raucous version of “Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World,” earlier in the set, which served as a showcase of his heavy, psychedelic blues guitar playing and powerful voice. The encore fell short of Friday’s marathon encore, but Saturday’s Mule was was nevertheless one of the finest shows I have ever seen from them.
2. The Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band
This is a new project of Derek Trucks while the Derek Trucks Band is on hiatus, and features several members from the Derek Trucks Band but also his wife, Susan Tedeschi on guitar and vocals, Nigel Hall on keyboards and vocals, JJ Johnson and Duane Trucks on drums, and Oteil Burbridge on bass. It is without a doubr a supergroup, and Mountain Jam was only the band’s second show together but all of the members have played with each other countless times over the years, and gelled flawlessly during the set. The big surprise for me was how good Derek Trucks wife, Susan Tedeschi was. I knew she could sing, but I was surprised to discover that she can really play that guitar too. Of course when I see Derek Trucks I’d prefer for him to take all the leads, but she impressed me with her playing and gave Derek enough room to show yet again why he is the best guitarist out there today. At one point, Trucks broke three strings mid-solo, but continued to play and finish his solo with just three strings. There’s just nobody like him. Highlight of the set was when Warren Haynes sat in for a cover of “Comin’ Home,” which of course featured searing guitar work but also an impassioned duet between Tedeschi and Haynes with plenty of soul. The Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band can’t match the improvisational jazzy excursions that the Derek Trucks Band used to explore, but when it comes to soulful, guitar heavy, bluesy rock and roll, there’s not much better than this.
3. The London Souls
These guys are rock and roll. They have not even put out a full length album, yet the Jimi Hendrix comparisons have already started. They proudly wear the Hendrix influence on their sleeve, and it’s impossible to avoid the comparisons to the Jimi Hendrix Experience for a trio that rocks this hard. The drums and bass provide a heavy blues rock grooves, but guitarist Tash Neal did steal the show with his frantic guitar fills, mindblowing solos, and terrific stage presence. The London Souls first album is due to be released this fall and, judging from their live show at Mountain Jam, promises to be one of the best albums of the year. The London Souls are a band steeped in the tradition of 1960’s rock and roll power trios, but put their own original spin on it and are living proof that there is a future for rock music.
4, Dark Star Orchestra
My first time seeing Dark Star Orchestra since John Kadlicek departed for Furthur, and Jeff Mattson quickly showed that he was a more than adequate replacement for John. He can’t nail Jerry’s vocals or guitar tone as well as Kadlicek, but he’s an incredible guitarist, and really shined on the late sixties stuff they played like “Alligator” and “The Eleven.” He was also fantastic on Jerry Garcia Band material, with John Kadlicek never seemed especially comfortable with. The set closing cover of Tangled Up In Blue featured Mattson at his best. Warren Haynes and Danny Louis from Gov’t Mule sat in with DSO for New Speedway Boogie > Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad which was a real nice collaboration as I always love the unique approach Warren takes to playing Grateful Dead music. This year they also played an hour later than they did for their 2008 Mountain Jam late night set… beautiful night and a great set.
Disappointments:
Missed Lettuce afternoon set, which sounded fantastic from afar and featured Kofi Burbridge, Derek Trucks, Nigel Hall, Susan Tedeschi sitting in. Sounded like a great set from the campground and I wish I could have caught it…
Missed the Drive By Truckers as well… Saturday was just loaded with great music and just had to miss a couple things to eat…
Sunday
Highlights:
1. Levon Helm & Friends
Levon Helm finally took the stage an hour and a half late, as fans patiently waited in the freezing cold, because the weather seemed to really create some problems for the roadies with setting up equipment and getting the sound right. But I knew that despite the unbelievable delays, I know that Warren Haynes and Levon Helm would do everything in their power to give the fans the incredible experience they paid for. And they did. While roadies worked furiously to rewire the sound and adapt it to the stormy conditions, Warren Haynes and Ray LaMontagne placated the restless crowd with a stunningly beautiful duet on LaMontagne’s “Shelter.” Ray and Warren are two of the best, most soulful vocalists out there and this haunting, intimate duet was an unexpected treat and almost made the hour and a half delay worth it.
Finally Levon emerged, and after several Happy Birthday tributes, the band launched into “The Shape I’m In” which let keyboardist Brian Mitchell shine with a smoking organ solo and growling vocals. Levon and his band sounded tighter than ever and really energetic, everyone was clearly having a blast celebrating Levon’s birthday. Things really started to heat up with “Long Black Veil” which featured beautiful mandolin playing by Larry Campbell and gorgeous lead vocals from his wife Theresa Williams. Then the guest parade started, with Sam Bush from New Grass Revival joining the band for “Up On Cripple Creek” and “Deep Elem Blues.” One of the godfathers of jamgrass and best mandolin players out there, it was a delight to hear him trading solos with Larry Campbell. Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas then joined Bush and the band onstage for some more bluegrass, followed by Allison Moorer and Steve Earle joining in for a sing along of The Rolling Stones “Sweet Virginia” as roadies delivered a giant, elaborate birthday cake for Levon.
By this point, the show had turned into a party as promised, with guest after guest taking the stage and delivering terrific performances, treating the crowd to several rarely played songs. Warren Haynes took the stage and led the band into some heavy blues rock, shining on a haunting duet with Levon Helm on the under appreciated Bob Dylan classic, “Blind Willie McTell.” It was the finest version I have ever heard of the song, with great vocals from both Haynes and Helm and some incendiary slide guitar playing from Haynes. It was hard to top Haynes sit in, but Ray LaMontagne managed to, stunning the crowd into silenced awe with his renditions of “Across the Great Divide” and “Tears of Rage.” “Tears of Rage” was especially stirring, as LaMontagne might be the only guy out there who can do Richard Manuel’s pained, soulful vocals justice. Jackie Greene also shined as a guest, leading the band through some blazing rock and roll. He has such a great stage presence, and just infused the band with energy. After a three hour performance, Levon & Friends closed out the show with a couple of The Band’s classics, including “Chest Fever” which featured an extended guitar solo intro by Larry Campbell that left even his bandmates spellbound. Campbell then invited all the guests back on stage for the finale singalong of “The Weight,” capping a night that truly was a heartfelt tribute to and celebration of Levon Helm and his music, the Last Waltz of the 21st century.
Levon may be old and frail, but when he roared through the third verse of “The Weight,” it was clear that he still has such a strong passion and enthusiasm for playing music, and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Clearly, he’s still going strong as he played drums for the entire three hour, twenty eight song show, and and his voice sounded as soulful as ever. I can’t wait to see what his 75th birthday bash will be like.
2. These United States
These United States were the best surprise of the weekend, putting on an incredible show. They performed on the indoor stage and had the bad luck to be playing at the same time as Mountain Jam favorite Michael Franti so the room had only a handful of people in it. It was so empty that lead singer Jesse Elliott suggested that the band and audience members all introduce themselves to each other between songs. But those who were there saw the most energetic and fun performance of the weekend. About halfway through their set, a sudden torrential downpour sent fans running for cover, and These United States were playing for a crowded, mostly soaking wet audience. Soon the rain stopped, Michael Franti resumed his set, and the crowd started to shrink again. However, it was still a lot bigger than before the storm, as a lot of fans were like me and completely captured by the music and couldn’t leave. Several times I started to walk out because Justin Townes Earle was due to begin his set on a different stage, but I always turned around before walking out the doors. These United States were just too good to leave.
These United States have been together for two years, but frontman Jesse Elliott is one of the best and most prolific songwriters out there, as they have already released three studio albums, and have a fourth due in July. They have also been on the road nonstep, honing their sound live and at Mountain Jam their live sound and stage presence was incredible. Musically, These United States remind me a little bit of Uncle Tupelo, but closer to rock and roll than country rock. The strength of the band starts with Jesse Elliott’s songs, as these songs feature great lyrics but also unbelievable hooks that will not leave your head. As I went to bed early Monday morning, after a great ten hours of music, the song that played in my head over and over again was These United States’ “Honor Amongst Thieves.” Songs like “Honor Amongst Thieves” and “I Want You To Keep Anything” would be radio classics if the radio still played music. There was some kind of magical power about them, like a rock and roll revival. Their music spread an incredible, joyous vibe as smiles and dancing were contagious amongst the small but energized crowd and band.
3. Justin Townes Earle
Justin Townes Earle performed on the Awareness Village Acoustic Stage, and was accompanied by only a female bass player, and even performed a few songs solo with just his guitar. Like These United States, Justin Townes Earle also had the bad luck to perform during Michael Franti & Spearhead’s set, which cut down on the crowd size and more tragically was so loud that it interfered with the sound of Justin’s set. To Justin’s credit, he asked the sound guy to turn up his guitar and vocals over and over again, but the sound guy just didn’t turn them up to the levels that Justin and the fans wanted. Despite that, I still left impressed and thinking that Justin Townes Earle is one of the best young songwriters out there. He is a great lyricist, good guitar player, and sings these powerful with a world weary intensity that is rare in such young musicians. Like Johnny Cash or his godfather Townes Van Zandt, Justin Townes Earle sings with such a bare authenticity that you feel compelled to hang onto every word. He debuted a few songs from a new album that will come out this fall, which he described as having more of a gospel sound. The new songs were especially well received, with the crowd absorbing them in awestruck silence.
4. Allison Krauss & Union Station
Allison Krauss & Union Station played as the sun was overtaken by the most ominous dark clouds I have ever seen, with chilly winds and the rapidly dropping temperature driving some people away. It didn’t help that Krauss & Union Station don’t play especially danceable music, so most listeners were spread out all over the mountain, not huddled together dancing in front of the stage, which made the cold worse. Krauss and her band looked just as uncomfortable as we were, but managed to play a great hour and a half hour set that was very enjoyable despite the weather. She has the voice of an angel, and her band is made up of some of the best musicians in bluegrass, who complement her voice perfectly. Jerry Douglas in particular is a joy to listen to, a man who has complete mastery over his instrument and seeing him cover the Allman Brothers Band masterpiece “Little Martha” solo on dobro was my personal favorite moment of the set. Sitting on the top of a mountain was the perfect place to enjoy Krauss and her band’s music too, if only it was twenty degrees warmer.
Disappointments:
Missed Jay Farrar
Matisyahu played ten minutes over, cutting into Alison Krauss & Union Station’s set. Fuck that guy, what an unbearable ten minutes that was.
