Old Settler's Music Festival - Austin, TX

**GRW3** · Apr-05-2009, 11:12am

Anybody going to Old Settler's this year? Like always, they don't put all the artists I want to see on one stage but it looks to be a good show.

**pglasse** · Apr-05-2009, 9:47pm

I'll be performing there with an acoustic western swing band called Lone Star Swing on Saturday 4/18 from 1:00 PM to 1:45. Please drop by.

Paul Glasse
Austin, Texas

**Capt. E** · Apr-06-2009, 11:21am

I hope to be there at least two days. What a great line-up with Beausoliel, The Gourds, The Traveling McCoury's, The Greencards, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robert Earl Keen, etc. I'd love to camp out for all four days.

**ellisppi** · Apr-06-2009, 2:15pm

I'll be there, mostly in the campground down below the baseball backstop (and backstage too if I can snag a pass)

**Capt. E** · Apr-06-2009, 2:58pm

Now Tom, you know you can get a pass, if anyone can.

Played a couple of hours with Tom Pittman on Saturday, he says hi.

**littledonnie** · Apr-08-2009, 8:14am

I'll be there Fri - Sun working the info desk.

**HddnKat** · Apr-08-2009, 4:06pm

I'm going Friday as soon as I can get off from (oops, I mean 'notify my supervisors of my illness') work

**GRW3** · Apr-16-2009, 11:22am

I'm seriously bummed...

After months of central Texas drought it looks like it's going to break this weekend. Right on top of the festival.

I know the dedicated will go anyway but when you reach a certain maturity slogging around in mud and humidity is not very attractive.

I checked the Old Settler's website to see if they had any plans to provide condition updates but I didn't find anything. Anybody planning on blogging from the event?

**HddnKat** · Apr-17-2009, 6:48am

Originally Posted by GRW3

I checked the Old Settler's website to see if they had any plans to provide condition updates but I didn't find anything. Anybody planning on blogging from the event?

I'm debating whether to try and get a little videocam in - I have access to about 4 FlipCams that shoot 30 mins. apiece of video, but I can't remember if they posted somewhere that no cameras would be allowed.

I'm bummed about the rain, too, but after all, it's just a little water - and clothes wash. I'm just lucky that I live at the other end of 967, so I can go home and sleep in a warm dry bed.

**littledonnie** · Apr-17-2009, 9:51am

9:50 am here in Austin. Raining pretty steady for a while now. Just checked the weather channel and it may ease up by noon. Since we volunteered to work we will head out in a couple of hours. As HddnKat says, its just water! We too can drive home at night to dry off, sleep and get ready for the next day. Come by the info desk this afternoon and say hi.

**littledonnie** · Apr-18-2009, 9:26am

OK. We got a little rain Friday at the festival! Things started a little late but the music went on. The Greencards, Gibson Brothers and The BoDeans were great! The only no show was Blue Highway, who got stuck at the Houston airport. Looks better for today. I'll be at the info booth 7-close, so come on by and say hi.

**HddnKat** · Apr-19-2009, 1:28pm

I second Donnie's opinion - Friday was drippy, but the music was great.

Here's a sample of what the Greencards were doing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFesDBzaWnQ

**GRW3** · Apr-19-2009, 10:17pm

I woke up Saturday to the sound of thunder...

Just like the weatherman had said, the pounding would start at daybreak on and go through the middle of the afternoon. About an hour later what's that? Sunshine?

Fire up the computer and there it is the squall line started earlier than predicted and was already on the way to Houston. Get up son we're in luck...

It was a little soupy in the parting lot but the festival site was fine. It turned out to be a great day. As we were leaving after Robert Earl Keen the fog was setting in. It was funny, over the course of one song in the previous act it went from clear to cloudy.

Old Settler's is really an 'Americana' music festival. I think it started out as a Bluegrass festival but it's not any more. It still has Bluegrass acts but not as many as in the past. That's OK, it suits the area...

Highlights for me were:
Sara Jarosz
Green Mountain Grass
Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women
Fred Eaglesmith
The Traveling McCourys (+ the Lee Boys)

Sara Jarosz is local girl making good. She's already performed with a lot of mandolin players we would just like to jam with. I first met her nearly a decade ago when her mom would take this little girl to the area jams. She was sweet, polite, a could ignite the mandolin with her playing. Saturday she played mandolin, mandocello, 5 string banjo and guitar. I don't doubt if Sam Grisman put down his bass for too long she could play that too. She played a bunch of songs coming off her album due this summer before she heads off to college at either Berkelee or the New England Conservatory.

Green Mountain Grass is a local group. This was the best I've ever heard them. Their set was really tight.

Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women - Dave was a member, along with his brother, of the Blasters. This was so different it was shocking. I like a little of that Blaster, Destroyers, Rocket 88s, etc. hard bar music but it's not my main cup of tea. This set though was straight up americana singer/songwriter (with a little country rock). I liked it. Album due this summer.

Fred Eaglesmith (from Canada, eh!). Great performer, great connection with the crowd. A guy in his fifties, and proud of it, connecting with his people. One tune 'Time to Get A Gun' stood out and drug me to buy the CD.

The Traveling McCourys were as hot as you would expect. Add Cody Kilby playing guitar and now you have hot players at every position. Ronnie has the magic McCoury tone so the link is obvious. The other big difference is they mic up individually. I like the Del McCoury Band single mike show but maybe that is being left as a trademark of dad's band. No album yet but one in the works.

Then they did a jam set with the Lee Boys. For this they plugged the instrument in (and they needed too). I don't know if Ronnie was using a different mando for this but is sounded pretty good. Also I don't know if it was just the sound system or if he was using effects as I thought I heard some fuzz, distortion and chorus from time to time. Very hot jam band type music, mostly instrumental. Made me think about the recent 'too much instrumental' thread.

In fact I contemplated that all day Saturday as there were several instrumentals listening opportunities. In fact I did find that my attention started to wander on instrumentals. On the other hand, I found that songs sang sans solos sometimes left me dissatisfied, like some emotional element had been left out. The Lee Boys and the Traveling McCourys though, that was different. I think that is because the music and the rhythm are loud enough to envelop you and make your system sync with it. Acoustic music, even amplified acoustic music, can't do that.

I did go listen to the Lovell Sisters (including the current 'Women With Mandolins' thread 'it' girl). They are very good but I just didn't connect.

I got just what I wanted from Robert Earl Keen - to experience live what I've heard on CDs. I was very satisfied. I wonder though, if he did the right concert for this crowd. I got the feeling we got 'Standard Concert #3 - One and a half hours of Hits' which may have missed an opportunity. I hear a lot of performers lament that they go to perform and all the crowd wants is the hits. Well the Old Settler's crowd is a little more sophisticated about music than most and he could have left the self covers to just a couple. My evidence is that the crowd started to thin out rapidly about half an hour into the concert. Like I said though, I was thrilled.

Someday I'd like to camp (though not so damp). I think that would be a lot of fun.

It seems like every year there is some vendor that's fish out of water, mostly ones who think there will be great opportunities to sell to musicians. While I see the same new age, holistic, tie dyed, straw hat vendors year after year the serious music guys come once and go. (Not including the smart guy who has the indoor booth selling supplies and music books). One year it was a custom Dobro maker. A couple back an Eastman dealer. This year it was Jay Buckey. We chatted for a while and he said attendance was a gamble on his part but that he was having a good time. I've downloaded a lot of his free files from Jay Buckey dot com so I felt an obligation to get something. I bought Vol 1 of his Mandolin Theory program. Looked interesting and it was only $15.

Already looking forward to next year...

**littledonnie** · Apr-20-2009, 8:27am

Adding to GRW3's report. Once the rain stopped on saturday the sun came out and the day was great. I thought the Lovell sisters were great, as were Spring Creek, The McCourys and Dave Alvin. The McCourys and The Lee Brothers set was pretty good too, different but good. Traditional Bluegrass paired with electrified black gospel. Didn't connect (as GRW# would say) with Fred Ealgesmith and had to work during Robert Earl Keens set. Rockgrass? Grassrock? Sunday, clear blue skies, mild temps and the small stage at the campground for Spring Creek, Stonehoney and the Lovell Sisters. Another great set of tunes. Didn't stay for Fred Eaglesmith. Going on line with the company calendar to block out the week and third weekend of next April as vacation so I can do it all over again.

**HddnKat** · Apr-20-2009, 12:06pm

Agree - i'm blocking out the weekend for next year and planning on camping, unless the forecast is for another deluge. I missed getting to do the socializing and jamming in the campsites, and I want that next year.

**bobby bill** · Apr-20-2009, 12:48pm

i'm blocking out the weekend for next year and planning on camping, unless the forecast is for another deluge.

Forget the deluge. Just waterproof the tent and plan on being there. The campground is at least half the festival and I did not sense any dampening of the spirits due to the otherwise damp surroundings.

A couple of additional comments to add to the above . . .

The Lone Star Swing Band (with Paul Glasse on mandolin) had tremendous talent and they had no business being hidden away as the first set on the small stage. I was there for the whole set but I know a lot of people worried about the weather did not make it out on Saturday by 1:00 p.m. They also got shorted some time due to an awards ceremony for the youth talent contest that ran over. Put them on the big stage at a respectable hour.

The words that come to mind regarding the Lee Brothers and the McCoury's joint set would certainly include "stunning" and "electrifying." Congrats to both for shaking up people's notions of musical genres.

**GRW3** · Apr-20-2009, 2:42pm

After the Lee/McCoury set I told me son they should have have an Album Cover that looks like cigarette pack...

Lee & McCoury

and the album title should be...

Kicked Our of School for Smokin'

**Mike Bunting** · Apr-20-2009, 5:08pm

A great part of Eaglesmith's band left us about a year ago, the great singer-songwriter Willie P. Bennett passed last spring and was a great loss. He played mandolin with Fred and was a master at using effects on his Flatiron. He was an Juno award winning songwriter too. A band featuring Stephen Fearing, Tom Wilson from Junkhouse and Colin Linden, see soundtrack from Oh, Brother, formed to perform Willies tunes. They took their name, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, from one of Willies great tunes. Anyhow, Fred is one of the hardest working people in show business as it were, and probably has a pretty good following down there, there are Fredheads everywhere.

**Keith Owen** · Apr-21-2009, 2:29pm

I'll second your thoughts, Mike. Willie P. Bennett was a huge part of Fred's sound for the previous umpteen albums. His harmonica and mandolin playing were unreal, and unconventional. When I saw him in a very intimate house concert here in College Station, TX he was playing a Weber Hyalite straight acoustic and it was great.

To me, though, the best thing about Willie was his voice. In that small living room Willie's voice mixed with Fred's was like whiskey mixed with honey, just an unbelievable sound.

I saw Fred again at the same venue last fall and the youngun he has playing in Willie's spot (banjo and guitar, no mando) sounds really good, but the band just don't sound the same without Willie P.