The fourth annual Fresh Grass Music festival came just at summer’s end this year. The timing of this stellar three-day festival of bluegrass and roots music—a change of seasons—also symbolized the lineup, which included newer, singer-songwriter-led groups using electric instruments as well as old-school acoustic picking. With sets alternating in between the courtyard of the converted 19th-century brick factory complex and the large grassy field beside it, there was something to engage almost any listener’s ear.
And the winner is: Cricket Tell the Weather at MASS MoCA, photo by Rich Gastwirt/MASS MoCA
At 1 PM Saturday, Cricket Tell the Weather, winners of the previous year’s Fresh Grass band contest, took the courtyard stage to claim their prize of a slot on the bill. Their “Remington” told of the young Eliphalet Remington II, who in 1816 placed second in a shooting match but successfully began a business when the fine flintlock rifle he had made won the admiration of his fellow contestants. Jason Borisoff opened with a fluid flatpicking intro, fiddler Andrea Asprelli sang in a sweet alto, and Jeff Goldstein contributed a wonderful Keith-style melodic banjo break. Although their set mostly consisted of originals and other contemporary songs, they also flexed their traditional bluegrass chops on Ralph Stanley’s “Sweet Honey in the Rock,” with Borisoff again adding a brilliant guitar break.
The sultry-voiced Claire Lynch was on at 1:45 at the main stage at Joe’s Field, and Mark Schatz’s bowed bass and Bryan McDowell’s bluesy fiddle kicked off Hank Williams’ “You’re Gonna Change,” a love song about shaping up or shipping out. In a nod to tradition, the band performed “Katy Hill,” one of those old-time breakdowns that lingers on the opening chord for as long as possible before yielding to a harmonic shift; Matt Wingate’s facetious diminished chord mandolin riffing over the tune’s major key changes was especially droll. A poignant moment came with “That’s What Makes You Strong,” a song that Lynch recorded with Jesse Winchester, who passed away earlier this year.
In addition to the featured performers, the festival offered workshops in fingerpicking guitar, fiddling, and life in a working band. I opted instead to visit the luthiers’ area, a kind of acoustic-music petting zoo where pickers could try out fine vintage and new fretted instruments both restored and handmade by master craftsmen such as Stephen Sauve of North Adams, Mass., and Steven Kovacik of Scotia. A $12,000 1928 00-28 Martin guitar of Kovacik’s was a peach, but frugality prevailed after a tempting dalliance.
New York state’s own Gibson Brothers, the current kings of the brother harmony sound that was the cornerstone of bluegrass, were at the courtyard At 4:30. “The Wishing Well” by Shawn Camp and Paul Kennerly recalled Jimmy Rogers, and mandolinist Jesse Brock, who replaced Joe Walsh, picked out stomping blues riffs. Brock also blazed on Bill Monroe’s eponymously titled “Big Mon,” which the band delivered at a breakneck tempo. Switching to their forte of duet vocals, the Gibsons shined on The Everley Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love, “ and also on the Blue Sky Boys’ “Happy Sunny Side of Life.”
At 5:30 on the main stage, banjoist Alison Brown offered new fare: mostly instrumental music by a hybrid electric/acoustic band, with Darol Anger guesting on fiddle. The drums and bass thumped out rock grooves, the electric piano chimed in, and the fiddle and banjo were now far from Appalachia.
Brown’s electric taste was in evidence with the Cyndi Lauper-Rob Hyman tune “Time After Time,” where she played a counterpoint to the melody on her banjo. Claire Lynch came onstage for Eddi Reader’s “Hummingbird,” during which the band settled into a one-chord “space” interlude, a questionable habit some bluegrassers have picked up from jambands in recent years (you need serious percussion to pull it off). Switching gears, they finished with a spirited medley of the fiddle tunes “The Temperance Reel” and “The Mason’s Apron.”
The last act I saw was mandolin god and newgrass maven Sam Bush. He led off with the Delmore Brothers’ “Nashville Blues,” which with Sam Bush’s bluesy licks was sheer hillbilly heaven. Another gem was the haunting traditional Appalachian song “Old Man at the Mill,” with its strange lyrics in which birds speak. Steven Mojdan contributed some fine flatpicking guitar on Flatt & Scruggs’ “You’re Love Is like a Flower,” and the band closed with a rollicking version of Fred Rose’s classic “Bringing in the Georgia Mail.”