Day Two at Pickathon began with Justin Townes Earle and Samantha Crain sharing the workshop stage, talking about songwriting. It was an interesting juxtaposition of styles and experience—Earle, the son of one of the roots world’s favorite singer-songwriters, has been onstage since he was 15 (he’s 27 now) and is a consummate entertainer with music in his bones. Crain, on the other hand, didn’t even pick up guitar until college (she’s 22 now) and admitted, “I still don’t know if this is what I want to do for a living…I could be a welder next month.” Despite their disparate styles and experiences, though, the two songwriters’ personalities played well off one another and their ideas about their approaches to songwriting were enlightening and entertaining.
It’s hard not to love a set where the cover tunes are from the Carter Family and Radiohead. Indeed, that pretty much sums up the myriad influences presented at this festival. A day prior, someone had asked John Doe what he thinks about “popular music” being thought of as a style, while the styles of music that are popular tend to run the gamut. Doe had asserted that most artists he knows don’t waste their thoughts on styles and genres. It’s all music, he contended, and it was easy to believe Earle and Crain would agree. When Crain later threw a honky tonk spin on Oasis’ “Champagne Supernova” during her nighttime set in the barn with her band the Midnight Shivers, it was with zero irony and came off like just another song the Oklahoma native could have penned herself.
Beyond the barns, in the cool, thick woods of Pickathon, there were some sound troubles. It didn’t keep folks from turning out in droves to the quiet and intimate stage, though. Laura Gibson—back from having watched her sister deliver a baby the night before—turned out a terrific performance of mostly the same tunes she’d played on the main stage. Still, there was a different kind of energy in the woods, where Gibson noted it looked not unlike “an Ewok village.” She was followed by Horse Feathers (where better to catch this chamber folk ensemble than in the middle of the woods, on the end of a soft breeze?) and Alela Diane (fresh from a UK tour and clearly not at peak performance, thanks to the jet lag).
There was a brief string of mainstage sets—Diane with a fuller, lusher band and a little more energy than in the woods, the Lost Bayou Ramblers with their Cajun dance tunes, Justin Townes Earle with the Foghorn Duo—before I headed back to the barn to hunker down for the night. Crain and the Midnight Shivers kicked off the barn burning with an outstanding set pulling mostly from their latest album Songs in Night (Ramseur). Foghorn Stringband followed that with an hour of old timey boogie tunes, clearing the way for John Doe and the Sadies to deliver a set that was probably the best thing anyone has or will see this weekend. Blending the cool charm of classic country tunes like “I Still Miss Someone” and “Stop the World and Let Me Off” with the Knitters’ “Call of the Wrecking Ball” and selections from throughout Doe’s and the Sadies’ catalogs, the barn and all the space around it was humming.
I stood around for a while waiting for whatever we were waiting for with Blitzen Trapper but, after 40 minutes, sure there was no way they could top what just went down with Doe and the Sadies, I made back for the tent. On the way, I stopped off to let Horse Feathers’ late night Starlight Stage set sing the fireflies and constellations into view. Not a bad way to end a day if you ask me.
Up today: more from Crain & the Midnight Shivers, Breathe Owl Breathe, Dale Watson, Paleface, Vetiver, CW Stoneking, Hillstomp, the Freighthoppers, and Lord knows what else. But first, coffee.