East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival (BluesFest) 2014

Thursday 17/4/2014

7:15 JAMBALAYA. “Playing For Change” “Playing for change” is not just a band name – it is a movement. This movement describes itself as follows: “Playing For Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music.”

Started 12 years ago, it became wildly popular after their clip “Stand by me” – recorded by different street musicians from all over the world – went viral on youtube, gaining over 60 million hits. Today, these musicians (from 31 countries) have come together to travel the world to promote their message. They sing and play in diverse styles, rhythms and languages. Usually at a concert, you can judge a performance by the amount of attention that the audience is actually paying to the performer – the amount of white noise coming from the crowd is generally a pretty good indicator of this. I’ve never experienced such palpable silence in a crowd of several thousand as I did when an old blind musician from the streets of New Orleans – Grandpa Elliot – sang a-cappella Down by the Riverside.

Friday 18/4/2014

3:30 JUKE JOINT. Music Maker Foundation This is an interesting one. The Music Maker Relief Foundation was founded by Tim and Denise Duffy 20 years ago to (in their own words) "help the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of Southern music gain recognition and meet their day to day needs.” It relies on donations (from B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal and others) and the proceeds from records of not very well known musicians.

A few years ago, Foundation created a touring band made up of musicians who represent various styles of Southern Blues. They were our guests at BluesFest and, this time, they were joined by Pat Wilder – a tight, rough bundle of energy with a strong voice, meteoric movements and magic electric guitar licks. As Pat herself told us, “my purpose is to create more love and involvement between people throughout the world with music” – and she does it with deep conviction and style.

3:20 CROSSROADS. Beth Hart Talented to the extreme, fighting (and winning!) her own demons after years “at the bottom” and a miracle-husband to keep her out of trouble (“he took me in, fed me and loved me long enough to love myself")… It’s exactly this kind of brew that produces blues stars of such high caliber – not only does Beth have a great voice, she’s also able to use it to convey human

drama and emotion in its fullest depth. Singing and playing keyboard, she performed original songs from her latest album (Grammy nomination in 2013) and some great standards. The most memorable? - "I’d rather go blind”.

Saturday 19/4/2014

12:15 DELTA Hat Fitz & Cara Aussie wild bushman Hat Fitz (performing at his 18th BluesFest – is this a record?) and the very Irish Cara Robinson. A very memorable duo: country blues masters; husband and wife. They sang blues, folk, old poems and original songs. Drums, guitars and flute. One of their songs “Power”, contained nothing but this one word repeated over and over – but you could really feel the Power around you when they sang.

Their music created a very close and warm atmosphere, which they seasoned with ad-lib jokes about everything – the public, themselves and Cara’s new dress (which, by the way, looked very good on you, Cara). Go and see them.

18:00 CAVANBAH Nikki Hill Etta James and Otis Redding would be proud of this gig. Nikki Hill kept up her style, energy and intensity – all perfect – across all three of the gigs, bringing in a bigger and bigger crowd each time. Supported by a great band (which included her husband Matt Hill – one of the best lead guitars at the Festival) she performed Chuck Berry and Little Richard style old hits and her own original R’n’B and Rock’n’Roll explosions. All were very good and kept the audience moving, jumping and dancing

throughout. This is the beginning of a new star. Watch her rising.

Sunday 20/4/2014

13:30 CROSSROADS C.W.Stoneking This was the most stylized performance of this year’s BluesFest. Everything was strictly done in 1920s and 30s blues style (Robert Johnson comes to my mind): the look, the instruments and even the distinctively Southern drawl with which C.W. talked during and between songs. A man with quite a colorful bio (born in the Northern Territory, lived on all major continents, tired his hand at many professions, including assistant to a hoodoo doctor, farmer and handyman, survived a shipwreck), he keeps his dedication to old blues while exploring other styles (Afro-Caribbean Calypso).

My favorite was Jungle Lullaby from the “Jungle Blues” album. The first thing I did when I got home from this gig? I checked his website to find when he’s next playing in Sydney…

11:20 JUKE JOINT Chain Chain – Matt Taylor (harmonica), Phil Manning (guitar), Trevor Draper (drums), Dirk Dubois (bass). Chain has its roots in the first ever Australian blues band, The Bay City Union (established in 1966). This is the only Blues band to have a No 1 hit on the Australian charts and a No 2 hit in NZ. It has released over 10 records and has a big group of dedicated followers.

Matt, the big front man, with his heavy Australian accent, low voice and his true blue Aussie jokes had you feeling as though you were sitting in your own backyard, drinking beers and singing tunes with an old mate (who just happens to have been No 1 on charts :-)).

Monday 21/4/2014

12:40 CROSSROADS Shaun Kirk This was the Monday morning opening gig. Although it was on the major stage, not very many people initially showed up (have you ever seen blues fans getting up early?). A welcoming Melbournian, Shaun Kirk, was playing original songs accompanied by a pedal drum kit, guitars and a harp. Very fresh sound, deep lyrics and great chemistry with the audience. “Five years ago I was standing here, at CROSSROADS, watching Buddy Guy’s evening gig, thinking what to do with my life…

At that time I was working at the music store…quite boring stuff…Soon I quit and started to travel as a musician…Now I’m at the same place, but this time on the stage (smiles), playing a midday gig…and I’m doing things I like now…what will bring me the next 10 years?...I want to play here the evening gig (laughs)”. His gigs finished with hundreds of people in the audience – CROSSROADS was almost packed this time (at 1:30 pm!). I want to buy tickets to his 2024 evening gig now.

BUSKING STAGE
This was the ‘official’ busking area (many street musicians were playing and dancing all over the Festival ‘unofficially’). I didn’t get a chance to see all of them, but the most noticeable were

A few other general observations:

Some more names and photos – these artist definitely deserve your attention:
Round Mountain Girls - has nothing to do with mountains and girls. Great Australian folk and blues band.
Matthew Curry - 17 years old sensation from USA.
Chris Tamvoy– very talented 17 years old Torres Strait Islander.
Gary Clark Jr - new Hendrix?
Genevieve Chadwick - explosive singer/songwriter from the NSW South Coast.
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - “a musically sophisticated young band inspired by the music of the late ’60s/early ’70s”.

And on a more serious note: Music, any music (especially folk, roots, and world music because of their accessibility and simplicity), being the only kind of art that is not based on representation of physical objects, talks directly to the hearts and souls of people (I have never seen people hugging a stranger at the movies or at an art exhibition :-)). It is very important to expose people to Music as much as possible (Mr Government, where are you?). It makes them better and kinder to each other. And BluesFest does exactly this – on a grand scale.
Be part of it.