The Strawberry Park Bluegrass Festival, 2000
The Strawberry Park Bluegrass Festival, 2000
Jonathan Edwards:
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Jonathan Edwards has been around a while, although he isn't strictly a bluegrass
musician. I am given to understand that he has played with at least one bluegrass band on a
semi-regular basis.
At any rate, he was well recieved. He played alone, accompanied by his guitar and harmonica. After all these years, his voice is still clear and strong -- perhaps some vocal nuances have faded with time, but nothing to worry about. While I recognized a couple of his songs, I am not as familiar with his history as I could have been. |
Dry Branch Fire Squad:
This band is good, but not nearly as strong as either the Seldom Scene or the Lonesome River Band. Fronted by a fellow who hails from Ohio (he's in the middle, in the photo below), the band plays fairly strong, traditional-sounding bluegrass. Our frontsman has affected a deeper south hick attitude; whether he is making fun of it or of himself I do not know. At any rate, that affectation was of little interest to me, and I found the band best when actually making music, and not trying to chat up the audience. Other peoples' mileage obviously differed. I may have had better comments to make if they hadn't followed the supremely excellent Lonesome River Band -- these folks aren't bad; they're just not overall quite what I'm looking for.
The five bandsmembers included a woman (far left) on guitar. There's a huge cello hidden away in the background.
