Groovefest 2008: The Next Day

As a case in point of how a solid bluegrass band can stir up an audience, take the Minnesota band Pert' Near Sandstone, who awakened the audience on the first full day of Groovefest from the late afternoon soporific lull engenderd by John Boy's Mule, who played almost exactly the same set that had performed the previous evening at The Grind. I will say that, despite their failure to rouse the Groovefest audience, Mark Viar on upright bass and Ken Sager on dobro kicked ass. In fact, each of the performers in John Boy's Mule are more than competent; I think their set could use a kick in the pants, so the audience could better appreciate their talents.

Anyway, back to Pert' Near Sandstone, who stepped onto the Groovefest stage just in time to kick the afternoon into high gear. With almost the same instrumental line-up as John Boy's Mule, Pert' Near upped the tempo a few dozen notches from the previous set, and banged out some blisteringly quick bluegrass. Though the band had a healthy dose of original numbers, highlights of their afternoon set included brilliant covers of the Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon" (chosen, no doubt, purely as an excuse to rock the party after the line "in the next room at the hoedown" was sung) and Guns & Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle," which made clever use of shifting tempo and willful abandon to accentuate all of Axl's grunting and moaning, creating what Pert' Near's lead singer dubbed "heavy-metal bluegrass." That performance alone was worth the sunburn I got. A fantastically energetic band with a sense of humour, well worth checking out. There are a number of short clips of the band performing on YouTube, as well.

The band that followed Pert' Near was Moses Guest, from Houston. Moses Guest has a truly unique sound and style, looking at first glance like a traditional rock combo (and certainly with the chops to back up that impression), but in performance veering toward jazz fusion, but in a way that maintains the best of their rock band construction (particularly in the versatility of their keyboard player, who sounded like he was raised on a strict diet of Booker T. & the MG's). With their challenging tempo shifts, the band was not an immediate crowd pleaser, but they soon won over most of the audience with their creativity and skill. If it's possible to combine only the best elements of jazz fusion and jam bands without sneering, Moses Guest may be a band you need to hear. Of the songs available on their website, I particularly recommend "Best Laid Plans," which they played as a feverish extended jam at Groovefest.

My two favorite acts at this year's festival both played at the Grind on Saturday night and Sunday morning, respectively, and I'll sing their praises in the next post.