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Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > April > 20 > Entry
Review: Old Settler’s Music Fest
(The Lovell Sisters play Sunday at the Old Settler’s Music Festival in Driftwood. From left are Rebecca Lovell on the mandolin and Jessica Lovell on the fiddle. Photo by Laura Skelding AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
On the first day of Old Settler’s Music Festival, rain sprinkles dropped from ominous clouds as the Gibson Brothers, five guys in crisp black suitcoats, started up the music on the open dance hall stage at the campgrounds.
The band from the Adirondacks marveled at the warm weather and sang about wishing wells, towns left behind and the heavens for their first visit to the fest in Driftwood.
On the second day of the festival, following an early morning deluge of rain, a couple hundred soggy but resolute campers made their way to the indoor Salt Lick Pavilion stage. Fest officials wisely had moved acts there from the stage along the creek, keeping the grass from becoming a mud pit.
This could have been Woodstock Junior, but the single muddy pond behind the main stage was left to the young kids as their parents watched.
The evening approached without more rain and the crowd in front of the main stage swelled for the Greencards, who introduced their new CD, “Fascination” (out Tuesday with a Waterloo in-store at 5 p.m.). The former Austinites by way of Australia and England were like a down comforter on a damp, chilly night as Carol Young’s soft voice wrapped around the lawn-chair audience.
The Cards delivered instrumentals as fanciful as fairy lights in the mist and stark reality lines about no money but “baby, I’ll follow you wherever you go.” They closed with Young ably nearing an a capella whisper on Patty Griffin’s “What You Are.”
Inside the Pavilion, Beau Soleil gave its post-Lental Cajun blessing to all who wanted to stay warm and dry. Who can resist this classic band and its dance music from opposing crab claws painted on a squeeze box, the whole thing led by Michael Doucet’s snappy French?
The BoDeans celebrated a remaster of their 25-year-old hit debut “Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams” and last year’s “Still,” also produced by T-Bone Burnett. Another Texas connection with their “Texas Ride Song” had them bouncing and charging the front edge of the main state within minutes of opening. The guitar interplay and ‘70s sounds of Kurt Neumann and Sammy Lamas proved the perfect country/pop accent for this allegedly bluegrass gathering.
On the third day of the festival, sunshine broke through the wet spell in time for the big Saturday lineup. Day visitors joined the campers to fill both outdoor stage areas and the Pavilion song workshops.
It was main stage time for Wimberley fave Sarah Jarosz, who proclaimed: “The rain has ceased. It’s a lovely day and a lovely crowd.” Then the soon-to-be high school grad with the rosy cheeks launched into solid instrumentals and songs such as “Tell Me True” that were not the least bit girlish. This is an artist with a Sugar Hill Records debut coming in June who can do it all, from originals to covers of Dylan and Waits.
Stonehoney, another local band (by just a few weeks after moving from L.A.), showed they also have staying power. With four-part harmonies from under cowboy hats, gimme caps and long hair, this is a country band with a catchy sound and songwriting abilities that might bring some Eagles comparisons.
If anyone needed reminding that all is not sacred at bluegrass fests, comedy hour host Fred Eaglesmith sang through a megaphone with strange poignancy about Shoe Shine - “That’s what they call me but that’s not my name.” He then joked about banjo players and how he likes banjo music “for about 20 minutes.”
On the smaller stage amid a sea of green grass and leafing pecans, a future Old Settler’s staple arrived from the mountains of north Georgia. The Lovell Sisters, three real siblings, displayed enough talent and energy to prove you don’t have to become a rock star or even an American Idol to hone a music career. This fledgling trio with fiddle, mandolin and slide steel guitar put voices and strings to work with new takes on old styles that will be securely at home in dance halls and the bluegrass fests circuit for years to come.
Old Settler’s, lucky in recent outings that duel with spring weather, escaped over four days with just minor inconveniences on the front end of the schedule. By Sunday’s adieu at the campgrounds, it was all blue skies above a cheery Lovell Sisters reprise.
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