This gallery contains 25 photos.
Thursday July 18 through Sunday July 21 I saw a lot of great artists perform live! These are my photos. They’re not great, as I was experimenting with a brand new camera. Still I wanted to share. I don’t have … Continue reading
Among the crowd at the Middle East, July 21st
When I asked Tim Barry how he would classify the style of music he plays, he told me, “I just say it’s Rock & Roll with an acoustic guitar.” I’ll buy that. I know that his solo set during the show at the Middle East Downstairs on Sunday, July 21st reminded me of what rock and roll is really about as much or more than did any of the sets by artists with full bands and electric instruments. He had the nervous energy and desire to please that an aspiring artist might bring to an important audition, yet he was confident and a consummate performer. He established a rapport with the audience that made it seem like he leading a sing along with a bunch of friends at a pub. This was especially true when he took the microphone stand from the stage and put in on the floor in front so he could sing in the midst of the crowd. This was a guy who was working his ass off to put on a great show, but having a great time at it. He told stories and philosophized, but mostly he played his heart out, and the crowd ate it up.
As he recounted in the post Musicians Egos and…, he had been largely responsible for bringing the show together, and several acts expressed their appreciation to “nice guy” Tim, either from the stage of when I talked to them later. It was a Sunday night show that certainly didn’t feel like it was happening on a Sunday night! I’ll have more to say about the other acts in later posts, but for now let me tell you about Tim Barry, and incredibly exciting artist I had the good fortune to interview on June 17 by phone from his home in Richmond, four days before the show in Cambridge.
We all know how musicians are and how tough the music business can be. Musicians have huge egos and the business is intensely competitive. Because of these big egos, artists don’t work together well, and when the record companies make them do so, it’s the stuff of big drama. It’s what made last season’s tv drama Nashville a hit, and it’s the reason why we can only have one American Idol or winner of The Voice each season. Yet I hardly ever hear those kinds of stories when I talk to musicians. The kinds of stories I hear much more often are ones like the one Time Barry told me about how the six act show on Sunday, July 21st, Downstairs at the Middle East came about.
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The Newport Folk Festival dates back to 1959, but has always adhered to a somewhat loose definition of “folk.” Among the people who played there in the early days of the festival and early in their careers were Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash and Howlin’ Wolf. More recently people as diverse as Jakob Dylan, The Decemberists, The Low Anthem, Jimmy Buffett, Nickel Creek, the Allman Brothers Band, Agenlique Kidjo, and Emmylou Harris have played the festival that now takes place annually at Fort Adams State Park.
This year’s festival was impressive, as usual. We got there just in time to see Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. As usual they were brilliant. Sharon Jones interacts with her audience more than any other performer I have seen live, and if you get a chance to see her in a small club, do. She’ll bring folks on stage to sing to them, or even to have them sing and dance with her. She singles people in the audience out for recognition when they show affection, and she handles unruliness with particular dexterity. I wasn’t sure how that would play out in the noonday sun on the highly elevated stage in Fort Adams State Park.
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