{"id":18821,"date":"2013-10-07T14:17:54","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T22:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/?p=18821"},"modified":"2013-10-07T15:10:55","modified_gmt":"2013-10-07T23:10:55","slug":"the-best-of-hardly-strictly-bluegrass-2013-watch-bettye-lavette-while-you-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/2013-10\/the-best-of-hardly-strictly-bluegrass-2013-watch-bettye-lavette-while-you-can\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2013–Watch Bettye Lavette While You Can"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve got a strictly-music hangover.\u00a0 Hardly, you say?\u00a0 We’ll take that fifth.\u00a0 Regardless, we’ve escaped the marathon clutches of the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival<\/strong> <\/a>at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, held each year courtesy of its biggest benefactor–the late, great Warren Hellman<\/strong>.\u00a0 Though not as brilliant a lineup as some prior years (2011’s Elbow, Gomez, Devotchka, Gillian Welch, Broken Social Scene, etc. <\/strong>lineup may never be equaled again), HSB<\/strong> nonetheless provided a weekend’s work of musical goodness.\u00a0 Our picks of the litter, in no particular order (except No. 1) were:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Bettye Lavette<\/strong><\/a> provided hands-down the most entertaining set of the Festival.\u00a0 The 67-year old Lavette<\/strong> has been in the business for 50 years, and humored and wowed the crowd throughout.\u00a0 She also has great taste, covering everything from Neil Young<\/strong> to Lucinda Williams<\/strong> with serious aplomb and conviction.\u00a0 Our first thorough chill-down came on Lavette’s<\/strong> signature Heart of Gold<\/strong><\/em> arrangement and vocal, but she also covered Young’s Everybody Knows This is Nowhere<\/em><\/strong> (with accent on a gospel interpretation).\u00a0 Ms. Lavette<\/strong> and her fine band are out on tour now and are highly recommended if she comes your way.\u00a0 You can see her current dates HERE<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. Conor Oberst<\/strong> with Sweden’s First Aid Kit <\/strong>and Felice Brothers<\/strong> backing.\u00a0 Conor Oberst<\/strong> always brings it on Friday to his curated Rooster Stage<\/strong>, and this year was no exception.\u00a0 Finishing off the day in fine style, First Aid Kit<\/strong> gave a galvanizing reading of Paul Simon’s America<\/em><\/strong> and then provided first-chills by backing Oberst<\/strong> on his masterpiece, Lua<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

3. The Waterboys’ <\/a>Mike Scott<\/strong> and Steve Wickham<\/strong> (fiddle), despite a minor technical snafu or two, sang and played with conviction and had the crowd in the palms of their hands.\u00a0 We could listen to Mike Scott’s<\/strong> impassioned vocals and beautiful songs all day and all of the night.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0LA’s Allah-Las<\/strong><\/a> acquitted themselves well on Sunday morning, jangling along a la the Byrds<\/strong> and Manchester’s Stone Roses<\/strong> and Happy Mondays<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Upstate New York’s The Felice Brothers<\/strong><\/a> played yet another beguiling set and perfectly backed Oberst<\/strong> during his set.\u00a0 Again, we could listen to Ian Felice’s<\/strong> world-weary vocals all day and all of the night.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Louisville’s Freakwater <\/strong><\/a>took us by surprise with their casually delivered gems and voices of the angels.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Athens, Georgia’s Manchester Orchestra<\/strong><\/a> again surprised with their well-wrought and well-delivered songs.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a band deserving of far more attention.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 SF’s own Sonny & the Sunsets<\/strong><\/a> provided a great set of slightly off-key (intentionally), slightly familiar songs that matched perfectly with the western Gold Stage.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 The Evens’<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong> partners Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Minor Threat<\/strong>) and Amy Farina<\/strong> gave the Rooster Stage<\/strong> crowd an earful of great political songs and speeches, made particularly enjoyable by MacKaye’s muscular, but inventive, guitar-play and punkish attitude.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0 Though we might wish she’d stick to covering others’ songs, Martha Wainwright<\/strong> <\/a>gave an entertaining and vocally stunning performance in new blonde look at the Porch Stage<\/strong> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

And in between and around those Top 10, we heard great performances by Boz Scaggs<\/strong> (who sang hits Lido<\/strong> <\/em>and Lowdown<\/strong><\/em> while backed by a a great band), Dave Alvin <\/strong>with Greg Leisz<\/strong>, Emmylou Harris, Nick Lowe,<\/strong> Saskatoon, Saskatchewan’s The Deep Dark Woods<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(we’ll have more about them and others later), and Nicki Gruhm & The Gramblers<\/strong> (who brought Scaggs<\/strong> out to join them).<\/p>\n

For at least a limited time you can check out Ms. Lavette’s<\/strong> entire HSB<\/strong> set below and in particular her definitive interpretation of Neil Young’s Heart of Gold<\/em><\/strong> beginning at 19:30, with a vehement cover of Lucinda Williams’ Joy<\/em><\/strong> immediately following.\u00a0 You can check out other videos from this year’s HSB Festival HERE<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We’ll also write soon about the best set of the entire weekend:\u00a0 Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express<\/strong><\/a> (with Peter Case)<\/strong> at the Make Out Room<\/strong> in SF on Saturday night.<\/p>\n