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washboards, rhythm bones, drumming & the blues...

Blues Rules Festival #2, A Couple Of Sketches

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Rattlebrained Designs has been asked to make/rework some logos for various venues which is great but the extra work, unfortunately, has eaten up the time I usually spend blogging; sorry. No way I’ll manage to catch up on all the main events…

That said, one of those was going to the Blues Rules Festival #2 that took place in Crissier near Lausanne a couple of week ago. It was a two day event but since we (Swamp Train) were playing a the Café Omega that Saturday night I was only able to go Friday and for a regrettably short evening at that.
A couple of weeks earlier when we played in Halten, I had guests over the evening before, a party that lasted far longer that anticipated. Can you fall asleep while playing the drums & washboard? Probably not but then again it’s not ideal for a good performance either and I don’t want it to happen again if I can avoid it. That plus the worry of falling asleep while driving home at 2am…, a disaster avoided thanks to Blaze & Cut Finger (thanks guys!).

Ted Drozdowski & Enno So I got there early which was nice since Scissormen’s slide guitar demon Ted Drozdowski started of the event with a slide guitar masterclass. This was cool and totally informal, everyone sitting around on the grass in front of the stage.

For things like American folk music and the blues the Swiss and I are usually on uncrossing wavelengths. Around here “The Blues” most often means electric Chicago blues a la Muddy Waters played as much as possible exactly like the “original version”. It’s not that I don’t like the music, but it can be like a wax museum….
That said I can’t blame them, playing the blues is such a fine thing to do!

In any case the guys behind Blues Rules have gotten most of it right: a cool setting, a convivial atmosphere and some great contemporary blues!

Hillstomp This years festival opened and closed with Hillstomp, a duo from Portland Oregon “…infamous for digging through the dumps and forgotten backwoods of American music…” whom I throughly enjoyed and am glad to not have missed. Enough energy here to recharge most of the crowd’s batteries I’m sure, and a washboard! And great percussive sounds from old plastic buckets and what looked like the fat pan from an old stove, lots of duck tape, guitar and banjo. Awesome!

sketch of Floyd Beaumont & The Arkadelphians Friend Floyd Beaumont and his band the Arkadelphians played next. Although I sketched Floyd twice, since he translated Ted Drozdowski’s masterclass and is in that drawing too, I’m not that happy with either sketch and hesitated posting them. Still, fun’s fun… so…
I’ve known Floyd for a year or two but this was the first time I’ve been able to hear them in concert and must say that following Hillstomp was not an easy place to be so it was nice to hear how well their particular brand of old acoustic Blues held it’s own. The Arkadelphians are from Geneva and they have a washboard player too!

Having put away the sketch book to eat something I was soon captivated by the songs and stories of Joe Troop, a musician from North Carolina who was next on the bill. Really sorry not to have a sketch of him. A traveler by nature, his violin and banjo were filled with the places he had visited or lived in, and a voyage he invited us to share. Folk, bluegrass, tango, the blues, rags, jigs and more. On one song, a Celtic tune if I remember correctly, he untightened his bow and used it upside down with the stick beneath the violin so that the hair arched and rubbed against all the strings creating a drone effect. I also really enjoyed his rendering of Robert Johnson’s “They’re Red Hot” and a passing homage to Pete Seeger: Groundhog.

The time to leave came way to quickly and it was with regret that I walked up the hill above the festival back to my car. Would have love to stay both days, hopefully next year… Fortunately I had a recently bought CD of Charlie Parr to listen to on the way home. Now wouldn’t it be great to see him here one day!!

PS: Great pictures from Blues Rules by Sitatof

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