Rattlebrained

Evening thunderstorms have been so common in the last weeks that it was pretty awesome that the Blues Rules festival happened “between the drops”, as they say in French. In fact it was sunny and surprisingly warm, the gods must have turned an approving eye!

For those who have yet to discover it, the Blues Rules festival takes place in Crissier, Switzerland, which is just nextdoor to the city of Lausanne. It’s one of the better European Blues festival, no rock stars and a shared passion for North Mississippi Hill Country Blues; you can’t get enough of that!
As my bag was heavy enough without a camera, I left the it at home and hoped to make a few sketches instead. And for better or worse that’s what I did…

This year’s festival opened with Broken Bridge, an energy packed duo who looked even younger than they do in my sketch. I’m not that thrilled with my drawing of “MC” Marco Crescenzio (guitar, vocals) but am quite pleased with the drummer “Redd Knee” (Alex Ketterer) in a “trust me, this is what the music looked like!” way…

Next up was Big Papa Binns. I was lucky to see him few years ago at Le Lux when he came by with CeDell Davis and his (Big Papa Binns) band Brethren; the band CeDell Davis toured with during the last years of his life. Now, CeDell is one of my favorite bluesmen of all times so I encourage everyone reading this to check out the many documents about and of him, that you can find on the web.
It was with much emotion that Big Papa Binns played a few of Cedell’s songs, both sad and powerful.
As for my drawings, I added a quick wash to most of the brush pen sketches on the morning after and I’m not 100% sure this one needed it; too late now though.

Towards the end of his set he was joined by Joyce Jones, Cameron Kimbrough (drums), Broken Bridge (who I didn’t draw since I was running out of space) and friend Jicé (harp) who had driven Big Papa down to Italy and back during the week (lucky man!).

Sketching at a festival is not something I do very often and ended up being an interesting experience. While in the crowd you get a bit of everything: pushed around, folks moving right in front blocking you from seeing, folks that stand next to you pretending not to be watching, some look directly over your shoulder and some start talking to you like “hey that’s cool, reminds me of one time in…”

Which is pretty much what happened during the Moonlight Gang’s set. Probably just as well since these vintage cloth wearing swing fanatics from the Valais had set up the stage to look like a bar so there was the potential of being lost in detail. This did not happen however, by the time I managed to escape the babble, the singer picked up a guitar, the drummer went over to sing (or something like that) and I called it finished.

Anthony Big A Sherrod came onstage as dusk was making it harder to see. After a couple of songs he somehow managed to climb off the stage, over the safety guardrails and disappeared into the crowd; soloing as he went. I took advantage of the moment to search for a better spot and ended up peaking through a variety of stage equipment, photographers and artists. Another so-so sketch of him with Cameron Kimbrough on drums but an enjoyable moment of music none the less.

My love for the Blues Rules festival has grown with time, where else around here do I get to see the likes of Little Joe Ayers, Bill Abel, Kenny Brown, Lightnin’ Malcolm, Robert Belfour, Hillstomp, Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen and Cedric Burnside, to name a few. This year I was really looking forward to hearing R.L. Boyce and was not disappointed; one of the great moments of this year’s festival! However to get a half decent sketch happening I had put on both normal and reading glasses, and so that was it for the day.

I usually sketch with a brush pen, but as I usually am not standing up in the middle of a crowd on Saturday I decided I’d give a normal pen a try. The afternoon began with a Mississippi Juke Joint Jam on a small stage out in the middle of the field. A great idea with some great moments. I was halfway through sketching Possessed by Paul James when everyone on stage left to give room for more. Marceau Portron was among them, he was already at last year’s festival.

Ah yes, the Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band. If you asked me, they could come back every year!

You probably won’t recognize Yanik Blues Street One Man Band from the sketch of Floyd Beamont and the Arcadelphian posted some years ago here, but he was the washboard player mentioned in that post. If having his old band members right in front of the stage shouting their encouragement didn’t put him off, I don’t think anything will; yet another cool moment!

What can you do, my back was slowly giving up from the standing so I sat down on the ground for a bit. Although a sketch of the backsides of all the folks standing in front of me may have been a better choice, the illuminated Château de Crissier rising above their heads seemed to call (I should probably darken the sky).

She Wolfe and the wolf pack, the last sketch of this series, with Joyce Jones, Anthony Sherrod and good friend Jean-Claude Droux (Harp)! I like the movement in this one…

After, it just got too dark..

I can’t say I really thought about it beforehand, but now that I have stuck this series up here well, sorry to everyone that I wasn’t able to sketch as well as to everyone I’ve given a strange body shape; or worse… There is no delete or back step button with a pen.
:P

More links:

• The Facebook Blues Rules page

For those who read French:

• BRCF2018 : Le compte-rendu de la 9ème édition du festival
• Blues Rules Crissier Festival: une neuvième édition éclatante en 100 images
• Doctor Blue: Blues Rules à Crissier