Dancin Dave's Bluegrass Festival Camping: last festival trip 2008....part 3

The teardown operation at LEAF went smoothly, as one always hopes it will! Lynne is a wonderful young woman who has helped me several times at LEAF, including the tornado episode from last May. She and I work great together...she's a hard worker who has a great sense of humor and a wonderful work ethic; I was lucky to find her and I hope she sticks around Asheville for a few more years!

After the teardown I headed down to Florida for the Magnoliafest, in Live Oak, Florida. This festival is held at the same venue as the Suwannee Springfest, which is held in March every year. It is one of those festivals that always has an eclectic lineup...it's geared more to the electric side of the musical genres, and the Springfest more to the acoustic. Besides being held at a sweet venue, the northern Florida weather in both March and October is usually ideal for a festival....and this year was no exception. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the mid
50s are perfect in my opinion, and we even received some timely rain; the kind that is welcomed as a dust quencher!

This year's lineup was a dandy....it included Mr. Sam Bush, so I knew it would be a treat, right off the bat! Sammy of course did not disappoint...he first played with Dread Clampitt on the Meadow Stage on Saturday afternoon and as he always does, he made that young band elevate their music! He had befriended them while on vacation in Florida a couple of years ago and so had jammed with them on several previous occasions; plus, I do believe that he is featured on their new cd. Then on Saturday night he rocked the Ampitheatre Stage as only he can. I got to visit with him a bit after his performance and was proud to give him a Dancin'Dave t-shirt. He then sat in for a few songs with KBM, a band made up of former Grateful Dead drummer Bill
Kreutzmann, bassist Oteil Burbridge and guitarist Scott Muraski. I was not that impressed with this band, but the tunes that Sammy sat in with them on his electric mandolin sure were hot!

Sammy......

Sam and Dread Clampitt....

And if it weren't for Sam, it would be an easy choice for what I would have chosen for the most exciting performances of the festival! I had been aware of Rushad Eggleston for a few years now...I first saw him and his cello playing with Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, and then of course with the outstanding band, Crooked Still. He definitely impressed me then and it was also obvious that he is a different sort of cat...he could even be described as just a "little" crazy! So, when I saw that he and his new band "Tornado Rider" were scheduled I didn't know what to expect! Well...he blew me away!! I don't know how to describe the music, other than powerful, loud, and unlike any I've heard before. Rushad was joined by a bassist and a drummer...quite the percussion-oriented ensemble! Rushad straps his cello to his body, sort of like a guitar, and he is frenetically driven. He's a whirling dervish, with frenzied movements all over the stage. I did take some videos, but the sound quality was poor, so I won't be uploading them to this blog. Needless to say, the two sets that I caught were mind-blowing and hard for me to describe while doing justice.

Rushad...

Other bands/acts that I really enjoyed were Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams; David Gans; Joe Craven; Peter Rowan; The Rowan Brothers; The Duhks; and the Sunday afternoon Bluegrass Jam which was hosted by Peter Rowan. Also, I was pretty impressed with a new band, Moonalice; a band that is named for "a mysterious tribe of mythical nomad farmers known for growing hemp". Plus, my old pals from Wisconsin, Sloppy Joe, are always fun.

The Duhks...