WoodyFest 2024 – Part 2
If you’ve read my recap of my first day at WoodyFest (here: Show Review: WoodyFest 2024 Part 1) you’re aware of just how busy of a day it was. I’d had an overnight trip to Texas and a family funeral before arriving in Okemah for the evening concerts. I didn’t manage to get back home until well after midnight, and I’d essentially been on the road and rambling somewhere around 20 hours and covered some 550 miles. Once home, I managed a few hours of sleep, and while morning came a lot quicker than it seemed like it should have, I still woke up excited about the music I’d seen the previous evening and even more so for what the new day promised. I got around, packed up some daily supplies and got back on the road towards Okemah, arriving just in time to catch one of my most anticipated song swap sets, a reunion really, of one of my highlights from last year featuring Adam Amram, Serena Guthrie and Rory Hancock. When the festival schedule was released earlier this year, this was one that I immediately circled as one of my “do not miss” performances. I’m glad I followed through with that foresight, as once again, this “Future of WoodyFest” set was easily one of my highlights from the entire festival. All distinctly different, these three artists share a common bond to the festival that is so exciting to see being developed more and more each year.
As they wrapped up, I headed over to the Crystal Theatre to catch a bit of Susan Herndon, before a walk back to The Hen House for Jared Tyler with Cassie Latshaw & Josh WestBrook sitting in. Next, I strolled back over to the Crystal Theatre for Tim Easton and Sam Doores. Funny relatable story, I’ve been a fan of Tim’s for a lot longer than I thought, Several years ago I reviewed his phenomenal album, Exposition. (highly recommended by the way). I discovered soon after that Tim was that mystery supporting artist that I’d seen opening for the Cowboy Junkies right after 9/11 in 2001. I’d been so impressed with his songs and guitar playing, but for some 20 years or so, I had no idea who he was. Tim also performed at my first trip to WoodyFest in 2019 and it was in a post performance chat back then that the mystery was solved. That ol’ WoodyFest magic again. I was also excited to hear some songs from Sam Doores. He’s a songwriter and musician I wasn’t readily familiar with, but almost immediately his songs won me over.
With that in mind, I dashed back down to The Hen House to see Riley Downing, Doores’ bandmate in The Deslondes swapping some songs with the incomparable Butch Hancock and the Queen of Oklahoma herself, Carter Sampson. This one made my highlight reel as well. I headed back over to the Crystal for the final song swap of the day, just a wonderful experience of Dan Bern, Chris Buhallis and My Politic.
Now, My Politic, which is comprised of Nick Pankey and Kaston Guffey, were one of my absolute favorite discoveries at last year’s festival, and I was happy to see them back for this swap, as well as their Saturday set. Though I’m not overly familiar with his body of work, I’ve always enjoyed Detroit’s Chris Buhalis’ blue collar/rust belt flavored songwriting, and every performance of his I’ve caught at WoodyFest has always left me impressed. This one was no exception, and the pairing with My Politic was just about perfect. But you see, the piece de resistance of this song swap was none other than Dan Bern. I was even less familiar with Dan’s songs than Chris’, or so I thought. Turns out, kind of like what I mentioned about Tim Easton a bit earlier, I was more familiar with some Dan’s work than I thought. See, Dan wrote or co-wrote 16 of the songs in the ridiculously undervalued film, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. He’s an incredibly gifted songwriter and seeing him in this setting was another one of this year’s highlights.
Following their set, I headed over to the WoodyFest HQ next door at the History Center for a bit. My camera hadn’t fully charged in the short time I’d been home, so I borrowed an electrical outlet for a bit while browsing through all the WoodyFest and artist merchandise and enjoying Travis Linville’s Crystal Theatre set via the livestream. Soon after though, I rushed back into the Crystal for another set. This time, it was Jaimee Harris, and it was another set I’d been anticipating since the line-up announcements had been released. 2023’s Boomerang Town was one of my favorite albums last year, and the title track my favorite song. Like Jamie Lin Wilson, Jaimee Harris also played the first WoodyFest I attended back in 2019, and she’s been back every single year since. If there’s an award for festival good will ambassador, she’s it for sure. This year she also provided one of my favorite “feel good” stories of the festival, having her incredibly talented brother Robby Harris joining her and accompanying on guitar. Jaimee’s songs are special and her voice is one of those that just cuts through all the nonsense in the world and lift your spirits to a better place. Seeing her share her love of WoodyFest with her younger brother, as well as her family who were also in attendance, was a really special moment for me. Chalk up another favorite moment.
After the Jaimee Harris set I made the short drive over to the Pastures Of Plenty parking lot, ate a little bit of something, charged my phone and camera a bit more, caught up on texts, emails and socials and got ready to make my way over to the stage. While parked, I’d noticed a trio of young men set up on the tailgate of their truck, with a couple of guitars. Before making my way in, I strolled over and asked if I could take a few photos. The guys agreed and launched into just a great version of “Fraulein.” I snapped a few shots, and then chatted with them a bit. The guys with the guitars were Jackson Keesee and Ryan Shows, along with their pal Paul Williams Jr., and they were one of my favorite musical moments of the entire festival. With that one song, for me, they were right there on par with the Adam Amram, Serena Guthrie and Rory Hancock “Future of WoodyFest” set I’d seen earlier in the day. I could easily see these guys gracing WoodyFest stages in the years to come, and I’d love to see it. Thanks for the song guys.
Kansas native Willi Carlisle opened up the evening’s concerts on this Friday night, and I loved his blend of roots, country, and punk poetry. His most recent album is this year’s Critterland, and it’s an album I definitely need to catch up with. I hadn’t been familiar with Willi prior to his set, but his songs are right in my wheelhouse, abounding with tales of addiction, love, loss and thankfully, possibilities. Carlisle performed solo, swapping frequently between guitar, banjo,antler bones, accordion and more. His songs and their earnest presentation sank their hooks in me. I enjoyed it quite a bit. At one point, I was briefly chatting with Tim Easton as Willi played. We both looked at one another and nearly simultaneously said, “he’s good” and smiled.
Next up was Ken Pomeroy and it was another set I was really looking forward to. Ken hails from Moore, right outside OKC, though she’s now based in Tulsa. She’s been performing since she was 14 or so, and I’ve been fortunate to see her sing her songs a bunch over the years, mostly solo or sitting in with other artists. Tonight though, she debuted her new band, and I’m hear to tell you, it was an impressive showing. Along with Pomeroy, the band is comprised of Dakota McDaniel on guitar, Ramsey Thorton on banjo, Cole Holleyman on drums and Michael Rose on bass rounding out the low end. The songs were strong and band’s sound was solid and I’m happy to report that there’s a debut album forthcoming, which Pomeroy is producing along with McDaniel. I always come away from WoodyFest excited about some forthcoming project, and this is certainly one of this years examples.
Wrapping up the Friday night festivities were The Deslondes. Though based in New Orleans, this is a band somewhat founded around WoodyFest. Frontmen Sam Doores and Riley Downing met and first collaborated at a previous Woodyfest and now, along with Dan Cutler on vocals and bass, John James Tourville (fiddle and pedal steel) and Cameron Synder (vocals and drums) the band has been plugging away at it for over 15 years. During that time, they’ve released four albums of their musical gumbo flavored with healthy doses of everything rootsy. Once again, they were a band that I’d sort of heard of before, but hadn’t really experienced properly. I didn’t know what I’d been missing. Their set was about as high energy, fun and entertaining as you can cram into an hour plus, and it was the perfect ending to another magical July day at WoodyFest. Throwing my backpack over my shoulders, I headed back to my truck and headed back home, still processing everything that had happened over the past 48 hours or so. I was feeling tired, but at the same time rejuvenated. Good music and good people do that for you. I didn’t make it home until well after midnight again, but it all seemed worth it, and I was going to get to do it all over again tomorrow. Be sure to check back for my final recap from this year’s 2024 Woody Guthrie Folk Festival.
Check into the festival details here on their website: https://www.woodyfest.com