WoodyFest 2025 – Day 4
Day four, and the final day of the 28th annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival got under way Saturday to an overcast sky, and a threat of heavy rain as the afternoon went on. Truth is, the clouds and early light rain brought welcome relief from the usual July Oklahoma heat, particularly during those trips waking back and forth between venues. But as the day progressed, more rain fell, and occasionally, decisions had to be made between heading down to a different venue, or getting completely soaked. I’m sure I missed a few good performances, but overall, I was really happy with everyone I saw on Saturday.
I got in to Okemah and made my was over to the Crystal Theatre first to catch Michael Fracasso. Michael hasn’t been at the fest in a couple of years, and I was really glad I d\got to hear him both times I did. Next, was another I’d circled early, Butch Hancock’s 80th Birthday Tribute featuring some of the best of the fest. Simply put, one of the reasons I look forward to WoodyFest each year is Butch. Besides being one of the best songwriters there is, he’s a fishing guide, a renaissance man and one of the nicest people you’ll ever talk to. I look forward to chatting with Butch and Rory each year, and always come away with another “Butch quote” to live by. This year’s keeper was, “ Life is like a soundcheck. Then you get tangled in the wires”.
Rain be damned, as Butch’s tribute wrapped up, I made my back over to the Crystal for My Politic, only to learn I’d just missed Aaron Lee Tasjan doing open mic over at the Rocky Road Tavern. I’d stopped in as I got into town to say hello to my friend and songwriter Josh Polaschek, who was hosting the open mic all weekend. Josh had shown me Tasjan was signed up, and I’d had every intention of catching it, but missed it while attending Butch’s birthday bash. Luckily, I’d be able to catch him later in the afternoon in the day’s last song swap.
So, back to My Politic at the Crystal. If you read yesterday’s coverage, you’ll remember they performed a song swap with Peggy Johnson and Adeem the Artist (more on Adeem later) over at The Hen House that was outstanding. They played some new songs from their new album. Signs of Life (reviewed here: https://americanahighways.org/2025/05/21/review-my-politic-signs-of-life/ ) during that swap, and I was looking forward to hearing more. These guy are just outstanding. I don’t know if it’s their harmonies, their finger picking or some combination of the two, but when they play, people listen. I hope to see My Politic back year after year. By now, the rain was really starting to come down, so I was happy to follow up My Politic by staying put for Betty Soo. I also saw her during one of Friday’s song swaps with Jaimee Harris and Chris Buhalis. I always like Betty Soo’s sets, so it was an easy decision, especially since I was also looking forward to the next several sets also at the Crystal.
I’d caught up with BJ Barham briefly outside earlier in the day, it was great to see him again and I was looking forward to his two performances, both the evening and festival closing set, and his song swap which was up next. I think the majority of the WoodyFest song swaps are unique pairings of songwriters that have never performed together before, but occasionally that isn’t the case. I don’t believe Barham had played with either of the other two songwriters he now shared the stage with. Yet those two, Bonnie Whitmore and Aaron Lee Tasjan had collaborated previously. In the end, it didn’t matter. Barham’s songs were all more recent tunes: Cherokee Purple, The World is On Fire, Six Years Come September & How Wicked I Was, which I was happy about. I hadn’t seen BJ or American Aquarium for a bit and I hadn’t seen all but one of these songs performed before. If you’ve never caught Barham performing solo, it’s a must. It’s a completely different experience from the band shows, and this afternoon Barham played with an intensity I hadn’t seen before. Well, at least until a little bit later. Every time I’ve seen Aaron Lee Tasjan, I’ve been blown away. Each of his performances I was fortunate to catch this weekend exceeded every expectation I could have had. Throughout this set, he wowed us with his accompaniment almost as much as he did with his own songs. With the fellas handling the guitars, Bonnie Whitmore was able to lay down the bass and this was easily another highlight of my festival.
I mentioned Adeem the Artist a bit earlier, as well as in yesterday’s coverage. I’m a bit embarrassed to say, I really wasn’t familiar with Adeem before this week. Every single song I heard them play was memorable and meaningful, and chatting with Adeem for a bit between shows was another highlight of my fest. It was still raining heavy, and wouldn’t break for a bit, so I stuck around after Adeem’s set for Kyshona. I’d seen her along with Pat Byrne and Kierston White in one of Friday’s stupendous song swaps, and I’ve always enjoyed her passion as well as the historical elements of her songs and heritage.
With a momentary break in the weather, I darted back down to The Hen House for the final daytime performance, none other than Randy Crouch. Randy is a hoot. Quite the character, and an Oklahoma legend. His sets are always fun and this one was no exception Looking like the Illinois River Jesus, he and his band of rock and roll misfit disciples battled the downpour beating down on the metal roof. Randy won.
With the rain still pouring, the decision had already been made earlier in the day to move the evening performances indoors to the confines of the Crystal Theatre. WoodyFest has had to do this in recent years, I mean, the weather in Oklahoma is unpredictable. Just like that previous time, this one seemed to go exceptionally smooth, at least to the casual observer. It would be a pretty packed house, so everyone settled in and got to know their neighbors. Kicking off the closing night, we got the treat of hearing fourteen year old Daniel Bowlan sing his song “What I Can”, which won first place in the annual Songwriting Competition. Daniel added a cover of the Turnpike Troubadours, “Diamonds and Gasoline”, and undoubtedly garnered a whole mess of new fans and followers. (His Instagram is @danielbowlanmusic by the way.).
Taking the stage first, was Matt Axton and his band, Bad Moon. What a great time their set was. Matt’s the son of legendary songwriter/guitarist and actor Hoyt Axton, a darned good songwriter himself, and definitely no slouch on guitar. His set was high energy start to finish, the band was great and the setlist was a great blend of original and Axton legacy songs. When Matt sings Jerimiah “Was A Bullfrog/Joy to the World”, if you close you eyes, it just might be Hoyt. Taking the stage next was Margo Cilker who was accompanied on guitar by her husband and talented musician in his own right, Forrest VanTuyl. I’d seen Cilker perform last year or so, opening for the Drive-By Truckers. She’d had a full band then, ironically featuring my pal and yours, John Calvin Abney. This evening, we got a more stripped down interpretation of Margo’s songs, with Vanuyl’s tasty solos. Another highlight from my WoodyFest.
I’m going to be honest with you, I think there was only tiny portion of those sitting in the Crystal Theatre that had any clue about what they were in for with BJ Barham on this night. The other portion had absolutely zero clue about the absolute beating their emotional psyche was about to experience. I thought I knew, but I don’t think I was fully prepared for the next hour. I’ve seen Barham a bunch over the years, but I’ve never seen him this potent. If you remember earlier in the day, I saw him play a song swap with intensity like I’d never seen. Somehow he topped it with an absolute master class in storytelling musical art. He tore through every possible emotion. It was intimate and felt incredibly vulnerable He got loud and it got really intense. There was loss, anger, sadness and tears, but Barham, skillfully, always led us back to laughter. His setlist once again focused on newer more reflective songs such as “Unfortunate Kind”, “One Day At A Time”, “Chicamacomico” and the stories included such gems as the Pecan Pie story and the absolutely new to me, and gut splitting hilarious, Uncle Benny story. I have no doubt that this will be a long remembered WoodyFest finale. As Barham wrapped up his set he was joined on the Crystal Theatre stage by many of the other festival artists as he an Butch Hancock led us through the closing “This Land Is Your Land,” and with that this year’s Woody Guthrie Folk Festival would come to a close, and now, work gets underway for the 2026, 29th annual WoodyFest. Actually, it’s already under way. That’s part of why this festival is thriving.
I can say with all sincerity that this was the best WoodyFest I’ve ever attended. More than that, I think it was the best festival I’ve ever attended period. Looking at this while I write it, it seems like a bold statement, but I think it’s true. I’ve seen some pretty good music fests over the years. But with WoodyFest, what it comes down to for me is that. it really is a sum of all of it’s parts. From the folk foundation and the songwriter’s and storyteller’s community at it’s core, to the countless volunteers, Board and Committee Members that tirelessly work to ensure the festival is ready for the artists and fans that come here each and every year for the simple reason of wanting to be here. From my point of view, I get to see songwriters that maybe really don’t know a thing about Woody Guthrie, become immersed and finally “get it”. Woody is the center of all of this, and that’s a really important part. WoodyFest is a community made up of people that want to make a difference in this world however they can, and the artists and musicians that come here each year realize just how special it is, and they want to be a part of it. It’s something I’ve watched for a few years and it’s wonderful to see, and that I’m incredible grateful to be a small part of. WoodyFest exceeded every expectation I had this year, from the initial line-up to the execution of the entire festival. My sincere thanks to the entire WoodyFest team, and the artists and musicians for a magical 2025 festival.
“If you walk across my camera I will flash the world your story.” – Woody Guthrie
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Show Review: WoodyFest 2025 Day 3
