Making a Return to MerleFest

Our whirlwind tour of MerleFest went by so fast on Friday that it wasn't until Tuesday's train ride to work that I even got a chance to start reading my souvenir program. I'm lucky that I have one to read. With a 16-month-old daughter and limited concert funds, I was reluctant to go at all. After attending MerleFest in 2004 and 2005, we skipped it last year because we thought Harper was too little to make the trip (not to mention that we were still dead tired from taking care of her most of the time). I was leaning hard toward taking another year off. Sharon, who truly is my better and more sensible half, didn't want to give up so easily. Plus, it was the 20th anniversary of the festival held in honor of the late Merle Watson, son of Doc Watson and a hugely talented guitarist in his own right who was killed in a 1985 tractor accident.

We settled on attending one of the festival's four days, which would allow us to catch up with our friends and monitor how well Harper took to being dragged around the grounds of Wilkes Community College all day long. I'm glad I got talked into it.

Stage fright
Despite my excitement, I still was a little apprehensive. I'd liken it to the feeling you get before reuniting with an acquaintance that you haven't seen in a long time. Have you both changed? Will you still have anything to talk about? As usually is the case with comfortable old relationships, such fears about MerleFest were mostly unfounded.

It took a while for me to be completely convinced. The drive from Alexandria down to Wilkesboro, N.C., was still pleasantly familiar, and catching up at the rental cabin with Stacy, Carlton and Jenny (and later Karen) helped put my mind at ease, at least somewhat.

A friendly artisan at a gallery in nearby Boone (names withheld to protect the creative) told us that MerleFest had made many changes this year. Among the more troubling alterations we were told about were the movement of the vendors and the food concessions and a steep increase in vendors' fees. Plus, she said, the festival was just getting too big. She decided to sit out for a year and see how the changes were received before spending considerably more money for the privilege of peddling her wares.

Too big for its britches?
Two years ago, Sharon and I already had concerns about the size of the crowd on Saturday. Our group, as is our practice, got there early to stake out a good spot on the lawn. By late afternoon, people were perched on every blade of grass near the main performance venue, the Watson Stage, and few of them gave thought to how they or their neighbors would work their way out to the aisles. It got worse after dark. I suspected that parties around us had managed to get alcohol into the festival despite the bag checks at the entrance. On top of that, a surprising number of people talked constantly during the evening performances, leading me to an obvious question: If you don't like music, why are you at a music festival? You can drink out in the parking lot for a lot less money. (Karen, who is a co-worker, informed me back at the office that there was ample drinking and smoking on Saturday night this year and that it effectively ruined a performance by Tony Rice with Alison Krauss and Union Station for the people in our party). A side note to those of you bringing booze into the festival: If I see you, I'll turn your ass in to the police faster than you can say "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." MerleFest is a family festival, and you're outnumbered by the folks who want to keep it that way.

The crowd two years ago was only one factor that influenced our decision to attend only on Friday this year. A smaller crowd might be better for our daughter, we thought. Plus, Shana Banana was playing at the Little Pickers Tent on Friday morning, and that seemed right up Harper's alley. It's been encouraging to watch as she starts to interact with music, even if she sees fit to dance to the opening theme for "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" as often as she dances to something we're playing on the stereo.

Kindness goes unchanged
My faith in most MerleFest fans was restored as we stood in line for tickets. A man approached the family in front of us with and asked them if they needed two tickets. Since they were in line, they did. So he gave them his extras, which had a face value of $90, for free. He said that they had been given to him so he didn't want any money, but that act to me was representative of the typical MerleFest fan. Try finding someone at Bonnaroo willing to part with two tickets for nothing. I'll be here waiting to hear your story, but I won't be holding my breath. A festival that hosts more than 80,000 people over four days is bound to contain a few booze-swilling bad apples, but the MerleFest fans, volunteers and artists generally make for a memorable experience.

Once inside the gate, the changes we'd heard about weren't all that scary. The main food concessions were actually still located by the Watson Stage, though other food stands were added near the vendors. The vendors had been moved away from the main thoroughfare, but only one lane over. It actually improved the flow of people between the gate and the main stage, and eased the congestion around the always popular Americana Stage. I can't really speak to the vendors' fees. Sharon, a crafty type herself, seemed to think that the higher fee led to an overall increase in the quality of the crafts displayed. Judging by the stack of new prints we hauled home, she was as always impressed by the craftsmanship displayed by Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress of Knoxville, Tenn. My only beef with the setup was the price of CDs at MerleFest Mall. I can't remember what they were priced two years ago, but $18 is too steep whether it's been that way for a while or not.

It's about the music
One constant at MerleFest, the only one that's not subject to change, is the quality of the music:

Shana Banana
As a stay-at-home mom (an effort for which I am eternally grateful), Sharon gets too little time to herself. So I sent her off to check out the Worthless Son-in-Laws while I took Harper over to see Shana Banana. Ms. Banana, if that indeed is her real name, wasn't really my cup of tea. Then again, I'm not her target audience. She was wonderful with the kiddies, though, and seeing Harper beaming with delight and clapping and looking around at the other kids in the tent made my entire weekend well before noon. Our hopes that she would have fun were further confirmed when she also shook her teeny-tiny booty to Donna the Buffalo and Uncle Earl before the day was out.

Crooked Still
Shortly after Shana Banana's set, it was time for Dad to see Crooked Still at the Creekside Stage. Their "Shaken by a Low Sound" was a surprise treasure last year, and the band didn't disappoint live. Their sound on disc is intriguing, basically a string-band lineup but with the cello of Rushad Eggleston providing a low rumble in place of the fiddle. The band is even more captivating in person, and their set suggested that they could be in attendance at many, many MerleFests.

Infamous Stringdusters
Another young band with a seemingly bright future is the Infamous Stringdusters, who played a pleasant early afternoon set on the Americana Stage. At the start of the day, I hadn't planned on seeing them because they lost out in one of the infamous schedule conflicts that crop up as a result of MerleFest's typically jam-packed lineup. I had planned on seeing the Peter Rowan & Tony Rice Quartet at the Walker Center, but as I climbed the long stairway from the Austin Stage to Walker, a long line of festivalgoers was coming down the hill. Almost to a person, they said to forget about it, that the center was packed to the gills and there were at least a hundred people standing outside who weren't going to get in the door. I should have remembered from years past that Rowan & Rice are an extremely popular attraction, and that Walker fills up fast when they're playing there. MerleFest should remember that, too. Unless the artists object, Rowan & Rice really should be featured on the Watson Stage.

'Phenomenal' blues showcase
Rowan & Rice was my one must-see show on Friday, but my disappointment over missing them soon was forgotten during the blues showcase at Creekside featuring Roy Book Binder, Spencer Bohren, Ruthie Foster, Rev. Robert Jones and John Hammond. They all were good, and made me a little sorry that we weren't going to be seeing their full sets during the all-blues, all-day festivities on Saturday at Austin Stage. Hammond was as great as you'd expect from an artist of his stature. Bohren was a revelation. I hadn't heard of the New Orleans artist, but I was a fan before he even got to the first verse of his lap-steel version of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready." But it was Foster who Sharon and I had gone to Creekside to see. We bought her new disc, "The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster," a few days before MerleFest and listened to it on the drive down. For the most part, she lives up to the bold choice of adjectives. In person, though, she exceeded all of our expectations. Foster sings with a power and a conviction that is not only phenomenal, but uncommon. Jones, who had to follow her, summed it up best when he jokingly thanked her for "scorching the stage."

The Duhks
Since The Duhks parted ways with singer Jessee Havey and replaced her with Sarah Dugas, I thought I'd get over and check them out. They sounded to me like the same band, which isn't at all a bad thing, but it wasn't enough to keep me there for more than a couple songs, either. Time was running short on our one day, so I opted for a little more time checking out a little more merchandise from the vendors.

Bela Fleck & Friends
Back at the Watson Stage, the crowd had noticeably encroached on our tarp when I went back to see banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck's late-afternoon set, a jam featuring Fleck, bassist Byron House, fiddler Luke Bulla, Jerry Douglas on dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin and Bryan Sutton and Tony Rice on guitar. What more can you say about that collection of talent? I could ramble on for a while, but probably can't top my father's reaction when I told him about it on Sunday, delivered with all appropriate sarcasm: "Wow, that must have sucked," he said.

Frosty Morn and a moment to mourn
Similarly suck-free was Frosty Morn, Merle Watson's side project that reconvenes with Doc Watson and Merle's son Richard at MerleFest. Merle's memory, after all, is the reason for the festival in the first place, so it was appropriate that Sharon and I said an early good-night to our group and took Harper back to the cabin for bath and bedtime as Doc, Richard Watson and Bill Mathis performed the customary evening salute, "A Song for Merle."

Wait until next year
Our early exit meant missing Elvis Costello with a backing band comprising multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell, Jim Lauderdale, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan and Jerry Douglas, but we can plan for future MerleFests hoping that it wasn't a one-off performance. I know our daughter won't stay little for long, but I hope the music continues to bring her the joy that was on her angelic face Friday morning. It's as unrealistic to expect that MerleFest won't grow, but here's hoping that the organizers guard against getting overgrown.