A Crash-Course in Outdoor Concerts

After a long forced-fast from musical outings, my wife and I binged this weekend! We took our 9-month-old daughter to her first concerts -- three in three days! We saw Chatham County Line at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham on Friday night, then an all-day bender at Merlefest (including Steve Martin & Elvis Costello) on Saturday, and then today finished up with a ridiculously cool Austin Collins house concert in Carrboro.

Unsure of how the girlie would react to all that music, we considered each step of the weekend a discrete event that might short-circuit the next. Would the loud music and busy atmosphere of the Durham outdoor concert make her cry? Would she freak out? If so, no Merlefest, and so on. (Cause let's face it -- Merlefest is full of people & crazy full of music.)

She shone through in crazy good form. I've never seen a baby soak up music & outdoor concerts so readily. She is, without doubt, my little (hippie) daughter.

Alright -- concerts:

First up, Chatham County Line played a great set at the American Tobacco Campus. This is a no-brainer for us. It's literally about four blocks from my office building and about ten minutes from our house. It's feet away from drinking establishments that let you buy real damn beer to drink outside, and it's free admission. We're going to every goddamn one of these we can. Did I mention it was hosted by WUNC's Back Porch Music? No brainer.

CCL rocked as usual. They played songs from all of their previous albums and gave a few sneak peaks into their summer release. I'm looking forward to that one. CCL is still my favorite Bluegrass band, especially now that the original lead singer left the Steeldrivers.

Next up was a full-day at Merlefest. This was my *NINTH* blessed attendance of the Merle, and this the first one that I actually visited to R&R tent. (To, uh, well, change some diapers. I'm a Dad now, you see.) My daughter loved it! We rolled the high-tech BOB jogging stroller up and down that campus with no problems.

We camped out at the Hillside Stage to catch Great Big Sea & the Wayback's third-annual Album Hour. GBS was a real treat -- a slightly Celtic-tinged jam band with amazing vocal harmonies and eclectic instrumentation. They even sing sea chanties! Very much up my alley.

The Waybacks gave some very cryptic clues beforehand as usual, but we were clueless as they started playing a solid version of the Beatles' Abbey Road. Great choice, and great arrangements. They had Jens Krüger on banjo, Jerry Douglas on electric dobro, and some very special guests on vocals including Byron House (albeit singing in a very vocoder fashion), Jim Lauderdale (as Ringo on "Octopus' Garden"), and a very enthusiastic Elvis Costello. Afterwards we were able to walk about three feet from Elvis as he greeted us from the usual Merlefest getaway car (a golf cart driven by a volunteer).

We caught Steve Martin, who was a huge draw this year, seemingly bringing in almost as many people as the famed "Dolly Parton weekend" nine Merlefests ago (my first year, actually). Steve had the Steep Canyon Rangers playing backup, and it was some pretty decent Bluegrass for a world-class comedian. He was very funny, including an iPad-based "$500 playlist", an a cappella "Atheist's hymn", and -- as an encore -- a rousing Bluegrass version of "King Tut". Definitely a novelty, but definitely Merlefest history. I'm glad I was there to see it, and so was my daughter, as she wouldn't go to sleep as long as music was playing. (Even though it was WAY past her bedtime.)

We caught a bit of Elvis Costello's star-studded lineup as we were leaving the festival with a finally-crashed little girl in a stroller. Let me just say some names -- Jerry Douglas, Jim Lauderdale, Stuart Duncan, Mike Compton. Doing everything from Elvis' latest country/folk album to the Beatles to "Allison". Great. Damn. Day.

And last but certainly not least, we were invited out to a house concert at the "Rose Compound" here in Carrboro. David Rose, manager of the amazingly talented Austin Collins, was hosting an outdoor concert by same Mr. Collins on his farm. Fantastic weather added the perfect touch to a amazing duo set by Austin and his buddy Craig. It was intimate, personal, and full of friends new and old. It had a real Durham/Chapel Hill feel to it, even though the music came all the way from Austin, Texas. It was the perfect end to a perfect musical weekend.

So, in three days, my 9-month-old daughter went from zero concert experience to seeing almost every kind of outdoor concert style in just three days. All she needs now is a Jimmy Buffett concert in a huge stadium, and she'll have seen it all.

Life is good here in North Carolina. God bless us, every one.