New Bedford Folk Festival Day #2 ~ 2018 July 8 ~ Meet the Performer and Purchase Street Stages ~ New Bedford, MA
Scroll to below video for review of the show.
Video
"The Thimble Island Ghost" (Mustard's Retreat)
Review
Back for the second day at the best deal around, the New Bedford Folk Festival, which costs $30 for the entire weekend.
We started off where we ended the day yesterday, at the Meet the Performer Stage at the Seamen's Bethel. The performer was multi-instrumentalist and music historian Hubby Jenkins, who played songs on banjo, guitar, and spoons. Taking the premise of the Meet the Performer Stage to heart, Hubby shared many stories, both his own stories and those of his ancestors. If there was one fact Hubby wanted the audience to go home with, it was that the banjo was originally an African-American instrument played by those in servitude. He was also very witty and entertaining, and had the audience laughing out loud at his story about being left penniless on a road trip by a former girlfriend and having to busk his way home.
Next, we were off to the Purchase Street stage. I don't think I would have gone back into the freezing Greasy Luck stage for any performer. And besides, Purchase Street had the wonderful Mustard's Retreat, whom we had seen at a previous NBFF as a duo. But this time, founding member Libby Glover was rejoining Michael Hough and David Tamulevich to form the Mustard's Retreat Trio. The three musicians played acoustic guitar, electric bass, mandolin, and percussion, had a beautiful vocal blend, and achieved their goal of making the audience feel happy with their music.
When one attends a festival like this, one needs to be prepared to change one's plan at a moment's notice. We had some performances we were hoping to see, but it seemed that getting into the Custom House Stage was going to be a real challenge, so we opted to head to the Zeiterion (the festival's biggest venue) for a workshop with four excellent performers.
"Workshop" is the term used by the NBFF for a performance with more than one artist. This time The Kennedys and the Laura Love Duo were sharing the stage with two bands we hadn't seen yet at the festival, Mile Twelve and The Mammals. All four performed melodic, interesting songs, and after a song or two, all the musicians started to join in together on one another's songs, until it was turning into one mega jam session. When Maura Kennedy sang the new song "Be Silent No More," with its gospel sound, Laura Love joined in on backing vocals, and it was the highlight of the show.
There was plenty more music on tap, but we'd had enough and headed home. Some years we've seen some performers at this festival that we didn't really like, but that wasn't the case this year. It was a top notch lineup with a great deal of variety in the folk and Americana realm, and congratulations go to the festival committee and everyone involved for putting on such an excellent festival.
Click for 2018 Concert Page with links to all 2018 concerts ... Click for Main Concert Page with links to all years