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Other Happy Campers

More Folk Fest best bets.


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Published: Aug 12, 2008

Kathy Mattea

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Friday

Surprising how similar the story of Red Molly is to Fest-lifers Full Frontal Folk. A group of women who camped together, in RM's case at Falcon Ridge Festival, and discovered they were meant to harmonize. The roots have only gone deeper, harmonies grown sweeter since then. ... String lovers are fixated on Jake Shimabukuro for his amazing advancement on the ukulele. ... Quirky sounds so pejorative, yet it seems so apt for Jim Bianco, both in terms of material and his very distinctive voice. Not somebody anybody would ever confuse with a folkie, but interesting.

Saturday

Songs of the Coal is the premise for pairing Kathy Mattea and Jean Ritchie. Don't hold Mattea's Nashville hits against her. She started life in West Virginia, descended from coal miners on both sides. Her newest CD, Coal, is a song collection inspired by the anti-global warming initiative. Ritchie is long known for songs narrating the life of working people in Appalachia. ... The big afternoon concert features partners Steve Earle and Allison Moorer. Both are nominally country, though Earle is now working with a scratchin' DJ, incorporating echoes of his present NYC home into his set of thought-provoking material.

Sunday

The evening show features several bands that have pleased both sides of the trad divide for many years. BeauSoleil still has founding member Michael Doucet on fiddle. He takes his Cajun roots very seriously. He has done much research to enhance his knowledge, but that formality has never stopped the band from rocking the house. ... Terrance Simien is another Louisiana legend, from the zydeco side. ... Local singing/songwriting fave LisaBeth Weber was bitten hard by the bluegrass bug when O Brother hit the screen. One of Nashville's most celebrated producers, Bil VornDick, worked on her most recent collection, The Fire Tower Sessions.

Aug. 15-17, tickets are $48-$177, Old Pool Farm, near Schwenksville, 215-242-0150, 800-556-FOLK, pfs.org.