Saturday, Sept. 15 – Harvest Jazz & Blues

Blackberry Smoke in the Blues tent at 5pm . . . man that’s early . . . almost a matinee . . . but it was worth it! They had a great show reminiscent of their first visit to Harvest, except this time they were a known quantity to Harvest fans. They crossed the border hassle free (this time) complete with a new album. Great to see them back. They filled the tent with a really big feel-good dose of long haired southern rock the way southern rock is done best. Please come back for a three-peat.
I had some time to kill before Steve Earle, and I used it to finally hear Kendra Gale at Blues Court. I’ve been meaning to see her for a while, but couldn’t make it happen . . . guess I don’t get out much. Anyway, she rocks the Les Paul! Solid guitar work . . . great vocals . . . big future. I will make a special effort to hear her again . . . soon . . . and I expect she will view the crowd from the stage of many future Harvests.
Dawes at the Blues tent was my mystery band. I knew nothing of them beforehand . . . and I was pleased with what I heard. Five clean cut lads from California rockin’ the stage . . . maybe slightly in the vein of The Avett Brothers . . . only I honestly enjoyed Dawes more. I would definitely place them on the “call back” list.
Steve Earle is Steve Earle . . . we know him . . . we love him . . . we always have a place at the table for him. Steve Earle & The Dukes have played Harvest twice and he’s no stranger in Freddy . . . he’s played here a half dozen times all tolled.
Home early, relatively speaking . . . no afterburner for me tonight . . . four nights and I’m beat . . . feet are killing me. The weather all week has been perfect. The streets and venues have been full . . . .well done Harvest #28.

Kendra gale

Friday, Sept. 14 – Harvest Jazz & Blues

Mavis Staples at the Blues tent at 6PM . . . WOW! Harvest fans were schooled by the elder stateswoman of Chicago blues. At 79 years young and with 62 years in the business, there isn’t much she hasn’t seen or done. She held the packed audience in the palm of her hand . . . she owned the room. Here soulful blues is interspersed with real life stories going all the way back to the Freedom march with Dr. Martin Luther King in 1962. Her musical heritage goes all the way back to The Staples Singers. Again . . . WOW!

Had some time to burn before headliner Sturgill Simpson at 10pm . . . took in most of MonkeyJunk’s set at the Mojo. Saw them last night . . . different set tonight. I could listen to Steve Mariner for hours. I really like this band and I’ll keep their music on the front burner for a while. Then about twenty minutes of The Legendary Downchild Blues Band. These veterans have been here a handful of times over the years . . . they still have it.
Sturgill Simpson at the Blues tent at 10pm. He is currently among the handful of top festival draws in North America and the reason becomes apparent quickly. He plays as a four piece band (including Hammond B3). His guitar work is relentless. His songs are sometimes country-like, sometimes rock, and sometimes a psycho combo of both. I first saw him on the Tonight Show, and his performance stuck with me. Got to admit, they were loud . . . but I guess that’s why I bought the tuned ear plugs . . . highly recommended. It was inevitable that Harvest would eventually net Sturgill Simpson. It was a lightning bolt out of the blue that they were able to sign him on short notice in the wake Nathaniel Ratliffe’s unfortunate cancellation. Rateliff has committed himself to the 2019 Harvest, so this ends up being a good news story all round . . . the two biggest draws in two consecutive years . . . bonus!
Caught some of Ross Neilsen’s late show at the Mojo, then closed the night with a bit of the Downtown Blues Band at Blues Court. Ross is a must-see whenever he's in town and I have to see the DTBB every year at Harvest . . . just because. The DTBB has played all twenty-eight Harvest’s. The weather was perfect tonight and the streets were packed . . . literally jammed. Having lots of fun . . . seeing lots of friends . . . and cousins . . . yep, lots of cousins. Always a nice feeling to see family. Good Night.

Ross Neilsen

Thursday, Sept. 13 – Harvest Jazz & Blues

Beautiful weather and a busy busy night tonight. Caught the first half hour of Cecile Doo-Kingue at the Blues tent . . . an accomplished practitioner of the blues . . . well worth the price of a ticket. Born in New York city with roots in Cameroon, she currently lives in Montreal. I expect we will see her again at a future Harvest. She deeply appreciated being invited to play at Harvest, and we deeply appreciated being entertained by her.
Next, it was across the parking lot to the Blues Court for a half hour of SG & The Tone Kings . . . always a local draw with a variety of rock & roll covers. Then off to the Mojo for the last half hour of The Hypochondriacs . . . another local band led by twenty-five year old hometown favourite, Josh Bravener. They have a likeable rockin’ country sound . . . and they rock’it. This guy is a born entertainer and a ball of fire. We will see him many times over the coming years in a host of different rolls as his musical abilities continue to evolve.
MonkeyJunk took the stage at the Mojo and never looked back. Veteran Harvester Steve Mariner puts his all into every set he delivers. He’s been here four times (according to him) . . . I would have guessed more. Very likeable three piece band . . . with no bass player . . . interesting, and it works.
Alan Doyle (and company) did a great job . . . as expected. He’s played Freddy many times . . . but his first Harvest. Lots of Newfoundland songs and ballads of the sea. Glad I saw him. I reluctantly left Alan Doyle a bit early so as to catch the tail end of The Sheepdogs at the Blues tent . . . and it was worth it. The tight schedule often causes trade-offs . . . which is one of the fun benefits of buying an Ultimate Pass . . . you just make it all mesh.
Closed the night with John Campbelljohn at the Blues Court afterburner. He is a veteran craftsman of the blues and he doesn’t disappoint. I could listen to his slide guitar for hours . . . and I do. I always have room for the solo blues acts (albeit he was accompanied by drummer Matt Sobb from MonkeyJunk tonight). It takes a healthy mix of big-stage bands and intimate solo musicians to cover the genres so everyone gets a bit of what they need.
The sound at every venue tonight was spot-on crystal clear. Thankfully, the Magpie sound fiasco last night is but an unrepeated memory . . . although there were some good chuckles today as people described what they heard last night.
Looking forward to Sturgill Simpson tomorrow night.

Cecile Doo-Kingue

Wednesday, Sept. 12 - Harvest Jazz & Blues

I can’t believe another Harvest is here already . . . just seems like yesterday . . .
Anyway, first off . . . a couple of housekeeping items . . . I’m disappointed in myself for not taking in the Blind Boys of Alabama and Ross Neilsen at the Playhouse Tuesday evening . . . don’t know what I was thinking . . . great venue for good sound. Secondly, I had decided I wasn’t going to do this this year . . . I guess it didn’t take.
It was a Blues Tent evening all round tonight. Anders Osborne opened with a four piece band from N’orlins. They had all the right tools . . . and loads of talent . . . but maybe were a bit heavy with the dalliances in experimental sounds. It seemed that every time they got a hard driving rhythm going they would segue into a slow, dreamlike collage of sound. Many enjoy this, and I’m happy that they do, but it really pokes hard at my annoy button. I tend to favour music that makes my feet tap and my head bop. Dis aint dat. Note to Anders: Go see The Record Company.

Next up was The Record Company for the fourth visit to Harvest since 2011(?). They are a three piece band with no soy in the hamburg. I’ve seen all four sets . . . I’ve watched them grow . . . got all of their music . . . and I like! Frontman Chris Vos spoke a thousand words during their first song when he blasted “We’re happy to be home. We’re The Record Company and we play rock and roll”. There isn’t much I can add to that. Mr. Vos took a moment later in the set to acknowledge that way back when they were a young band out of Wisconsin; Harvest Jazz & Blues was the first major festival to sign them. It gave them cred with other festivals, and the rest is history. They are now one of the top festival draws in North America, and to paraphrase Duane Allman, they’re fartin’ through silk! Harvest is so fortunate to be a part of their success story, and Vos said the band would never forget what Harvest has done for them.
The Magpie Salute closed the evening. Their style (and bad sound management) made it hard for me to follow the rhythms . . . all I got was a mash of sound. We bolted just over halfway through their set. Oddly enough, the sound was cleaner at the back by the exits, and sounded not half bad outside. I think it may be another case where the sound man didn’t listen when staff told him to set up for a long narrow tent.
During The Record Company’s set in particular, the crowd noise was overpowering. It is the inherent evil of the large tent, and it shows disrespect for the artists. It is incumbent on Harvest to take an in-your-face approach to lowering the ambient noise level.
Lots of fun tonight and a big week ahead . . . off to bed.

Anders Osborne