HeatherFest 18 took place on a bright sunny afternoon yesterday. Fitting, for it was another bright, sunny run at the event that has been a fixture in the greater-Boston blues community for sometime now. Hosted by former YardRock bartender/former Boston Blues Society president Heather McKibben in her spacious backyard, HeatherFest is more about its vibe than anything else. Yes, there are several blues bands who perform at these annual backyard barbeques, and yet, there is so much more to it than music.
The scent of food grilling, the sight of motorcycles out front and the riding jackets, people making their way through the aisles between lawn chairs to greet old friends are all a big part of what makes the day work. It is the vibe that comes from the mutual goodwill of the people who make HeatherFest happen and the folks who attend. HeatherFest, which asks a donation from attendees, also raises money for various charities. All of the proceeds go to charity. This year, the event raised money for, among other things, 17 year old Eva Lipton who was seriously injured when a car she was a passenger in collided head on with a school bus in Kingston last March and for two bulletproof vests for Bristol Country Sherriff’s Department K-9s.
Amidst this setting of good will takes place an outdoors music event. While HeatherFest maybe smaller in land size than other local music festivals, it’s attendance numbers can rival quite a few of them. The HeatherFest crowd creates a huge positive vibe that encourages the bands to match the energy and enthusiasm.
First up was Racky Thomas’ Traveling Medicine Show Revival, Thomas’s take on old time musical influences from ragtime to barrelhouse to blues to gospel. Backed by a piano player, an upright bassist, and a drummer, Thomas, on acoustic guitar, lead his Revival through many pleasant vintage songs that made for a good opener. They had their material down pat, and you could actually picture these guys traveling the 1920s to 1940s carnival circuit, stopping to entertain at county fairs and festivals or wherever people gathered to celebrate good times.
The piano player kept a good churchy feel going on in his carefree, jovial tinkling. Thomas, on “I Saw The Light” and on “Amazing Grace” sounded like a raspy throated spiritual belter. He carried the beginning of “Amazing Grace” all by his own self with a deep, rich, spiritual ebullience until his band moved in behind his voice. On “Ain’t Nobody’s Business” Thomas played gritty notes on his Resonator and unleashed a guttural vocal that reached deep inside himself to make this one feel extra real.
In between band sets, youthful Len Tetta entertained with his dobro, vocal, and set list of vintage blues material. He played a Robert Johnson song and he served up a blues interpretation of “Last Train To Clarksville.” There is certainly an old soul in that young boy. He strummed out a version of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues” and it was cool how his young voice was strong enough to be heard over the wide spacious backyard. A true ability to project was born in this boy.
Toni Lynn Washington Band came on next. Washington only needs to be herself to get the job done. Her sweet, mellifluous, and pure vocal carried well on each song. Washington, who turns 76 this year, has performed at all 18 HeatherFest events. It is easy to see why McKibben keeps inviting her back. Washington delivered the goods on “Gimme One Reason” when she cruised her voice over snappy, brittle guitar phrases. Washington also delivered a hip blues version of the Elvis Presley hit “I Feel So Bad.” Putting forth her clear, smooth voice over Cheryl Arena’s humming electric harp, Washington made this tune her own.
Sam Gentile And Basic Black came up on stage next. Gentile sings with a soulful tone in his voice while delivering in a blues style. And he made a wise choice calling Racky Thomas back up to blow some harp melodies around what Basic Black was already laying down. Gentile plays his guitar notes in pretty, speedy intervals, brittle and sharp, making them ring out with a simmering inner tension.
Gentile juxtaposed his ringing, jangling, shiny guitar notes with Thomas’s chirpy, humming harp. Then the guitarist ground out a louder dynamic in his whistling guitar notes. Gentile And Basic Black went into a slower blues number that pulled several couples onto the designated dancing area. Yet, “Crosscut Saw” brought the tempo back up with an intrepid beat and a smoldering guitar line that slithered its way around the beat.
That kind of blues excellence contributed to the communal HeatherFest spirit. And speaking of that vibe, HeatherFest, through McKibben and her volunteers, seeks to give thanks to people who support the local blues scene with their annual Keeping Blues Alive award. This year’s award went to MoeJoe Marino, the husband and wife team of Maureen and Joseph Marino. The Marinos help the spread the word about blues bands by attending and video recording numerous shows and posting the videos on YouTube and Facebook. This is the second year McKibben has presented the Keeping Blues Alive award. Last year’s went to Diana Shonk, publisher of the 20 year old Blues Audience Newsletter.
Bulletproof vests for Police K9 officers has been another HeatherFest cause for sometime now. The Bristol County Sheriff’s Department sent some of their deputies to demonstrate a K9 officer’s take down abilities. It was impressive to see a dog knock down a deputy in a Gumby suit, the dog pouncing with 400 pounds of pressure. Seeing the dog in person gave a better sense of the need to raise money to purchase more Kevlar bulletproof vests. The dog does his duty for the people, so people might feel more inspired to do a duty for the dog. Anything that gives law enforcement another edge.
During the next side show, a trio was formed on the spot, Arena played harp and sang, Gentile played guitar, and Thomas played his dobro. This trio played front porch vintage blues from the days when blues were still young. Hearing Arena’s strong, emotive vocal and her assertive harmonica lines rising over HeatherFest was a reminder that this music, originated about a hundred years ago, still brings people out to have a good time. The only difference is, women musicians like Arena are no longer a novelty like Memphis Minnie was back in the day.
Always full of spiritual energy, The Brian Templeton Band began with ferocious harmonica wailing from the man himself. Templeton’s guitarist took over the melodic duties and he too put out a crazy phrase. “Got Love If You Want It” had a backbeat that carried the song with a cool groove. The song opened up a space for the lead guitarist to play a melody so fine, you’d think he was painting an aural masterpiece with sound instead of a brush.
“Smokestack Lightning” gave Templeton a chance to deliver his rugged, earthy belt over a tremendous rocking beat and wild, fiery sounds. Templeton plays in a style reminiscent of a Rolling Stones albums. He and his band mates start with blues as a blueprint before expanding blues into elements of country, R&B, soul, or whatever strikes his fancy. So, not surprisingly, Templeton and his boys slowed it down a bit for “Long Black Veil,” adding some country inflections with a honky tonk flavor that the lead guitarist’s phrase was drenched in. Likewise, Templeton crooned a descriptive lyrical story with a cowboy earnestness.
Templeton picked up his acoustic guitar and an acoustic strummed, electric guitar twanged version of “I Saw The Light” played out with a country two-step shuffle in the rhythm section. Templeton called Johnny “Blue Horn” Moriconi up on stage to substitute a trumpet for the Mariachi horns in a rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire.” Templeton’s vocal offering was measured, gritty, sincerity.
The side stage players, Thomas and an accordion player, whipped up a pleasing rendition of “Walking To New Orleans” before the Chris Fitz Band came on board to play their particularly punchy brand of hard-driving blues-rock. Fritz’s licks made his tune “Traveling Wheel” come to life, the electric guitar crying out with passion and feeling. Fitz played “Crown Of Thorns’ by churning out a thickened, fiery melodic phrase. Fitz sang it in a low, mournful, plaintive belt, and he just kept the guitar magic coming through out his set. He sometimes somehow puts an extra phrase inside his main phrase, simultaneously, which makes his guitar melody rage like it’s breathing fire. “Welcome To The Rhythm World” was another Fitz ditty that rocked the blues hard. The bass line had an unwavering muscular low end run that let Fitz riff away on top of the groove.
Closing out the HeatherFest event program was the Diane Blue Big Band. Blue has a sexy rasp in her powerful vocal that allows her to breathe new life into everybody’s favorite classics from the 1960s and 1970s. Blue chooses to back up her vocal with a huge orchestrated sound, including three horns and an organist, This big band plays with a wide, swinging, jazzy feeling, like the wide movements of music in a World War II era big band. The Blue Big Band features Blue’s classy vocal style belting out material like Bill Wither’s “Use Me,” which was highlighted last night by a grooving fulsome organ exuberance. Her rhythm section bumped this one along with a groove that could be felt as far back as a bonfire at the extreme rear of the property. When Blue applied her soulful drawl to “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” she came off with the jazzy sophistication of a featured singer in an upscale nightclub from days gone by. There were numerous textures of sound coming out that big band on each number, giving listeners a lot to appreciate. Blue was a fantastic torch singer on “Late At Night” while her band took the down tempo route, making things emotionally deeper, with horn spikes adding extra colors to the wide swath of music coming through.
Yes, it was another fantastic lineup of local blues bands for last night’s HeatherFest. And if music was the only thing HeatherFest 18 was about, it still would have been a great time. Yet, it was more about a community spirit that the music has been fostering for many years now.
