Our fourth visit in five years did not disappoint and we already bought tickets for next year. Just like last year, we trust Bill Poss to book a very eclectic group of artists, but this year he announced at the first “In The Round” he had TWO artists already booked for 2027, Steve Poltz (a returning act for MCF) and Emily Scott Robinson (Oh my a bucket list artist and a favorite fest) Emily is only listed 22 times in the blog currently, and how it’s gone in the past we’ll get one gig on the calendar to see her and quickly we’ll have TWO; that would be awesome too. They are shifting it back a week next year which might land on Blue Ox’s weekend, so there it goes I haven’t been to Blue Ox (only 90 minutes away) I prefer the size of MCF and nothing beats the Shady Stage.
Ok so much for next year, this year’s fest headliners were firsts for us and both were outstanding. Rodney Crowell played a tight set of originals until he covered Poncho and Lefty and had a few fans join him on stage. Nick Shoulders was wonderful, but while we were upfront we had some jerks come and stand right in front of us. We get that MCF has no layout designated for dancers but dance then. I absolutely hate standing venues; and for a minute I was pissed. We decided to walk to the back so we could see. Headliners don’t tend to be good video because of the dancers and the light; but the rest of the fest I have nicely documented so I can remember who we saw and archive some awesome memories.
Speaking of artists, first we had already hosted two (Jess Klein and Chicago Farmer) for house concerts and have booked two (Shanna In a Dress and Loveseat) more from the weekend for the Bluff View. There is always an artist that surprises and floors us and Lori and I agreed it was Sheafor and Simes. Now some of you might say it was because of Audrey was dressed in the coolest short skirt outfit; but that had nothing to do for their outstanding fun, and yes she was fun just to watch dance while she played the drums. (more like a snare only)
Speaking of dancers, I believe Molly from Molly Flower Designs would show up in the highlight videos, but instead I did a special one just for dancers. If we sit up front and have to have dancers directly in front of us; can they all be as fluid and beautiful as Molly with her hoop. Here she is dancing to a clip of Carsie Blanton’s music:
Yes, YouTube dinged and blocked it for licensing, but I bet Carsie would have said “F That, use it Dave” Oh well I ended up tweaking the comic filter and put it up with my song “The Dance of Life”. So have a listen and see how much fun that effect is:
If you had stopped at last year’s recap, you know they had Tay Peterson as the photographer, and she was back this year and was one of the first hugs I got from the weekend. Lori of course just shakes her head when I tell her how I have made connections. I am the Lucky Dog of course.
This post will be real sketchy until I finish; but it will always have access to the YouTube playlist that will include all the videos I post from the fest. Like last near 79 videos to putz with and make some fun memories for me and the many patrons of the fest. I will try my best to post in chronological sequence, but I did have to pull up a favorite one from Hope Dunbar because JJ asked me; and Bill told me you never really want to say no to JJ. 😉
Here’s the playlist started Monday after the fest, and now I’ve made it through Friday’s Shady Stage.
And now this is the first highlight video that I said to myself immediately after I recorded it, yes Hope Dunbar an outstanding mom and songwriter found a 80’s classic power ballad and recruited two women crazy enough to marry Passalacqua men and get that handle as a last name.
It took to only the third concert we listened to for Lori and I to both agree the surprise of the weekend was Sheafor and Simes. Audrey Simes and Drew Sheafor from St. Louis describe themselves as “Action packed music duo with soaring harmonies and combustible performance power” I think they nailed it, but I would add INFECTIOUS… everyone was smiling and grooving in their chairs. I’ll have a couple clips in the playlist, but this one merged my first experience seeing them sing the traditional “You are my Sunshine” and a great rockabilly song. Note their is nothing traditional about these two. I’m so happy that Google didn’t ding this for their licensed protocols and I can share it with you.
Pat Bryne had a wonderful set, and when he invite J. Plank to the stage I expected the song to be special. Boy I was right, it was a fantastic cover of Guy Clark’s “Dublin Blues” He did put the song out on his “Live from Cedar Creek” album.
Of course, I have to share one of the four songs I recorded from Shanna In A Dress, how about the one we meet “Her Best Friend” from high school I assume:
It was our second time seeing Grant Peeples at MCF, and if you are not a Trump supporter; you have to love his sense of humor. We do.
Here’s another highlight with JJ Passalacqua… this time with J. Plank. On the album version of this song, Patty Griffin sings the harmonies, (Sleeping Dogs album) pretty big shoes to fill and she did a great job. Oh btw I did not pick the thumbnail being Tay Peterson; and I still haven’t learned how to change the thumbnail on the short. (I kind of like it though.)
The night closed with some of my favorite people; Chicago Farmer and the Fieldnotes. I’ve taken many a video of him or the group over the years, but I got a rare cover by him and one of the best songs off of his new album “Home Aid” (well maybe after “Tina Hart’s Mustang”). Tay and Moon Flower get appearances in the following video too. One kick ass jam song that I love to dance to in the kitchen when I’m cooking.
Well except for the Hope Dunbar Pop/Folk cover, this brings you to the end of Friday night. Now Saturday started with another song swap with Erin Goldstein (Bill Poss Music’s President), Terry Klien, and Ryan Noir. After Ryan played this song and the set was over, I went to the merch table and bought the vinyl record that had this song!!!! Sure to show up in a playlist too. Yes since I was smiling already, and I wanted to see that colorful short Ryan was wearing highlighted, I used the Vintage Comic filter:
I loved Erin’s usage of time waiting on a train:
Now let’s join Terry Klein driving across OK:
Yes more to come…
But until then you can browse through our last four visits
