The first day of MerleFest's 20th is done and a little late afternoon/evening rain did little to dampen spirits. Asheville's Steep Canyon Rangers playing nearly a home game, kicked things off on the Watson Stage followed by the beloved Waybacks (coming to Richmond's Science Museum on June 16th), and then John Cowan, sporting a new banjo player and a close-cropped new do. The remarkable (they're not a novelty act anymore) Cherryholmes put in a finely polished hour of favorites and some new stuff too. The Cow returned to host the Kickoff Jam with his own great band and a serious guest list including Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, The Dirt Band's John McEuen, dobro pioneer Tut Taylor, Pete Wernick, Uncle Earl, John's step son Luke Bulla, Stringdusters Chris Eldridge and Jesse Cobb, and young mando master Sierra Hull. An impressive number sat through cool, light drizzle to soak it all up.
And then, to top it off, we made it back to the motel to in time to catch Tony Trischka, Bela Fleck and Steve Martin close out the Letterman show with Steve's original instrumental The Crow. They got a huge ovation and Dave did something I'd never seen him do. He was so genuinely impressed, he came over to personally thank Tony, Bela and Steve by name, and then asked to be introduced to the rest of the band, whom he proceeded to also thank personally by name. It was probably the same band that accompanied Tony at AC&T earlier this month including the amazing Michael Daves on guitar. In decades of watching Letterman, I've never seen him do that. What a great night for this music!
It's crazy late...more to come....TT
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