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Friday Cheers on Brown's Island finished its 2009 season and 25th year of free music in Richmond
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Listening to Toubab Krewe on Brown's Island for the finale of Friday Cheers. Photo: Kerry Smith.
Friday Cheers at Brown’s Island finished its 2009 season last Friday with Toubab Krewe (with Crucial Elements), and celebrated a successful 25th year of bringing free music to the Richmond community on Brown’s Island. Friday Cheers 2009 consisted of eight free concerts along the historic downtown Richmond riverfront. Toubab Krewe’s sound blended American and West African influences to create “a new standard for fusions of rock n’ roll and West African music” (Afropop Worldwide). As always, good food and drinks were had by many while listening to good tunes against the backdrop of the James River, among the towers of Riverfront Plaza, the Federal Reserve Building, and the newly constructed (and still under construction) headquarters for MeadWestvaco Corporation (NYSE: MWV). MWV is printed in large letters high atop the nearly finished building, which will now complement the skyline of downtown Richmond. It is fairly reminiscent of the Richmond Ballet building.
Beer trucks were provided by Loveland Distributing, offering concert goers their choice of Coors Light, Yuengling and Miller Light drafts. Event goers purchase tickets for beer or wine. Each ticket costs $4, and there is a five ticket maximum limit. Alcohol ticket purchasers receive blue bracelets, after IDs are checked, and Loveland distributor operators dispense plastic cups of choice beer.
James River Cellars, a family-owned local winery in Hanover County, Glen Allen, VA, also provided plastic cups of their choice wine for a ticket. White wines provided by the winery are Chardonnays, Reserve Chardonnays, Gewurztraminers, Vidal Blancs, Chardonels, Hanover Whites (a blend of pinot grigio and apricot), and Divinios. Red wines include Rad Reds, Petit Verdots, Cabernet Francs, Merlots, Hanovers, Chambourcines, and Montpeliers.
Another mainstay Richmond sponsor was Plan 9 Music, a full service, independent retailer with more than 25 years in the music retailing business. They have four stores in the central Virginia area and North Carolina and are still growing. Most of their stores are members of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores. Plan 9 is an active supporter of the independent music community, supporting local artists and their shows. They currently carry over 300 titles on consignment directly from area bands, and they encourage in-store performances at all of their stores. Plan 9’s presence on Cary Street extends down to the River’s edge for the Friday Cheers performances on Brown’s Island, supporting performances of eclectic, local and regional bands.
Other event sponsors were Pepsi, Style Weekly, GMC, Mix 103.7, Richmond’s Y101 New Rock Alternative, Today’s New Country K95, 96.5 KLR, and Crowne Plaza Hotel and Resorts. Event parking at Tredegar Iron Works is $5.
Toubab Krewe, the last act of the 2009 season, formed in 2005 and is the magnetic instrumental quintet that has won a diverse and devoted following at performances everywhere from Bonnaroo (the 4-day camping festival in Manchester, Tennessee on a 700 acre farm), to the legendary Festival of the Desert in Essakane, Mali, known as the most remote festival in the world. Toubab Krewe developed their unique sound over the course of numerous extended trips to Mali, Guinea and the Ivory Coast, where they immersed themselves in the local culture, and studied and performed with luminaries.
Toubab Krewe’s roots are in Asheville, NC, where many of its members were childhood friends and long-term musical collaborators. It was there, at home in the Appalachians, where the band chose to record their sophomore album, Live at the Orange Peel. The new album captures their outstanding 2008 New Year’s run at the Orange Peel in their hometown.
All of the songs are previously unreleased and continue to mix American rock ‘n’ roll with the West African musical traditions the band fell in love with on their travels. Along the way, they explore the worlds of surf and zydeco, fusing it all together into what the Village Voice describes as “a futuristic, psychedelic, neo-griot frenzy” and Honest Tune hails as “one of the most innovative voices in music today.”
On May 8th, Richmond Cheers featured Melvin Seals and the JGB (with the Spaceheaters). Melvin Seals, whose musical roots seep deep into gospel soil, has always been seeking that point where music merges with spirit, what he calls “church vibe.” He found it with Jerry Garcia more than two decades ago, and he is finding it again in the new JGB. “Jerry Garcia Band was my absolute favorite band in the world and I’m honored to be able to carry on the torch and play homage to the heart and feel and tones,” said Seals.
Melvin Seals has established a reputation as a recording artist, producer and record company executive in the field of gospel music. He first took up piano at the age of eight and his first public performances were playing gospel music in church; his first band, “Gideon & Power,” was a local San Francisco group. He has gone on to perform/record with Elvin Bishop, Charlie Daniels, Chuck Berry and for 15 years with Jerry Garcia. He was the featured organist in such Broadway hits as “Evolution of the Blues” with John Hendricks, ACT’s production of “American More Or Less,” the Joyce Carroll Thomas play “A Song In the Sky,” and the hit “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope.” Melvin formed JGB one year after Jerry Garcia’s death on August 8, 1995 and was originally joined by Gloria Jones and Jackie Labranch, who were Garcia’s background singers.
On May 15th, Friday Cheers featured Rusted Root (with Jesse Chong), with a special show called, “Kicking off Dominion Riverrock.” Dominion Riverrock is Richmond’s newest event, and is produced jointly by Venture Richmond, the organization that brings Friday Cheers to the Richmond community, and the Richmond Sports Backers, named best sports commission in the country by the National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC), is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization founded in October 1991 to build a more vibrant community through sports. The mission of the organization is to “maximize the community benefits of sports tourism.” This mission is accomplished by focusing on three main strategic objectives: 1) Creating, attracting and improving significant sporting events, 2) Serving as a catalyst in the development and utilization of sports facilities, and 3) Aiding area youth through sports outreach programs.
Friday Cheers is a special tour for Rusted Root, the Pittsburgh, Pa., based band. In the process of recording their first studio album since 2002’s “Welcome to My Party,” Rusted Root gave their faithful fans a chance to hear some of the new music they have been working on.
Rusted Root has sold more than 3 million albums worldwide. Formed in Pittsburgh by front man Glabicki in the early 1990s, Rusted Root’s polyrhythmic style quickly charmed fans of roots music and jam rock. But club goers weren’t the only ones left smitten by the sextet’s impressively diverse chops and soaring vocals. Veering into Eastern and African directions, Rusted Root features three of the Pittsburgh-born band’s original band members; Michael Glabicki (lead vocals, guitar), Liz Berlin (vocals, percussion), and Patrick Norman (bass, vocals, percussion). Joining them on the road are Jason Miller (drums, percussion), Colter Harper (vocals, guitar), Preach Freedom (percussion), and Dirk Miller (guitar).
After debuting in 1992 with Cruel Sun, Rusted Root signed with Mercury Records and bowed on the label with the 1994 platinum selling breakthrough “When I Woke,” which featured the light and lovable “Send Me on My Way,” as well as several other rerecorded tracks from “Cruel Sun.” Not long after, the band scored on tours with Toad the Wet Sprocket, Santana, The Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews Band, The Allman Brothers Band, HORDE Festival and, perhaps most notably, the highly-coveted support role on the landmark Jimmy Page/Robert Plant reunion tour.
Playing a brand of rock rooted in the Woodstock generation, but often detouring into various types of world music, the hard-touring Rusted Root returned in 1996 with “Remember,” which was followed by 1998’s “Rusted Root.” After some time off, the band reemerged in 2002 with “Welcome to My Party.” The band’s sixth album, “Rusted Root Live” is the second album on its Touchy Pegg label, following the re-release of “Cruel Sun” in 2003, after a long tenure with Mercury/Island Def Jam. Along the way, Rusted Root has also issued three EPs (“Evil Ways,” “Live,” and “Airplane”), a home video (“Rusted Root Live”) and miscellaneous film and TV soundtracks such as from “Twister,” “Mathilda,” “Home For the Holidays,” “Party of Five,” “Homicide” and “Ice Age.”
On May 22nd, Venture Richmond and Friday Cheers featured the Zac Brown Band (with Dave Shultz & The Skyline). Playing upwards of 200 dates a year, with more than 3,000 shows in their career and selling more than 30,000 CDs independently, the Zac Brown Band has only begun its ascent. The band’s aggressive touring has helped it develop a fanatical grassroots following by winning over believers one person at a time. Driven by awe-inspiring musicianship, skillful songwriting and a dynamic live show that inspires word-of-mouth buzz, the Zac Brown Band is already embraced by audiences who sing along with every word.
“The Foundation,” released in November 2008 on Atlantic Records, debuted at No. 17 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart and No. 3 on the Top Country Albums Chart. The first single “Chicken Fried” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart and maintained that position for two weeks and also debuted as the second most downloaded country single on iTunes.
“It’s kind of crazy how we can go to a place where no one’s heard of us before and by the time we leave people are singing the songs,” bandleader Zac Brown says. “We’ve got a great following.”
It’s not an easily pigeonholed crowd either; loyal country music fans, jam lovers and seemingly everyone in between are enjoying the shows. The Zac Brown Band has already landed support slots with artists such as Sugarland, ZZ Top, Travis Tritt, Etta James, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, Willie Nelson and BB King.
Members of the band include bassist John Hopkins, fiddler Jimmy De Martini and more recent additions of guitarist/organist Coy Bowles and drummer Chris Fryar. In January 2009 multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Clay Cook joined the band; perhaps best known for his co-writes with Grammy-winner John Mayer, Cook rounds out the ZBB sound on guitar, vocals, organ, mandolin and pedal steel.
On May 29th, Friday Cheers brought the Lee Boys (with DJ Williams Projekt) to the Richmond community. The Lee Boys are one of America’s finest African-American sacred steel ensembles. This family group consists of three brothers, Alvin Lee (guitar), Derrick Lee and Keith Lee (vocals) along with their three nephews, Roosevelt Collier (pedal steel guitar), Alvin Cordy Jr. (7-string bass) and Earl Walker (drums). Each member began making music at the ages of 7 and 8 in the House of God church they attended in Perrine, Fla. Here they underwent a rigorous course of training in a variety of musical instruments, including lap and pedal steel guitars. Born and raised in Miami, each of The Lee Boys grew up in the church where their father and grandfather, Rev. Robert E. Lee, was the pastor and a steel player himself.
“Sacred steel” is a type of music described as an inspired, unique form of Gospel music with a hard-driving, blues-based beat. The musical genre is rooted in Gospel, but infused with rhythm and blues, jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop, country and ideas from other nations. Influenced by the Hawaiian steel guitar fad of the 1930s, brothers Willie and Troman Eason brought the electric lap steel guitar into the worship services of the House of God church in Jacksonville, Fla. The Pentecostal congregation embraced the soulful sound, and over time this unique sound became the hallmark of the church. The pedal steel guitar was added to the mix and soon became the central instrument. The Lee Boys are part of the fourth generation of musicians in this faith.
On June 5th, Friday Cheers brought Jerry Douglas (with the Atkinsons) to Brown’s Island. Jerry Douglas is widely renowned as perhaps the finest dobro player in contemporary acoustic music. His main foundation is bluegrass, but Douglas is an eclectic whose tastes run toward jazz, blues, folk, and straight-ahead country as well, and he’s equally capable of appealing to bluegrass aficionados or new agers with a taste for instrumental roots music. What’s more, his progressive sensibility as a composer has earned him comparisons to like-minded virtuosos Béla Fleck and David Grisman.
Douglas began playing the dobro at age 8 with encouragement from his father, who was also a bluegrass musician. By his teen years, Douglas was already a member of his father’s band, and his playing was especially influenced by Josh Graves of Flatt & Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys. Douglas was discovered at a festival by the Country Gentlemen, who took him on tour with them for the rest of the summer and later brought him into the recording studio. From there, Douglas established himself as a hugely in-demand session musician; during the latter half of the 1970s, he worked with the likes of J.D. Crowe & the New South, David Grisman, Ricky Skaggs, Doyle Lawson and Tony Rice. Additionally, Douglas released his debut album, “Fluxology,” on Rounder in 1979; he followed it three years later with “Fluxedo,” which like its predecessor stuck relatively close to traditional (albeit sometimes jazzy) bluegrass.
During the early 1980s, Douglas continued his session career with even greater success, adding Emmylou Harris, Béla Fleck, the Whites, and Peter Rowan to his list of credits. He returned to his solo career in 1986 with Under the Wire on Sugar Hill, which reflected his interest in the progressive new-acoustic (or “newgrass”) movement. He subsequently signed with MCA, where he issued “Changing Channels” (1987) and the smoother, strongly jazz-influenced “Plant Early” (1989). More session work for increasingly prominent artists brought him into the 1990s, with names like Alison Krauss, Del McCoury, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Randy Travis, Clint Black, Patty Loveless, Suzy Bogguss, Reba McEntire, Kathy Mattea, and Dolly Parton on his resume. In 1992, he returned to Sugar Hill for the more traditional bluegrass outing “Slide Rule,” which many critics ranked among his finest recordings. The following year brought the all-instrumental “Skip, Hop & Wobble,” a trio recording with Russ Barenberg and Edgar Meyer. In 1994, Douglas contributed to the Grammy-winning compilation “Great Dobro Sessions,” and cut a duo album with Peter Rowan, “Yonder,” in 1996. “Restless on the Farm” (1998), true to its title, was a return to Douglas’ freewheeling eclecticism, which continued on 2002’s “Lookout for Hope.” “Best Kept Secret” arrived in September of 2005.
On June 12th, Friday Cheers presented Old School Freight Train (with NO BS! Brass Band) to the Richmond community on the downtown historic riverfront on Brown’s Island. Old School Freight Train (OSFT), from Charlottesville combines thought provoking lyrics with captivating melodies, soulful vocals, virtuosic instrumentals and imaginative arrangements. Blending folk, jazz, soul, pop, bluegrass, Latin and Celtic, OSFT offers a unique musical experience leading the Boston Globe to call them “the next big thing” and the Chicago Tribune claims is “accessible but uncompromising in creativity.” “After 40 years of recording acoustic music, it’s not very often that a new band catches, and keeps, my attention,” said David Grisman. “Old School Freight Train has done that and more.”
“Shades of Jack Johnson, Ben Harper... even a kiss of Van Morrison... Old School Freight Train is off on a timeless new track blending roots and rock to create a sound that’s all their own.” – from Tim Dickinson, National Affairs Correspondent, Rolling Stone.
On June 19th, Richmond’s Friday Cheers brought Lucero (with Farm Vegas) to the riverfront. Lucero is a punk/country music infused rock and roll band that is based in Memphis, Tennessee. Their punk rock roots flavor their now “country-ish” music, while their southern roots give them the twang that they have come to be known by. The band played for the first time in spring of 1998. Since 2001, they have played between 150 and 200 shows a year across the U.S. and Canada. They have released six full length albums to date, the latest entitled Rebels, Rogues, & Sworn Brothers. The members of Lucero are Roy Berry (drums), John C. Stubblefield (bass), Brian Venable (guitar), and Ben Nichols (guitar and vocals), with Rick Steff (piano, organ, accordion). Ben Nichols previous band was Red 40 in which he played alongside Colin Brooks and Steve Kooms.
Richmond’s Friday Cheers 2009 ended on June 26th with Toubab Krewe (with Crucial Elements) whose music is described above. For more information about any of Friday Cheers’ featured bands, please visit their individual websites for tour dates, band information, and information on how to purchase CDs and/or fan paraphernalia, such as T-shirts or car stickers. Stay tuned to Venture Richmond’s website for more information about free downtown Richmond events and festivals, as well as a line-up for the 2010 Friday Cheers on the Riverfront.
For more info: www.venturerichmond.com, www.jamesrivercellars.com, www.sportsbackers.org
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