Nelsonville Art and Music Festival- saturday performances

I made it to the NAMF around 3 pm; unavoidably delayed. Uncle Monk was performing when I got there. Tommy Ramone and Claudia Tienan as a duet. Tommy played the mandolin primarily throughout, and handled the vocals almost entirely on what I was there for. Tommy was with the Ramones! Now they are an alt-country/ old timey songs/ bluegrass-y sounding thing. It was fun to see him around the festival the rest of the day, just enjoying all the other acts and having appreciative music fans approach him. We then saw Woody Pines and "the Lonesome Two" (though there were "3" for this show! Woody is a repeat from last year. Plays a national steel 'resonator" and has a VERY enjoyable style of singing, playing and song selection. Tim Peacock of the festival and Stuart's plays bass with this configuration. A nice clarinet and saxophone accompanist and a solid drummer round out the crew. He is a crowd favorite, and fits well into the overall festival line up for repeat performances. Sarah White was the next one I saw; a singer-songwriter from Virginia; with a good accompanist (who's name escapes me- sorry). I guess she had done the main stage the night before, too. Then it was over to the main stage for the rest of the evening. Moviola was from Columbus, a 5 piece band, 2 guitars, keyboard, bass and drums, lots of trading around the singing, guitar solos, and harmonizing. Relaxed, good for a festival. Dawn Landes, and a very multi-instrumentalist accompanying her- playing drums, setting up some electric bass/ keyboards, played harmonica, all kinds of stuff. She played both acoustic and electric in her diversity of original songs. She hails from Charlotteville VA (also). Justin Townes Earle was coming on at sunset. Steve Earle's son/ named after Townes Van Zandt. Has a good stage presence- a good song selection/ story teller- had an excellent side man- Cory- mandolin, harmonica, harmonies. Female bass player, who he is going to marry in a few months. Referenced Woody Guthrie, some Texas bluesmen influences; got the crowd pretty primed for the Avett Brothers.
The festival; moved from the park behind Rocky Boots in the town, out to the college campus, where the previous Hocking Folk Festival was held at this time for several years, is a very welcoming/ fun event. Vendors of arts, food, places to camp, and folks play music together. Weather cooperated while I was there; just a few sprinkles early on, I don't know how Friday night was.
The Avett Brothers were the headliners coming on around 10 pm. Big set up for them; some pretty specific things that wanted out of the sound system! Seth and Scott are the two brothers and there is a regular member the bass player Bob Crawford. There was a rockin' cello player with them, too. They are from North Carolina, and have developed a very loyal, enthusiastic following- they are tearing up the festival scene. Their music defies an easy classification- there are some terms thrown about: punk bluegrass; thrash folk; high energy hillbilly. They have a background in the grunge era of the 90's- that comes out in their vocals. They are incredibly high energy, and speedy in their tempo. The audience LOVES them- and they give it back. With the cool night air- the steam rising off them as they performed was a marvel of their exertion.
So, Tim Peacock and the crew have put on another great event and seem primed to keep going with these events- along with the regular great shows at Stuart's- many coming up over the summer months.