Bluegrass festivals aren’t set up as battles of the bands. It’s just not the nature of the bluegrass world, where harmony, not heated competition, rules — both on the vocal side of things and also in the kinship and brotherhood of bluegrass musicians.
Doyle Lawson, sporting a fancy coat and big cowboy hat, leads his band Quicksilver through a set last Saturday night at the Greater Downstate Indoor Bluegrass Festival in Springfield, Ill. Photo by Dan Tackett.
The Dailey & Vincent lineup is front and center on stage last weekend at the Springfield, Ill., bluegrass festival, held indoors at the large Crowne Plaza hotel off Interstate 55 each November. The festival will celebrate its 25th year in 2011. Photo by Dan Tackett.
In fact, it’s this great community spirit that’s so attractive to many bluegrass fans and musicians, myself included. It’s a world where fans aren’t merely fans, they’re friends of the artists and their band members.
After setting that stage, I’ll confess to a twinge of guilt when I anticipated attending last week’s Greater Downstate Indoor Bluegrass Festival in Springfield, Ill. I had set up my own little mind game, a war of the bands if you will, between Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and Dailey & Vincent. Shame on me, huh? Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.
I hadn’t seen Doyle Lawson and his fine group perform for four or five years, back when Jamie Dailey and Barry Scott were providing the band’s explosive vocals. How, I wondered, would Lawson’s new lineup stack up against Dailey & Vincent, perhaps the hottest act in bluegrass today? I’ve raved about Lonely Street, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s wonderful new CD. The vocals and instrumentation on that album are stellar, very Doyle Lawson-ish — and I still contend that it’s one of the best sounding (à la production and engineering) bluegrass CDs I’ve ever heard. But I’ve also raved and been moved to goosebumps and misty eyes while sitting through several Dailey & Vincent concerts.
I couldn’t help but wonder in advance of last weekend’s festival: Which group is going to come out on top here? I will tell you now if you promise not to peek: I list my own personal choice at the bottom of this review. But, again, please resist from scrolling down for a quick look.
Dailey & Vincent were first up at the indoor festival, performing two shows on Friday, while Quicksilver arrived in town for its two sets on Saturday. So, I’ll give you my take in that order.
As has become routine, the crowd was screaming and on its feet (did someone say Elvis?) before Jamie Dailey and Darin Vincent ever hit a note on their instruments or uttered a word in the sound check.
“These guys are so hot, you almost want to just not like them,” said a good friend who sat beside me in the show. “But they’re so stinkin’ good, how can you not like them?”
That, in a nutshell, describes the Dailey & Vincent show. And, if you have one inkling these guys might be thinking along “We’re the best” lines, good ol’ Jeff Parker, the group’s mandolin player and a fine vocalist in his own right, brings the entire cast of players down to earth. I’m talking dirt here as in the the black, rich and fragrant Illinois prairie soil. Parker is as charming, down-to-earth and love-able on stage as they come, rivaling even the short, belly-laughing and bald Darrin Vincent. Parker seems to be evolving more and more into an integral part of the duo’s stage show — and it’s a good move. He’s a natural showman.
But, in bluegrass, the show boils down to the music — and with this crew, some out-of-this-world, nearly super-human vocal prowess.
Dailey & Vincent had the Springfield crowd indeed in their hands before the first note was hit — and they left stage with all of us wanting more. As is becoming predictable, the group’s sets borrowed heavily from the Statler Brothers’ big-note songbook and they also worked in some fine traditional bluegrass numbers that aren’t on the band’s CDs.
And yes, Jamie Dailey’s vocal wizardry once again produced the goosebumps on several occasions.
Now, on to Doyle Lawson’s performance. Wow! The group’s new lead singer, Corey Hensley, must have been a classmate of Jamie Dailey’s in Bluegrass Vocals/High and Lonesome 101. But, really, what did I expect? I’ve seen Lawson several times over the years, and he’s had a bunch — I mean a bunch — of bandmates, all outstanding and all able to replicate the Quicksilver sound that’s gone on before. And guaranteed, the next lineup will follow suit.
If there’s any difference in this group than previous versions of Quicksilver, it would have to be in the aggressive, innovative and in-your-face instrumental work, much of it furnished by Joey White on banjo and the amazing Josh Swift on Dobro. These two pickers are so out front that their instrumental breaks cause shock waves in the first five rows (maybe 10) of the audience. Not that the vocal prowess has lost its dominance, as evidenced by the four back-to-back a cappella gospel numbers in the evening set.
Both bands received rousing receptions from a crowd that screamed for and received encores on all their sets.
So, finally, I will reveal my choice. The winner of this battle of the bands, of course, was the fans who were treated to some outstanding bluegrass from two very well-rehearsed groups that are simply boiling over with talent.
This annual late-fall festival in the heart of Illinois always attracts the cream of the crop, and this year was no different. Besides the above-praised talents, the audience also had the pleasure this past weekend of enjoying performances by Nothin’ Fancy, which also puts on one of the most entertaining shows in bluegrass (No wonder they are SPBGMA’s reigning Entertaining Group of the Year for two years running), Rhonda Vincent and her Rage, Dry Branch Fire Squad, Audie Blaylock and Redline and some fine regional acts. A tip of the hat goes to Terry and Jan Lease, promoters and gurus behind Midwest Bluegrass, who annually promote the Greater Downstate event.