Fester Report: Red Clay Ramblers at the Vancouver Island MusicFest

from efolkMusic "CEO" and Red Clay Rambler Chris Frank at the Vancouver Island MusicFest July 9-11, 2010

It was sunny, and some would say, hot, on Vancouver Island, but we weren't complaining. Coming from the steam-bath of North Carolina, it was fine, "mighty fine", we might say. We got there two days early to collaborate with several other groups, a special treat from festival director Doug Cox. They called it the Musicfest Collaboration Project: This Road Well Travelled. The concept is to throw the players together, tell them they've got a 90 minute slot to fill on the "Main Stage" 3 days later, keep us all fed and lubricated, and see what happens.

Gently guided (or goaded) by our designated director, the fantastic professor Tony Trishka, we joined Baskery (3 incredible Swedish sisters), Montreal/Toronto's  Po' Girls, BC's inventive Rakish Angles, fiddler Jesse Zubot, and "indescribable" throat-singer Tanya Tagaq for an intense round of rehearsals in a hotel conference room. Talk about living it up!!!

Well, we picked and grinned, came up with some tunes for the entire 19-piece ensemble, split into some sub-groups for a few more, wrote some lyrics, made a set list and and 72 -hours later got up in front of about 4000 of the finest fans I've ever played in front of.

The rest of the fest continued the high-end vibe, great performers and performances, youngsters and "seasoned" veterans, a real music gumbo, Canadian-style.  What a blast, a million thanks to the hundreds of volunteers that make it all happen, on Vancouver Island and all over the planet, I'll say it again, head on out this weekend, there's some music being played outdoors, some musicians putting it all out there, for you, and for me. Go for it