Steamboat Part 1 – Breaking The Viewfinder

So far my pact with myself to not take a million pictures and videos is holding up fairly well. I wanted to see MusicFest in a different way and be able to write more here. Sort of a test to see if it changes anything for me to not try to do everything at once. I really think it has… but don’t worry, I’m seeing plenty of pictures being taken (some by very awesome talent) and I’ll try to link to as much stuff as I can.

Probably one of my favorite things about this festival is the first day/night of no music. The longer I’m here, the more people I’ve met… so it’s a gauntlet of hugs and handshakes from not just people from Texas but also, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Illinois, Arkansas, New York, Colorado, Washington DC… the list goes on and on. I’ve explained it before, that its like a big family reunion and even this year it still has that feel to it. We all went the The Grand Ballroom and watched the football game on the bigscreen, drank some beers (or some Titos) and laughed and joked till almost the next morning.

There was even a bet placed as to who would arrive first… Galleywinter or MusicFog. Which we lost by mere minutes to a loaded down Celebrity Coach Bus… How does that even happen? I’m claiming it was our caravan of cars and the beautiful drive into Steamboat that slowed of down. Oh well… I’ll be delivering that bottle of Tito’s to them this week. Things could be worse.

Moving into Day 1 of music had me thrown for a loop. This was probably one of the best opening days of music I’ve seen. When it was all said and done, I had stood in front of a stage for 9 hours listening to music and enjoying some of my favorite bands (both old and new.)

The day started and ended for us at The Grand Ballroom. The “First Note” started at 2:00pm and featured a 2 set song swap that was very reminiscent of the lineups/chemistry of years past. First up was Jamie Wilson, Liz Foster, Bonnie Bishop and a rotating seat of Tina Wilkins, Kathleen Braun & Kelley Mickwee. It was an interesting set, being all girls… and not one I would have picked me liking. But I love Jamie Wilson and Liz Foster, so I went to see them and was completely blown away at and talent. And based on what I was hearing around me.. so was everyone else.

Next up was Willy Braun, Cody Canada, Robert Earl Keen & Charlie Robison. I really don’t need to go into detail about the how good these 4 guys are, their reputation speaks for itself. Highlights of the songs for me were “Dreadful Selfish Crime”, “Brooklyn Kid”, “Wicked Twisted Road” & “My Hoemtown”. But the glue that held these guys together on stage was the banter back and forth like they were brothers at a dinner table. Some of the quotes just killed me!

I always get out-hatted by Robert Earl ~Charlie Robison

So this is our show and these two guys are just our guests ~REK to Cody

Great, I get to follow Dreadful Selfish Crime. Thanks. ~Charlie Robison

After a quick 30 minute run to the condo for dinner we were back at The Grand for Hayes Carll (or Hayes Carol as we heard him being called), Kevin Welch backed by Reckless Kelly (and The Heathens and The Trishas) and The Band Of Heathens. This whole set was a cross section of everything MusicFest is to me. It had Hayes, a long time favorite… It had Kevin Welch, brand new to his music… It had The Band of Heathens, long time fan but new infatuation. Every set was right on point, but for me, The Band of Heathens we’re right in the groove and had me fist pumping higher than anyone else in the crowd. I even pulled my sleeves up so my anchor tats would give more weight to my fist pump. I may be partial, but I think I was their biggest fan in that room.

9 hours of music later, I spiraled down off my high and fell promptly asleep on our couch. I missed the late night activities, but hey.. at least I’m the first one up with inspiration and something to write. Here’s a few blogs and pics that I’ve run across that are updating… I’ll post more when I see them

Fuelin’ Roadie
MusicFog
Todd Purifoy’s Posterous
And always.. follow along the tweets & twitpics at: TheMusicFest/attendees