Female artists shine at MerleFest

By Lisa Snedeker
Correspondent
Published: May 8, 2008

Perhaps the 21st annual MerleFest should have been called “Girlfest.”
While there were a number of great performances by the guys from Old Crow Medicine Show, Marty Stuart, the Avett Brothers, Sam Bush, Ralph Stanley and The Clinch Mountain Boys, Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby, there were a number of moments throughout the weekend where the girls stole the show.
In fact, some of them were so popular, such as Tift Merritt, fans were left standing outside the auditorium because there wasn’t enough room for everyone who wanted to hear her sing and play to get in.
Jerry Stone of Brevard, who luckily had the chance to catch one of Merritt’s earlier performances, was impressed with Merritt as well as the rest of the festival.
“This is the best run festival, and I’ve been to a lot of festivals in my lifetime,” he said.
That’s something to be said for the Americana and bluegrass music festival that ran last Thursday through Sunday on the Wilkes Community College campus in Wilkesboro. The event pays tribute to the music of the late Merle Watson and his father, Doc Watson. A severe thunderstorm cut the power at the festival briefly Saturday afternoon, but that and a steady rain didn’t deter bluegrass fans when Rhonda Vincent and Rage hit the main stage, albeit a few minutes later than scheduled.
And they were worth the wait and the dampness. Vincent impressed with stories about fans and the fact that her new album, “Good Thing Going,” is representative of her marriage of 25 years. She talked about an older man who approached her at a concert and said it would be the last time he saw her before she launched into a moving acapella opening to “I Will See You Again.” Another popular female-led performance was the Clair Lynch band, which gave a moving performance of “Moonlighter” on the Hillside Stage after the storm, where rain ponchos were the attire of choice.
Sam Marshall of Dobson came for the weekend with friends. He enjoyed the sounds of Old Crow Medicine Show and the Avett Brothers, but the biology major at Appalachian State University said Sam Bush was his favorite performance as of Saturday afternoon. Another highlight of the festival for Marshall was the performances by the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
“There was this 89-year-old guy playing the fiddle with them Friday night and they blew me away,” he said. MerleFest has many local connections to Reidsville, including the fact that perennial MerleFest favorite bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice is a native as well as Joe Smothers, a bluegrass guitarist who was one of many who played with Watson at the festival.
“His mother is a very close friend who lives here in Reidsville,” explained Von Neal, a Reidsville resident and big fan of the festival.
Susan Allen lives within walking distance from the college and has been volunteering for 13 years. She said this year’s festival had more diverse music and more bluegrass as well as more young people.
“The Avett Brothers on Friday night had at least 360 kids here and to me it was exciting to see that many kids excited about bluegrass music,” she said. “We don’t always see a lot of 20- to 25-year-olds like that.”
For those who haven’t had the chance to attend MerleFest, its an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary roots music and brings together some of the best bluegrass, contemporary acoustic, Celtic, blues, folk, old-time, Cajun, jazz and singer-songwriter musicians including Richard Watson, Merle’s son. In addition to music, there was food, crafts, demonstrating artists, family and children’s activities including juggling lessons and a flea circus, which by all appearances was a big draw even during a rain shower. There was also the opportunity to pick and play with some of the visiting artists and the chance to attend musical and songwriting workshops. For more festival highlights, visit http://www.merlefest.org.

Lisa Snedeker is a freelance writer who lives in Madison.