Riverbend Redux

Alejandro Escovedo--"Always A Friend (live)" (mp3)
The Persuasions--"Black Muddy River (Grateful Dead cover) (mp3)

Our yearly summer music festival Riverbend has much, much longer legs than that young whippersnapper Bonaroo that takes place just up the road during the same week every year, but if there were a showdown between the two for "hipness," Bonaroo would win the shootout. No contest. They've got Phish and the Boss (two of the most coveted concert tickets in the world); we've got Little Richard and Three Dog Night. Riverbend, with its crowds, heat, rednecks, mostly over-the-hill main stage acts, and alligator on a stick is easy to make fun of from afar, but when you take a closer look, it always has the potential to surprise. Pleasantly.

One of the top 5 concerts I've ever seen took place at Riverbend: Jason and the Scorchers circa 1988 or somewhere close. Not only were they one of the best live acts around--their cowpunk was a mixture of songs with countryish sensibilities driven by chain-smoking, heavy metal guitarist Warner Hodges--but the show was abruptly halted after just a few songs because of a thunderstorm which drenched all of us. Riverbend turned off all power. We waited anyway. Quite soon, Jason walked out alone with his acoustic guitar and continued playing some of their best songs by himself in the remaining drizzle. Eventually, the rain stopped and the band came back on a continued to deliver an incredible show.

We also got to see the Spanic Boys at Riverbend sometime in the 90's and, oddly, due to another power outage, met and talked with them while we waited for the power to come back one. Perhaps the only father/son combo in rock, these retro guys achieved slight fame when they were the last-minute fill-in band on SNL (I think they are considered the least well-known band ever to play SNL) after Sinead O'Connor refused to perform because misogynist comedian Andrew Dice Clay was the host. I started buying their cds after liking "Keep On Walking" from the SNL episode and was surprised to see them in Chattanooga.

Within the last 5 years, we went backstage and had our picture made with Nickel Creek. They're short people.

And these are just some of the great rock, blues, and folk performers I've seen during my rare forays into Riverbend. Some have become household names; some live across the street from me.

If you discount the Coca-Cola-Stage-Main-Acts- That-Are-Far-Away-On-A-Barge-And-You-Have-To-Get-There-Hours-Early-To-Stake-Out-Your-Lawn-Chair, the festival actually works pretty hard to fill the smaller stages with fresh,innovative choices that appeal to different age groups and interests.

This year is no exception. Now that I've got my pin ($28 for the whole shebang), here are the cornerstones of my Riverbend week.

Bob's Potential Riverbend Concert Line-Up

FRI: Sorry, Willie Nelson, but I don't do "main stage" acts. I know you're good, but watching you from a great distance on a large projection screen doesn't do it for me. Maybe I'm "Crazy."

SAT: The Emmitt-Nershi Band have one of the least attractive band names I've ever heard of. Somebody's agent needs to get to work on this one. They may be operating under the mistaken assumption that these guys are household names. Not in my house, I'm ashamed to say. But when I dug deep into the program and realized that one guy is from Leftover Salmon and the other guy is the founder of The String Cheese Incident and that they play hot bluegrassy music, I decided to jump on the Emmitt-Nershi bandwagon!

SUN: So I get to see The Wailers finally. They played a private party here back in the spring, but it was too private for me and I wasn't invited. On a grand scale, it feels a lot like going to see Tommy James and the Shondells without Tommy James or the Disciples without Jesus. I mean, who is going to sing "Crimson and Clover," who is going to turn the water into wine? But, alas, they are not just the Wailers, but the legendary Wailers, so in honor of my friend Jeff who would go see Chuck Berry perform in bed in a nursing home, I'm going. My real interest Sunday night though is Cedric Burnside, who I would see on Monday at the Strut, but he's double-booked against Bernard Allison, and Bernard isn't playing another time. I like Cedric's grandad, R.L. Burnside, and based on YouTube clips, I'll like Cedric, too.

MON: The Bessie Smith Strut is one of the best nights in America, for all of the right and wrong reasons. More on that if my brain works on Tuesday. Smokin' guitarist Bernard Allison will be one of the right reasons.

TUES: Sorry, it's Christian Night. I'll be watching The Shield, Season 7 at home. What would a music festival be without one night where all of the evils of the world have been suspended and only good, clean fun remains? If Bonaroo ever adds a "Family Night," maybe I'll start going.

WED: Adrian Belew is an alien guitarist from the planet Freakout. He is the bastard son of Robert Fripp and Steve Vai. I've never gotten to see him. I'm excited.

THURS: My wife loves the Persuasions, and I'm a fan, too. We got hooked on their CD of all Grateful Dead covers a few years ago. A bunch of old black guys singing the Dead a capella? Transcendent, we thought. Gimmicky, my brother the Deadhead said. You decide.

FRI: Alejandro Escovedo is some people's favorite rocker. I haven't listened to enough to make that judgement, but I know he's the real thing, I know he's great in concert, and I know I'm going. Hoping for a little of Iggy's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" right here in Chattynoogy!

SAT: I saw The Outlaws in Pittsburgh in 1977 in one of the smokiest, dope-smokingest events I have ever attended. My own participation remains clouded. One of the top two three-guitar attacks in the history of Southern rock, these guys burned the house down. And the audience tried to. I know it's thirty-two years later. "Can't repeat the past?" Gatsby says (and Jeff). "Why of course you can!" We'll see.

Maybe I'll see you there.

The Persuasions' Might As Well is available at Itunes. Escovedo's live performance is from one of the many great offerings available at www.archive.org.