My City Buzz - What's YOUR Buzz??? - Review - 31st Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival

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Review - 31st Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival

Written by Jessica Ehrler

Tuesday, 29 January 2008

This past weekend, at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, The Ark presented its 31st Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival. The show is a fundraiser for the Ark, which is a small concert venue in Ann Arbor. The crowd was surprising older than expected, with most attendees in their early-40s to mid-60s. The highlight of the concert was undoubtedly the main acts. I was expecting each artist like Emmylou Harris, Patti Griffin, Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller to come out separately, instead they came out together. It was really a treat to hear them all collaborate and sing in on each others songs. They each covered songs from folk music's past and even explored several songs from either jazz and rockabilly greats like Bessie Smith, Jackson Brown and Jesse Winchester to name a few.

Each artist talked passionately about what inspired them to write the songs that they performed or talked about the importance of the songs they covered and why it meant so much to them to sing for us that night. Buddy Miller's duet with Shawn Colvin was my personal favorite. "Let It Be Me" was a soulful and heartfelt journey talking about love and wanting love from someone else. Another personal favorite was Patti Griffin's "Chief." Patti is so soulful and bold in her tone. She can really express the emotions of each character that she sings about.

Another pleasant surprise for me was the group Blackie and The Rodeo Kings from Canada, they came out with piss and vinegar. They had artful costumes and played the frets off their guitars. They had the place rockin! I really enjoyed there sound. One of the guys looked liked "The Dude" from the Big Lebowski, and sounded like Sam Elliot, deep bass voice. I closed my eyes and pretended that I was driving a beat up convertible driving thought the desert in Arizona on my way to Mexico. They had a great rockabilly sound that I haven't heard in a long, long time.

Check out more of Jessie's pics from the show at our Myspace page.
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