Pickathon Indie Roots Music Festival: Sunday - Pendarvis Farm (Happy Valley, OR; Aug. 2, 2009)

Our third day of the Pickathon Indie Roots Festival appropriately started at the Woods Stage with Deep Dark Woods. After a week of listening to this year’s Winter Hours, it was exciting to see how Deep Dark Woods would sound live. Lead singer and guitarist Ryan Boldt harkens back to Neil Young’s early recordings as he glides through a sad and beautiful album of wandering men and unfaithful women. 

The set opened up with a sentimental male perspective on “Journey Home.” Following a long guitar jam in the middle of “All the Money I Had is Gone,” Boldt sang, “I can weep and I can cry. I can wonder why.” And thus came the second flow of tears at Pickathon 2009. 

Deep Dark Woods provided the masculine counterpart to the feminine perspective of Alela Diane‘s performance the previous day. In “Two Time Loser,” Boldt crooned, “Someone keeps trying to push me from the track. Lord won’t you help me keep these women off my back?” This live acoustic version sounded more complacent than the album’s electric counterpart, but worked nonetheless. Noting that it was Sunday morning, Boldt finished the set with gospel song “Glory, Hallelujah.” Based soundly in traditional gospel music, this song granted perspective on the shared source of Pickathon’s eclectic catalogue.

Vetiver’s set at the Woods proved a mellow break in the day. Their sleepy sound and lead singer Andy Cabic’s carefree lyrics were beautiful and suited perfectly for a peaceful afternoon in the forest. His voice, coupled with the rest of the band, was smooth and dense, rich with a kind of harmonious feel that is hard to hit. Cabic is an incredibly expressive performer, showing every emotion going through his mind on his face as he sang. The band joked that because they are so spread out, with each member of the band coming from different parts of the country, they don’t really get a chance to practice. This performance, they said, was also kind of a rehearsal for them. This may have been true, but it had to be one of the best played-out practices we’ve ever heard.

Alex Leach and his band was there to rouse the crowd out of its slumber with some good old fashioned bluegrass. Joined by legendary musician Larry Gillis and a group of incredibly talented musicians, Leach was the real deal. At only 20 years old, this guy is making music many would only dream of being able to play. Watching him and his band pick and sing at speeds that defied the imagination was mesmerizing, and they quickly got the crowd worked into a frenzy. By the end of the show, hippies and farmers alike were jumping around under the trees and shouting for more. All the while, Leach has a look of incredible happiness on his face, as if there was no place he would have rather been than there at that moment.

By Sunday evening, we’d already seen Portland’s Horse Feathers in bits and pieces during their various sets. In passing, their music isn’t more than an after thought, but we tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and paid close attention to their main stage performance. Sadly, their set did nothing to change our original impression. Their sound is self-consciously full, with sweeping violin and cello that lack purpose and shape. Horse Feather’s vocals are derivative of Iron & Wine, but where Samuel Beam evokes, lead singer Sam Cooper holds back. His voice is restrained and precious, as though a strong wind might blow him right over.

As Dale Watson warmed up, a woman sitting near us in the crowd said, “This is a pretty mellow crowd for Dale Watson.” We’d never heard the man, so we weren’t sure what to expect. Opening with “Whiskey or God,” Watson sang, “I’m gonna drink until my conscience bleeds. Before I fall asleep I’m gonna say a prayer for a brighter day. Whiskey or God. Bring salvation to me.” Although the crowd seemed amused by the wry lyrics, our neighbor was right—very few people bothered to even stand up. By this late in the festival, we’d all had enough of both whiskey and God.

Blitzen Trapper closed out the main stage that night with an explosive sound, blending rock and country-folk together and drawing one of the biggest crowds seen all weekend. Their sound was clean but still retained a homemade quality, coming off as almost funky at times. Theyir set list included a great mix of upbeat and mellow songs drawn primarily from Wild Mountain Nation and Furr. It couldn’t have been a more perfect way to begin ending the festival.

There was a feeling of solidarity and good will floating through the air as they played. Blitzen Trapper’s set—which at half an hour longer than most of the other sets looked like it might be a little much for tired onlookers—flew by as the audience rose to the occasion and created quite a dust cloud with their dancing. The whole festival had a magical quality and a friendly, laid-back feel lacking from similar events. It was and is one of the most well-run, perfectly executed festivals one could hope to attend. The music kept going into the night, but watching weary audience members trekking out through the woods and fields into the night, this moment had a feeling of closure, signaling the end of a wonderful weekend.

DOWNLOAD: Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation (MP3) or Follow us for more Blitzen Trapper MP3s (Twitter)

Blitzen Trapper review to your liking? You'll sweat:

Interview - Pickathon Co-Founder Zale Schoenborn (Portland, OR; Summer, 2009)

Pickathon Indie Roots Music Festival: Friday - Pendarvis Farm (Happy Valley, OR; Jul. 31, 2009)

Pickathon Indie Roots Music Festival: Saturday - Pendarvis Farm (Happy Valley, OR; Aug. 1, 2009)

Blitzen Trapper + Alela Diane - Paradise Rock Club (Boston, MA; Feb. 26, 2009)

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