The Three B's

Saturday I headed over to visit my good friends Brent and Shane. They both have, in the past, been instrumental in not only scoring my short film projects (the best example being the excellent soundtrack for Das Oedland--post-apocalyptic folk baby!) but both have acted at times to various levels of success (Brent is extremely camera shy.) Shane can be seen in all his rugged post-apocalyptic glory, again in Das Oedland. Brent pops up in nearly all the old pieces and most prominently as the skalliwag Conrad in the more recent Carrying.

The three of us go way back, and part of our friendship together has centered around music. We each love the dulcet twang of a banjo, the versatility of a fiddle, and the swinging drone of an accordion on top of everything else. Thus, we could think of no better way to spend a Saturday afternoon then walking on down to the first annual Sandy Springs Bluegrass and Blues festival. We had low expectations (lured in no small part by the promise of BBQ--which was decent, not the best, but no bad either) but after shelling out a 5-spot we were treated to the most amazing and eclectic collection of musicians we could have imagined. In short, the festival was fantastic.

There was the promises bluegrass to start in the form of a group called Cedar Hill which not only played some classics, but bluegrass covers to include "Man of Constant Sorrow" from O Brother Where Art Thou with the lead singer singing as Donald Duck...for the whole song. It was indescribable. Not only were these guys amazingly talented musicians, but they were excellent showmen as well. Worth the five buck right there, especially when they ended their set with a beat-box, "rap-grass" version of the Beverly Hillbillies Theme. Can't imagine that? I don't blame you, because I can't even begin to describe it. There was another bluegrass group we caught that was more traditional, and mixed more country into their set. They were good, dressed on stage in suits and all four being portly fellows, the guitarist joked that they were "pound for pound the best bluegrass group around."

As far as the blues went, the star of the show was a lone singer and his guitar/banjo named Joe McGunniess. He was white, over six feet, had long dreadlocks, and generally looked nothing like you would expect....but he was amazing. He had us all in a trance with his soulful voice and insanely deft picking. HERE IS THE LINK to his myspace page, but realize that he was one hundred times better live than the recordings. The highlight of his set was the blues rendition he did of the Beatles "All You Need is Love." Brent was near tears by the end of it.

The last act was a probably the craziest mix of sound and personality you can come up with. Geoff Achison was the man's name, and he was a true blue Aussie that played the guitar like a madman and sang with a bluesy, deep Bowie-esque voice then turned around and spoke like a fair dinkum lariken. He started off solo on his acoustic doing classic American blues cuts then brought out his band to get things loud and funky. One song was called the "Holland Shuffle" which he wrote after touring Holland, saying it took him all of an afternoon to do.
It was a show alright, well worth trying to see him again before he ships back over to the Land Down Under.

All in all the best sort of afternoon five dollars can net you (well, add in food and beverage costs and things get a little more pricey) but something I hope gets put back on next year for sure....if I'm Atlanta around to enjoy it.