Cover Lay Down

Edit, 6/30: Congrats to Dean Marshall, this year’s randomly-selected FRFF ticket winner! Enjoy the festival, Dean - we’re looking forward to seeing you on site!




Festival season is upon us once again, and though upcoming obligations will keep me from some of my regular haunts this year, it would take an honest-to-goodness apocalypse to keep me from the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, our absolute favorite summerfest, which takes place July 23-25 in the above-pictured hills of Hillsdale, NY, just over the Massachusetts border.

And you can join us too, thanks to the good graces of long-time Festival artistic director Anne Saunders, who has provided us with a pair of all-expenses-paid camping passes to pass along to one of our lucky readers. It’s a $300 value, including three days of music, five days of camping, and contra dancing and hillside tent-shows until the wee hours…and all you have to do to WIN is to leave a comment at the bottom of this entry before the clock strikes midnight on June 20th.

As noted earlier in these virtual pages, Falcon Ridge is slimming down a tad this year, but the lineup remains strong, with a solid mix of old favorites and newcomers, including previously-featured singer-songwriters Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, and Red Molly, newcomers Chester River Runoff and The Andrew & Noah Band, and festival faves Cheryl Wheeler, We’re About 9, Ellis, Vance Gilbert, Gandalf Murphy, Tracey Grammer, and Nerissa & Katryna Nields. As is our practice, the following offers an introduction to a few as-yet-unfeatured artists; read on for tunes and artist featurettes, and be sure to leave your name and email address in the comments for a chance to join us in the fields come the last weekend in July.


Popfolk girl duo Dala will be making their first appearance at Falcon Ridge this year, quite likely in a headline spot Friday or Saturday night where previous years have featured Dar Williams and Ani DiFranco, and you better believe I’ll be front and center when they hit the stage. Originally scheduled for last year’s festival until a scheduling conflict caused them to cancel at the last minute, these young women, who met in their high school music class and have been best friends ever since, are the real deal: pure, exquisitely mixed alto and soprano, with a delicate hand on the guitars and a sense of poise and presence honed by eight years on the road together.

By all accounts, the Canadian duo is one of the biggest rising stars on the popfolk circuit, one that has been sweeping the major festivals this year, including a mainstage set at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest, and a gig at the WUMB Boston Music Fest just today. But I’ve been eager to see them live for a few years now, ever since I first heard the pair on 2008 Neil Young tribute Cinnamon Girl, and I’m just as eager to get my hands on their newest project, a live CD/DVD entitled Girls From The North Country, which features the songs of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, and others, performed by Dala and equally undersung Canadian girl groups Oh Susanna and Good Lovelies. If you like soaring and sweet two-girl harmonies - and who doesn’t, really - then let this act be the tipping point that gets you on the road this summer.

• Dala: Ohio (orig. Neil Young)
• Dala: A Man Needs A Maid (ibid.)
  (from Cinnamon Girl: Women Artists Cover Neil Young for Charity, 2008)

• Dala: Dream A Little Dream Of Me (orig. Ozzie Nelson; pop. Doris Day et. al.)
  (from Sing Me To Sleep: Indie Lullabies, 2010)

• Dala: Bluebird On Your Windowsill (orig. Elizabeth Clarke; pop. Doris Day et. al.)
  (live from the Canadian Songwriter Hall Of Fame, March, 2010)

• Dala: Red Is The Rose (trad.)
  (unreleased track of unknown origin available for signing up for Dala’s newsletter)

I keep meaning to come back to Jimmy LaFave here on Cover Lay Down: I’ve seen the almost painfully broken-voiced Texan multiple times on the circuit, and whether he’s channeling hope or despair, his honest, soulful delivery never fails to drill deep into my psyche. The red dirt roots-rocker and soulful balladeer will be all over this year’s festival, appearing mainstage alongside Gilkyson, Gorka, and Cheryl Wheeler as part of the annual Friday Evening Song Swap, tearing up a solo set, and attending at least one workshop stage collaboration, and I couldn’t be happier: the man covers Dylan better than anyone, really, and I can think of no finer way to help you see it than to offer this mini-set, collated from his long and fruitful career.

• Jimmy LaFave: Love Minus Zero / No Limit (orig. Bob Dylan)
  (from Live! From Folk Radio WUMB, 2004)

• Jimmy LaFave: Buckets of Rain (orig. Bob Dylan)
  (from Road Novel, 2007)

• Jimmy LaFave: One Too Many Mornings (orig. Bob Dylan)
  (from Trail, 1999)

• Jimmy LaFave: Shelter From The Storm (orig. Bob Dylan)
  (from Austin Skyline, 1992)

• Jimmy LaFave: Girl From The North Country (orig. Bob Dylan)
• Jimmy LaFave: Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat (orig. Bob Dylan)
  (live from Kerry’s Farm, Tahora, NZ, 1993)

Last, but certainly not least: Falcon Ridge is notoriously tardy about releasing their full schedule, but after 22 years, it’s a given that Friday afternoon on the ‘ridge will be given over to the Emerging Artists Showcase, where new acts compete for a chance at a mainstage gig the following year. Past winners include some incredible artists, from Meg Hutchinson to Red Molly, but last year’s fan-selected showcase winners are an unusually strong, talented, and diverse group; having been blown away by all three at this year’s preview tour, I’m proud to recommend their work to all.

Chuck E Costa’s uplifting singer-songwriter folk is utterly gorgeous, as is his delicate voice; the below Mark Erelli cover is a solid choice for him, but truly, in person, sans production, his songs go straight to the heart. Local up-and-comers Swing Caravan deconstruct, craft and cover lighthearted, stunningly talented acoustic swingjazz, and their in-the-aisles performance at last year’s festival was one of my personal highlights. Hilarious harmonizing duo The Brilliant Inventions write bold-yet-tender indiepop songs that sound like a cross between the Weepies, Guster, Ben Folds, and Fountains of Wayne, and I’ve been absolutely blown away by their beautifully produced debut Have You Changed; the live cover below speaks well of their stage presence, but doesn’t begin to do justice to their real live sound, so I’ve broken ranks to include an original title track today. Listen, then come out and see for yourself why I’m utterly in love with this year’s showcase winners.

• Swing Caravan: Blue Skies (pop; orig. Irving Berlin)
• Swing Caravan: Bye Bye Blackbird (pop.; orig. Gene Austin)
  (from Get It Fresh, 2009)

• Chuck E Costa: Hollow Man (orig. Mark Erelli)
  (from Where The Songs Come From, 2006)

• The Brilliant Inventions: Have You Changed (original)
  (from Have You Changed, 2009)

• The Brilliant Inventions: Man In The Mirror (orig. Michael Jackson)

Of course, these songs and artists are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Among other artists previously on Cover Lay Down, and appearing at this year’s Falcon Ridge Folk Festival:

• Eliza Gilkyson covers Dylan, Guthrie, Greg Brown, World Party, The Bare Necessities and more!

• Red Molly covers Gillian Welch, Susan Werner, Elvis and more!

• John Gorka covers Townes Van Zandt, Kate Wolf, Pete Seeger, Stan Rogers and more!

• Vance Gilbert covers Sam Cooke, The Kennedys cover gospel, the Neilds cover Leadbelly, and many more coversongs live from Falcon Ridge, 2003 - 2009

Like what you hear? Want in? Leave a comment below with your name and email address to enter to win a pair of full-fest camping passes for this year’s Falcon Ridge Folk Festival!

Running a music festival in this economy is a real challenge, but after a weekend with friends and co-coordinators of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, I’m proud to announce that once again we’re rarin’ to go for yet another wild weekend of singer-songwriter, folk rock, world music, and folk-pop. Add in the proverbial mix of friends, vendors, kid-friendly fare, hilltop up-and-comers in the label and coffeehouse-sponsored tents all night long, and dancing ’til the wee hours, and as always, Falcon Ridge 2010 is shaping up to be the best time I’m planning on having all summer.

Sure, there’s a few changes in the works. Most notably, after a few years trying to sustain a four-day fest, the festival will be returning to a three-day format, Friday through Sunday - though camping will continue to open on Wednesday afternoon, which should lead to a nice mellow day of pickin’ and grinnin’ before the bands kick in. But this year’s lineup promises a strong mix of familiar faces and new bands, from Cheryl Wheeler, Tracy Grammer, John Gorka and Jimmy LaFave to Red Molly, Dala, Ellis, and Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams - who I am assured will close either Friday or Saturday night with a slammin’ set in the dance stage.

As with every year, the Festival will also feature the winners of last year’s Emerging Artist Showcase, and I’m thrilled to announce that, once again, the fans and judges have chosen a delightful cross-section of bands and solo artists. To cap off our own planning weekend, showcase winners The Brilliant Inventions, Swing Caravan and chuck e costa will play a house concert for us this afternoon, and having heard the latter two artists in the aisles last year, I’m very much looking forward to hearing them without all the noise from the passing crowd. And though I’m running too close to deadline to wait to post, you can be sure if they’ve got any strong covers under their guitar straps, you’ll be reading and hearing more about them as the festival grows closer.

We’ll have a pair of three-day camping tickets to give away in early June - a $300 value, just for playing along - along with some favorite studio tracks from this year’s performers for all comers, so check out the full schedule, and start shuffling your schedule now to make sure you’re free to join us in Hillsdale, NY, July 23rd-25th. in the meanwhile, here’s a set of live tracks from Falcon Ridge Folk Festivals gone by to tempt you towards making the pilgrimage.


live from Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, 2003

• Eddie From Ohio: Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright (orig. Bob Dylan)
• Lucy Kaplansky: I’m Looking Through You (orig. The Beatles)
• Da Vinci’s Notebook: I Dream Of Jeannie (orig. TV Theme)
• Nerissa & Katryna Nields: Goodnight Irene (orig. Leadbelly)

live from Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, 2005

• Susan Werner: In The Middle (orig. Rachel Bissex)
• Chris & Merideth Thompson: Amazing Grace (trad.)
• Lowen & Navarro: Into The Mystic (orig. Van Morrison)
• The Kennedys: On My Way (trad.)

live from Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, 2007

• Dar Williams w/ Gandalf Murphy: Peace Train (orig. Cat Stevens)
• Richard Shindell & Lucy Kaplansky: The Kid (orig. Buddy Mondlock)
• Richard Shindell & Lucy Kaplansky: Good Year For The Roses (orig. George Jones)
• The Dust Poets: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (orig. The Beatles)
• The Dust Poets: Helter Skelter (orig. The Beatles)

live from Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, 2008

• Joe Crookston: The Logical Song (orig. Supertramp)
• Anthony Da Costa: Get Back (orig. The Beatles)
• Vance Gilbert: A Change Is Gonna Come (orig. Sam Cooke)
• Jason Spooner & Crooked Still: Girl From The North Country (orig. Bob Dylan)
• Eddie From Ohio, The Nields, Vance Gilbert: Hard Times Come Again No More (orig. Stephen Foster)

live from Falcon Ridge Folk Festival 2009

• Abi Tapia: Your Cheatin’ Heart (orig. Hank Williams)
• Jim Henry and Tracy Grammer: Vincent Black Lightning 1952 (orig. Richard Thompson)
• Stonehoney: Paradise (orig. John Prine)

Like what you hear? Check out the full lineup, and then pick up your Falcon Ridge Folk Festival tickets here…or wait a week or two for your chance to win two full-fest camping passes worth $300. And don’t forget: if you love live festival coverfolk, you can get our exclusive Summer ‘09 17-song bootleg sampler by donating to Cover Lay Down.

Gas isn’t getting any cheaper, so now that you’re back from the confusingly-named fields and stages of Bonnaroo, where Ben Folds retired his lush, hushed cover of Bitches Ain’t Shit (see Fong Songs for a great live-from-Bonnaroo recording), it’s time to start looking at a few festivals closer to home. For us, this means our own stomping grounds, here in the American Northeast. And for my money, there’s no better festival around than the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, a four-day, four-stage extravaganza of music, dancing, and live music that takes place in Hillsdale, NY, on the last weekend in July.

Falcon Ridge tickets won’t sell out for a while, but if you’re like me, you’re going to need some time to air out the camper and clear the calendar. Without further ado, then, here’s a short feature on the festival itself, followed by some sweet covers from a few artists not to be missed.

Falcon Ridge Folk Festival isn’t the biggest Northeast music festival, not by a long shot. The Falcon Ridge camping population hovers far under ten thousand; on a good year, total festival attendance doesn’t rise much past fifteen thou. To me, this is a bonus. Where the bigger New England folk festivals such as Philly and Newport are often too crowded for me, Falcon Ridge is intimate, as festivals go, with a community feel that’s rare for a major festival.

This intimacy is as much a product of design and business model as it is a function of size. The place is entirely volunteer run, which means about a tenth of the people there have more than just a visitor’s stake in the place; the mood that results is relaxed and full of cheerfully shared ownership. There’s a Family stage and a Dance tent, in addition to Mainstage and Workshop stages, plus the usual and plentiful booths and services that make any good festival a full-body experience; these spaces interact effectively, with room to move, and no sound spill from one stage to the next. The camping areas nestle right up against the grassy mainstage amphitheater; after hours, small-label and indie artist performances continue in privately owned tents up on the hill until dawn, where you can see mainstage artists in a makeshift coffeehouse setting.

Falcon Ridge is perfect for cover lovers, too. The best set at the festival is the annual two-hour tribute show, where as many as ten different artists and groups cram onto the workshop stage to perform the songs of a single artist in an in-the-round format; in years past, I’ve seen Beatles tributes, Dylan songs, and Guthrie tunes here, but no matter the tribute subject, the performers always have a great and infectious time. In fact, though the mainstage is plenty impressive, I spend the lion’s share of my music-watching time at this small second stage, which features intimate performances from mainstage-caliber artists throughout the daylight hours — most often in small groupings, which providing a rare opportunity to see two or three of your favorite folk artists play for, and with, each other.

Falcon Ridge celebrates their 20th anniversary this year, and to make it special, they’ve come up with a full set of festival favorites that span a broad definition of folk, from old-school folkies Janis Ian and Jack Hardy to up-and-comers Joe Crookston (heard recently on Songs:Illinois) and singer-songwriter-cellist Lindsay Mac (who does an amazing version of Bill Withers tune Use Me). Other crowdpleasers include a plethora of contradance bands, and the ever-popular folkrock bands Eddie from Ohio, Railroad Earth, The Strangelings, Lowen and Navarro, and Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams.

The core of the festival performance is singer-songwriter folk, of course, and this year’s roster is impressive. Regular visitors to Cover Lay Down will find it familiar, too; we’ve previously featured a great many performers from this year’s Falcon Ridge 20th anniversary extravaganza, including John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson, Lori McKenna, Chris Smither, Dar Williams, and folk trio Red Molly, who first came together on-site. (Note: In order to tempt you into joining me on-site this year, archives for all these performers will remain open until the festival has passed us by.)

But such artists are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg; the Falcon Ridge roster is rich with talent. Later this week, in honor of their new album’s June 24th official release date, I’ll have two *exclusive* label-approved tracks from appalachian folkgrass quintet Crooked Still, who will appear at Falcon Ridge on Thursday this year. Today, we feature the coversongs of a few other great and often undersung performers who will grace the stage at this year’s Falcon Ridge Folk Fest.

Though the songwriting talents of both male and female folksingers are increasingly touted with equal merit, for some reason, as a default mode of analysis, the folkworld tends to celebrate male musicians for their stringwork, while female singer-songwriters are known for their voice. Boston-based folk artist Patty Larkin has spent her career trying to challenge that curious bias, both as a solo artist and as a member of the short-lived quartet Four Bitchin’ Babes, and she’s got the chops to prove it: Larkin trained in Jazz guitar at the Berkeley College of Music, and her fretwork and picking style has been praised by many throughout her quarter-century of performance.

But Larkin’s no one trick pony, either. Her songwriting is witty and wise, and she’s got a perfect note of longing in her voice that can melt the coldest heart. Though she’s drifted a bit label-wise, most recently landing at Vanguard, in the right production environment, her talents shine like a beacon. These two covers provide the perfect setting for this rare folk trifecta.

• Patty Larkin, Have A Little Faith In Me (orig. John Hiatt)
• Patty Larkin, Everybody’s Talkin’ (orig. Fred Neil)

My father took me to see appalachian dulcimer player and storyteller David Massengill way back in the eighties, at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA; it was one of my earliest experiences with folk, and it was, truly, a revelation. Massengill is best known in the folkworld for his role in starting the Greenwich Village cooperative which spawned the Fast Folk scene that revived folk music in the seventies and eighties; he hasn’t been terribly prolific over his long career, but he is an amazing performer and songwriter in his own right, a culture vulture with a wry critical eye and a warm voice, full of humor and poignancy about everything from gritty urban immigrant life to vivid, fanciful dreamscapes in which tourists visit the New York sewers, Jesus escapes from a mental hospital, and history’s greatest villains gather for a dinner party.

David Massengill will be performing at Falcon Ridge as part of a duo with fellow Fast Folk granddaddy Jack Hardy; here’s two covers from him, plus Cover Lay Down fave Lucy Kaplansky doing a great rendition of one of his best.

• David Massengill, Crucifixion (orig. Phil Ochs)
• David Massengill, Hard Times Come Again No More (Stephen Foster)
• Lucy Kaplansky, My Name Joe (orig. David Massengill)

I recently discovered that Martin Sexton lives right around the corner from my sister-in-law, which makes sense only if you assume that such miraculous bluesfolk and that perfect mellow weight-of-years voice are best honed in the middle of absolute nowhere, Massachusetts. Sexton started off in the early nineties as a Bostonian busker, where he sold 20,000 copies of his demo out of his guitar case, but despite being named artist of the year by the National Academy of Songwriters way back in 1994, and, more recently, having one of his songs featured on Scrubs, this incredible songwriter and guitarist with the multi-octave jazz-infused vocal style remains just under the radar.

Though my favorite tunes from him are light and airy as a Leo Kottke tune, despite his rural residence, Sexton can play it up funky and fast, too, with a catchy urban sensibility that’s off the charts. And he’s just incredible live. While we wait for his next album to go platinum, here’s both sides of Martin: a delicate live version of Amazing Grace worthy of Jeff Buckley’s dreamiest, and a bass-heavy high-production take on Billy Preston’s infamous Will It Go Round In Circles. Plus a great Christmas tune, just for the hell of it.

• Martin Sexton, Amazing Grace (John Newton)
• Martin Sexton, Will It Go Round In Circles (orig. Billy Preston)
• Martin Sexton, Have A Holly Jolly Christmas (orig. Burl Ives)

It took me a while to get into the nasal, warbly, oddly Nordic vocal harmonies of local authors, folk teachers, and singer-songwriter duo Nerissa and Katryna Nields. But most people who like their unique sound really like their sound, and I can see why: the sisters, who first began playing Falcon Ridge years ago as part of folk rock group The Nields, write surprisingly poignant, deeply intelligent tunes about the weirdest subjects, and perform them with bouncy spunk and aplomb and a surprising tenderness. Plus, there’s something about any sibling pair singing harmony that just melds perfectly. Here’s a cover of and a cover by the Nields, the better to showcase both their songwriting and their performance. PS: Don’t miss their kid’s stage set.

• Cry Cry Cry, I Know What Kind Of Love This Is (orig. The Nields)
• The Nields, Black Boys on Mopeds (orig. Sinead O’Connor)

Want in? Tickets for Falcon Ridge are available through the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival website; if you’re camping, act soon, because four day camping passes invariably sell out a few weeks before the gates open. If you’d like to attend totally free, come volunteer* — we’re always looking for a few more folks willing to help out! A few hours of generally enjoyable teamwork each day gets you free music, free food throughout the festival, access to great camping spots, and that feeling that comes from being a part of something wonderful. Contact Volunteer Coordinator Barbara Jesse for more.

*Full Disclosure: I’m Teen Crew Chief at Falcon Ridge, in charge of our “officer’s candidate school for future volunteers.” If you see a guy with a walkie-talkie leading a bunch of kids in matching shirts around the festival grounds, come on over and say hi — I’d love to meet you!

Today’s bonus coversongs are a bit ragged, but I couldn’t resist: they were recorded in 2005 at the annual Sunday morning Falcon Ridge Gospel Wake-up Call — another of my favorite Falcon Ridge traditions — and everyone who is singing here will be at this year’s festival, as well. Add a warm and sunny summer morning, a great spot on the hill, and that feeling of community that can only come from having woken up in a field full of cool people you love, and you’re practically there.

• Eddie From Ohio/Lowen and Navarro, Get Together (orig. Jesse Colin Young)
• Eddie From Ohio/Lowen and Navarro/The Kennedys, People Get Ready (orig. Curtis Mayfield)