United Folk Festival 7/1/17 Westerly RI

Very thankful for some friends to lead the way to the first year of UFF. Free and open to the public, this amazing lineup of indie-folk acts was expertly picked. We hit the scene during Woods, this freak folk act from Brooklyn has been positively reviewed in this blog before. The lead singer has an alarmingly high voice ( not quite Roy Orbison territory), that once you accept ,you can dig in to the well crafted original songwriting. This tight band veers from pop to psych very easily. Next up was The Low Anthem, a Providence- based outfit that has strayed from its early folk Americana (the Oh My God, Charlie Darwin release is excellent) into straight noise land. While I appreciate a good noise outing, this racket sent the twirling kids in the front row straight for the safety of their strollers. Next, on the smaller stage was Michael Nau, a big fella in a trucker hat sang calming folk that brought the crowd back from the rings of Saturn where The Low Anthem must currently reside. Langhorne Slim came to the party solo. Langhorne, from the Philly area is hysterical, if he comes to your town please go and see him. Comical song intros about ADD, his love of old people, his demons and sobriety, and the need for human kindness in the Trump era were particularly poignant. His brand of high energy folk and audience participation bits made for a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Next, on the small stage were The Barr Brothers. Brad on guitar and vocals, Andrew on drums were joined by another guitar, bass, and female harpist. The Barrs used to front the regional jam trio The Slip. The Slip were mainly instrumental jazz jam psychedelia. Towards the end of their run, Brad started to sing more and the Barr Brothers emerged. I watched the roadie mic the harp and told him I was a big Slip fan back in the day, he assured me that there would be no Slip material that evening. While the songs were different, the style of the brothers was very evident. The show closed out with one of my favorites, Blitzentrapper. These road warriors from Portland OR have been pegged with a "70s rock vibe", and I get the tag. The lead singer and guitarist has a well worn twang. Accompanied by bass, guitar/keys, keys/vocals and drums, Blitzentrapper is a festival staple. If I had to describe Blitzentrapper, I would equate them to those puffy South American sweaters worn by Starsky and Hutch, a comfortable period piece. You could sense that part of the draw for these bands, was the reverence for the lineup and the movement away from the craziness of Bonaroo. Getting old? Maybe, but in a graceful and rockin way