Lola and I are heading to Sprecherfest specifically to listen to Junior Brown and Robbie Fulks. The radar shows isolated thunderstorms scattered across the Dairy State but hopefully nature’s most abundant heat trapping atmospheric molecules will leave the music alone.
UPDATE 1: Heavy rain moves over the grounds shortly after Robbie Fulks begins a late start to his set. The delay is due to the fact the bass player’s equipment simply didn’t work after the set up, so they are stalling to give him time to run home for backup gear. Several hundred of us in the audience settle into picnic tables under old oak trees to enjoy the afternoon. After half an hour, awkward begins transitioning towards uncomfortable so Robbie and the band decide to start the show without him.
Robbie is the entertainment, in part because of his irreverent and audacious stage presence, so the crowd is happy right up until the moment the downpour forces everyone into the 1500 seat German Beer Hall, with fully lighted stage, in Old Heidleberg Park. Fortunately, one side of the beer stand opens into the pavilion and the painted murals could be leisurely admired. I especially enjoy a panel with a young couple dancing entitled: Lovey and Bob Leuzinger. An hour later as the rain keeps falling, Robbie drags two microphones onto the huge center stage, and with one snare drum, one guitar and four band members they improvise a giddy finish.
UPDATE 2: We own a Junior Brown CD and yet I am not prepared for the astonishing phenomenon of witnessing a live performance from fifty feet away next to the mix board. First, a very old man in a gray suit and tie sets up a single snare drum and cymbal set. Next a bass player takes position stage left. They start a rhythm pulsing and Junior Brown emerges, placing his double neck guitar “big red” on its stand in the middle. When he is ready his fingers play those strings as well as any living human being, and his deep voice commands your attention as he sings about love and the law.
Over the course of two hours Junior Brown’s playing wanders through Hawaiian, Mexican, Texan and California Surf guitar styles with an intensity, complexity and mastery second to none. I have heard Junior described as the unknown country superstar and I concur. Just because the 21st century mass media marketing machine isn’t proclaiming someone brilliant, it doesn’t mean the brilliance isn’t there. Perhaps it is an issue with labels because Junior is more about the love of the guitar than the fuzzy definitions of county music. In this digital age so many people believe a recording captures music, and it does in the sense that a photograph captures an image. No recording is a complete substitute for reality so I highly recommend if you have an opportunity to attend a Junior Brown performance, do it.
