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by Seth Rogovoy
LANESBORO, Mass., July 28, 1996 -- The virtuoso interplay of guitars, banjos and fiddles and high, lonesome vocal harmonies wafted over a picture-perfect hillside at Steele's Dairy Farm as hundreds soaked in the sounds of bluegrass at the premiere Noppet Hill Festival this weekend.
At the climax of Saturday afternoon's program, which was scheduled to be repeated Saturday night, the Grammy-winning, world-renowned Nashville Bluegrass Band played its smooth, soulful style of bluegrass.Kicking off its set with Gillian Welch's "Tear My Stillhouse Down," the opening track of the group's 1995 CD, "Unleashed" (Sugar Hill), the quintet demonstrated the art of unison playing and harmonizing that characterizes its genre.
On this and other numbers, including the traditional, old-timey tune "Boll Weevil," the band invested its material with a contemporary urgency that belied its classic origins, made explicit in a couple of Bill Monroe covers. The musicians showcased their vocal prowess on "Two Wings," a gospel hymn rendered a cappella in four-part harmony in the soulful, authentic style of the Fairfield Four.
Bob Paisley and the Southern Grass preceded the headliners onstage. Paisley's group exemplified the classic, muscular, hard-driving style of bluegrass. Whereas the Nashville band was all smooth and supple, Paisley's outfit was a pulsing dynamo, with a strong, rhythmic undercurrent powered by the twin-guitar attack of Paisley and his son, Dan, who also served as lead vocalist. This band's ferociously dynamic interplay, featuring some evocatively modern- sounding fiddling by Jack Leiderman, was probably the instrumental standout of the day.
Earlier on festivalgoers heard sets by Burnt Hills Bluegrass, Grassroots, the Case Brothers and the Bear Bridge Band. The Lanesboro-based Bear Bridge didn't have to rely on its status as hometown favorites to garner the rapt attention of the audience -- the group's own tight unison playing and Dave Shaw's soulful, plaintive tenor were enough to insure that response.
The Case Brothers -- Martin and Gibson, get it? -- performed a highly amusing set patterned on pre-bluegrass brother acts like the Monroe Brothers and the Blue Sky Boys. In their matching beige suits, white shirts, red ties and white cowboy hats, the guitar- mandolin duo were both entertaining to watch and listen to, as well as serving as an apt guide to some of the roots of bluegrass music.
Noppet Hill was no mere concert in a field. The three-day event, years in the making, was designed, engineered and executed as a major-league undertaking, and everything from the parking and shuttle-bus to the campgrounds to the emcees to the food court and craft booth infrastructure was top-notch. The setting itself, as well as the weather, was breathtaking.
Bluegrass exists in its own world, isolated from the mainstream and commercial markets. As a grassroots music, it relies almost entirely on alternative efforts for its perpetuation and survival. Given all this, the promoters of Noppet Hill deserve a tremendous pat on the back for a job well done.
[This review originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on July 31, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All rights reserved.]
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