WoodyFest 2007, Part III: Open Mic Treasures

WoodyFest 2007, Part III: Open Mic Treasures

Whole books could be written of the saga that unfolds on the outdoor Open Mic stage at the salty Rocky Road Tavern, which, appropriately for this event, bills itself as “Where The Common Folk Meet.” The sign-up sheet is well kept and the clip brisk. Literally hundreds of musicians from around the nation (and some from abroad) perform their three songs.

Two Sebastian County singer-songwriters turned in well-received performances at Open Mic. Dan ‘The Tire Man’ Merry of Booneville sang his stirring It Ain’t So Bad, about the final moments of trapped miners in the 2006 Sago Mine Disaster. He opened with Welcome Home (a nod to his fellow Kerr Folk, many of whom attend this Festival) and closed with a

sing-a-long, Prices Keep Climbing.

Larry Dillon of Fort Smith opened with his own nod to WG, In Woody’s Shoes. He then sang his anti-war protest Johnny’s Not Here, and closed with another protest, Tick Tock.

Tulsa native Dana Swift left an interesting impression. By day he is an electrical engineer, but by night he is a happy luthier, building fine guitars. He played one of his instruments at Open Mic, displaying a bell-like technique produced by playing almost exclusively on the neck of the guitar. Swift’s long term goal is to automate his guitar production in a bid to recover the U.S. guitar market from China.

One day at Festival, a glance at the sign-up sheet revealed that a performance by fabled New York folk singer Jack Hardy had just been missed by your reporter; however, he turned up soon enough just three feet away, putting up his guitar. While most modern folkies know of Hardy’s singing and songwriting, those who marched and protested in the 60s also fondly remember him as a radical student newspaper editor who was arrested and convicted for libeling the President (that would have been Nixon) by publishing an unflattering political cartoon. Hardy played at least one more set at Open Mic, and he was invited to play a full set at the added Friday evening concert at Brick Street.

At Brick Street, backed by Jack Williams on lead guitar, Karen Mal on mandolin and vocals and Cameron Snyder on upright bass, Hardy ushered the audience into his world with the title song from his 2004 CD “Coin of the Realm: Songs for the New American Century.” Exploring the time and space that exists between changes in a person’s/culture’s/nation’s ‘currency,’ he illustrates George Washington’s change from revolutionary commander to sitting leader, from firebrand opposition to defending and maintaining the norm.

In his intro for The Story of Cain & Abel According to Jack, also on “Coin,” Hardy says, “One of my projects lately has been rewriting the Bible because I’m tired of how the religious right is misquoting it,” and this song questions omniscient power.

Ponderosa, from the 2002 CD “Bandolier” and I Ought To Know from the 2000 CD “Omens” filled out the front end of the set. Turning to the Irish, Hardy played May Day, a jig recorded on several CDs, and then sang a cappella in Gaelic the traditional love song Bruach na Carraige Baine (The Edge of the White Rock). Then came The High Line from the 1982 “White Shoes” CD, about Route 2 along the Canadian border; and another love song, The Lady Turned Away.

Hardy’s spoken intro for Empires reflected a subject he has pondered long. “All empires go down. If you read the Declaration of Independence, it is a rant against the King, George; but if you read it today, it is the same for our current administration.” He finished with the symbolic train pulling out of town headed west, The Zephyr, most recently on his 1994 “Civil Wars” CD, and encored with Willy Goggin’s Hat, most recently from his 2005 “Tinker’s Coin” CD.

WoodyFest is a dandy free festival close to Arkansas and a great opportunity to hear national, regional and local musicians in an old-time setting, and have a chance to be heard as well. For more information on related events and next year’s Festival, visit their website at woodyguthrie.com.

Reprinted with permission from Nightflying Media Guide