down in the middle of the street, but no one was listening. Billy Joe was kicking it old school just like he did back at Bragg Jam, doing his outlaw country thing.
He's just so darn likable onstage, doing a capella ditties about women who done him wrong or even singing that "if you ain't drinkin' water, you oughter" in that Texas twang of his. "Most of my songs were written trying to get back into my house," he said at one point.
I think he would make for an awesome grandad, with all the stories he could tell about Waylon Jennings and Nashville and getting saved and all. Plus he's great fun onstage-- can you imagine what he's like around the house? He did a few more numbers like "I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal" and an uplifting anthem that went "if at first you can't succeed, try, try again." I then decided that Billy Joe is secretly a country & western motivational speaker.
After about an hour's wait, during which I made some phone calls and listened to the BBQ contest winners, Tim Reynolds hit the stage. Now, other than knowing he had some kind of Dave Matthews connection, I really didn't know anything about the guy. He came out dressed in black, wielding a 12-string guitar and wearing these insane white sunglasses. I mean, he could've hiked glaciers in these things.
Anyhow, he had a serious effects pedal setup and a very percussive style. There was a heavy delay/reverb going on to the point where he would play one passage, and while it repeated he'd add another layer to it. Kind of like do-it-yourself counterpoint. The effect was like Ani DiFranco gone experimental.
But he didn't stick with that style. In fact, Tim is something of an acoustic guitar virtuoso, and he veered all over the musical map. Sometimes he had a jazz-funk thing going on. Sometimes he sounded like a one-man jam band. Sometimes he'd take a more bluegrass/traditional direction. Most of the time he did not sing, but his voice was a peculiar overlay to the whole experience. It's like Randy Newton mated with a Fraggle.
At one point he did this crazy robot dance and the music was getting pretty intense and I thought maybe people in the crowd would think it was too out-there, but they totally didn't. I could picture the Doozers working futilely to it. It was like a Casio keyboard from the mid-80s gone berserk. As a side note, I used to have a hot pink one, and I would set it to record and I'd madly mash as many keys as I could. Then I'd play it back and put the tempo as fast as it would go. Result: berserk computer noises.
If at any point I got bored or annoyed with Tim's performance, he'd change it up posthaste, so my feelings did not last long. I preferred his more wacked-out stuff and off-kilter arrangements to the straight-up stuff. Also, heavy application of Led Zeppelin, CSNY and the Beatles never hurts. He did trippy renditions of "Kashmir," "Four Dead in Ohio," "All You Need is Love," and
Whole Lotta Love." There was also a bit about the government being a propaganda machine. Seeing that he supported Dennis Kucinich in the presidential election is somehow not surprising. But it was an entertaining, varied set.
I'd heard about the Legendary J.C.'s for a while now, mainly in the form of "you really need to see this band." They are a soul combo from Orlando that does their own music and manages not to sound like a wedding band or bunch of ripoffs. They have a horn section and a keyboard (longtime readers of AMPED will recognize that I am a fan of these instruments) and a frontman who's part soul singer, part revival preacher.
They did a rocking soul revue that got everyone (including me) dancing like fools. I grew up in Florida, about an hour and a half from Orlando, and I had no idea the city of the Mouse contained so much soul. I am kind of obsessed with 60s soul music right now so this was totally up my alley. Frontman Eugene even played the bongos at one point, and he's all over the stage with the awesome dancing antics.
Their set was kinetic, insistent and totally fun. They come to Macon fairly regularly so I would recommend catching them if possible. I wanted them to play longer, actually.Karl Denson's Tiny Universe was also a lot of fun, though they were more in a funk/jazz vein. Karl is quite the saxman and he has a lovely, restrained jazz vocal style as well. I was very impressed with his band. They had great structure but also the kind of openness you need to get that spacey thing going on.
They definitely had some P-Funk going on, some Hendrix, a touch of Sun Ra and a large helping of Sly and the Family Stone. At one point there was a drum fill that I would've sworn was in that Bell Biv DeVoe song "Poison." Karl also pulled out the jazz flute and even made good use of the cowbell.
There were some slow jams, some deep funk and some space explorations but mostly all of it was danceable, which I liked. He used to play with Lenny Kravitz, back when Lenny was more of a hippie, and on Saturday night he took us all to Funky Town.
All told the Sweetwater Festival had a great bill and is worth the trek up Highway 49.
Posted by Maggie on November 8, 2005 at 05:16 PM
Maggie Large is the Telegraph's entertainment writer.
http://blogs.macon.com/amped/2005/11/sweet_tea_and_s.html