In less than a month, it will be here.
My favorite weekend of the year.
Bellows Falls will be alive with music June 3–5 as enthusiasts gather for the 17th annual Roots on the River music festival.
“Roots” music, sometimes called “traditional” or “Americana,” is a musical style that incorporates early blues, bluegrass, country, folk, rhythm and blues, gospel, and rock. Each June, the festival celebrates the genre.
In 2014, Acoustic Guitar magazine picked this “little gem of a festival” as one of its 50 must-attend events around the country. My guess is that it is because it offers a truly unique festival experience.
Top-notch artists perform in an incredibly intimate setting for an audience that listens appreciatively and attentively. Typically, when one envisions a “music festival,” an image of massive crowds comes to mind. Crowds and lines.
This festival is different.
On Friday and Saturday the music is played on one stage “under the big tent” in a field behind the Rodeway Inn on Route 5 north of town. Fans sit in chairs under the tent, or they kick back on the lawn.
There is not a bad seat in the house. You can see and hear the music from wherever you are, and if you want to get up close to get a photo, the stage is easily accessible. Local vendors provide scrumptious food as well as beer and wine. Kids can find activities in the kid tent, and well-behaved leashed dogs are welcome!
My friend Beth Lavinder will return to the festival in June, coming from Saxapahaw, N.C.
“One of the reasons I drive 16 hours each way to attend Roots on the River is the warm intimacy of the gathering and the feeling of community,” she says.
“Because there are not multiple stages, everyone gets to experience the same show, and this shared experience keeps us close and connected. Some of the nicest people you'll ever meet listening to some of the most gifted and hard-working artists out there in one of the most beautiful parts of the country.
“How can you beat that?” she asks.
I agree.
* * *
The venue on Sunday - the historic Rockingham Meetinghouse - is a truly magical space to witness the entirely acoustic show. One of the earliest public buildings in Vermont, it is in nearly original condition.
I remember the first time I heard music in the Meetinghouse, years ago, when I brought my two young daughters to see Fred Eaglesmith close out the festival.
As we settled into one of the boxed pews, I took the opportunity to look around and absorb the astounding beauty of the building. I imagined the generations of individuals who had, over the past 250 or so years, sat in the same spot I was hunkered down in.
Sunlight streamed in through the massive windows that towered above as the music began. It felt like church.
Music - good music - has the power to touch me in a way that is spiritual. And this year, a 75-minute Gospel Hour will precede the two featured acts. For me, it will be a highlight.
* * *
Pressed to say which act I am most looking forward to would be a difficult task. Festival Producer Ray Massucco has an uncanny ability of hand-picking and curating a perfect festival.
Much of the music that I listen to these days is performed by artists with whom I had not been familiar before I heard them perform at Roots on the River. If years past are any indication, each of the musicians in this year's festival will put on a mesmerizing performance.
If I had to pick two acts that I am most looking forward to, they would be the Ballroom Thieves performing with the Maine Youth Rock Orchestra and the Steel Wheels.
When Ray told me that one of the acts at this year's festival would be a Boston-based trio accompanied by a 23-piece string orchestra comprised of middle- and high-school- age students, my ears perked up. So much so that I went to see them perform in Portland, Maine a few weeks ago.
It was the opening night of their eight-show East Coast tour. Never before had a youth orchestra accompanied an established band on tour, and the venue was buzzing with excitement.
I had the opportunity to talk with a few of the members of the Maine Youth Rock Orchestra before the show and asked them how they felt.
“Scared,” one student quickly replied.
And equally as quickly, another chimed in, “It's going to be fantastic. We sounded great at sound check.”
And great they were. Really, really great. I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I listened.
Musically, the performance was outrageous. Calin Peters absolutely whaled on the cello. I had never seen anyone stand up and dance with a cello before and play with such intensity that the bow strings frayed to shreds - repeatedly.
But what really got me was the look on these kids' faces as they performed alongside the Ballroom Thieves. They were ecstatic! What a gift Maine Youth Rock Orchestra's Executive Director and Founder Kevin Oates is giving these kids. Confidence-building, for sure. And how cool to experience what it feels like to be a rock star!
The Ballroom Thieves have a chemistry that is infectious. In addition to being poetic songwriters and crazy-good musicians, it is obvious that they really enjoy one another and the music that they are creating.
Add 23 kids to the mix, and the result is astounding. Magical. It will be a festival highlight for sure.
* * *
A year ago, Ray Massucco helped me to produce a benefit concert for brain cancer research. The concert, featuring the Virginia-based band the Steel Wheels, was held at the Bellows Falls Opera House.
Even though many had never seen the act, we sold every seat. After the show, the band had more than 500 new fans!
The Steel Wheels will return to Roots on the River this year to headline Saturday night's show and perform in Sunday's Gospel Hour at the Meetinghouse.
The first time I saw them was years ago at Boccelli's in Bellows Falls. I was drawn to their image on the event poster - four animated characters playing the stand-up bass, mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. They looked like they would put on a good show.
When I arrived, the place was absolutely packed. Like most of the audience, I had never heard them play. Quickly, we were riveted by their music: lyrics that spoke honestly of family, community, travel, spirit, struggle. And of love, found and lost.
And man, could they play their instruments! At times, they did so with a frenzy that had the room dancing in their seats.
My most vivid memory is of the entire room singing along with them to “Wade in the Water” as they gathered, as they often do, around a single microphone singing in 4- part harmony.
It was an incredible night.
* * *
The Steel Wheels are also a favorite for other reasons - reasons that are personal.
Music has always been an important part of my life. My dad was passionate about music. He couldn't play an instrument, but he instilled in me a deep appreciation of the ability of music to touch my soul - especially live music.
As soon as Dad was diagnosed with brain cancer, I decided to create a benefit concert to help raise both awareness and funding for research of a type of cancer that is insanely underfunded.
The Steel Wheels put on a hell of a show, and I will forever treasure the memory of Dad sitting in the front row of the Opera House, surrounded by every member of his family, beaming, absolutely beaming, as he enjoyed the music.
I requested that the band play “Dance Me Around the Room,” and they closed the show with it.
It was the last song my dad ever heard performed live. Days after the concert, he had a seizure and died from a pulmonary embolism.
I think of my dad every time I hear that song. Music has a way of triggering memory and transporting us back in time.
Neil Diamond's “Cherry, Cherry” brings me back to 1971. We'd just hopped into my dad's mustard-yellow car. Every time we drove through a traffic circle in Madison, Conn., my sister Lynne and I begged him to go around a time or two extra. One day, Dad decided to go around that circle until we begged him to stop.
We must have gone 20 times, “Cherry, Cherry” blasting on his 8-track tape player. Lynne and I had our heads and arms dancing out of his sunroof while he steered with his knees. He needed his hands free to bang out a beat on the steering wheel.
Prince brings me back to the early '90s. Dad is on his knees, belting out “Purple Rain.” When he realizes that he has been spotted, he hams it up all the more.
Harry Chapin is ever present. The live version of “All My Life's a Circle” was a constant. Sung at extremely high decibel.
I miss my dad every day, but am grateful for the opportunity to remember. Music helps me remember. Every time.
* * *
I was thumbing through this year's festival program and stumbled across something that was written about the Roots on the River Festival Songwriter's Guitar award that is presented to a performer each year.
Stephen Chipman conceived of the idea in 2007, and this year's festival marks the 10th anniversary of the award. Each year an artist is given a vintage guitar that has been restored by Chipman in his studio in Chester.
“The singer-songwriter holds a special place in modern music and a place that's very dear to my musical heart,” Chipman says. “Nothing against Old Blue Eyes, Doris Day, and Milli Vanilli, but I honestly feel more connected to the musician who both writes and performs his/her own music.”
“That's what the Roots on the River Festival Songwriters Award is all about,” he continues. “It's about recognizing the talents of those individuals who open themselves up and expose every ounce of pleasure and pain for us all to see and hear. It's witnessing a performance with an artist who has stared at the ceiling, night after night, hoping for that one word to fall into place, that perfect chord to close the final chorus. It's about making what they do count.”
We are incredibly fortunate to have an intimate festival with music of this caliber in our little town. I look forward to it every year.