BELLOWS FALLS — Fred Eaglesmith's cult status has never been more threatened.
Bellows Falls' Roots on the River Festival, now going into its 11th year this weekend, June 10-13, was built for and around Eaglesmith, the Canadian singer, songwriter, rocker, humorist, poet of the rural life and all-around entertainer.
Through venue changes, heatstroke, clouds, rain and mud, the festival's one constant has always been change.
“It's been going a long time and it's changed and changed and changed,” Eaglesmith said. “Didn't it start in a biker's bar? I keep going, 'What's this year going to be like?'”
This year the festival is running for four days. It starts with a concert by what is easily the best Cajun band in the world, Beausoleil, on Thursday night at the Bellows Falls Opera House.
On Friday, a free concert at the Bellows Falls Farmers' Market will feature The Travelers.
The music then moves to a tent in a field behind the Everyday Inn in Rockingham for Eaglesmith's Friday night show and a full lineup all day on Saturday - ending with another Eaglesmith concert. It closes on Sunday with an acoustic show by Eaglesmith and folk artist Mary Gauthier at the historic Rockingham Meeting House. (For a complete schedule and ticket information, go to rootsontheriver.com).
Eaglesmith's fans, known throughout the world as “Fredheads,” have been following him closely for close to 20 years. You can spot them in audiences everywhere because they're wearing t-shirts imprinted with Eaglesmith's wit and wisdom, such as “Time to get a gun,” and “My baby has big hair.”
Eaglesmith's cult status is unchallenged. Some might call it unrivaled. He knows a lot of his fans by their first names. They come to the shows and rib him from the audience. They have dinner with him on the road. They take long railroad trips together. And they hang out with him at festivals.
But the times they are a-changin', because Eaglesmith has been discovered by country music. First, Toby Keith recorded “White Rose,” which earned Eaglesmith a gold record and a new van. (Eaglesmith once limped into so many towns in so many beat-up buses that it was rumored he kept one of his road musicians on the job just because he was an ace mechanic). Miranda Lambert recorded “Time to Get a Gun.” Now Alan Jackson has just released a new record called “Freight Train,” and the title song is Eaglesmith's. The CD is flying up the charts.
Eaglesmith has gone so mainstream that he will be playing on David Letterman's television show on June 14.
If and when more country stars come calling, Eaglesmith has a huge back catalog. But his newfound popularity - and the money it brings - doesn't faze him.
“The money for 'Freight Train' depends on what Alan Jackson does with the song,” Eaglesmith said. “Certainly, it generates interest in places that's usually don't pay attention to me. But you do your work and you keep doing it and it keeps getting better all the time. It's not really about being more popular for me. It's more just about that I've done my work.”
Eaglesmith's first band, and arguably his best, The Flying Squirrels, played and recorded together for many, many years. But marriage took some off the road, and then death took the great Willie P. Bennett. Since then, Eaglesmith has been touring with younger guys who can withstand the pace of his grueling, 200-plus dates a year schedule. Due to the faltering economy, they've had to play clubs as well as theaters and festivals.
“We've played rock-and-roll clubs where they back us into a corner and we fight our way to the front door,” Eaglesmith said.
This year, he's added the Ginn Sisters to his band.
“One of the girls' husband is a good friend of mine,” Eaglesmith said. “We were doing some work, hanging out together at a festival, and they came up and play with us. It was so rock-and-roll and on fire, it felt like Woodstock. I played that live track around when I got back home and my kids said, 'You have to do this.' So we went out for a year. Then we made a rock-and-roll record. It will be coming out in September."
And there's a new Eaglesmith CD, “Cha Cha Cha,” which will be out any day now. It's a departure for Eaglesmith because it's full of love songs. Not only are there broken-heart songs like “Careless” and “Rebecca Street,” but even a few moon-and-June style puppy-love songs, too. It was natural to ask Eaglesmith if he's had his heart broken recently.
Nope, he said. This was a deliberate move on his part to make a “classic” rock-and-roll album.
“I haven't done many love songs,” Eaglesmith said. “I wanted to write some songs that Elvis might sing."
No matter how popular Eaglesmith gets, he hasn't lost his contrarian streak.
“I really think a lot of people - musicians - have gone underground who aren't underground because it's the thing to do,” Eaglesmith said. “They're pretending or acting. They're store-bought rebels. So I'm doing this thing. I'm going to bring 1950s Hollywood and rock-and-roll-meets-the-early-'70s. It unashamedly has hooks in it, and I really loved doing it.
“It's an easy record to listen to, and what's wrong with that?”
In fact, it's a culmination of all the music Eaglesmith has been listening to for the past 20 years.
“I started with Americana roots music,” he said. “Then I started listening to Chet Baker and the jazz guys. And I really think this music allows me to get older with some dignity. That's what I feel about it - it's effortless effort. It looks ridiculous when you're 21, but then effort looks ridiculous when you're 51. And I'm 53.”