Here's another review of the "Great High Mountain"
concert on Wednesday, June 2, at the Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia. The
review appeared in the June 8 issue of the Washington Times.
http://www.washtimes.com/entertainment/20040607-095605-4159r.htm
Several peaks on
'Mountain'
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By Jay Votel
Any soul who chanced to
wander uninformed onto the Wolf Trap grounds in Vienna Wednesday may have been
surprised to find picnickers popping wine bottles open in the midst of the
old-time revival taking place on stage in the Filene
Center.
Not that it
bothered the performers in the "Great High Mountain Tour," which featured Alison
Krauss, Ralph Stanley, the Whites, Norman and Nancy Blake, the Nashville
Bluegrass Band and a host of others.
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Centered
around the music from the films "Cold Mountain" and "O Brother, Where Art
Thou?," the tour also introduced some fresh faces to the bluegrass faithful. The
musical selections were decidedly traditional and evangelical. Nearly half the
program was comprised of unaccompanied voices in
harmony.
The tour was
organized by T Bone Burnett, who also produced soundtracks for both films. Mr.
Burnett earned critical acclaim â and much gratitude from bluegrass fans â for
using traditional American songs and giving the music a higher profile. This
marks the third incarnation of spinoff tours following the 2000 release of "O
Brother."
The program
started with a Sacred Harp Singers piece, "I Don't Care to Stay Here Long," led
by Tim Eriksen in the eerie, shape-note fashion in which dozens of performers
sing four-part harmony literally at the top of their lungs, a style of music
featured in "Cold
Mountain."
In the back
row, behind lesser-known performers, Alison Krauss joined in the
singing.
The fiddle
player-vocalist performed on both soundtracks and acted as hostess, playing and
singing with her band, Union Station, featuring Jerry Douglas on resophonic
guitar, as well as with other performers in the
ensemble.
But it was
her sideman, Dan Tyminsky, the singing voice of George Clooney in "O Brother,"
who brought down the house with "Man of Constant Sorrow," the film's theme song,
to end the concert's first
half.
The venerable
Ralph Stanley came onstage just before 10 p.m. at the close of
the program, which began earlier than most Wolf Trap concerts at 7:30 p.m. He
received a standing ovation when he appeared in his sequined tuxedo, backed by
the Nashville Bluegrass Band and guitarist Norman Blake, to sing "Room at the
Top of the Stairs" and an a cappella version of his "O Brother" show-stopper "O
Death," dramatically lighted from
behind.
Mr.
Stanley, 77, one of the few first-generation bluegrass performers still
touring, led the ensemble in a finale of "Angel Band," a Stanley Bros. song
featured in "O Brother." For an encore, he led the audience in a
call-and-response version of "Amazing
Grace."
Between the
big-name stars, however, were some truly outstanding performances from folks who
weren't featured in either
film.
The Reeltime
Travelers, an Appalachian string band from Johnson City, Tenn., brought an
ethereal sound to the stage with "Little Bird of Heaven," written and sung by
the band's guitarist, Martha Scanlan. They followed with an instrumental medley
in which fiddle player Heidi Andrade showed off her clogging skills while the
band played "Old Joe Clark," before she grabbed her fiddle and shifted the band
into overdrive for "Breaking Up
Christmas."
Ollabelle,
the six-piece, traditionally inspired band, lent orchestrated harmonies to
performances of "The Storms are on the Ocean" from the Carter family and a Blind
Willie Johnson gospel rocker, "John the Revelator." But little Sierra Hull, age
12, of Byrdstown, Tenn., stole the show â and many hearts â with her impeccable
mandolin playing and harmonies with brother Cody Hull, 15, on guitar. After an a
cappella gospel song, the youngsters tore into a blistering version of "Salt
Creek."
