-- Friday August 12, 2005 --
The Sadies @ CIBC Stage - 9:30 pm
When do Toronto's The Sadies not impress? Their music's a seamless blend of styles ranging from surf, country-twang, garage rock, and 60's pop, and what better representatives are there to wave the banner of T.O. Twang. Hightlights of the set included Dallas' and Travis' mother lending her vocals to several songs as well as the surprise guest appearances from Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor and Basil Donovan which included a run through Blue Rodeo's "Trust Yourself". Other things to mention: a)Dallas' vocals are a deadringer for Lee Hazelwood, b)Travis and Dallas are great guitar players(as if you didn't already know), and c)that "shoop,shoop...shoop-shoop, shoop" song is insanely fun.[more photos]Carolyn Mark and The New Best Friends @ Brigantine Room - 11 pm
T.O. Twang CIBC stage hostess Carolyn Mark and her band played a double set at the Brigantine Room after The Sadies' set finished. I never saw her perform live and I must say she was such a delight to see. She wasn't very country actually; more of a rock n' roll boogie kinda gal. The twang-inflected tunes mostly came from guest steel-pedal extraordinaire Bob Egan. Wearing a fifties-inspired hoopskirt, she looked like the perfect example of fifties wholesomeness. In contrast, she was quite a bit more rambunctious. There were some fun moments of Carolyn doing some rock guitar posturing, dropping to the floor, kicking up her heels to reveal her panties. She was quite the confident stage banterer, making off-the-cuff remarks that had the audience in stitches. By the way, her keyboardist Ford Pier had totally insane dance moves. [more photos]-- Saturday August 13, 2005 --
Billy Joe Shaver @ CIBC Stage - 9:30 pm
There was a good turnout for this gentleman. There was alot of older folk as well as a fair share of cowboy hat-wearing country music fans in the audience. "New country" he isn't but having read that he was an older gentlemen I was hoping for some hurtin' Johnny Cash or Hank Williams influenced numbers. Revered as he is, his brand of honky tonk country music just wasn't my cup of tea. There was a tender moment during his set when he dedicated a song he wrote about his son, who he said was a great guitar player and who had passed away due to a drug overdose. [photo from http://../]Stone City Stragglers @ Brigantine Room - 11:00 pm
Of the acts that I wasn't familiar with, I most wanted to see Stone City Stragglers after perusing their website and sampling some audio tracks. The band's from Joliet, Illinois which I'm assuming is not a mecca of country music. I wanted to be knocked off my feet and was a little disappointed at the start of their set. At the start of their set, I'd have been nclined to agree with this review which states about their first album, "Little Misfortunes & Innocent Mistakes", that "Love, alienation, prison, loneliness - all the best themes in country are represented here, without much 'alt'." and then goes on to say that the album is "middle of the road". Up against the best alt-country artists like old Wilco, Uncle Tupelo or more recent artists like Neko Case, Stone City Stragglers started out their set with a conventional country sound that lacked the "alt" that I was hoping for. I do admit that they were great musicians and the vocal harmonies between the two lead singers were superb, in particular that of female vocalist Allison Moroni. (As an aside, the glasses she wore were quite flattering and she was really gorgeous in her long brown country dress and boots.) Thankfully my initial disappointment was brief as I believe that the band redeemed themselves during the second half of their set. The band pulled from their sleeves a bevy of great songs including a new acoustic tune called "Magnolia" which had the raw emotion I was hoping for. Sometimes less can really be more. The series of tunes which the guitarist pulled out the mandolin for were also very good. The added percussion contributed by the male vocalist's wife was interesting and added some needed dimension to the songs. I noticed and was glad the guitar was turned up for a certain Son Volt-style rocker as well as a couple of desert-rock instrumentals. The Star(not to be confused with The Toronto Star) spoke to the band in advance of their appearance at T.O. Twang, and stated that they were the only unsigned band at the festival. I'm a little miffed that the turnout for Stone City Stragglers' set wasn't overflowing with stragglers(pun intended) coming from mainstage headliner Billy Joe Shaver's set. I'm hoping someone took notice because they really deserve a record deal. Oh, and almost forgot to mention that the young daughter of the male vocalist was so adorable when she took the stage to sing on one song. -- Sunday August 14, 2005 --
Ancient Chinese Secret @ Brigantine Room - 2 pm
This all-instrumental country/pop/surf music trio played a nifty set of covers that were all really good. The band features Brian Connelly who used to be in Shadowy Men and a Shadowy Planet and I believe still plays as part of the more recent Atomic 7. While I could state quite confidently that Shadowy... was an indie, garage-y outfit, I'd be hard pressed to make any major distinguishment between Ancient Chinese Secret and Atomic 7, other than the fact that Ancient Chinese Secret play more country covers. Actually, Ancient Chinese Secret played a bevy of other cover songs that just weren't country including a lovely version of "To Sir With Love" and a super-cool version of Tom Jones "It's Not Unsual". The country tunes were songs I wasn't all that familiar with except for Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire". I think Brian lives in Toronto because I've spotted him in town, although he's not hard to miss with his red hair and rockabilly-style wardrobe. His guitar skills are truly scorching. Whatever incarnation he's a part of, you must check out Brian's skills for yourself.
Nathan @ CIBC Stage - 3 pm
This young band is a four-piece made up of two females and two males, from Winnipeg playing folky, sometimes twangy pop music. Their set was pretty eclectic with nods to various styles including country, folk, polka, and pop music. The vocal harmonies between co-frontwomen Keri McTighte and Shelley Marshall were very lovely and their stage banter was confident and humorous. The banjo was used to nice effect on several songs and towards the end of their set Keri displayed an impressive skill in the use of a theremin. The accessibility of their music, as well as the fact that they are young are a couple of factors that I really think could attract a younger audience who are interested in discovering new music. Their music wasn't always as dark as they advertise themselves to be, at least if you went by the quote(by Michael Wrycrafter of CBC Radio) at their website which describes Nathan as "If David Lynch had directed 'O Brother Where Art Thou?, Nathan's music would be the soundtrack." Actually, Nathan's sound is quite sunny at times. I just thought you should know that. [original photo from Nathan's official website]:
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Please also check out suckingalemon's review of T.O. Twang. Whereas I made it out to a measly two acts per day, it appears she saw almost every one of the mainstage acts. Wow.
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