THROUGH THE LENS: The Nelsonville Music Festival Throws Itself a Helluva 15th Birthday Party

On the far end of the festival grounds are several small 19th-century one-room log cabins, two of which are “stages.” The No-Fi Cabin, which holds 50 people, is exactly as its name implies — a cabin with no electricity. This year, a wrap-around deck was added and the entrances enlarged for a lighter, more airy feel that also enabled a few more people to see the music. Also, the rough-hewn logs inside the cabin were white-washed and an art installation added. As there is nothing to separate the artist from the audience, there is a familiarity and a spontaneity that cannot be found even in the smallest of clubs. I think you will feel that intimacy in the photo gallery below.

Case in point: Hubby Jenkins, after looking around at the art installation of a school of fish on the wall, began singing the third verse from Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne.” He caught himself and declined to proceed, saying, “It has too many verses.” Sitting in front of him no more than six feet away, I countered with, “It only has three.” He chuckled in response, and almost did it.

Only in such a setting could I have had a pre-set chat with The Other Years about their music, and the many friends we had in common. Then I got to hear their unadulterated stringed instruments and lilting vocals that are just this side of nirvana.

The Gladden House Stage is really a back porch of the cabin next door, with minimal mics and amplification. Perhaps as many as 100 people can comfortably be accommodated, and unless you bring your own chair, you stand or sit on the ground. These sets, hosted jointly with Ohio University, are filmed, and the previous five years are available for viewing here. The 2019 sets will be added throughout the summer.

Where else are you going to be able to see The Wood Brothers and Mandolin Orange around a single mic from just a few feet away? Or watch Sierra Ferrell, a country artist with an edge, bathed in a golden afternoon light with a voice that melts your heart?

Let me not fail to note that these stages also presented two sets of identical twins:The Brother Brothers, who were ND’s October 2018 Spotlight artist, and Mattson 2, a jazzy folk duo who recorded a version of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.

While this fest has always, and I mean always, presented a significant number of women artists, this year there seemed to be even a greater presence. Whether it was women who were the leader of the band, such as Mavis Staples, Amanda Anne Platt, and Molly Burch; co-equals in the creative process, such as The War and Treaty and Mandolin Orange; or the bands that were predominately female, such as The Breeders or the all-female mariachi band Flor de Toloache, all were enthusiastically received.

Additionally, it cut across genre lines, and included my two big discoveries of the weekend: The Other Years from Kentucky and the psychedelic, art rock Death Valley Girls from Los Angeles.

While I did not ask if it was by design, I do know this: Based on my experience when I headed the West Virginia Film Festival, if you are aware of what’s out there and are in tune to your surroundings, you will naturally program a festival of diversity without trying. Knowing the folks behind the fest, I think it came quite naturally.

Dean Martin made one great album (Dream With Dean). Its liner notes read, in part: “The total effect is not unlike those Technicolor movie moments of amatory glory that we all dream up for ourselves. … The dreams are a bit super-real … also hyper-pleasant.” That easily could have been written about Steve Poltz — he is the person you wish you were.

Accompanied by his friend and co-writer Anthony DeCosta on lead guitar, Poltz did three sets during the fest, all different, and with different stories. Poltz can also take something someone says and riff on it as if he were an improvisational comic such as Jonathan Winters or Robin Williams. He can also move you, and himself, to tears, as he did when he came offstage to lead the audience in “This Land Is Your Land.”

His extended performance in the No-Fi Cabin on Saturday morning was my singular highlight of the fest. He made the audience feel as if we were part of the living experience itself, not mere observers. He and DeCosta also roamed the festival grounds, catching other sets and letting fans take lots of selfies.