Luckenbach Jaaaaaa!

The frigid chill of the Texas Hill Country air added the bluesy feeling to the 5th Annual Blues Festival in Luckenbach, TX.  What's more interesting than it actually being cold in Central Texas is the fact Luckenbach isn't technically, well, a real town.  It encompasses a general store, one beer stand, several portapoties, another loo and a concession stand all in existance because of a dance hall.  Eight bands over the course of eight hours engulfed the hall with various blues-influenced sounds, yet many didn't even flinch so much as dance.

Beck Beckendorf featured a six-piece band, half of them guitarists.  There's nothing wrong with having three guitarists when it's for a purpose, but somehow I didn't see the purpose of it with this group.  Nevertheless, their contemporary blues sound was very enjoyable, and it was cool to see a member whose sole purpose was to kick ass on the harmonica. 

My favorite act of the day was an Austin-based three-piece band called Porterdavis.  With a beatnick-like appearance, they played a non-pretentious blues style with more depth than the other acts featured.  The drummer relied only one a kick drum, a stick and a tamberine.  Another member was strictly a harpist like in Beck Beckendorf, and of course, the guitarist/vocalist. 

W.C. Clark and his backing band played a more blues-jazz fusion with 60s-style keyboard thrown in for good measure.  While a very good set, a few of the songs felt a bit too long, which isn't a problem with the music itself but rather reveals my sometimes lack of patience when it comes to extended jazz and blues songs.  Then again it was also getting quite chilly by this point so that didn't help my patience any.

Guy Forsyth brought out a more polished country-blues fusion with catchy hooks, while Band of Heathens slanted more towards an outlaw country-blues combination.  Both were very enjoyable, and in fact, Band of Heathens was the only band I had even heard of in the line-up before today.

Unfortunately, the cold forced us to retreat to warmer areas of the grounds during two of the other acts, and we left as the final act was starting.

It was nice to hang out with Josh and Amanda, and it was nice to get out of the big city for the afternoon and evening.  Tomorrow, I think a nice morning bike ride around the neighborhood and a good core workout is in order before a pleasant rest before lunch.

The U.K. blogs will be posted soon.