Mariposa Day One
By John Swartz
The first night of the Mariposa Folk Festival was great. It was just like summer should be, warm enough to break a sweat now and then, a nice breeze occasionally to cool oneself off, and Sunday. The flying critters had the good sense to not come out until the sun went down, in fact I almost didn’t think to put on some bug off, but I’m glad I did.
It’s a sign of the times I suppose there was not a cloud of those pesky things in front of, or on the Lightfoot stage. Only one of them thought it was a good idea to fly up my nose just as I was taking a photo.
The hike between the main stage in the pub stage passes through the food vendor area. The aromas are always tempting, but for some reason this year it took some willpower to remain focused on getting to the pub stage to see Nixon Boyd perform.
Before I say anything about his gig, let’s backtrack to the beginning of the show. The first act was a band from New Brunswick fronted by three women (Julie Aubé, Katrine Noël and Vivianne Roy) called Les Hay Babies.
They wore matching red shorts and Western-style shirts. That each of them wore cowboy boots might have led one to think you’re going to hear some country music. I spoke with the girls after their performance, addressing their stage costuming, the boots and the fact I didn’t hear them do any country music. They had a good chuckle about one.
They were a good choice for the opening act. Their music was rock ‘n roll, maybe a little bit more towards the pop genre. They made good use of their harmonies, good beats and bass lines, good guitar solos by Mico Roy that were technically busy enough to show he had some shops, but not so much they got in the way of serving the songs. I really enjoyed their show.
I asked the women where they have been hiding that I’d never heard of them before. They said, tossing out my assumption that they’d been covering the Maritimes a lot, most of their gigs were in Québec and Northern Ontario, but they were making an effort this year to do more shows in Southern Ontario. We may, and should be hearing more from these girls.
And then came Irish Mythen. I don’t know what to say about her that I haven’t already said many times. She’s performed in Orillia quite a bit and not just for Mariposa. What I love about her is the dedication to the emotional meaning of the lyrics and delivering them in a way you can’t forget. Without a doubt she’s one of the most powerful singers I’ve ever heard and it’s not just that she puts a ton of voice into the microphone.
You can tell she’s popular with the audience because all of a sudden the standing room area in front of the stage filled up and these people knew her music. Every performance of her songs like Tullamore Blues and The Dancer (of which there is already a video of it from last night on YouTube) gets a huge cheer when she starts to play them in tremendous applause when she finishes them.
But I was waiting for what I knew would be her closing tune, The Auld Triangle. No one would think going out singing a lament to be the thing to do. Irish squeezes every last bit of anguish from the lyrics (she does not accompany herself on guitar for this one) and the singing cuts right into your soul. I can’t for the life of me understand why she wasn’t on later in the evening, but the tremendous cheer from the audience when the song was done said time and place doesn’t matter, they were just very happy not to have missed this performance.
I convinced a friend of mine who is still working in television if he wanted to get some good video clips to come along with me up to the pub tent to see Nixon Boyd because Nixon is local. I lost track of my friend when we got to the pub, but I’m sure he’s glad he came along. Nixon’s performance was off the charts.
I heard Nixon three times in the last year or so, solo, just him and his guitar. Well this time he had a band wrapped around him; two more guitars, two backing singers, the bass and drums.
Nixon already started his set by the time I got there and I was not prepared for how Every Time We Turn A Corner sounded with the additional instruments and vocals – oh, and the drumming by Taylor Knox (who I did not know played drums, but as a killer guitarist) adding all the things I wish to hear when I heard Nixon do the song all by himself.
The entire set was an illustration of what orchestration and arranging can accomplish for a song. I think Nixon’s skills in this area made the songs 10 times better than how I previously heard him do them. His backup singers? The guys from School House accounted for that. Nixon has been working with them on their new album which is being recorded here in town at Nixon’s studio.
I don’t know how I got this far not giving a serious listen to the Sheepdogs. It’s not like I didn’t know they were a big thing in the music industry. Their presence and performance on stage reminds me of Blue Rodeo in a well rehearsed, structured – hey were a bunch of musicians, this is our job, we’re gonna play some songs and you’re gonna like them because you never heard a band as good as us before – way.
There’s nothing that impresses me more than watching competent musicians performing inside their music without any pretense or posturing. These guys are slick.
Not having really heard them before I thought their songs were built on the building blocks of the Allman Brothers and Leonard Skynyrd, well-crafted music of the Southern Rock variety.
The night wasn’t done yet because Run With The Kittens was closing out the pub stage. I don’t know whether to call this progressive rock, art rock, or what. Whenever it is, it’s the most interesting songwriting going. Nate Mills, Nigel Hebblewhite, Jake Oelrichs (who is one the best drummers I know of) are so creative they can pack three or four genres, which you will recognize, into one song in such a way you can imagine it being any other way.
Each is a master of his instruments(s) and each is a master at coming up with parts for their songs other musicians would never think of, but are absolutely the most perfect thing to do.
I could listen to these guys all day and all night and never be bored. The trouble was Friday, maybe by virtue of poor planning, was one of the longest days I’ve had in a while and I knew I had to write this and get back to Tudhope Park for 11 a.m. Saturday and if I stayed for the whole set I’d be in trouble.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia) Main: The Sheepdogs headlined Friday night’s Mariposa Folk Festival Lightfoot Stage line up.
