Cambridgana

North Mississippi Allstars were not a band I knew much of, I had them down as a meat and potatoes power trio. Much like Pokey LaFarge, the odd track now and again doesn't really cut it. To fully appreciate this band you do need to see and feel them live. Drums, bass, guitar, an extra bass drum (who doesn't need an extra bass drum?) a grapefruit can on a stick (honest, that's what it looked like) and three voices. Brothers Cody and Luther Dickenson together with Chris Chew swap instruments freely and despite Stage 1 being plenty large enough for any band they still decided to take their percussion into the audience for a wander around. Their appearance with Ian Siegal later that evening clashed with Roseanne Cash otherwise I would have been back for second helpings.

As it happened, I chose poorly. Disappointments at Cambridge are rare; yes an artist may not play your favourite track but that can happen at any gig and most tailor their set to suit both the time restrictions of a festival and that they are not playing to their own audience. Generally, some form of 'greatest hits' is in order. In an eleven song set Cash played eight tracks from her latest album The River and The Thread, two from The List, one from Black Cadillac and nothing from the first twenty five years of her career. The River and The Thread is an exceptional album; in four months time check the never ending best of 2014 lists and it will be on them. I actually would have been happier if it had been announced that she was going to play the album, track by track, exclusively at Cambridge and then I may not have felt that I was in the wrong tent.

For some, Sunday is a day of rest. Not at Cambridge though. Sarah Jarosz seems to have been around forever and yet has only recently turned 23. Comparisons with Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch are both obvious and valid. If I were a betting man I would have a few shillings on her playing around 9:00pm Stage 1 on 27th July 2024.

I was unsure exactly how Jason Isbell would go down; even for a folk festival his songs are particularly dark with Elephant being one of the most harrowing songs I've heard. He thanked the crowd for being both loud and quiet in the right places as it would seem that in Texas they talk when he's playing and shut up when he's not. Isbell was accompanied by his wife, Amanda Shires, on fiddle and backing vocals. The bulk of the set was taken from Southeastern but he did take us back to his Drive By Trucker days with God Damn Lonely Love (what I'd have given to hear Outfit or TVA or Cigarettes and Wine though) and Shires took centre stage with Drop and Lift from her 2013 album Down Fell The Doves.

Lindi Ortega has been one of my favourite artists over the past few years. She's got the lot really: voice, songs, work ethic (she plays on this side of the pond at least once a year) and looks. As she is constantly writing you never get the same set twice, even what you would expect to be staples of her set like Little Red Boots or Black Fly sometimes get left in the dressing room. Personally I love Cigarettes and Truck Stops but when it didn't make the cut for the Tin Star tour I assumed that I'd not hear it live again. But she played it. That was, to all intents and purposes, the end of this years Cambridge for me. There were, of course, a few more beers, lots more chat and, I believe, even some more music but one of your favourite artists playing your favourite song when it wasn't even being thought of as a possibility - it doesn't get much better than that.

The Cambridge Folk Festival has always had a strong Americana influence. It may not have always been called that but it was there and it 2014 it has been as strong as ever.

John 'The Jacket' Hawes