Festival fuses nostalgia, future stars into outstanding lineup
SANDPOINT — Nostalgia and The Festival at Sandpoint's quintessential fusion of musical acts mark its 25th season.
Jason Moody and mentor Kelly Farris will perform a violin piece with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, local performers again will join the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, and 1993 Festival performer Lyle Lovett is back.
Performers also include Madeleine Peyroux, a woman considered one of the best jazz singers in the country; plus talented violinist Mark O'Connor, nontraditional singer LeRoy Bell, blues rocker Jonny Lang, Robert Earl Keen, and Jackie Green.
Also on the lineup are rock band Reckless Kelly and folk singer Josh Ritter have Idaho roots.
"I am so enthused about each and every night of this year's concert series," said Festival Director Dyno Wahl.
"It is a fitting celebration for our 25th season and we can't wait to share the music with everyone who loves The Festival."
Thursday, Aug. 2, The Festival at Sandpoint celebrates opening night with "A Musical Reunion," a concert with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Gary Sheldon.
This concert will celebrate selected symphonic programs and soloists from The Festival's first 25 years. It will include Strauss' "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" from the first Festival concert at Memorial Field in 1983, and Bach's "Concerto for Two Violins" with Jason Moody and Kelly Farris.
Moody was first inspired to play the violin at age 5 when his parents took him to The Festival where he saw Farris performing as concertmaster with the Spokane Symphony.
The second half of the program will feature Broadway favorites with local soloists and The Festival at Sandpoint Chorus directed by Rob Kincaid. Tickets are $29.95 for adult and $9.95 youth.
On Friday, Aug. 3, the Festival presents the first of its two Phat Phriday shows.
Debuting at last year's Festival and back by popular demand, "Phat Phriday" is a double-header concert evening featuring the best in progressive alternative music.
Singer/songwriter LeRoy Bell has built a strong reputation and a national fan base with the release "Two Sides to Every Story."
He will be joined by "His Only Friends," a band veteran musician with multi-instrumental virtuosity.
Before surfacing as a performer himself, Bell penned hit songs with Casey James and his uncle Thom Bell for other performers including Elton John, the OJays, The Temptations, The Spinners, and Rita Marley.
As one of the most requested performers by Festival fans, Jonny Lang's performance in Sandpoint has been a long time coming.
The Grammy Award- winning former prodigy instrumentalist topped the Billboard New Artist chart with this first major-label album "Lie to Me" at age 15.
He speaks with a sultry, soulful voice and also with his guitar in the language of deep blues and searing rock and roll, easily ranging from barn burners to ballads.
He considers his latest release, "Turn Around," a pivotal passage that links the triumphs of his past to the promise of his future. Tickets are $44.95.
? Saturday Aug. 4 is "Super SRO Saturday" and Festival employees expect the crowd to be "standing room only" for one of the most popular performers of the Festival's first 25 years.
Lyle Lovett returns to Sandpoint this summer with his Large Band after piquing local interest with his first Festival appearance in 1993.
He is a singer-songwriter who bounds across genres and is one of the most revered musicians of his time.
He has won four Grammy awards, including Best Country Album in 1996 for The Road to Ensenada, Best Country Duo/Group for the 1994 hit "Blues for Dixie" with Asleep at the Wheel, Best Pop Vocal Collaboration with Al Green in 1994, and Best Country Male Vocal in 1989 for Lyle Lovett and his Large Band. All tickets are $54.95.
? Sunday, Aug. 5: The Festival will present its family concert featuring the Spokane Youth Orchestra. The concert, led by Maestro Gary Sheldon and KPBX Music Director Verne Windham is entertaining and educational.
? Thursday, Aug. 10: Kicks off the second week of the concert series with Reckless Kelly, five hard-playing Texans whose roots are in Idaho and Oregon.
Reckless Kelly is a band named for the 19th Century Australian bank robber Ned Kelly. Founding members and brothers Willy and Cody Braun were raised with music in their veins under the tutelage of their father Muzzie Braun and the Boys (including other members of the musical Braun clan), starting their first band in high school.
They left the Pacific Northwest to set the Austin music scene on fire and succeeded as the Austin Chronicle named them the "Best Roots Rock Band" three years in a row.
Headlining the show is Robert Earl Keen, known as the "King of the Texas Music Scene."
Among the large contingent of talented songwriters who emerged in Texas in the 1980s and '90s, Keen struck an unusual balance between sensitive story-portraits and raucous barroom fun.
He wrote poetry in high school but it wasn't until he went to journalism school at Texas A & M that he learned to play the guitar.
He and Lyle Lovett became friends there and co-wrote the song "This Old Porch," which both later recorded. Tickets are $29.95.
? Friday, Aug. 10: the Festival presents its second Phat Phriday show, another double-header with shows at 7 and 9 p.m.. featuring the best in progressive alternative rock music.
Jackie Greene is also back by popular demand to celebrate The Festival's 25th anniversary, after opening for David Gray last year.
Greene embraces folk, blues and country music, and, with a voice that is big and casually seductive, he casts a spell reminiscent of his musical heroes Bob Dylan and Tom Waits.
His star continues to rise after the 2002 release of "Gone Wanderin'," which won the California Music Award for "Best Blues/Roots Album" and led to national tours with B.B. King, John Hiatt, George Thorogood, Jonny Lang and Taj Mahal.
Headlining the evening is Los Lonely Boys, three brothers from West Texas whose self-titled first album introduced a stunning fusion of electric blues, Texas roots, soulful grooves, good old-fashioned rock 'n roll, searing six-string licks and Latin beats.
After winning five Austin music awards in 2004, they progressed to the national stage in 2005 by winning the Grammy Award for best Pop Vocal Duo/Group and another Grammy for their monster hit single "Heaven."
Their second album, "Sacred," continues and expands upon the trio's initial success and promotes what they feel is truly sacred: being yourself, being true to God and family, and being true to music… "Texican Style." All tickets are $49.95.
? Saturday, Aug. 11 is Super "Silver Celebration" Saturday, a tribute to the bright future of the Festival and of two musical stars who are quickly on the rise.
Singer/songwriter Josh Ritter was a major star in Ireland before anyone in the U.S. even knew he had a record out. He discovered music late in his teenage years when he found a copy of Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline at a shop in his hometown of Moscow, Idaho.
When he played the Dylan/Johnny Cash duet of "Girl from the North Country," he was inspired to pick up a guitar explaining that hearing that record the first time was like meeting that person you know you're going to marry."
Although he spends long stretches on the road, following his most recent release The Animal Years, he still comes home to relax at his home in rural Idaho.
It is said that Madeleine Peyroux doesn't just interpret songs, she possesses them … and vice versa. Peyroux is a French-American singer who one reviewer says "confidently walks the line where jazz, country and blues collide."
She has been compared to Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Patsy Cline and Edith Piaf. Her immense talent first became apparent in 1996 with the release of her debut album, "Dreamland," a remarkably knowing work for the 22-year-old sensation.
She brought a wealth of life experience to match her natural affinities on her long-in-coming second album Careless Love in 2004. Her new release Half the Perfect World is full of sublime moments and catchy songs like "I'm All Right," that are getting her plenty of radio play across the country and the critical acclaim she deserves. Tickets are $44.95.
? Sunday, Aug. 1 culminates the season with the Grand Finale concert featuring violinist Mark O'Connor and the Spokane Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gary Sheldon.
O'Connor has been described by the Los Angeles Times as an artist who is "one of the most talented and imaginative … working in music - any music - today." A product of America's rich aural folk tradition, he has composed music for presidential inaugurations and the Olympic Games. He will perform his Fiddle Concerto, Appalachian Waltz and Fanfare for the Volunteer.
Tickets are $34.95 for adults, $10.95 for youth.
Band Web sites
Spokane Symphony — www.spokanesymphony.org
LeRoy Bell — www.leroybell.com
Jonny Lang — www.jonnylang.com
Lyle Lovett — www.mcarecords.com/artistMain.asp?artistid=46
Spokane Youth Orchestra — www.spokaneyouthsymphony.org
Reckless Kelly — www.recklesskelly.com
Jackie Greene — www.jackie-greene.com
Los Lonely Boys — www.loslonelyboys.org
Josh Ritter — www.joshritter.com
Madeleine Peyroux — www.madeleinepeyroux.com
Robert Earl Keen — www.robertearlkeen.com