Through The Fog: Cascade Yulegrass

The stage was set up for the upcoming holiday. There were no less than five Christmas trees strung with lights at the rear of the stage. Several snow flakes, a couple of lava lamps, plenty of blinking lights and cotton clouds finished off the fantasy. Any performer on this stage would be doing a disservice to their audience if they failed to include a song that would be considered, in most circles, a “Carol”.

And who doesn’t love Christmas? There were grandmas with walkers and infants in papooses sprinkled throughout the crowd. There were sixty-something couples out for a night of holiday songs and college aged hippies passing joints interspersed among the crowd. Next to the jam band fans and bluegrass aficionados there were mothers shushing their kids, reminding them that Santa Claus only visited those on the “Nice” list. One middle-ager tried to push his way into the VIP area, because no one told him he couldn’t be in the front row before now and, by golly, he was going to sit up front (security changed his mind pretty quick). Mothers were asking where they could place their strollers so they wouldn’t get tripped over. I saw two young mothers sharing an aisle seat so that they could breast feed their youngsters sitting down. Family-friendly advertising aside, these people were going to make this night, like most Portlanders, just a bit different.

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Once the lights went down and the show began, I was hoping to be able to concentrate on the performers and not let the crowd distract me. The opening act, Big Water and Tara Shupe, played a fun, short set of acoustic story songs. Amiable and self effacing from the start, Big Water kept most of the crowd entertained through five or six engaging tunes. There was a constant din from the back of the hall as the crowd never quite got settled down enough to enjoy Waters’ delivery. From my front row behind the VIP seats, it was difficult to hear some of the more delicate songs and the between song banter, as it got drowned out by the noise makers in the rear.

Musically, Big Water is a talented guitar picker and, really, a feel good song writer. Tara Shupe’s multi-instrumental backing and higher range vocals really helped give Water’s songs added depth and authenticity, her harmonies bringing to mind June Carter Cash’s subtle backing vocals behind the “Man In Black”. Their version of Winter Wonderland not only qualified as a carol, but sounded as down home as the old dinner bell on Bonanza. His message of “Team Human” seemed simple enough to make sense to pretty much anybody, and he delivered it without being pushy or preachy.

When Big Water ended his set and the lights came up, revealing the still squirmy crowd. Toddlers scurried under foot while their first and second grade brothers and sisters ran imaginary bases after kicking imaginary kick balls, all like it was a summer barbeque in the park, not inside the intimate confines of the Wonder Ballroom. The noise level steadily grew during the intermission, reaching playground levels before the lights flickered, signaling the impending beginning of the headliner’s set. Before the lights faded entirely, the crowd was reminded of the unique type of show that we were seeing. He reminded us that it is a “Listening” show, as well as a “Sing Along” show, but it was also a “Quiet Show” to allow the performers to sing and play these songs in the spirit of the evening, acoustic and low key.

Properly admonished, we, the crowd, applauded politely as the lights went down and the performers took the stage. They crowded in from both sides. Reading from right to left, Matt Butler of Hot Buttered Rum and the Everyone Orchestra played percussion on a very sparse drum kit. Next came the String Cheese Incident members, Keith Mosley on bass and Bill Nershi on guitar. Squeezing in between them was Jilian Nershi, adding her vocal talents. Next in line was local guitar hero, Scott Law, who also wielded a mean mandolin at times throughout the night. The main mandolin player, Sharon Gilchrist took the next microphone.

Crammed against the left side of the stage was the fiddle contingent, led by band leader and world renowned bluegrass god, Darol Anger. He had brought along with him three up and coming fiddle masters, young though they were. Alex Hargreaves, Tashina Clarridge and Tatiana Hargreaves made their presence known throughout the night from their spot in the corner.

They began with the traditional carol and sing along opportunity, Let It Snow. A precursor to what would follow all night, Anger led the band through a fun jam which allowed each player a couple of stanzas to stretch their musical legs and show us what they had. And they had a lot! Led by the imaginative rhythm section of Mosley and Butler, Nershi’s guitar plucked the notes along with Gilchrist’s mandolin and made it feel cozy and warm in the Wonder Ballroom. When Anger led the fiddles into their extended section, it was as though all 16 fiddle strings picked their own way around the same theme and found their way back to the center by the end. Such well crafted solos, they seemed to play off each other in such a way that it sounded like one giant fiddle on steroids. Quick runs and interspersed finger picking lent a Victorian edge to the song, leaving the crowd waiting, open mouthed, for the next opportunity to sing along.

The three young fiddlers came and went from their place at the end of the stage, depending on the song. So did Jilian Nershi. Her vocals, when she graced the stage, tightened the harmonies on every song she sang. Every song they played in the first set had the background theme of snow and winter. With a few exceptions, they also stretched each song into a musical festival, blending lyrics and musicianship into a good old time fun night. They kept it light, joking between songs and egging each other on to solo better, longer, louder. The on stage comraderie made each musician better as they tried to keep up or pass their band mates. This was really evident during What Child Is This as the band made this a quarter hour long clinic on how to communicate with song. Likewise with Golden Eagle Hornpipe, this wound up a three-way fiddle jam that had Anger sweating up a storm and flipping his pompadour out of his eyes with a twitch of his neck.

They ended the first set with a three song run that played to both the audiences holiday spirits and the band’s last performance of the mini tour through the Northwest. The quiet mandolin accentuated the gorgeous vocals of Jilian Nershi during Walker, which led into the beautiful One Hour In Hungary and seemed both delicate and forceful at the same time. They finished the set with Round The Wheel which began with the delicate feel left over from the previous songs and finished a while later with the entire band, including special guests, hitting the power chord finish and had the adrenaline pumping when the house lights came up.

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During the break, a lot of my neighbors in the seated area pulled up stakes and left. I looked around to see all manner of fans bundling up their children (and husbands) and making for the exit. Good riddance, I thought. It had been a struggle to hear the performers at times during the first set. The crowd full of kids and occasional concert goers were hitting the road and heading home. After all, it was a Sunday night, though with winter break it was hardly a school night. I know I had to work the next day, but this type of musical combination doesn’t come around every day. Maybe the second half would be quieter, more intimate, without the constant din from the back of the hall.

Let’s talk about that din for a second. This also ties in to Portlanders being a bit different. I’m a Portlander myself and see myself in a lot of what I am about to say, so bear with me. The first half of the show was flat out noisy! All those youngsters, keyed up for Christmas, had no idea of the special amalgam of musicians that were making magic onstage. They were being kids, teasing each other, playing tag, pulling pig tails, stuff like that. And their parents, they were doing what they could to both enjoy the show and keep their kids in line. All that hushing and shushing adds up. Couple that with the seasonal concert goers, those who don’t usually get to shows in places like the Wonder Ballroom. They were more used to the symphony, where you could take your red wine or micro-brew back to your plush velvet seat, not the over twenty-one section with no seating and second ID inspection. So this was a different type of experience for a lot of attendees and that added to the background noise.

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In the spirit of the season, I was determined to make the best of it. The grand father in me watched the kids in the crowd with a smile. The aging hippie in me smelled the joint in the room and giggled to myself when I heard the ‘older couple’ behind me express their disbelief that someone would light up in here. I watched the security people turn away the non VIP people all night from the bar that they could see, but not quite reach.

Before the second set began, the crowd, thinned out as it had become, was again admonished for the excessive noise. We were reminded of how special a collaboration tonight’s band was, and what to expect in the way of volume from the stage. We were asked to please keep it down, to consider the rest of the crowd, to remember that Santa was coming. To please keep it down.

There were several highlights in the second set, the first being the instrumental improvisation during Norwegian Wood. As understated as the Beatles’ original was, tonight’s rendition dug deeper with Nershi’s intricate picking accented by Anger’s best jazz/blues solo of the night. This song had begun during a sweet segue from Midnight On The Water and really didn’t finish till the end of Land’s End. It was as pretty and well performed as any holiday show I’ve ever seen, the background noise notwithstanding.

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The middle of the second set aimed a bit more toward holiday celebrating. While Roving On A Winter’s Night was another song that allowed the band members to improvise a bit and they played off of each other masterfully. Jilian Nershi and the fiddling trio of Hargreaves, Clarridge and Hargreaves came back to perform Love Is Like A Train and The Finest Thing and the added musicians gave the proceedings both more levity and more depth. The only recognizable Christmas carol was toward the end of the set. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear took advantage of the pre-existing musical relationship between Nershi and Moseley for the beautiful arrangement that backed the amazing fiddle playing of Anger. This song, above all others, showed off Anger’s versatility on the fiddle/violin, as he finger picked and bowed his way around the strings for the duration of the song. They finished the set with an extended version of Good Times Around The Bend allowing each musician to once again stretch a bit.

The stage got even more crowded for the encores as the three amigo fiddlers and Jilian Nershi came back on stage and brought Big Water and Tara Shupe with them. The version of I Shall Be Released that came from that stage was one of the most unique and finest renditions I have ever witnessed. The addition of more mandolin and Water’s vocals took this song from the church, through the bayou and blues halls and back to great effect.

The tour had only lasted four shows. It had been rushed together as an experiment in the blending of musical styles on the common ground of the holidays and, in my mind, it had succeeded. It was a wonderful celebration of musicality and improvisation. That the last show was in Portland was pure coincidence. That the average Portlander, slightly different as we are, appreciated this show less for what it was and more for the night out during the holiday season, that’s a bonus. To have spent the last three hours being inspired by this show, without jingling bells of red nosed reindeer, to appreciate this season for the good thing it is, that’s why I was here. Not to complain about the unique Portlanders, being themselves and making noise like they were the only people in the room, but to appreciate them too. They are part of what made this show unique.

I only hope that the band members aren’t turned off too much by the crowd’s reaction, or lack of reaction, to the “Please be quiet” messages relayed from the stage. This was a great evening in a great venue. At least what I heard.

Rock on through the holiday fog . . .

A.J. Crandall

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