The 2023 Rhythm & Roots Festival took place over Labor Day weekend (Sept 1-3) at Ninigret Park in Charlestown, Rhode Island, and went off without a hitch. The festival was owned and operated by the Wentworth family who sold it to GoodWorks Entertainment just over a year ago. While it isn’t technically an independent festival any longer, it certainly feels like one.
The festival focuses on roots music (especially zydeco and blues) and has a wonderful community feel which is bolstered by a devoted campground population. The music starts on Friday from 4-11 pm and continues on Saturday and Sunday from around noon to 11 pm each day. There are only three stages, The Rhythm Stage (main stage) The Roots Stage (a more intimate tented stage), and The Dance Stage (a tented stage with a hardened dance floor). Ninigret Park is the perfect home for this family-friendly festival as its beautiful green, grassy grounds are augmented by a children’s playground and a fresh-water pond.
This is a very friendly festival and people are extremely courteous to one another. Although it was sold out, the festival doesn’t have a crowded feel, and the space-hogging and aura of selfishness and entitlement that goes on at other festivals is a rarity at Rhythm & Roots. Refreshingly, there is no VIP section, but people do organically self-select into four main communities:
- The up-front party people – stand in the “standing/dancing” area in the front of the Rhythm Stage, usually with a beer in their hand, and do a lot of dancing in place and cheering.
- The sitters – are spaced throughout the sitting area with every imaginable type of camping chair, eating food from festival vendors and brought in from home.
- The dancers – As you venture further away from the main stage and go pass the crafts vendors, you can’t help but notice the Dance tent which feels like some kind of pulsating, glowing organism. Dancers fill the stage, decked out in a variety of footwear, that would make even the most devoted two-stepper envious.
- The campers – The last community is the camping community who start lining up on Friday at dawn, and party through Monday afternoon. After all the music is done, it is not difficult to find a circle of musicians playing acoustically around a virtual campfire until three or four in the morning.
Now for the music:
Rhythm and Roots is also unique because a majority of the bands play more than one set. This year, that was especially true as most of the Zydeco bands played three sets (Corey Ledet Zydeco, Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble, and Old Fashioned Aces) and the others played two sets (Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys and The Revelers) and Donna The Buffalo played four times throughout the weekend. Other bands that played two sets were Son Little, Shinyribs, Dustbowl Revival, Paul Gabriel Blues Band and Ward Hayden. The rest of the weekend was rounded out by the three headliners (Dumpstaphunk, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue and Greensky Bluegrass) and four other acts (JJ Grey & Mofro, The Robert Cray Band, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Tuba Skinny)
The bands that stood out most to this reviewer were:
- JJ Grey & Mofro – There is an infectious joy to watching JJ Grey perform. Each time he plays makes the audience feel like there is no place on earth he’d rather be, and that the set he is playing is the most fun he has ever had playing music. Grey has always done most of the singing, but on this night he was backed up by a female vocalist who added some shading to his voice, but hardly seemed to match the quality of his. His band was rounded out with bass, drums, a second guitar and keyboards. The crowd ate up his enthusiasm, particularly the up-front party people who reflected Grey’s energy back at him by singing “Lochloosa” and “Brighter Days”. He finished the set with a solid rendition of the Rolling Stone’s “Gimme Shelter” which was fun but begged for Merry Clayton’s voice. Grey told the audience that he has just finished recording a new album that will be released in February, but surprisingly, he didn’t play any songs from that upcoming release. Regardless, at the end of his set, he got a rousing ovation and heated up a Saturday night that was cooling as the sun went down.
- Robert Cray Band – One thing that the penultimate set on the main stage proved is that Robert Cray still has it. His crooning vocals and thoughtfully spaced guitar solos are not only timeless, but also, can compete with anyone performing today. Although Cray played many of his hits, some audience members didn’t hear their favorite song which is a mathematical problem that comes from having twenty-something releases. Cray did play lots of hits, “Right Next Door”, “I Don’t Care”, and “I Can’t Fail”, and he played them well. His band was solid, and although his Richard Cousins stood out on bass, the main attraction was five-time Grammy winner Cray.
- Shinyribs – At first glance, there is no reason this reviewer should like this band; there isn’t much edge, there is a ton of schtick and feels like form over substance. However, after a few songs, one can’t help but become a Shinyribs fan. The band is fronted by Kevin Russell who is a visual spectacle to behold. He prances around the stage sporting colorful attire that emphasize his stout midsection and thin legs. For a middle-aged, portly gentleman, Russel is surprisingly lithe. He has fun on stage and his joy is contagious. At times, watching him is like gawking at an accident that you can’t turn away from, but his vocal talent and playful spirit make it more of a pleasure than a guilty pleasure. He played a bunch of fun songs including “Little Drops Of Summer”, Take Me To Lake Charles” and “Who Built The Moon”. His music has a great R&B feel, but don’t just listen to him, go see him to get the full experience.
- Dumpstaphunk – Many of the bands that played this weekend had some horns, but Dumpstaphunk, Trombone Shorty And Orleans Avenue and Tuba Skinny demonstrated that there are no horns like New Orleans horns. Dumstaphunk closed out Friday night with a sizzling set. Although the core of the band is still Ivan Neville, Tony Hall and Nick Daniels, the band was brought to new heights by trombonist Alex Wasily and trumpet player John Michael Bradford. Their energetic brand of funk combined with their positive messages in songs like “Where Do We Go From Here”, “Dancin’ To The Truth” and “Justice” make them the reigning kings of funk.
- Trombone Shorty And Orleans Avenue – Saturday’s closing act brought the house down with their high-energy brand of New Orleans-based party rock. Standing at the epicenter of that musical juggernaut is Troy Andrews who plays both Trombone and Trumpet with a fierceness and precision that is rare and mesmerizing. His call and response dueling solo segment with long-time Orleans Avenue guitarist, Pete Murano was something special as was the baritone saxophone solos by Uncle Dan.
- Tuba Skinny – If you like New Orleans style Gypsy jazz bands, then you should pay some attention to Tuba Skinny. Their mix of original and traditional tunes will make even the most ardent jazz hater soften.
- Son Little – There is something about Son Little that is special. Maybe it is his laid-back song style that is so evident on “Hey Rose”, or his down-to-earth stage presence, but in a musical world where most music sounds derivative, he doesn’t sound like anyone else.
Other crowd favorites were The Infamous Stringdusters and Sunday’s closer, Greensky Bluegrass, who both brought their take on bluegrass to the main stage. The Stringusters featured a more traditional bluegrass sound (although they didn’t have a fiddle) and plucked their way through an upbeat 90-minute set of songs in which the band members took turns on lead vocals. Greensky Bluegrass had a more psychedelic rock approach to the genre. They closed out the festival with wailing strings and an inspired light show to match. All in all, it was a near-perfect weekend. Although this reviewer would like to see a little more variety in the lineup, it is a festival that rates high on the enjoyment scale. Steve Riley might have summed up the weekend best when he thanked the audience for supporting and keeping roots music alive, and pointed the special connection that New Orleans and Rhode Island share. Keep an eye out for the 2024 lineup, if it is as strong as the 2023 roster, you’ll want to get your tickets early.
