Back through Tennessee

Saturday is the busiest day at the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Festival. The problem is that with 18 stages and dozens of artists performing, most of whom I've never heard of, it's difficult to know where to be. The best act we found on the day was Mike Farris, a youthful looking guitarist, who sings a bit of Soul, some country and some gospel. Numbers included 'Snap Your Fingers', his take on Jimmie Rodgers' 'T for Texas  T for Tennessee' and a good version of Freddie Scott's 'Are You Lonely For Me Baby'. He effectively got crowd participation on Rev Gary Davies's 'Heard the Angels Singing' which was impressive.
The biggest name on the day was Wynonna Judd with her band the Big Noise. She hit the stage in red headed rock diva form with ' Rock Bottom' and 'Tell Me Why'. She has a good voice and an excellent band led by husband and drummer Cactus Moser, and a sassy, no holds barred personality.  Other songs, including 'Ain't No Thing', 'What The World Needs Now' and 'Love Is Alive', showed that she can handle both rock and country with equal ease and the huge crowd responded to her with enthusiasm. Another decent act was the Darrell Scott Bluegrass Band. Singer songwriter Darrell  wasn't restricted to bluegrass with some good numbers , the most popular with the audience being 'A Great Day To Be Alive'. Other acts I saw at least part of included country singer Jason Eady, who was good on 'Downturn', Dustbowl Revival and Justin Fedor, both of whom were adequate.
The final day at the festival, Sunday  was a shortened one but included one of the highlights, Ray Wylie Hubbard. He's a wizened bearded guy with an irreverent sense of humour and a store of great songs rather in the spirit of Tony Joe White. I enjoyed them all: 'Snake Farm' is a classic, 'Drunken Poet's Dream' (co written with Hayes Carll) is great , 'Country Blues' (a tribute to his blues heroes), 'Mother Blues' (featuring his son on guitar), 'Mambo John', "Tell The Devil I'm Getting There As Fast As I Can' (the title of his 2017 album), 'Cooler 'n' Hell', 'Redneck Mother' (with support from the audience - most of them literally with red necks from the blistering heat), 'Barefoot In Heaven' and, finally, 'Choctaw Bingo'. It was a fine, fun set and highly enjoyable. Of the other acts Jamie Lin Wilson was good. She's a singer songwriter with interesting stories between songs; Scythian did some Eastern European stuff; Lauren Morrow was rather middle of the road; Jason 'Hoss' Hicks was lightweight rockabilly  and Jim Lauderdale was pleasant, as he had been on Nashville. Overall the festival was pretty good, well run with some great highlights, and the city of Bristol is pleasant. But there wasn't any blues or soul to speak of so I may not go again.

After leaving Bristol we headed for Knoxville where I had a look at the Lost and Found record shop but didn't find anything of interest. After staying overnight we head back to Nashville tomorrow and home via Charlotte. Another great US road trip completed.