Tim Preston
The Independent
CANNONSBURG —
Even though the toilets backed up, someone called in a noise complaint and a bitterly cold wind ushered in a brief shower of snow, everyone at the 4th annual Junk Jam Fest agreed it was a great weekend to be outdoors.
Rather than being a turn off, the snow served as inspiration to those who stayed up through the early morning Saturday tending fires and sharing songs while playing acoustic instruments.
“It snowed! It snowed! It snowed for the first time of the year and it was the last great outdoor party of the year,” said property owner and festival organizer Clifton Gifford as he welcomed people at the main gate Saturday afternoon.
Allen White, a longtime Genuine Junk Band fan and friend, came from Lexington for this year’s event.
“I’ve been to all four of the Junk Jams,” White said while finding a bit of shelter from the wind inside a van. White said he was looking forward to Sasha Collete’s show that afternoon, as well as a performance by Detective Yeah during today’s festival finale. White said he had minimal gear, but wasn’t afraid of the cold forecast for the night.
“I’m camping out tonight ... braving the cold. I’ve got my sleeping bag and my tent. I think I’ll be alright,” he said.
Gifford said the festival did have a visit from Boyd County deputies Friday evening in response to a complaint about the sound levels, and praised the officers for working with festival staff to take care of the problem. Oddly, Gifford said the noise complain coincided with the end of the evening’s amplified entertainment.
“It was getting ready to go acoustic anyway,” he said with a smile.
Despite a million tasks including an effort to get the toilets unclogged, Gifford said the music from the hand-constructed stage was outstanding Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
“The G-Tones played earlier and Nathan Gillum is a rock star on a banjo,” Gifford said, earning the approval of other fans nearby who said Gillum han an unusual guitar-style approach to playing banjo.
Gillum, who is also a member of the host group Genuine Junk Band, said he was “warm and cozy” when the early morning snow hit the festival, although news of the weather event still amused him.
“It was the first snow of the year for us,” he said with a grin before adding, “Who’d be crazy enough to put on a festival?”
As a soft but crippling cold wind wafted across the 37-acre festival site Saturday, guitarist Josh Woods did his best to make jokes, smile and keep on playing as his nearly frozen fingers found their way across his fretboard. The thumbstyle player, whose approach relies upon extreme dexterity between the left and right hand, chuckled and said, “I sound like two bad guitar players.”
Less critical of Woods playing, audience members enjoyed his often aggressive technique as he performed tunes including “Blue Smoke,” or dropped his tuning for a requested rendition of “Kentucky” before launching into his own arrangement of Lawrence Welk’s “Calcutta.”
“Shaking his left hand, Woods said, “It’s hard to play in the cold,” before launching into a complex arrangement of “In the Good Ol’ Summertime,” causing his mother in the front row to remark to his wife, “I think that was wishful thinking on his part!”
In addition to a headline performance by the Genuine Junk Band, the festival included shows by the Hard Quartet, Sasha Collete, the Judy Chops, the Tracy Brothers, Deadbeats and Barkers, Mark Smith, the Dead Sea, Zack Kouns, the G-TONES, Soul Mountain, Luna, Detective Yeah, Aaron Lewis, the Neverly Brothers and Josh Woods. The festival concludes today with an open-mic jam session following band and solo performances. For more information, call (606) 465-1681.
TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.
