There were a lot more people at Merlefest this year than either of the past two years. Maybe the new corporate sponsorship is giving them a bigger advertising budget (there were Lowes hardware signs everywhere). Who knows... But, it was crowded. Thursday and Friday had a lot of people, but Saturday was mobbed. And they apparently reduced the number of toilets. Awesome.

But, nonetheless, there were bands to see.

First up for us, The Duhks. We saw them two years ago, when they had a different singer. I wasn't really impressed, then. But this time around, I liked them a lot. The new singer has a great voice, and I don't know if it was the song selection, two more years of experience, or what, but the rest of the band grabbed me too. They did a few Cajun songs, a few French-Canadian songs, a few traditional bluegrass songs, and, they called out John Paul Jones for a pair of songs, including a bluegrass version of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love - which sounds like a terrible idea, and I cringed when they started it, but it worked surprisingly well. The crowd was on their feet the whole time.

After that, Del McCoury:

As always, they were fast, polished, professional, and still fun. Mrs Cleek's a little put off by Del's voice, but I like it just fine. Plus, they're such amazing players and so polished at what they do - damn. They're like a little bluegrass machine.

After that, Mrs. Cleek and I went back to the campsite for a little nap action. Alison Krauss was up that night, and we needed to recharge. Of course we never made it back to the shows... and ended up listening to it all on the radio. John Paul Jones showed up again to do Whole Lotta Love with Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, et al. Oh well.

Everybody else showed up after Alison Krauss' set and then it was time for the all-night jam.

Sunday, we were all beat and there wasn't anyone playing that we needed to see, so we hung out at the campsite for a bit, then packed it up and left.

Another fine Merlefest.

Late night, lots of rain. But the weatherman says Friday's going to be dry. Awesome. Lazy morning, big breakfast, mimosas. Then, all aboard the Wilkesboro Fire Department shuttle bus and over to the show.

First up for us, the legendary Doc Watson, father of late Merle Watson, for whom the festival is named and dedicated:

He's 84, but his voice is still hanging in there, and he's still a better guitar player than I could ever hope to be.

Then, over to the main stage for an all-star jam with Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Tony Rice and a couple of guys whose names I can't recall right now. They did a bunch of Bela Fleck's tunes, plus a few standards. They kept it mostly on the traditional side, not going too far into the jazzy, progressive stuff Bush and Fleck and known to do. All those guys are incredibly fast and they're also ubiquitous at Merlefest - you can catch any of them playing nearly any time of day. I wouldn't mind if the organizers put a limit on the number of times a performer can appear - get some new blood onto the big stages maybe ?

Then, Uncle Earl played a set of traditional bluegrass.

After a few songs, they announced that the guy who produced their last album was there, and was going to join them on-stage for a couple of songs. It was John Paul Jones, best-known as the bass player for Led Zeppelin. OMGWTF?

He did a couple of songs, playing mandolin.

So, that was a little bewildering.

Then, after a short trip back to the campsite for a recharge, we're back for the day's main event:

Elvis Costello.

He started with a short solo set of his classics (Every Day I Write the Book, Veronica, Brilliant Mistake, etc.), including a rather disappointing version of Alison, where he jumbled the verses - repeating half of one, skipping another, etc.. Then a bassist and multi-string player came out for a few (hundred) overly-long ballads that few in the audience seemed to know. Applause was polite - nothing like what someone like, say, The Duhks get.

He seemed to be picking songs from the country side of his catalog, but they weren't his best, and they seemed to drag and blend into one another - at least for a non-fan like me. Maybe it'd be different if I was familiar with his 30 years of history, but I'm not. And the stuff he did play hasn't inspired me to buy any more.

Eventually, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas and Jim Lauderdale came out and they managed to get through a ragged version of Friend Of The Devil.

That song gave me hope that he'd do some well-known songs that the group could play on. Instead, he told us that they were going to do some songs that they were trying to learn backstage - and if it didn't sound good, "so what?" So, of course the songs were pretty weak, and the guest musicians didn't seem to add much. And after a song or so, Mrs Cleek and I got up and hopped the bus back to the campsite.

The majority opinion of Elvis' show was a) his songs don't really work at a bluegrass festival, b) he chose a lot of weak songs, c) bringing on bluegrass hotshots like Bush, Douglas and Lauderdale and then not using them effectively only showed how out of place he was. One of our party was a fan and thought he did fine. The rest of us weren't convinced. It's a shame - he's a certified legend, with a good number of certified classic songs - and I didn't expect I'd think less of him after seeing him. Oh well.

And that was Friday.

Arrived safely at the Wilkesboro Waste Water Treatment Plant, set up our tents, barely beating a brief rain shower. Then we set ourselves in the right frame of mind... and off to the show!

First up, John Cowan:

He did a set of rock/soul-tinged new-school bluegrass - so new-school that it was sometimes hard to tell if you should call it bluegrass at all - sounding more like classic rock, or 60's soul. Pretty good though. A good way to get started.

And then the rain started for real.

Unfortunately for the rest of our party, who arrived later than we did, they got stuck setting up their tents in the rain. The four of us just had to sit in it and watch bands. For example, Cherryholmes:

Dad's on bass, mom's playing mandolin, the kids handle banjo, guitar, fiddle and vocals. They're a high-energy, all-in-the-family, bluegrass band - great playing, fun to watch, good songs, etc.. Worth sitting in the rain for, thankfully.

And that was all we saw the first day. So it was back to the tents to do some eating and drinking.