Arts and Entertainment Summer 2010 _________________ Donna the Buffalo’s Tara Nevins, left, and Woody Platt of Steep Canyon Rangers, both have played in Milwaukee, but are local festivals too big to showcase quality? Photos by Geoff Davidian Smaller venues offer sober, cleaner, family-friendly chance to see popular acts By GEOFF DAVIDIAN ILKESBORO, North Carolina – It was Sunday morning and Dan Fedoryka looked every bit a Baptist preacher in his white suit as he stepped out of the Church Bus, walked a hundred or so yards over a worn path and mounted the raised platform where he would perform a ritual that has become familiar in this Appalachian community. The sun was shining and it was already in the 80s when the 30-year-old former student at a Ukrainian seminary slipped off his jacket, folded it and placed it neatly on the back of a chair, rolled up his sleeves and turned to the energetic congregation. Then Fedoryka strapped on his guitar and jumped over some speakers to join his brother Alexander, childhood friend Josef Crosby and Mike Ounallah as the band Scythian jumped right into its third performance in two days at MerleFest, the annual gathering in Wilkesboro, NC, to worship and be baptized in quintessential American music. MerleFest began 22 years ago as a celebration of traditional American folk and bluegrass music but after more than two decades, it has opened its arms to a broader slice of regional and national talent. The event, dedicated to the memory of Eddy Merle Watson and to raise money for the Wilkes Community College, was held this year from April 28 to May 1 on the college campus. The lineup included more than 70 acts, ranging from aging legendary rockers Little Feat to the elegantly philosophical Donna the Buffalo to Steve Martin to Doc Watson, after whose son the event is named. This is not your father’s bluegrass festival. Many of the musicians who play here are scholars who did not learn to play the washboard on a porch. Drummer Ounallah has a master’s degree in music, while the Fedorykas and Crosby, sons of philosophy professors, studied music by the Suzuki method and began their classical training as toddlers. 1 | Milwaukee Press – MerleFest 2010 Scythian founders Dan Fedoryka (left), Alexander Fedoryka and Josef Crosby performing Sunday afternoon at MerleFest 2010. Photo by Geoff Davidian lthough they had Fedoryka brothers went to a Ukrainian played past midnight Catholic seminary in Washington, DC, but the night before in the they lost interest in the calling and the “dance tent,” within school after one of the male students minutes Scythian had became obsessed with Dan and the the crowd moving like administration would not intervene, they were on a giant according to Damian Fedoryka, the boys’ trampoline. father. Looking for a job, they went to work for a flooring company. “We were sort of The Fedoryka brothers were homeschooled living in a halfway house after college with with their eight siblings and all the kids Joey’s brother when we decided to play in studied music with their Julliard-trained the streets,” Dan said. mother from age three, but it was Irish fiddler Eileen Ivers who is most responsible Sometimes they’d make hundreds of for Scythian' s existence. dollars an afternoon, and they learned to draw in crowds and keep them entertained The Fedorykas and Crosby lost interest in until they could pass the hat. From there, music in college. “I was always on the the rag-tag band took a gig as house band outside of the music scene because of my at an Irish pub. From suburban training,” Alexander said. But after hearing Washington, DC, the band has handled its a recording by own marketing Ivers Alexander and booking, so said he became getting to obsessed with her MerleFest was playing, dusted off more the instrument and determination got brother Dan than connections. and Crosby hooked. MerleFest In a real sense, shows what a Scythian both festival can be exemplifies and when it offers a transcends the relatively breadth of current unknown street American music band like with the band’s Scythian the powerful eclectic opportunity to repertoire of Irish, prove they have bluegrass, zydeco what it takes. and exuberant Without classical numbers. professional The Fedoryka marketing or brothers, Crosby management, and Ounallah have Scythian managed to get approached the crowds from festival organizers bluegrass festivals and asked for a to Irish pubs dancing not only to reels and chance to try out. “We first heard from polkas but to Hungarian czardas, a them in 2007, but the lineup was pretty testament to their confidence as much as much set for 2008,” recalled John Adair, their virtuosity. artist relations director for MerleFest. After getting their bachelor’s degrees “We had been bouncing around the idea from Franciscan University in Ohio, the of a new stage and they wanted to play so 2 | Milwaukee Press – MerleFest 2010 bad we let them play, and people were talking about Scythian all day although they weren’t really in the lineup.” Adair gives Scythian credit because although they were an unknown band, “they won the audience over. They have stage presence and personality and they have smart music.” With Merle fest’s new “traditional- plus” philosophy, a band like Scythian can find a place to hang its hat. This year, MerleFest hosted nearly 300 hours of music on 15 stages. SummerFest and IrishFest bring many of the same bands to Milwaukee that perform at MerleFest; among them Scythian, Steep Canyon Rangers, the Del McCoury Band and Little Feat. And no doubt it is easier to Above: Thousands attended the Sunday afternoon performance by the Travelin’ McCoury’s and Lee Boys, come to SummerFest grounds than Scythian and the Avett Brothers. Below: Lee Boys’ Wilkesboro, and cheaper, too. Roosevelt Collier, left and Ronnie McCoury after their The closest airport to Wilkesboro is in performance on the Watson Stage. Charlotte, NC – an hour and a half away. Photos by Geoff Davidian While car rentals are plentiful if you reserve ahead, finding a room within a 30- minute drive of the festival is daunting since the organizers book all nearby hotels. But the Addison Inn [1842 Winkler Street, Wilkesboro, NC 28697 (336) 838-1000] says that if you get on their waiting list you’ll get a room because the festival frequently doesn’t need all it reserves. But you’ll have to wait until the last minute to find out. If you do get a room, it will probably have the stench of stale smoke since tobacco-producing North Carolina is among the states that still allow lighting up in a rented room. Indeed, even musicians get fed up with the hotels. Bob Shane, a founder of the Kingston Trio, says Indicator of a band’s success, and you can that the group would play on the spot for barely walk through the crowds from the free, “but you’ll have to pay us if we have to main entrance to Marcus Amphitheater travel.” without having a beverage sloshed on you – You could say the same about a worse yet, likely it will be your own. Law Milwaukee music audience. enforcement officers issue citations year Why would anyone from Southeastern after year for offense like brawling and sex Wisconsin want to go to a music festival in public restrooms – you have a pretty anywhere else? From SummerFest and good chance of catching a used condom in Irish Fest to the Milwaukee Symphony Lake Michigan before you snag a fish from Orchestra, and on to the Rave, Pabst the festival grounds shore, according to Theater, and Shank Hall, the lineups of reports from the Associated Press and the great talent from all genres flow in and out Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. And parking of the city’s waterfront venue like Michigan is a nightmare. ferries in July. By contrast, MerleFest is a family friendly You can’t smoke in a Wisconsin hotel, but festival that offers much of the same music you can hardly call the local music scene and the kids won’t be trampled by bikers. healthy family entertainment. SummerFest We’ll give it a rating of five banjos. and Irish Fest use beer sales as an 3 | Milwaukee Press – MerleFest 2010 .