5-31-09 Sharpsburg, MD




The Gourds
1st Annual Springfest
The Green Hill Farm
5329 Mondell Road
Sharpsburg, MD
5-31-09

01. God's House
02. Country Love
03. All the Way to Jericho
04. Shreveport
05. Right in the Head
06. LGO
07. Red Letter Day
08. New Dues
09. (the new way of) Grievin' & Smokin' > Promised Land (Chuck Berry) > Wabash Cannonball (J.A. Roff) > Grievin' & Smokin'
10. Blood of the Ram
11. Escalade
12. Kicks in the Sun
13. Declineometer
14. Blankets
15. TTT Gas
16. The Hungry Wolf tease (John Doe/Exene Cervenka)
17. Pill Bug Blues
18. Mister Betty
19. Lower 48 > Ohio (Neil Young) * > Lower 48
20. Hey Thurman
21. Dooley (trad.)
22. Burn the Honeysuckle
23. Lookout Joe tease (Neil Young)
24. Plaid Coat
E:
25. Church on Fire **
26. Beat on the Brat (Joey Ramone)
27. My Name is Jorge
28. El Paso ***
29. Waxy's Dargle (trad.)
30. The Tinys Variety Hour (Claude Bernard/Matt Cook/Travis Garaffa)
31. Nuevo Laredo (Doug Sahm)

*Audience provided the only vocals
**Kevin, Jimmy, and Keith only

Note: Related Letter to the Editor can be found here.


Courtesy of www.greenhillfarm.org

Special thanks to Ian Glazer, Cassandra Mullinix, and Joe Ryan for the field reports. I also want to thank Michael Ecker for transferring the audio and Tomski for uploading it to archive.org. If anyone has audio/video/photos from this show, please email TheGourdsNews.

6 comments:

  1. this one was special. beautiful sunny/breezy day out on a farm with green grassy hills and some shade trees. lots of families there with little kids running around, playing together during the show. plenty of dancing and smiling going on in the crowd throughout. soundcheck happened on the spot right before they played. I knew it was going to be good one when max did a simple run on his fiddle to get a level and a guy in the audience went nuts screaming for more. very funny. set the tone. by the end of the set, the gourds had whipped them all up into a frenzy. set list kinda speaks for itself, but I will say that the "church on fire" was especially sweet...partly b/c of its rarity, but also b/c jimmy wandered out on stage after it started to sing harmonies and brought a tambourine with him. you just don't see that kind of stuff at a typical show. the guys were really loose and having fun, making stuff up on the fly and feeding off a very appreciative crowd. from what I hear, it's supposed to be a yearly event, so definitely go next year if you can. you won't be sorry.

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  2. That was the first time I've seen/heard a Claude tune! (Chinese Variety Hour) It was truly outstanding. Great, unique sound and melody with excellent harmony between Claude and Jimmy. Not only that, the boys played it real tight like they'd been doing it for a long time. This is an untapped resource for the Gourds. A new sound to add to the Texas/Louisianna/Roots/Rock/Country masala that is Gourds music. I can't wait to hear more from Mr. Bernard. By the way, although the boys started the show with the lately prototypical Going to the Country, etc, they really started to Jam and go down interesting roads (ie--a spontaneous Ramones Beat the Brat and Neil Young Ohio.) It was a terrific show at Sharpsburg. Thanks guys! --pshimm

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  3. just might have been one of the best shows I've seen so far....one of the most amazing scenes- open field, people relaxing on lawn chairs, kids running around, great food, beautiful weather, and best of all- The Gourds! just couldn't beat it. Plus the setlist was as good as it gets.
    This is one festival NOT to be missed next year.

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  4. I'm 100% local to the area and the gourds concert was probably the greatest thing since sliced bread around there. A real shame more folks didn't go, they totally missed out on a GREAT time. --Cassie

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  5. The show blew me away!
    Drove three hours from Philly, got there about two hours early, set up some chairs up front (so I'd have a good seat in front of the crowd that never showed up).
    As others have commented beautiful Sping day, families, small but great crowd, and an awesome Gourds show.
    I've seen them five times now, always a good show, but I think this one was the best(first time I've seen them "out of doors")...
    Thanks Guys!

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  6. Had a great time and would like to thank you guys for helping the cause of independent music in Western Maryland. It was great meeting and hanging out with you guys and talking a little shop after the show. I look forward to seeing The Gourds out this way many times over in the future.

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