Beachland Barn Dance

The Beachland has put a lot of time and effort really trying to grow the local Independent Folk-Americana scene.  They have been booking more and more of underground National acts as well in the genre.  Some completely country and some more of that New Grass sound.  If you check the upcoming acts they have on the concert board right now it is pretty damn impressive.  You have country music legend Wanda Jackson coming May 13th.  The chick is in her 70's and still rocking it out.  Shelby Lynne coming May 5th, Wayne "The Train" Hancock May 19th, Yonder Mountain String Band June 9th, and the an all star line up with Cracker, Horton Heat and Splitlip Rayfield May 16th.  The list of Alt-Country artists coming to the Beachland in the upcoming couple months is amazing.  

Personally I am pretty excited for all these shows just because bands like these rarely used to come to the area.  The closest you could get to country would be the major players that came out to Blossom.  Number one it's not the same thing.  There is a huge difference between the mainstream large venue acts and the ones that play the Beachland.  For years I have been seeing bands like Old 97's, Charlie Louvin, Shooter Jennings and countless others here.  These are bands that have a very dedicated fan base here in the Cleveland area.  It just took a venue like the Beachland to seriously take a huge risk to try getting them here to play Cleveland.  People travel from miles around the area just to get a chance to see some of these folks.  But not only is the Beachland promoting the Outlaw and Alt-country acts they are fostering a growing scene in the area of local acts that played Friday night at the 2nd Beachland Barn Dance.  

The first Barn Dance was such a huge success it was a no brainer to book a 2nd similar show.  As far as value goes presale tickets were $5.00 and the door was $7.00.  So for less than a buck a band you get an entire night of entertainment.  The Barn Dance is more of the whole New Grass genre.  This is old-timey country music that ran the gambit from traditional Appalachian bluegrass folk stylings of One Dollar Hat, Too Far Gone and the Timberwolves to a more hardcore Bluegrass sound of Hoots and Hellmouth and Heelsplitter.  Also on the bill was a band of younger guys from Hiram Ohio the Hiram Rapids Stumblers.  Now I am not saying the other Ohio bands aren't great but The Hiram Rapids Stumblers show the most promise of really being a driving force in this country revival in Cleveland.  

The Stumblers are a group of younger dudes and honestly I don't think they have any idea exactly how good they are.  I am pretty sure they know they are good, but seriously they have no idea they are "that" good, as in you could tour with a national act good.  As you all know me and names...well, I just am not good with them but you got Lester - Fiddle, Banjo, Vocals, Scottie - Guitar, Vocals, Dusty - Upright Bass, Vocals, Jesse - Guitjo, Vocals, Handsome Bruce - Mandolin, Jay - Slide Guitars, Banjo.  They really handle their instruments with more skill than their youth might lead you to believe.  They have a great professional sound but one thing I would like to see is more of the eye contact while playing in that circle.  It's kind of like at times they are just playing solo with a bunch of other guys around them.  So less looking at the instruments and more focus on each other.  I think it's just polish at this point for them because they still sound incredible.  All the vocals were pretty damn good, and instrumentation was pretty close to flawless.  Throw in an accordion in this thing and I would be all set. 

It was kind of a double headliner thing with Hoots and Hellmouth and Heelsplitter.  Both bands step away from the more traditional bluegrass sound.  Bluegrass on amphetamines maybe?  The first up was Hoots, a 4-piece outfit for Philly PA.  They run the gambit from soulful country ballads to high energy foot stomping countrified anthems.  When I say stomping I literally mean it.  They play on these mini stage boards that are mic'ed up and have tambourines attached to them that they stomp on to create a backing beat for most of their songs.  They put on a longer set than the opening bands clocking in at just over maybe 45 minutes.  Frontman duties are pretty evenly split between Sean Hoots and Andrew "Hellmouth" Gray.  Hoots looks like the live version of a young Kris Kringle from the old Christmas special A Year Without a Santa Claus.  He is highly animated on stage dancing a gyrating like he is possessed by the soul of the music that comes out of his mouth and guitar.  "Hellmouth" Gray is more subdued but is quite the balladeer himself.  Rounding off the band were Rob Berliner on  mandolin and vocals and John Branigan on the bass. 
   

Heelsplitter ended the night with a high energy set.  The Splitters are a multi-instrumentalist 4 piece from Cleveland consisting of Baggins - Banjo, Dr. Hoople - Guitar, Klaus - Mandolin and Kicker - Guitar.  All share duties with vocals and slapping around on a homemade one stringed weed wacker monstrosity of a bass aptly named Frankenbass.  They started out on the stage and ended up doing an all acoustic final couple songs on the Ballroom floor. Heelsplitter is probably the hardest working band of the line up playing shows pretty frequently in the Cleveland area.  You can find them all over town from The Beachland, to Parnell's or even an occasional stint at Now That's Class.  

It was a great time and pretty decent draw for the Beachland and I am hoping it takes off and becomes a regular thing.  They even had an MC for the evening in Miss Firecracker who entertained the crowd between the sets on her own little personal stage on the floor.  Miss Firecracker sings overtly sexually charged sing-a-longs with themes from pickles to pussy.  No kidding kids and the crowd loves singing along about her pussy cat.  Part singer songwriter and part comedienne she is an absolute blast to check out. So the next time you see the Barn Dance coming back to the Beachland y'all come on down and set a spell.  You will have a good old time and it is very easy on the wallet.