After highlighting the festival's business angle and the non-music experiences that next weekend’s inaugural Railbird Festival will offer, it's time to get down to brass tacks and talk some shop about music.
Assuming most festival attendees are at least peripherally familiar with the local acts (Joslyn & the Sweet Compression, The Wooks, Justin Wells, Johnny Conqueroo) as well as with the larger names on the bill, we're opting to help you with your homework on a few bands you might be less familiar with.
Here’s a handful of “small print” bands we’re excited to catch next weekend - click here to view the full lineup and schedule for the inaugural Railbird Festival, taking pace at Keeneland Aug. 10-11!
The Dip
Saturday, August 10 // 1:45-2:30 p.m. // Elkhorn Stage
I've been diving pretty deep into modern bands with a "vintage soul" sound lately, so I consider this Seattle-based 7-piece band a pretty great Railbird discovery. Tightly orchestrated horns, sunny pop vocals, 60s-inspired rhythm-n-blues vibe - sounds like the perfect way to kick off a weekend full of great music!
For fans of St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Joslyn & the Sweet Compression, War & Treaty
Ian Noe
Saturday, August 10 // 2:45-3:30 p.m. // The Burl Stage
Often accompanied only by the understated strumming of his own guitar, Ian Noe lets his voice and lyrics take center stage – and with a songwriting style of his caliber, it's easy to see why. Straightforward, often stark and always striking, Noe has recorded locally in the past with Duane Lundy of Shangri-La, but his latest release, “Between the Country,” was recorded in Nashville with Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers). It’s a collection of stripped down country-tinged story-songs, heavy with Appalachian themes and a sense of longing that’s as visceral as it is matter-of-fact. This young Kentucky songwriter (born Beattyville, Ky., and now based in Bowling Green) is certainly one to keep an eye on – and an early set on a small stage at a large-scale Kentucky festival seems like the perfect place to start.
For fans of John Prine, Arlo Guthrie, Colter Wall
Low Cut Connie
Saturday, Aug. 10 // 3:15-4:00 // Elkhorn Stage
Whether you’re a theatre kid, skater kid, old school fan of Jerry Lewis or live music lover in general, it’s hard not to fall for the high octane, piano-driven, garage-glam energy of this Philly-based rock band. The video for the song “Boozaphilia” (which made the cut of Barack Obama’s 2015 Spotify playlist of his favorite summer songs) should give you a taste for what to expect with their performance – an early, short set that should pack a big enough punch to rev up the crowds for the rest of the weekend.
For fans of: Foxygen, Jerry Lee Lewis, J. Roddy Walston
Lillie Mae
Saturday, Aug. 10 // 5:15-6:15 p.m. // The Burl Stage
Lillie Mae doesn’t fit easily in any box. She’s not classic country, not a brooding songwriter, not a pop starling, but yet she’s somehow all of those things – and one hell of a fiddle player to boot. Having grown up playing in a traveling family band with her dad and four siblings, she sharpened her chops at an early age and has continued to evolve into a wholly unique songwriter and persona in the years that followed.
Her Railbird appearance comes a week before the release of her forthcoming album, "Other Girls," to be released via Jack White's Third Man Records – the singles have so far been soaring, complex, harmony-laden soundscapes that showcase not only her voice and high-level songwriting skills, but also a thick, swirling, almost ethereal sensibility that seems to give off the sense to listeners that they are floating in a bath of wonder. Truly beautiful stuff.
For fans of Jessica Lea Mayfield, Nikki Lane, Lucinda Williams
Blackfoot Gypsies
Sunday, Aug. 11 // 7-7:45 // The Burl Stage
These guys look and sound like they’ve stepped directly out of a VW bus onto Haight Ashbury in 1969, and I’m 100% here for their booty-shakin' psychedelic rock-n-roll with a tinge of Nashville twang. These tireless road dogs have played small venues in Lexington many times throughout the years, and have also worked the European tour circuit pretty hard and earned a spot opening for Tyler Childers on a handful of dates in recent years as well.