Fans braved lightning and intermittent rain — at one point so bad it forced evacuation from the venue — and the constant lure of Nutella-laced mini donuts to experience this weekend’s third annual Snowmass Mammoth Fest in the Town Park in Snowmass Village, which culminated in the glory that was the “Wheels of Soul,” defined as the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Doyle Bramhall II, that served as the finale Sunday night.
There was that seemingly suspended stretch when Derek Trucks was arched over his guitar, so fixated on getting everything out of it that it was impossible to imagine he still remembered that guitarist Bramhall II was behind him doing the same thing; meanwhile, Trucks’ wife Susan Tedeschi was paving the sound waves with her crushed-rock blues voice for all she was worth in a call-and-response with Jones – she of the velvet roar — and Jones’ band the Dap-Kings was mixing it up with the ten-member veritable symphony of the Tedeschi Trucks Band. This was all happening during Sam Cooke’s raucous call-and-response “Bring It on Home to Me,” and the mountain air was razor-crisp fresh, and the crowd alternated between bending over and shaking its collective head from the sheer intensity of it and rising up to fist-pump with joy.
And thatap what makes music festivals like this the absolute bomb.
There were so many other reasons to spend the weekend rotating between fashioning a garbage bag into a rain poncho and pulling a hoodie on and off every 10 minutes. One of the best things about Snowmass Mammoth Fest – previously known as the Chili Pepper & Brew Fest – is that it started off free on Friday, with chili tastings and a couple of local bands the first night (in this case, Arthur Lee Land and Whitewater Ramble) to ease into the second day as things heat up.
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t know that was the plan, and instead insisted not only on cooling things down on Saturday but pretty much drowning them out completely at times, causing rain delays and finally requiring everyone to leave to avoid the too-close lightning. But attendees who stayed close were rewarded with passionate sets from The Lone Bellow and Greensky Bluegrass.
Sunday started out slowly, but the sun was out, and the earliest arrivals took advantage of the setups of LadderBall, cornhole and the House of Bounce on the lush green grass to relax with family and friends. And while first-up Roadkill Ghost Choir lacked the fervor that the bands the night before had shown, they made up for it by presenting the best heads of hair of any of the weekend, and also channeling Tom Petty most efficiently. The crunchier, more animated and countrified Futurebirds delighted the crowd with their own delight at being in the mountains; lead singer Carter King brought out a camera to take photos of the crowd with the scenery behind it. “We are so lucky, you know,” King said. “Look at this!”
Meanwhile, as the day went on and the Town Park grounds –also the weekly site of the Snowmass Rodeo – began to fill in (the festival wisely honored Saturday tickets on Sunday because of the rain issues), the bands seemed to respond more to the building enthusiasm. The Cave Singers got people on their feet and dancing, bringing a variety of instruments into play during their folksy blues set, including some killer harmonica and the melodica, which vocalist Pete Quirk shared is “really good to play on mushrooms and somehow really easy.” In contrast, Donavon Frankenreiter played a no-nonsense set that mixed mostly older songs with a few new ones from an album due out later this summer; based on the taste, the Jack Johnson influence is still unmistakable, but Frankenreiter is best when he bares his teeth and shares his edgier self.
Not surprisingly, though, it was the “Wheels of Soul” that really packed the place. Just in from the previous nightap stormy Red Rocks show, Bramhall II, Jones & The Dap-Kings and the Tedeschi Trucks Band were a force separately and as a group effort, although few solos could beat Trucks’ at the end of ‘The Storm” – his fingers moved so fast at times they were almost imperceptible. But it was when the musicians all came together on the aforementioned Sam Cooke song and also Etta James’ “Tell Mama” – with Tedeschi and Jones engaged once again in a frenzied vocal exchange – that the music festival seemed truly to have fulfilled its destiny.
