Bluesy Brewzy Doozy

Introductions to the festival’s half-dozen acts were done by Texan emcee Floramay Holliday, in endearing Southern drawl with lots of y’alls—how
better to invoke hospitality? (Aside from the mirror- and decorative
flower-equipped portable johns, that is.) Holliday’s own set drew from
country and folk, with lithe harmonica backing by husband Gabor Racz. 

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Spectators, and festival patrons in
general, were still sparse during Holliday’s early set, and were barely
through the gate yet when preceding act The Bagpipe Dudes played. The Dudes’ set was a subtle highlight, though: Empire Brewing Company head brewer Tim Butler, donning a kilt, blew bagpipes as drummer Chad Seeber
threw in rockish backbeats. Flogging Molly this certainly wasn’t; the
duo’s set list culled straight traditional fare a la “Blue Bells of
Scotland” and “Bonnie Dundee,” and used naught but tweaks in time
signatures or tempo to achieve its stout-like clout. Said Butler after
his set, while manning Empire’s cask table in the cask ale tent, “Some
traditionalists might not agree with what we’re doing, but I’ve yet to
run into anyone who’s felt this way. It’s hard to get young people into
piping, and I think maybe rocking out a little could pique some
interest.” 

Bluegrass, too, tends to be a fringe interest, but Hot Day at the Zoo’s 8 p.m. set spliced other flavors—old-school country, rock’n’roll—with its all-string licks. Acoustic guitarist Michael Dion’s
hard-edged voice invoked Hank Williams Sr., as did the subject matter,
which ranged from life gone wrong (“Lost”), to rebel love (the Beatles’
“That’s Alright Mama”) to smokin’ dope and drinkin’ wine (“Old Mill”).
The Massachusetts-based group aren’t really used to Clinton Square-size
crowds—a comment on one of their live YouTube postings dubs them “the
ultimate wedding band”—but Dion had only praise for the experience: “We
were treated like kings from the minute we arrived and made a lot of
new friends. Simply put, Hot Day at the Zoo loves Syracuse!” 

And Syracuse loves….well, the CXtec Dinosaurs,
who were voted winners of the Red Cross’ April 18 Battle of the Bands;
naturally, they weren’t too shabby at Brew Fest. Choice covers and
enthusiasm to spare pockmarked their hour-long set, in which recent
addition and local scene mainstay Ashley Cox alternated keyboard and lead vocal duties. Most of the spotlight, however, went to front-woman Leila Dean,
whose violin licks ably tackled parts the twin guitarists didn’t, like
the snaky lead in the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black.” Besides U2, Don
Henley and Tracy Bonham cuts, the set list had no less than two Police
covers: “Roxanne,” with Cox positively nailing the “You don’t have to
put on the red light” chorus, was slightly better than “SOS.”  

For Donna the Buffalo, playing the final set must have looked like a tall order on paper: The Empire Brew Fest was the first entry in USA Today’s
June 11 “Ten Great Beer Festivals to Tap Into” article. But any fears
about culminating this libation destination were hidden in the
quintet’s unshakeable facade. Guitarist Jeb Puryear’s snaking clean-channel licks coiled around everything thrown his way rhythmically; lead singer Tara Nevins
moved among her array of instruments as if on cue, donning a fiddle
here, an accordion there. The set’s songs spanned their whole
career—“Voice in My Head,” off 1993’s Donna the Buffalo (Lavakoo), to “Temporary Misery” from their new Silverlined (Sugar Hill)—with lots of room in between for fan favorites such as “No Place Like the Right Time.” 

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“I sit and watch the tall grass grow/ I
run and hide from the things I know,” sang Nevins in the latter, a
lament for times gone by, and a resolve to live for the now: “You give
to the world, you give to yourself/ When you give your best to somebody
else.” The hard-lived wisdom of Nevins’ and Puryear’s lyrics is
uncommonly deep—definitely not your average jam-band fare. The group’s
combination of country swagger, hard-bottomed blues and scarily tight
interplay transport you to a world of broken-down Midwest roadhouses on
Saturday nights when it’s 105 degrees under a ceiling fan, and it’s
addicting. 

Festival co-organizer David Katleski,
for one, has sought them for a while: “Every year I’ve tried to have
’em {here} but they’ve always been at {the Trumansburg} Grassroots
{festival}. I think they deserve one more tune!” 

Fitting for the 11 p.m.-ish hour, the
quintet’s love story “Locket and Key” nodded lyrically to the moon and
the stars, while the encore’s second and final song, “Ring of Fire,”
slipped some sklicka-sklicka washboard scrapes under Johnny
Cash’s defiant backbeat, like pulsing bug life in the city’s nighttime
heart. It was well past last call, but spirits were abuzz.  

—Nathan Turk