Shakori Hills Fall 2011 - Retrospective (Part One)

The Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance, held twice annually in idyllic Silk Hope, North Carolina, attracted major national acts, including Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, legendary banjoist Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, up-and-comer Brett Dennen, Dirty Bourbon River Show, The Emmit-Nershi Band and many, many more. While we attempted to make an itinerary, there were too many equally wonderful listening options at any given time to resign ourselves to a schedule. What follows is a day-by-day breakdown of what we saw throughout the weekend. Too large for a single post, this is our account of the first two days of the four day festival.

Shakori Hills Fall 2011 - The Undercard

With over 60 bands attending the four-day festival and acts ranging from Noot d'Noot to Bela Fleck and the Flecktones to Hammer No More the Fingers, Shakori Hills has more than enough variety to please every taste. We're going to be taking the next few days to introduce you to some of the acts we're most excited about. Today's list features some of the bands from the undercard that deserve your attention at the festival.

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 Dirty Bourbon River Show

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Friday, Cabaret Tent: 12:45am

Combining Americana, roots, jazz-tinged blues and gypsy style, Dirty Bourbon River Show continues the tradition of great New Orleans music (with a bit of  NOLA's flair for spectacle). Pegging themselves as "an interactive multi-genre variety hour-style band," listening to their recorded material does not do justice to the bombastic stage presence, energetic performance and all-around impressive musicianship the band has to offer. I managed to meet the members at a show they played with Holy Ghost Tent Revival, and I can say that they are also nice guys, as if you needed more of a reason to go see their show. This is one that I know for sure I will not, under any circumstances, be missing. DBRS is gearing up for an album release November 11th, 2011, and is touring strong to support it. After Shakori Hills, they are heading to Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia. You can listen to their first three albums, as well as a preview of their upcoming album The Old-Timey AfroPop Jibberish Junction, on their Bandcamp.