Prine shines at Roots festival

FAYETTEVILLE — John Prine paraded to each side of the Walton Arts Center stage and flashed his big, knowing smile to the crowd as they sang along to his opening tune “Spanish Pipedream.”

It was on a fateful fishing trip in 1962 when Prine first came to Arkansas with a relative who was learning banjo. He wanted someone to accompany him so he set Prine up with a guitar. It was fishing on the White River which led to “all of this” and subsequent expeditions back to Jack’s Fishing Resort. Prine dedicated “Souvenirs” to the proprietors’ Jack and Mary Hale Hinkle. 

“Jack died a few years ago and Mary couldn’t make it over the hill but I’m going to dedicate it to her anyway and I hope she hears about it.”

Prine was the headlining act of this year’s Fayetteville Roots Festival, a growing urban music and food fest that celebrates the area’s roots in music. If attendance was an indicator, then the folks friends and chefs put together a successful long weekend (Aug. 23-26).

Prine’s genius lies in his ability to capture the ordinary state of affairs and reveal a universal message for persevering through the vicissitudes of life. He connects with his audience on a personal and often humorous level, whether singing about a broken water pipe in “That’s the Way that the World Goes ‘Round” or a literal change in the weather as in “Humidity Built the Snowman.”

The Roots crowd enthusiastically agreed with the message behind Prine’s 1971 tune “Flag Decal,” that putting country before humanity will not gain you salvation. Prine sang: "But your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore/it’s already overcrowded from your dirty little wars/now Jesus don’t like killing no matter what the reasons for/and your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore."

He delivered a full and energetic set despite a pesky nosebleed that had been bothering him all day. There was a collective holding of breath when he left the stage not even mid-way through his show to tend to it. Not only did he return but he stepped it up a notch with a few fast tunes, dancing center stage while rocking out on his guitar. He diplomatically handled the crowd’s enthusiasm for assailing him with numerous requests between songs with “I know all of those.”

“Angel From Montgomery” is perhaps one of Prine’s best known and most covered songs but no one can deliver it quite like the master. His phrasing of the lyrics may have slowed, but that has only heightened their potency. His love of what he does and the message he is delivering was driven home in “Got Gold”: Cause you got gold, gold inside of you/You got gold, gold inside of you/well I got some, gold inside me too.

As he finished the song he walked to the edge of the stage and gazed intently into the audience as if to confirm and affirm that we all do indeed have gold inside us.

Darrell Scott’s set on the same bill displayed some classic country he described as “country music before the television, country music that’s the voice of the people.” His opening tune “Hopkinsville” was reminiscent of Haggard’s “Working Man’s Blues”: If you can’t find work, work finds you/you know daddy didn’t raise no welfare fool/said, there’s a lot worse things a boy could do/than straddle an iron beam.

“Too Close to Comfort” illustrated Scott’s point that “New country songs tend about drinking like it’s a fun thing to do— old country tunes sing about the problems it brings.” 

Joy Kills Sorrow and Gregory Alan Isakov warmed up the Main Stage with innovative, energetic and inspiring roots music. These groups represent a new generation of music that has a new voice while still being grounded in the heart of the common folk experience of life.

Saturday’s festivating began early Saturday morning with a bicycle tour led by The Steel Wheels bluegrass band while shoppers at The Farmers’ Market were entertained by the Shannon Wurst Band, J Wagner, Raina Rose and The Lulus. At the Fayetteville Public Library Mark Bilyeu and Adam Cox covered Woody Guthrie’s life and legacy in song.

Cox gave Guthrie’s “No Fear” a very heartfelt performance in which “I got no fear of life/I got no fear of death,” transforms into “I got no fear in life/I got no fear in death.” 

“It’s amazing from a songwriter’s perspective how one little word can so change the meaning of a lyric,” said Cox.

The festival crowd swelled at the Walton Arts Center that afternoon as folk fans gathered to listen to Fayetteville’s perennial favorites such as Still on the Hill, Emily Katiz, and Trout Fishing in America. Standing room only crowds enjoyed Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines, Ryan Spearman, John Fullbright and the David Mayfield Parade.

Many of the festival’s musicians could be found taking in root music late into the night at George’s Majestic and Kingfish Dive Bar. Pokey LaFarge and the South City 3 played to a packed crowd on the Outback Stage. La Farge’s unique style, a blend of swing, jazz, ragtime, and blues is captivating. The crowd enthusiastically participated in several call and response tunes and many danced along to the old-timey groove. 

LaFarge closed out the festival at George’s Sunday night (Aug. 26), joined by 3 Penny Acre, Joy Kills Sorrow and Gregory Alan Isakov.