By Jim Motavalli

These were the transcendent moments at FreshGrass 2023, held annually at the MASS MoCA arts center in northern Massachusetts:

Sierra Ferrell, Friday night. It would have been hard to top the set Ferrell delivered at the Red Wing festival in Virginia earlier this summer, but she achieved that feat in Massachusetts. The richness of her voice combined with her stage presence, compelling, crowd-pleasing material from her album Long Time Coming, and some great new stuff from the record coming out next year.

Sierra Ferrell and band were incandescent. (Mary Ann Masarech photo)

Ferrell was introduced as “the most exciting artist in the roots music world,” and for once it wasn’t biz hyperbole. She is that. Proof that she will only grow as an artist came in a new song that I think is called “I Can Drive You Crazy (Yes I Can).” It’s a not only a great tune, but also strong evidence that she knows country music history back to Bristol, Tennessee in 1927.

One new song, “The Garden,” finished in the studio as the band was recording the new album, came across like a mashup of the Louvin Brothers and Dolly Parton. A special mention should be made of Ferrell’s band, just three guys (in maroon to her white) on fiddle (Oliver Bates Craven), mandolin (Josh Rilko) and bass (Geoff Saunders). Craven co-wrote “The Bells of Every Chapel” and doubles on guitar.

The sum of these parts makes for a very exciting stage show, but also a very controlled and professional one. It’s kind of at odds with her wild posts on Instagram, taking a kind of Cindy Sherman-esque approach to her physical being. Quite the complex character, this Sierra Ferrell. I bought her little-known and minimally packaged first album, Pretty Magic Spell, in the merch room, and it’s well worth seeking out, if not quite as stellar as Long Time Coming.

Bruce Molsky, Michael Daves and Tony Trischka, Saturday morning. These three, who play together occasionally, constitute a supergroup in the fairly small world of old-time country music. Molsky is probably the greatest living exponent of the style—both as a singer and as a guitarist and fiddler. At Freshgrass he confined himself to fiddle, but—trust me—he’s just as good on guitar. His skills weren’t needed there, because Daves is an incredible guitarist, as well as a singer in the high, wide and lonesome style of the music’s origins. (Actually, his voice has gotten a bit deeper over the years.)

From left, Tony Trischka, Michael Daves and Bruce Molsky. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Trischka is up there with Bela Fleck on banjo, though their styles are quite different. His “Fox Chase” instrumental was a highlight of the set. But the transcendent moment, which I wish I’d captured on video, was the finale, “Down in Rockingham,” taken at full tilt, a prime example of the unbridled energy and drive in old-time country. Here’s the band doing “Jawbone,” which I did capture on video:

Bombino, Saturday afternoon. Omara “Bombino” Moctar is from the nomadic Tuareg people in Niger, and plays guitar in the desert style of groups like Tinariwen (from Mali). He’s been called “The Sultan of Shred” by the New York Times, and the world’s best guitarist by a music blog. His most recent record, Sahel, came out this year. These are the bare bones, but they don’t prepare you for the reality of seeing Bombino in person.

Bombino, shredding desert style. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Forget about the “world music” tag and the fact that the lyrics are in the Tamashek language and address geo-political concerns halfway around the world. This is simply one of the best live groups on the planet, and you have to see them live. It’s so propulsive you want to scream out loud. There are parallels to Fela Ransome Kuti, the Nigerian sax player and singer who likewise addressed a repressive African state with exhilarating, long-form music of defiance. Bombino’s music is informed more by rock than jazz, but both artists evolved their own distinctly African styles.   

Bombino is a singularly exciting guitarist, but he also has an exceptional band. Fellow Tuareg Illias Mohammed is on second guitar and vocals, Mauritanian (by way of Belgium) Youba Dia on bass, and Bostonian Corey Wilhelm as the long-term drummer. The latter has an absolutely ferocious—and very musical—attack, which he sustains for longer than would be thought possible. Even on that cool, rainy day, he probably sweated off five pounds. Any metal band would be lucky to have him, even if they had to fire John Bonham in the process. He’s been with Bombino for 10 years said, Dia, the group’s spokesman, said. Dia also had some words for the New England weather.

Melissa Carper, serious about good country music. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Melissa Carper, Sunday morning. The world needs to discover this powerhouse bassist, singer and excellent songwriter. She writes songs (including with the stellar Brennen Leigh) that combine classic country and country-swing influences, honed by growing up in a family band and listening to the giants. Her set was a master class in how to create and perform music that just about everyone will want to hear—repeatedly. She has a deceptively small but very effective voice, and a fine band. Her songs are kind of sad, but this is country, after all. She closed with the amazing “My Little Christian Girlfriend.”

Melissa Carper’s group enlivens Laurel and Hardy. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Carper was also featured as part of the commissioned “Freshscores” program, with musicians writing original music for silent shorts. Her inspired choice was the Laurel and Hardy 1927 epic The Battle of the Century Pie Fight. Some 3,000 cream pies met their doom in its creation, she said. Carper’s music perfectly complemented the action and included passages explicitly commenting on it. Other scores were provided by Michael Daves and Kaia Kater.

Rhiannon Giddens in full cry. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Rhiannon Giddens, Sunday afternoon. On her new album, You’re the One, and in concert, Giddens is going in a more popular direction. She now employs a kick-ass backbeat drummer, which makes the whole band overall louder and less subtle. The crowd seemed to love it, though. And since Giddens is one of the world’s greatest musical treasures, there was still plenty of very fine moments. Dirk Powell was on board, and his fiddle-led medley of “God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign/Breaking Up Christmas” was a highlight, as was Powell co-write “They Could Fly.”

Giddens the stellar player on fiddle and banjo was missed. It was hard to hear the latter on, for instance, the long and loud Brazil-meets-rock-and-old-time-country instrumental they did. But here’s a good Giddens joke, while tuning” What’s perfect pitch? That’s when you throw a banjo into the garbage and it hits the accordion going down.

**

Short takes:

Narrow North, an Americana trio from Albany, New York, had some nice moments on the smaller Freshroots stage. With mandolin, guitar and bass, they make a pleasant brew. All three sing. The Wildwoods from Lincoln, Nebraska were delightful on the same stage, performing a mixture of covers and originals like “West Virginia Rain.” Here they are doing some gypsy jazz, making use of fiddle player Chloe’s degree:

Aiofe O’Donovan had a full chamber orchestra and choir. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Aiofe O’Donovan was also featured in a commissioned piece, indoors at Hunter Center. Celebrating women’s empowerment, she employed a full chamber orchestra, horn section, the Westerlies brass quintet and a choir. O’Donovan, a highly skilled interpreter, was in fine voice. The only drawback was weak songwriting. The tunes were meandering and fairly vague. The singer is transcendent when shaping other people’s songs (as she did in Crooked Still), and there’d be no problem with her sticking to that–Linda Ronstadt and Maria Muldaur, for instance, left the composing to others.

CJ Field, a Nashville-based singer-songwriter, exhibited most of the moves of the new Nashville, meaning more rock than country. It was all pretty standard and forgettable, but his song “6th of October,” recently recorded and co-written by Ashley McBride, stood out as worth a second listen.

I’ve been having trouble with what passes for country in Nashville recently. In Munich, at a friend’s urging, I went to see a young and heavily tattooed performer named Morgan Wade.

Good money, wasted. Morgan Wade was just terrible. But in Germany, not Massachusetts! (Jim Motavalli photo)

Attired in a Black Sabbath t-shirt, she delivered one of the most deadening, monotonic, musically barren performances I’ve ever seen. It was loud, stupid and relentless, and showed nothing but contempt for the audience. I rarely walk out of a show, especially one I’ve paid 20 euros for, but I couldn’t stand to be in her presence for one more minute. Get your act together, Morgan Wade, whoever you are.

Sunny War, with her widely spaced interpreter. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Sunny War was pleasant, in a very Tracy Chapman kind of way. She has a dark, syrupy voice you could compare to Cassandra Wilson. The songs were universally slow and quiet, except for “No Reason” from latest album Anarchist Gospel, which really picked things up usefully.  Special mention should be made of second guitarist Anthony da Costa, who has done similar duty for Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz. He not only played excellent impressionist guitar that really fit the songs, he also sang some interesting counterpart vocal parts.

And da Costa talked, acting as War’s spokesman. She’d whisper something to him and he’d turn to the audience. “Sunny says….” It was kind of cute.