The 2024 Green River Festival in Greenfield, Massachusetts is in its 37th year and appears to have been canceled only once, in 2020, because of COVID. It survived this year, but torrential rains and thunderstorms made it a near thing—proceedings were suspended several times, as fairgoers huddled in the buildings that dot the Franklin County Fairgrounds (known as “the new location”).

But the rain let up, the thunder stopped, schedules were rearranged, and most acts actually played (some in the standing-room-only Roundhouse). Tommy Prine, son of John, played exactly one song, “Precious,” before he got his cord pulled. He appeared later, though. The earlier Greenfield Community College site was charming, and perfect for the hot air balloons that dominated the festivals that began in 1986, but it was somewhat lacking in available shelter.

The Wonder Women of Country, from left, Leigh, Willis, Carper. (Jim Motavalli photo)

I was afraid that one of the main events I’d come to see, The Wonder Women of Country—Brennen Leigh, Melissa Carper and Kelly Willis—were going to get cancelled on me. But the festival restarted just in time for their set. All three are amazing singer-songwriters, and Leigh (lead guitar) and Carper (who plays bass) have been teaming up to pen songs lately. “No effects, please,” Leigh (resplendent in a flowered hat a la Minnie Pearl) told the sound crew, and indeed there weren’t any—just the women and their unadorned songs. The first of the collaborations by Leigh/Carper was the whimsical “I Wanna Fly Ya to Hawaii-ay,” on video here:

Another of their songs, which seemed to be called “Won’t be Worried Long,” was based on an old Carter Family/Kingston Trio number, “(It Takes a) Worried Man.” That’s called the Folk Process, and it’s perfectly legal. The audience definitely sat up and paid attention to their other new song, “Pray, Pray, Pray the Gay Away.” The kicker, of course, is that it doesn’t work, and the next morning you still wake up gay (and very happily so at the end of the song). (Leigh has an incredible LGBTQ-themed song in “Billy and Beau” on her stellar roots album Prairie Love Letter.)

The Wonder Women backstage: Brennen, Willis, Carper. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Willis was celebrating the 25th anniversary of her fourth album, What I Deserve—which went to #30 on the Billboard country charts. She offered a spirited version of the title song, co-written with the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris. Carper’s dry vocals highlight droll songs (“I Ain’t Getting’ Lucky Tonight”) that always have some swing to them—they’re not jazz, but jazz is in there. All the songs were enlivened by the other women’s harmonies and Leigh’s pitch-perfect guitar solos. Hear them on a new eponymous six-song EP.

Here’s one more video from the Wonder Women, Leigh’s truck-drivin’ song, “Carole with an E.”

Bonny Light Horseman was the only group I saw on the main stage. If you’re not familiar, this is the group that includes Anais Mitchell, author of the Broadway miracle Hadestown. But BLH is a group, not a star turn, and it has its own unique approach—celebrating and building on traditional American and UK songs. (The group’s namesake song was included on their first album and performed at Green River; it dates to the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. Said horseman is lost in battle, with the loss lamented by his beloved.)

Bonny Light Horseman has recently issued a stellar double album called Keep Me on Your Mind/Set You Free. They did several songs from the album of mostly originals, including “When I Was Younger,” which manages to combine the feel of a trad folk song with raucous rock and roll guitar from industry vet Josh Kaufman. Taking the lead probably more than half the time was multi-instrumentalist Eric D. Johnson, late of the Fruit Bats and Shins. This is why they call it a supergroup. Both Mitchell and Johnson are fine lead singers.

Bonny Light Horseman loves the traditional. (Jim Motavalli photo)

I wondered if the audience realized that when the group performs standards like “Down by the Sally Garden” or “Bonny Light Horseman” they’re actually hearing an ancient tune that has survived many vicissitudes. It might be useful to tell them.

Willi Carlisle (above) is in the Woody Guthrie/Pete Seeger folk tradition. He sings about injustice and wants you to sing along. If his reach exceeded his grasp here and there (as in “Two-Headed Lamb”), it didn’t take away from his being a heartfelt, giving-it-all performer.

And then there was S.G. Goodman (below). Her album Teethmarks is delightfully varied, from big sweeping ballads to rockers. She has an incredibly good band, with a lead guitarist, pedal steel player, bass and drums. They can turn on a dime.

Goodman led off with three hard rockers that somewhat strained the singer’s voice and made it hard to distinguish the songs. But she slowed down in the second half, showcasing that strong voice on the K.D. Lang-like “I Never Want to Leave This World.” And she closed with the tough rocker, “Work Until I Die,” seen in part on a warts-and-all video:

Goodman is a farmer’s daughter from western Kentucky. Her American Gothic family gives her material, which can be heard on early recordings under the Savage Radley moniker that have just been re-released. She tells funny stories with a strong Kentucky accent. I bet her Substack is fun.

Mdou Moctar is a Touareg electric guitarist from Niger (below). If you’ve heard Tinariwen, the group of Malian nomads that brought the music to global attention, you know (and hopefully love) the desert blues genre.

The music reflects several international journeys. African music came to America with the slave trade. Slaves and their descendants adapted that music into American blues, which electrified when it followed the jobs to cities like Chicago and Detroit. From those antecedents rock shredders like Jimi Hendrix grew, and their music soon traveled to Africa, where it was filtered through the local lens.

It didn’t matter that the audience couldn’t understand the songs. They were there for the quartet’s hypnotic grooves and Moctar’s supercharged guitar. A man who, forbidden a guitar, had to build his own, is now entertaining people at festivals around the world. Much the same thing happened to Mississippi John Hurt, Son House and Bukka White when they were re-discovered in the 1960s (after recording in the 1920s).

The festival took place over three days, and each one contended with rain. But, even wet, the patrons seemed pretty happy.