A Different Kind of Family
By Benjamin Sloan
Feature Writer

Proud Larry’s on Thursday night was a friend’s house in a familiar neighborhood.

The artists who were lined up to play at some point during the weekend undoubtedly took advantage of all the festival had to offer. They were among the first people in the audience Thursday night, sipping beer and eating pizza.

A double bass leaned idly by in a corner by the stacks of pizza boxes. The Hemptones were anxiously standing by, sneaking instruments on stage during Brad Hayden’s set to make sure that their show went off without a hitch. The bands were not so much separate entities but smaller parts of a larger, collective Oxford music scene, a scene too vibrant to be contained or defined by a single band or genre. The feeling of camaraderie was enhanced by the fact that at times the musicians, identified by either their vibrant personalities or the lanyards denoting them as musicians seemed to outnumber the bargoers.

During Kelly Norris’ second song, Jeff Callaway surreptitiously slunk from the alley and peeked through the windows of the door as if he had stumbled upon some great secret. This sentiment was not lost upon the rest of the crowd, for someone else joined him in rapt attention at the window.

The guys in the back making pizza looked up from their labor; conversation ceased as much as it is possible for this to happen in an Oxford bar, and all stopped what they were doing to enjoy the seductively magical quality of Kelley Norris’s Southern Gothic ballad “When It Comes to You.”

The crowd swelled when the Hemptones arrived on stage with their characteristic electric smokiness of Jeff Callaway’s trombone and their smooth island grooves.

The night concluded with a deep-fried Black Keys-esque performance from Jay Lang and the Ringers sandwiched between two cosmic jams from the Live Donkey Show and Zoogma.

The thing that made the first night the most memorable, though, was the fact that all of the musicians were playing for themselves and the people present - and no one else. This was evinced by wide smiles all around.

The first night really was less of the big festival it was to become on Friday and Saturday and more of a bunch of friends hanging out.

The Lyric on Friday and Saturday night did not necessarily lose the coziness of Proud Larry’s, but it definitely felt more like a big-city festival. The stage’s backdrop, provided by the Brilliant Easel, looked like tie-dye splashed across a night sky above a crowd of revelers.

There was the skeleton of a Grove tent at the front exhibiting prints and various types of artwork created by Oxford residents.

Friday night’s lineup hosted nearly double the number of bands as Proud Larry’s did on Thursday, but the night derived its strength from not only the number of bands but the quality and diversity of each band as well.

Young Buffalo, one of Oxford’s newest bands, took a page from the Fleet Foxes playbook and belted out lush and complex harmonies. This came between hip hop from Stork and Nick B. and a bit of raucous country music from Shannon McNally. Avenue Hearts played some sentimental country rock between two of Oxford’s most energetic heavy rock acts: The Sleepwalkers and The Cooters. Charlie Mars played a set of acoustic songs with a heavy groove and smooth, emotional lyrics.

Even though Oxford’s music scene may be broad and quirky in its diversity, it is more than skin deep.

Springing from the Oxford music scene, Colour Revolt has been able to launch into the national spotlight by playing shows at Austin’s SXSW and touring with bands such as Dinosaur Jr. and Okkervil River. At times sounding like Coldplay and Radiohead, Colour Revolt put on a show for which they have become nationally recognized.

Unlike Friday night, Saturday night devoted enough time to every act to allow the audience to really get to know each of the bands. Silas Reed and Da Books put on a high energy show, playing songs that ranged stylistically from party rap to soul to metal - and that was just in one song. The Sleeping Bulls’ running violin riffs backed by acoustic guitar and keys sounded like an Indian wind spirit sprinting through the woods. Yet as professional as the Sleeping Bulls were, both they and the audience knew when to back away from taking it too seriously.

In the opening seconds of their set, a giant hot dog shaped cart was rolled in from the alley and broke whatever meditative state the band was trying to create.

Singer Mark Adamec’s constant joking ensured that the mood remained light and fun.

Sanders Bohlke was able to control the crowd to a degree that I have never experienced before.

Through his music he was able to ask the crowd to stop talking for just a second as his band stopped playing and he delivered a solo acoustic interlude to a speechless audience. The result was a wonderfully reverent moment.

In the style of the Oxford Music Festival, the joyously irreverent brainchild of Bill Perry and his combination of jazz keyboards, New Orleans trombone and funk bass followed the tender songs of Sanders Bohlke.

The rest of the night was an energetic mélange of country and bluegrass. Rocket 88 was unable to play for very long before the giddy and obviously anxious boys of Mayhem String Band burst out on the stage with drinks in hand and plugged in to play a couple of Saturday night gospel sing-a-longs. The night was capped off by a performance from north Mississippi legends, the Kudzu Kings.

Freshman Ben Yarbrough of Young Buffalo said that the festival was “a beautiful mix of all things Oxford.”

That is surely what the 2009 Oxford Music Festival will be remembered for: the diversity and quality of music as well as the big smiles and level of passion that Oxford has expressed for its local musicians.