Friday, I had been ashore at Oriental, NC for the Ol’ Front Porch Music Festival. The fest is just amazing. A small town in rural North Carolina with a population of less than a thousand, puts on two day free music festival every October. What began as jam sessions on the porch of the Ol’ Store was resurrected as a festival in the early 2000s. Music happens on the main stage at Riverfront Park and on select porches all over town. Somehow, they manage to bring in a wide variety of music; bluegrass, gospel, country, rock, folk, and more. A few years ago at the festival, I discovered Damn Tall Buildings, a folk-bluegrass band from Brooklyn, New York. They are exceptional musicians and songwriters. I also got the chance to see Christie Lenee, the 2019 Acoustic Guitarist of the Year. She plays finger-style guitar and writes thoughtful, ethereal songs.
This time, I only wandered around town a little because it was really hot that day. The couple choices I had made from the website weren’t as enjoyable as I had hoped, so I went back to Riverfront Park and found some shade to sit in. I had seen Farayi, an amazing singer songwriter based in Boston on the main stage earlier. Caleb Caudle was coming up. He’s a North Carolina songwriter who cut his teeth in the punk scene, but has settled into a solid place on the bluegrass end of Americana music. I really came to see Robbie Fulks, a 90s Alt Country hero that I’ve been listening to for quite a long time. He was the headliner for Friday night.
