By Aaron Davis (Cover Story for JHWeekly.com)
Is it the casual mountain vibe or underwhelming crowd numbers? Or maybe it’s having camping and amenities in close proximity to the venue? No, it’s probably the Teton backdrop and the chance to see premier performers in an intimate setting that makes Grand Targhee your favorite place to see a festival.
For fans of the eclectic, Targhee Fest has been the go-to event of the summer for local and regional music. Underlying themes and potential surprises are another staple of the festival that is staging perhaps the best lineup in its eight-year existence. Hopefully you can attend all three days, otherwise, you have some tough decision making ahead.
Lucinda laces up the Tetons
There’s not a singing-songwriting woman in rock music more poetic, poignant and precise. She had the Americana goods long before the term was coined, hovering in a folk-country-rock hybrid that was, at least early in her career, balked-at by some industry executives. Too rock for Nashville, too country for L.A.
Lucinda Williams is an American treasure with a singular voice that is recognizable at first drawl. Her writing style has often been inspired from the darker side of life, yet wordsmithed in a way that rides a tuneful beauty. Her drowsy, Louisiana patois makes the sting of an open wound bearable, a distinction that has attracted a cultish adoration for three decades. Take a moment to enjoy lines from “Fruits of My Labor,” via the 2003 album, World Without Tears:
Traced your scent through the gloom ’til I found these purple flowers
I was spent, I was soon smelling you for hours
Lavender, lotus blossoms too, water the dirt, flowers last for
