iFest

Last Sunday afternoon, after spending most of the weekend at work, I was able to make it by the Houston International Festival.

I arrived not long after Vieux Farka Toure began his set on the World Music stage. Vieux is the son of the legendary African musician Ali Farka Toure. Vieux played to a small but appreciative audience. What I heard of his set featured some great guitar work by he and his band.

Next I wandered over to the Texas Stage to catch the first part of Jesse Dayton's set. This was the first time I had managed to hear Jesse play live. The first part of his set included a few of Jesse's newer songs including "I'm at home getting hammered..." as well as a couple of fresh takes on some old covers including Townes Van Zandt's "Loretta" and even "Just What I Needed" by The Cars!

Then I wandered back over to the World Music stage to hear the headlining concert by Lucinda Williams. I had not seen Lucinda in concert before and this was a near perfect opportunity to hear her for the first time. My friend and I were able to find some empty grass right next to the stage with only an aging Deadhead and a metal barricade between us and the stage. Lucinda and her band (including the very skillful guitarist Richard Pettibone) played a generous set featuring a few songs from her newest cd as well as a number of songs from throughout her long career. The set list of songs included: "Metal Firecracker", "Joy", "I Lost It", "Just wanted to see you so Bad", "Sweet Side", "Are You Down", "Come On", "Righteously", "Wrap my Head around That", and "Atonement". All in all it was a great introduction to a great singer-songwriter.

You can check out samples of Lucinda's music here.