The afternoon started with the Cotswold Mountain Boys and their Old Time repertoire. Next came Highly Corrosive, a young 4 piece band, bringing a multinational repertoire with an Irish flavour. The highlight of the afternoon was Dave Wright and Guests. Not even bothering to have a sound check, Dave, with guests Al (Konnarock Critters) Mick? and ??, leaped onto stage and entertained the audience with energetic music and banter from start to finish. Same Train Different TeaPot were a little dull with their own unique style of Old Time music. The lack of their base playing daughter - ill with one of the bugs that are around at the time - reduced the band to banjo and dulcimer.
Evening was by far the better. When The Konnarock Critters bounced onto the stage the audience came alive to the mountain music and beautiful harmonies of Brian and Debbie Grim. Between songs, Brian Grim and Jim Lloyd interjected jokes and jovial antagonism with each other and the massed audience making this a performance to remember.
Needing no introduction to regular festival goers were the Kitchen Girls. Four fiddles, a Cello, and Guitar kept the audience alive. The music and song traversed most of the countries enclosing the Atlantic Ocean, and in my opinion they are far more suited to a concert performance than as a dance band.
In keeping with the Footloose Festival tradition of introducing new young faces to discerning audiences, the next act was stupendous. With songs that could have been written by an 18 year old, guitar playing of a 25year old, and a powerful confident voice of a 30 year old, Victoria Holt was stunning. Still only 14 she gave a performance that well established figures in the folk world would have been proud of. She writes, sings and plays all her own songs. See and hear her soon - before her agent starts to cash in on her potential.
The evening concluded with Tim O'Brian and Darrel Scott.
Sorry there's not more - it's difficult to be in more than one place at such a great festival.
What the Konnarock Critters' local paper reported on the festival.
