North Carolina State Bluegrass Festival
Thurs-Sat, June 16-18, Happy Holiday Campground, Cherokee

I kicked around two leads for this blurb, and settled on neither. The first was “Leapin’ Lemurs!,” which I rather liked for its sense of action, old-school alliterative charm, and of course it’s signature prosimian slant. The second was “Banjo Strings and Finer Things,” which not only quoted Berkeley Breathed but got a little closer to the subject at hand: bluegrass music. Then it occurred to me that bluegrass fans might object, on the grounds that there are no finer things than banjo strings, and just like that, I was at a journalistic crossroads.

Instead, I’ll drop the pretty babble and get down to a nuts-and-bolts listing of the stellar lineup that the folks in charge of the 31st Annual North Carolina State Bluegrass Festival have lined up. Ralph Stanley, for example. Earl Scruggs. Doyle Lawson. The Country Gentlemen. Josh Crowe. Raymond Fairchild and the Maggie Valley Boys. Ronnie Reno. Mike Snider. Bobby Osborne.

The list (see festival line-up, page 20) goes on, but I won’t: all told, the three-day event features more than 30 sets by 18 different bluegrass acts, giving lemurs plenty of time to leap and strings plenty of chances to ring. Given that Friday night also hosts the Bluegrass and BBQ festival over in Sylva, it looks to be a good weekend for the Clinch Mountain Backstep. On four ....

The Happy Holiday Campground is located 4 miles east of Cherokee on U.S. 19 North. The music starts at noon each day and runs past dark. Tickets are $35 for a day pass and $85 for a 3-day pass, with children aged 6-13 at a discount and children under 6 free. A performance schedule can be found at www.aandabluegrass.com

The Neville Brothers
Saturday, June 18, Harrah’s

There was a time, not so long ago, when the mere mention of the Neville Brothers sent my hips to wiggling. I was downright smitten with the New Orleans R&B legends, and the source of my smite could be traced to one track: “Fever,” on the live album Neville-ization. Yup, I’m talking about the same standard that Peggy Lee drawled her way through in 1958: “Fever in the morning/ Fever all through the night.” In the hands of the Nevilles, the song takes on a quicker, slicker, decidedly funkier air, and back in the day no dance party was complete without a “Fever” spin off of my trusty Black Top LP.

The Neville Brothers are an institution in New Orleans — pretty soon, they’ll have a street named after them, or at least a hot sandwich with gravy — and with good reason. Their track record reaches back to 1954, when Art Neville’s high school band The Hawketts recorded the soon-to-be-standard “Mardi Gras Mambo” and had a local hit on their hands. In short order, Aaron, Charles, and Cyril followed their older brother’s lead, and by the late 60s, it was hard to find a New Orleans release that didn’t have at least one Neville on board. The Neville Brothers weren’t officially a band until 1977, and even then they took time out for solo projects, side work, and the occasional trip to prison or rehab. (For a clay-foot look at the Nevilles and their sordid past, read the oral history The Brothers Neville. If time is short, just read the index: the four longest entries are under the words drugs, crime, racism, and funk.)

While I’ve seen the various Neville brothers in various incarnations a number of times — including a few smokin’ Meters shows along the way — I’ve only seen the official Neville Brothers once. It was in New Orleans, in 1997, during Jazzfest, at a nighttime show at a local music hall of note. I was there as part of a hold-the-smut bachelor party, a weekend lark that celebrated music, food, and friendship over things more crass. The Nevilles show was intended as a capper of sorts, and we hit the ballroom in high spirits indeed. It was one of the most disappointing shows of my life: despite the buzzing crowd, despite the festival atmosphere, despite the stratospheric ticket prices, the Nevilles seemed to be going through the motions.

It was surprising at first — and then not surprising at all — when I realized that many of the songs sounded exactly the same as they did on Neville-ization, a live album recorded 15 years earlier. If I’ve ever been to a live concert that sounded canned, it was that one. We cut our losses and left after 40 minutes. I almost hate to tell that story — the Nevilles deserve a lot of love for the grooves they’ve laid down over the years — but when I caught a look at the Harrah’s ticket prices, I thought I’d share the story. My hope is that what I saw was an aberration, and that the Nevilles will put on a dynamic and sincere show Saturday night. My hunch is that they won’t.

Tickets are $35, $55, and $75, and the show starts at 9 p.m. Call 1-800-HARRAHS for more info.

Also Playing

• Einstein’s Dream, Asheville Pizza Company, 6/16

• Cyril Lance and Hollywood Red, Asheville Downtown After Five, 6/17

• Delta Moon, Jack of the Wood, 6/17

• Seepeoples, Soul Infusion, 6/17

• Hollywood Red, Westville Pub, 6/18

• Ravioli Riot, Guadalupe Café, 6/18

• Toubab Krewe, Orange Peel, 6/18

• Biscuit Burners, UNCA Concert on the Quad, 6/20

Three Good Things Involving Nevilles, Because I Still Feel Bad For Writing What I Did

1. “Tell It Like It Is,” Aaron Neville (1967)

2. The Wild Tchoupitoulas (1976)

3. Uptown Rulers: The Meters Live from the Queen Mary (1992)

They Said It

“Canned music is like audible wallpaper.”

— Alistair Cooke