Every year for 10KLF, I offer my readers a guide to the bands of the fest. Though you can get a great little booklet on site, it offers bios coming from publicists and sometimes they just don’t tell you what you need to know.

If you want to start your festival planning early, go to www.10klf.com and find the set schedules for each day. Print those out and then print out this guide. You can start highlighting the bands you will kick yourself if you don’t see.

I have interviewed many of these bands, so if you are looking for more information, I can point you to articles I’ve written for other publications.  The High Plains Reader has a good Cover Issue this week on 10KLF. (I coordinated that coverage, too.) You can go to www.hpr1.com to see those articles or pick up a copy in Fargo ND.

Acoustic guitar-driven

Junior Brown (TX–The guit-steel wizard! Don’t think he only does country. His rock rocks!)

Tim Sparks (MN–Fingerstyle acoustic guitarist, a 10KLF staple)

Acoustic Rock

Gypsy Lumberjacks (Mpls—Instrumental roots rock with world overtones, very tasty Spanish guitar, but with occasional vocals—but when they are present, they are outstanding)

Ambient rock/techno

Big Gigantic (NY–Ambient techno duo that combines sax and keys with drums)

Pretty Lights (CO–One man techno wizard)

BoomBox (Muscle Shoals, AL—Russ Randolph (DJ) and Zion Rock Godchaux (guitar, vocals), the son of Donna Jean Godchaux, one of jam’s legends)

My Dear Disco (MI—Richly mixing techno, pop, and rock with a sweet female lead singer and backups)

Bluegrass (all forms)

Railroad Earth (NJ–It’s RRE’s third appearance at 10KLF. We can’t get enough of these guys! Great songs and incredible acoustic chops!)

Trampled By Turtles (Duluth–Speed bluegrass taking the nation by storm)

Pert Near Sandstone (Mpls–Bluegrass with a clogger)

Mountain Standard Time (CO–Newly revamped alt-bluegrass band)

Jazz Vocals

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings (NY–Great soulful singer with a top notch band)

Paper Bird (CO–Vocal jazz like Squirrel Nut Zippers with banjo and a New Orleans horn section)

Funk/R&B/Gospel

Steve Kimock Crazy Engine (US–Guitar legend Kimock joins forces with funk organist Melvin Seals from the Jerry Garcia Band. With great gospel backup singers, what’s not to like!)

Hip-Hop

Atmosphere (Mpls—Popular, white hip-hop duo)

Jam/Jazz

Umphrey’s McGee (Always exploring new musical avenues, combing genres—you never know what to expect from these guys)

The Macpodz (MI—No guitar, but lots of horns, keys, bass, percussion, and voice, slipping into Miles Davis, funk and Latin realms)

North Indiana All Stars (Trumpeter Willie Waldman and some of Umphrey’s crew launching into outer space)

Jam/Rock

Kinetix (Denver–Always in the jam pocket)

Enchanted Ape (Mpls–One of the most talented, up-and-coming bands in the country; very song-driven) [VIP tickeholders, also see Enchanted Ape in the Chill Tent playing before lunch on Thursday at 11:34 AM]

Elf Lettuce (Finally, an old-style jam group that reminds me of the Dead with very sweet harmonies—Cosmic Funkabilly Blues Rock with some out-there guitar effects )

Steez (Madison—Just plain fun 5-piece with keys/synths, guitar, drums, bass, and Andrzej Benkowski who plays sax, oboe, and violin)

Widespread Panic (2 nights) (GA—Always bringing that southern rock party)

Mixed Genres

Akron/Family (NYC—Mixing acoustic, rock, emo, punk, jazz, techno, New Age, solid vocals, and world touches—as varied as a NY city street)

Pop/rock

Dave Matthews Band (Need I say more?)

Gomez (UK/US—Widely popular)

The Honeydogs (Mpls–Though these guys think they are Americana, their songs are so intellectual they’re not typical Americana)

Reggae

Public Property (Mpls–The best reggae/rock band around; always a party with great backup singers)

Rock

Wilco (Chicago– Classics and new material from this popular band)

Parlor Mob (NC–The lead singer is a vocal ringer for Robert Plant; great chops on this band)

Carney (CA–The lead singer could be kin to the singer for Parlor Mob; again great chops and echos of Zeppelin)

Backyard Tire Fire (IL, much more polished than their debut at 10KLF in 2006, more country rock than pop rock)

The Hue (Chicago—Progressive metal band returning to 10KLF; a surprising inclusion in a jam fest)

Pete Francis (of Dispatch) featuring Barefoot Truth (NY–Solo artist Francis teaming with a killer band)

Tea Leaf Green (2 nights) (San Francisco—This band has moved from pop rock to rock with Americana overtones )

Singer/songwriter

Kathleen Edwards (Toronto—A woman singer/songwriter with a lot to say!)

Evan Watson (NYC via IN–Richly-voiced—yes, you expect a much older, grisly entertainer, say even Joe Cocker or an echo of Eddie Vedder–with not-soon-forgotten hooks and choruses for some of the best, blusey love songs out there. He can hold his own with just a guitar, but has a wonderful backup band)

Rock Plaza Central (Toronto–A novelist/songwriter who’s revisioning Faulker)

Corey Chisel and the Wandering Sons (WI—Has a Springsteenesque delivery; good back up band)

William Elliott Whitmore (Iowa–Exceptionally talented singer/songwriter with a powerful voice, writing songs both interior and political)

Mason Jennings (Mpls—Local boy made good; pop folk sound)

Todd Snider (TN–An up-and-coming songwriter who writes songs of substance; You can’t miss this one!)

Joe Pug (Chicago—A voice you’d expect from a singer/songwriter—and one a lot older and roadweary—blissfully refreshing, with great songs)

Honeyhoney (CA—Alt-pop duo with very tasty vocals)

Nathan Miller Band (Mpls—Contemporary ideas on a roots slide guitar. Miller is making his mark)

Zach Deputy (SC—One man musical experience with a road-weary voice, some roots beatboxing, and solid songs)

The Unusual

Everyone Orchestra (All over the country–Matt Butler’s great musical experiment; no one knows what will happen until it does)

WookieFoot (Mpls–Bringing rock/reggae and peace to every performance)

Cloud Cult (MN–Combining art and music, this band has two painters on stage with a full band; lyrics are both personal and globally inspiring)

World

Ozomatli (Los Angeles–Afro-Latin band with great drum/percussion section, killer horns, and other world touches)

Mifune (OH–Named for a Japanese movie legend, but producing Afro-Latin-electronic-jazz with a social-consciousness bent, tasty jazz vocals that sometime bleed into dancehall)

Harper (Australia/MI–Bridging blues with aboriginal music)

The Ragbirds (MI—Song-driven and vocal-driven band mixing Celtic, Latin, Middle Eastern, and Gypsy influences into a contemporary sound for this century.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Issues, July 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.