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Edmonton Journal

Edmonton Folk Fest Friday: Mars and Venus night with Allison Russell, Stephen Wilson Jr. summons Springsteen

Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content From the female disco incantations of Allison Russell to the muscular King of the Hill twang of Stephen Wilson Jr., the great, diverse hydra of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival began to fully emerge from its misty cave. Article content Article content If folk fest has a hump day, it's Friday — a kind of liminal space between just getting going and that free-range, kaleidoscopic fractal wonderland of 13 hours a day of proper weekend programming. Article content Walking around the fully-open grounds, you start to get into that random vibe of knowing around every pack of plastic-plate noshers and volunteer blue monster T-shirts something wonderful is happening for someone on any of six active session clamshells, striped green and white for peace, prosperity and unity. Article content But as local singer-songwriter Everett LaRoi noted early Friday night wandering about with no goals or expectations, it's like a radio dial where you can just stop wherever it pleases. Article content Being a bit of a D&D dork wizard-lured me to Acoustic Alchemy jam on Stage 2 at 6 p.m., plus Shaela Miller gave off a good impression using the folk fest rare words 'Depeche Mode' and 'New Order' in her bio. Article content Article content Hosted by Manitoba's deep folk roots Dry Bones — banjo-picker and emcee Leonard Podoluk's late dad co-founded EFMF's elder sister in Winnipeg — handsome Aussie barefooter Kim Churchill was back from last year with a slight trim, mesmerizing guitar duo Ryley Walker and Bill MacKay filling up the stage. Article content Article content Those two pulled me closest, an acoustic double windstorm of delightfully avant-garde jazz somewhere along the echo border of Django Reinhardt and John Fahey, though if anything of all things their finger-plucking interplay reminded me of the way The Stanley Brothers' voices wove around each other into a single vibration. Article content Dry Bones did a nice Bill Bourne tribute — good to see he's being kept alive in song — while Churchill told a cute story about how his high school career counsellor advised him not to live in a camper van and play music for a living. Whoops!