Although protocols were in place for ShoalsFest 2021 at MacFarland Park in Florence, Alabama, music fans found little difference in the experience of music festival held over two days this year and the inaugural ShoalsFest in 2021. The festival is brainchild of one of the Shoals’ favorite sons Jason Isbell, with a huge presence from Single Lock Records (founded by Ben Tanner, John Paul White, and Will Trapp).
Cedric Burnside, carrying on the family North Mississippi Hill Country blues tradition, opened on Saturday to an enthusiastic crowd. Burnside, the recipient of a 2021 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, was joined on stage by Florence drummer Reed Watson for the set.
Amanda Shires took the stage next, expressing pleasure to be performing live again after the long stretch away. When she said, “Thank you for having me, Jason Isbell,” he quipped back, “Thank you, however you meant that.” Along with some of her best-known hits, including “Wasted and Rolling” and “You Don’t Get to Go,” Shires offered up a rendition of Dylan’s “To Make You Feel My Love,” a wedding gift for Isbell’s manager Traci Thomas, wed two days before. Shires said they were “the kind of people you can’t find a present for.”
At the end of her set, she told the crowd, “You made my whole eighteen months,” calling the opportunity to perform for them “the best feeling in the world.”
Candi Staton pulled out the stops as she reminisced about the Shoals’ Fame Studio, where she recorded eight albums. She recalled the days when all the musicians played together in the studio, making a kind of magic not easily replicated with performers laying down individual tracks. From that period, she sang “I’d Rather Be an Old Man’s Sweetheart (Than a Young Man’s Fool).” Staton said after recording the song, originally meant for Aretha, she sold 700,000 records before people knew she, not Franklin, was singing. She also performed “In the Ghetto,” written by the late Mac Davis, earning Staton a Grammy nomination. Before introducing her band and backup singers, including two or her sons, she moved into “Amazing Grace” and “This Little Light of Mine.”
When Lucinda Williams took the stage, she explained to surprised fans that she was sitting for her set because of a stroke she suffered last year. It was clear she still had her vocal chops, as she sang song of her best-known singles, “Righteously” and “Drunken Angel,” inspired by Blaze Foley. Williams thanked her band for “being my hands and having my back.” By the time she got to “It’s Over but I Can’t Let Go” and “Fruits of My Labor,” she was out of her seat as her fans had been through her whole performance.
Closing out Saturday night, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit played, scheduled to appear again on Sunday along with Isbell’s former bandmates in Drive-By Truckers. The band includes two local musicians–Jimbo Hart on bass and Chad Gamble on drums, alone with Derrick DeBorja on keys, Sadler Vaden on Guitar, and Amanda Shires on fiddle. They played a range of the bands best hits–“Alabama Pines,” “Tired of Traveling Alone,” and “Last of My Kind.” They also performed “Letting You Go,” Isbell’s choice for the recent 2021 Americana Music Awards, written for their daughter Mercy, who danced onstage earlier. As they closed the night with “Cover Me Up,” the sound of the crowd singing along echoed across the Tennessee River.
They also performed “Letting You Go,” Isbell’s choice for the recent 2021 Americana Music Awards, written for their daughter Mercy, who danced onstage earlier. As they closed the night with “Cover Me Up,” the sound of the crowd singing along echoed across the Tennessee River.