Press Release:

FOURTH ANNUAL FRED EAGLESMITH WEEKEND "ROOTS ON THE RIVER" FESTIVAL

June 5-8, 2003
Various venues

Directions to Fred Eaglesmith Weekend venues

For Immediate Release 5/25/03

The Fredheads are Coming! The Fredheads are Coming! 4th Annual Roots on the River/Fred Eaglesmith Weekend Returning to Bellows Falls, Vermont June 5-8, 2003

Bellows Falls, Vermont will soon be filled with Fredheads. From June 5th through the 8th, lovers of the country-folk-rock hybrid known as "Americana" or "Alt-Country" music will be descending on Bellows Falls, Vermont for four days of world class - if not world famous - music.

The feisty little former mill town on the banks of the Connecticut River, about an hour over the border from Massachusetts, is home to one of the smallest, most eccentric and best-loved music festivals in the country, Roots on the River, The Fred Eaglesmith Weekend.

It's all based around the raw, gutbucket country-folk of Canadian Fred Eaglesmith, who festival organizer Charlie Hunter calls "the Bruce Springsteen for towns with a population of under 5,000." Eaglesmith puts on an electrifying show with a tight band, funny stories and a ragged-but-right sound that mixes equal parts of John Prine, The Band and Hank Williams.

And Eaglesmith's followers are a dedicated lot - over 200 of them traveling from the far corners of Canada and the US, and some from as far away as Europe. Hunter reports that one Fredhead is flying in from the Netherlands to Boston, then getting on a bicycle and biking to Bellows Falls for the festival.

There are shows all four days - from a "New Faces Night" on Thursday at the New Falls Cinema in downtown Bellows Falls, to Friday evening's tented show with the Eaglesmith band and Texan Jon Dee Graham, to Sunday's acoustic show at the 200-year-old Rockingham Meeting House. But the centerpiece of the Weekend is the all-day Saturday, June 7, Roots on the River Festival, running from 11 am until 8:30 pm in the field behind The Everyday Inn on Route 5 North at Exit 6 of I-91.

For a festival built around Eaglesmith, a figure whose music is often described as "testosterone-fueled", it is notable that a preponderance of Saturday's headliners will be women - Amy Rigby, Mary McBride and Aurey Auld. Rigby's new album, TIL THE WHEELS FALL OFF, has just been released on Western Massachusetts' Signaure Sounds label. The CHICAGO READER calls it, "one of the most engaging pop-rock album in years, mixing loopy George Harrison chords with resplendent pop melodies," and ROLLING STONE says the album is "full of moments of pathos and humor, a combination Rigby has mastered with equal parts goofball charm and poetic grace."

McBride, whose band includes former members of God Street Wine, is gaining a rabid Northeastern following with her hard-rocking heartbreak country and gripping live show. "Nobody does broken hearts better," says TIME OUT NEW YORK.

Audrey Auld hails from Woy Woy, New South Wales and Roots on the River marks one of this critically acclaimed artist's first North American appearances. Performing with fellow-Aussie Bill Chambers (father to one of alt-country's hottest stars, Kasey Chambers), Auld belts out country weepers with the best of them. Titles like "I'd Leave Me Too" typify the classic-country sound at which Auld excels.

Saturday's all-day festival moves under a 40x80 foot tent "just in case it rains" according to Hunter, "although last year the problem was more one of sunburn." Either way - rain or shine - the show will go on. Other performers include returning favorites such as Robbie Fulks, Eaglesmith's harmonica-and-mandolin wizard Willie P Bennett and former band-member and human percussion machine Washboard Hank. Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, a "punk-Floyd-Americana" band from the Hudson Valley and area acts Joe Stacey and Jeremy Wallace Band play from 11 am until 6pm, when Eaglesmith and his band take the stage for one long set to end the day.

"It's pretty much music-based," says Eaglesmith of the weekend. "At first it was a little strange having a festival named after yourself -especially if you're not dead- but I've gotten used to it. I figure it stopped being about me a while ago. Now I think its about a community of really nice people getting together and enjoying some great music in a cool little town. One of these years, I might not even need to come."

Maybe, but not anytime soon. Tickets are available at $35.00 for Saturday, $22.50 for Friday or Sunday, $14 for Thursday or $79 for a weekend pass. Advance tickets are available at 800-THE-TICK and at Village Square Books in Bellows Falls, Brattleboro Books in Brattleboro, Heartstone Books in Putney, Toadstool Books in Keene, Music Matters in W. Lebanon, Morning Star Cafe in Springfield and Northampton Box Office. Charge by phone at 1-800-THE-TICK (413-586-8686). Thursday "New Faces" night is a benefit for Our Place Drop In Center. Full details at www.flyingunderradar.com

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To arrange interviews, for glossy photos or color slides, for comp ticket requests for Sat. June 7, or other inquiries, please contact Charlie Hunter at 802-463-3669 or flyradar@sover.net

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