Cabbage Crik reunion pumps up appeal of Saturday’s Winter Wheat celebration of folk, bluegrass at The Intersection

The annual Wheatland fundraiser will boast two stages and more than a dozen performances, including Fred Willson’s An Dro finale and sets by Billy Strings & Don Julin, Fauxgrass and more.

 

STORY UPDATE JAN. 8: OUTDOOR STAGE CANCELED (More information below)

Nearly six years ago, West Michigan’s Cabbage Crik reunited after decades for what Fennville bassist Mark Schrock called “a great time” of reliving the bluegrass, country and swing band’s heyday in the 1970s – heady years when the popular group played six nights a week from The Hatch in Holland to the Eastown Saloon in Grand Rapids.

Well, it’s time to get nostalgic and foot-stomping yet again.

This weekend, the band’s five original members will reunite once more, playing their “cowboy” strains as part of Saturday’s Winter Wheat festival at The Intersection in Grand Rapids, where ticket sales already have been pumped up by the group’s appearance.

Cabbage Crik also will perform at the Sawmill Saloon in Big Rapids on Friday night, returning to the venue where the band played its first gig in 1974. And it will wrap up the weekend by playing a sold-out bluegrass jam at Schrock’s Salt of the Earth in Fennville with Ruth and Max Bloomquist.

“It’s pretty wild that we can get together and do this 40 years later,” conceded Schrock, who’s now a member of several different bands, including Madcat Midnight Blues Journey. “We got together in November to dust off some old tunes and add a few new ones for this tour and had a blast.”

The much-anticipated reunion – the first time the band has played together since “a couple of gigs” in 2012 – is one of several highlights of Saturday’s Winter Wheat at The Intersection, an annual fundraiser for the Wheatland Music Organization which draws bigger crowds every year.

More than a dozen roots music bands will play two indoor stages in the day-long event that kicks off at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, with big names such as Traverse City bluegrass duo Billy Strings & Don Julin, Cajun faves The Benzie Playboys, progressive bluegrass band Fauxgrass and old-time folk’s Hawks & Owls on the bill. Once agan, a dance floor in the main showroom will feature square, contra and Cajun twirlers. (Tune in to Local Spins on WYCE on 88.1 FM at 11 a.m. Friday when Hawks & Owls will be my guests.)

OUTDOOR STAGE SETS CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER

Delilah DeWylde & The Lost Boys had planned to host and play a third outdoor, tented stage billed as “The Side Show,” with a set by singer-songwriter Josh Rose and open jams and drumming. But the winter storm and frigid temperatures forced organizers to cancel the outdoor stage. Instead, Delilah DeWylde & The Lost Boys will play The Stache (front lounge) at 10:30 p.m. following An Dro’s performance. Featured vendors are the Mitten Brewery and Peppino’s Sports Grille, with pizza and an Italian buffet available. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Get details and tickets online at sectionlive.com.

Winter Wheat’s “celebration of traditional music and dance” also boasts another milestone set: Guitarist Fred Willson will play his final show Saturday with Celtic/world music group An Dro, a popular Michigan band that will continue to perform and book shows without him in 2015.

“It will be celebratory in that every gig is a celebration of music and life. It will be emotional for me personally in that I will miss the joy of connecting with my bandmates and the people who come to see us,” said Willson, who stressed that An Dro is not breaking up.

To further up the ante, Irish step dancer Zee Ni Bhraonain will join the band on stage for the evening’s final set on the front lounge stage at 8:50 p.m.

“It should be a blast. We always have fun there,” said band member Jim Spalink. “He (Fred) doesn’t want to focus on it (last performance) and neither do we. We all would prefer to focus on the business of having fun.”

Plenty of folks had fun at Winter Wheat last year: More than 720 people came through the doors and organizer Bear Berends, of Grand Rapids’ Blue Water Ramblers, hopes Saturday’s strong lineup will draw 1,000 people for the 2015 show.

CABBAGE CRIK A ‘SPECIAL TREAT’ FOR FANS, PLUS A TRIBUTE TO DAVID RAFFENAUD

Having Cabbage Crik on board for a reunion is a “special treat” that’s already helped boost advance ticket sales for this year’s event.

“Those boys can still draw, I’m thinkin’,” he quipped. “Since I was, indeed, an old-time Eastown Saloon devotee, and I also cut my trad music teeth on that early folk-rock-cowboy sound, then trust me when I say I’m stoked. It’s gonna be awesome.”

Schrock said he’ll be joined by original members Don “Buck” Lemke, Gary Kuitert, John Vrieling and Michael R. Smith, along with fiddler Dan Seabolt. Kuitert lives in Arizona, with the rest of the band scattered across Michigan.

One longtime contributor to the band, however, is missing: Much-beloved keyboard player David Raffenaud of Fennville died last spring. “We do miss our old buddy and piano player Dave Raffenaud who passed away last year,” Schrock conceded. “We have a tribute tune or two planned for him at Winter Wheat.”

Band members are thrilled to reprise an era when they were “young, energetic, approachable and stretched the boundaries of what traditional music was supposed to be,” touring the country and opening for artists such as Harry Chapin, Pure Prairie League and Jimmy Buffett.

“As long as folks are still interested in hearing us, we’ll play together from time to time,” Schrock said. “I hope our old friends and fans will come out to Winter Wheat to say hello.”

WINTER WHEAT 2014 HIGHLIGHTS

CABBAGE CRIK 2009

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