Wheatland: The ‘best of the best’ in folk and American roots music returns this weekend

Some 10,000 folk fans will fill the rural site in Remus for sets by Rodney Crowell, Claudia Schmidt, Steel Wheels, Accidentals, Billy Strings & Don Julin, Rachael Davis and more. See the full schedule.

 

The term “best of the best” comes up often when festival veterans talk about performers selected to play the prestigious Wheatland Music Festival every September.

And the 41st edition of the granddaddy of Michigan folk festivals proves these Wheatland devotees right: The three-day affair organized by the Wheatland Music Organization in Remus boasts stellar names in American roots music, such as Grammy-winning Texas singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell, folk-jazz icon Claudia Schmidt, Virginia’s highly acclaimed The Steel Wheels and St. Louis folk-roots fave Pokey LaFarge.

Fennville’s Mark Schrock considers it a folk festival tradition unlike any other.

The in-demand bassist and co-owner of Fennville’s Salt of the Earth has attended 38 of the 40 Wheatland Music Festivals, and he’ll be back this weekend for No. 41, performing with Madcat Midnight Blues Journey and staging workshops on the rural, 160-acre site near Remus in Mecosta County.

As Schrock puts it, there’s a special vibe surrounding the prestigious September festival where about 10,000 Wheatland-ites will be “experiencing some of the best of the best in traditional and contemporary roots and folk music.”

For Schmidt – who moved not long ago from the Traverse City area to Minnesota’s Twin Cities, home to the Red House Records label that her released her latest album – it’s a true homecoming for an artist who has attended and performed at many past Wheatlands. She plays the Main Stage at 8:20 p.m. Friday and the Centennial Stage at 8:05 p.m. Saturday, both with guitarist Dean Magraw, as well as participating in a Saturday afternoon songwriting workshop.

“I have been part of Wheatland since nearly the beginning,” Schmidt told Local Spins. “I’m just damned glad to be back, especially with Dean Magraw as a bandmate. Wait till you hear the two of us together.”

Wheatland has nurtured and cultivated an appreciation for roots music through its education programs and a dedication to traditional arts for many years, thereby attracting young and old audiences, Schmidt noted.

“Wheatland has been teaching a lot of these younger music lovers with their school programs, so there is a continuity. Folk music is for all ages, always has been,” said Schmidt, who describes her latest album, “New Whirled Order,” as the “best thing I’ve ever recorded – a perfect confluence of songs, musicians, energy and intention.”

Michigan acts are featured on Wheatland’s stages all weekend long, too, including Traverse City buzz bands Billy Strings & Don Julin and The Accidentals, Kalamazoo’s Red Tail Ring, northern Michigan’s Detour and Grand Rapids’ Bennett, as well as Michigander-turned-Nashville-ite Rachael Davis.

The family-styled Wheatland enhances all those performances with workshops, dance sessions, and children’s activities which nurture those “traditional arts.”

FIRST TIME PLAYERS THRILLED TO BE PART OF A STORIED TRADITION

For the 18- and 19-year-old Accidentals, getting a chance to play Wheatland is literally a dream come true. They first heard about the festival a few years ago from Detour’s Scott Zylstra, who told them it might be difficult to land an opportunity to perform there because “only the best of the best showcase there.” They’ll play the event for the first time at 7:15 p.m. Friday on the Centennial Stage and again at 1 p.m. Saturday on the MiddleGround Stage.

“Those words really stuck with us and Wheatland became our goal,” said multi-instrumentalist and singer Savannah Buist of The Accidentals, a string duo that’s toured extensively the past year and recently signed a four-album development contract with Marshall Crenshaw and Grammy-winning producer Stewart Lerman.

“We know that a ton of people advocated for us to play Wheatland and we are so incredibly honored to stand on the stages graced by some of our most inspirational musical influences.

Even the well-established Steel Wheels reveres Wheatland’s “storied past” and feels honored to play the festival for the first time, said lead singer Trent Wagler.

“I’m looking forward to being a small part of that and learning from the wealth of folk music traditions and history that has been fostered collected and purveyed by Wheatland,” he added, noting that the band is finishing up a new album that should be released in 2015. The Steel Wheels will play several times over the weekend, with Main Stage sets at 11:10 p.m. Friday and 4:40 p.m. Saturday.

More than anything, Wheatland organizers, volunteers, performers and attendees enjoy a special camaraderie – “a peaceful cooperation and an acceptance of one another” – something that’s spreading to a new generation of Wheaties, said publicity manager Kim Croy.

“We are a Wheatland family,” she insisted. “Some people have volunteered for 30 years, and at this year’s volunteer training, we saw an increase in new volunteers. We are always looking for young people to start volunteering to keep the festival alive well into the future.”

For more information and details about special $25 Sunday tickets available only at the gate, visit wheatlandmusic.org. Here’s the full schedule of performances.

Copyright 2014, Spins on Music