Jam bands unite in conservation concert

The importance of conservation and the sound of wicked guitar solos resonated at the third annual Jam on the Brandywine, a day-long music festival to support the Brandywine Valley Association.

More than 760 concertgoers sprawled on a grassy hill at the Myrick Conservation Center near Kennett Square, Pa., to hear six local jam bands perform during the festival on Sept. 20, which raised more than $14,000 for the watershed preservation organization.

The concert could hardly have been held in a more beautiful spot, said Wilmington resident Bob Reynolds, admiring the rolling hills and leafy trees that surrounded the amphitheatre.

“We’re in the middle of nature and I think that is synonymous with jam bands,” said Reynolds, 41, as the first band, Uncle Jimmy, took the stage.

Saving the planet goes hand-in-hand with the peaceful culture created by the Grateful Dead and kept alive by local jam bands, he said.

Reynolds nodded his head appreciatively as Uncle Jimmy broke into a rendition of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Cold Shot,” complete with a bluesy guitar riff that rippled through the crowd, causing a wave of clapping hands and tapping toes.

A group of students from Brandywine Springs Elementary School jumped up and down near the stage while Bill Francisco, their fourth-grade teacher and Uncle Jimmy’s guitarist, switched gears from blues to reggae.

“In a jam band, it’s all free form. You can just play off each other and take the music different places,” said Francisco, 55, of Newport. “People get into it.”

More people filtered into the amphitheatre as the afternoon wore on, laying down blankets and digging through picnic baskets as the relaxing riffs of the Wilmington-based Porch Chops echoed across the landscape.

With a harmonica propped up under his chin, lead singer and guitarist Brad Riesau strummed furiously while he belted out a 10-minute version of “Tangled Up in Blue” in an uncanny imitation of Bob Dylan.

His band’s brand of hippie music hearkens back to a time when music made a difference in the world, said Riesau, 51, of Wilmington. It felt rewarding to be using instruments to raise awareness of our dwindling natural resources, he said.

“We like to try and make a statement, whether it’s our perspective about romance or the green house effect,” he said.

The green trees were tinged with gold as the sun sank lower in the sky and audience members closed their eyes to feel the full effect of the Porch Chops’ jangling guitars.

After swaying along to their cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City,” Hockessin resident Sarah Fisher, 25, said the jam band music was the perfect farewell to summer.

“You can just sit here and chill out,” she said. “It makes me feel like a kid again.”

But the serenity did not last long as many of the audience members abandoned their picnic blankets to dance when the Centreville-based Cameltones took the stage and played an up-tempo version of the '70s classic “54-46 (That’s My Number.)”

The growing throng on the dance floor sang along to a few Beatles tunes while everyone moved to the beat of their own drummer, their waving arms silhouetted against the brightly-lit stage.

Being able to dance is what makes jam band concerts so much fun, said Newark resident Todd Dedmon, 40, from a hectic corner of the dance floor.

“It’s a social phenomenon that happens when the band hits that groove and everybody’s dancing,” he yelled over the blaring music. “It’s like musical enlightenment.”

The pace on the dance floor reached a fevered pitch when the final band of the night, Wilmington-based Montana Wildaxe, stomped onto the stage.

In true jam band form, Montana Wildaxe converted the Beatle’s two-and-a-half-minute “Dear Prudence” into a fifteen-minute opus with three separate guitar solos and an earsplitting crescendo that threatened to shake the leaves off the trees.

During their version of Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” the roar of the crowd was barely audible over the snarl of the amplifiers until the concert ended with one last, deafening chord.

The noise from the guitars was suddenly replaced by a chorus of chirping crickets and tree branches rustling in a chilly breeze.

Standing in the emptying field and staring up at a sky full of stars, Centreville resident Vinson Hendrix, 50, summed up the conservation-themed Jam on the Brandywine in two words.

“Nature rocks,” he said.