My Stanton Moore experience

[chillman4130]

Hey everyone, I haven't been here in a while. I've been busier with work and actually going out on tour a lot with my new band!

Anyway, this past weekend I played in music festival here in Gainesville that was meant to attract big-ish names (Drive-By Truckers, Mates of State, Benevento/Russo duo, Straylight Run, and so forth) but the one that excited me most was the Stanton Moore Trio.

Well, a few scheduling conflicts later, I missed the SM Trio's set but was back for Benevento/Russo Duo. Apparently something went wrong with their stage (the festival was rather slipshod) so they decided to have a jam session in a barn where some of the vendors were. My wish came true when I wandered over and saw that Benevento/Russo was setting up along with Stanton Moore Trio. This was going to a monster dualing-organ, dualing-drum musicgasm!

I managed to get a spot three feet directly behind Stanton, and watching him play was like attending a masterclass. The best parts were seeing him miss a beat or get confused, both to see how he recovered (seamlessly) and to know that even world-class players make mistakes.

They jammed on mostly Zeppelin songs and hearing Stanton Moore AND Joe Russo take a fusion approach to "When The Levee Breaks" was spine-chilling. Something else I found pleasantly surprising was that they were all passing around a bottle of Maker's Mark and chugging beers between (and during!) songs. I have an image of professional clinician drummers (i.e. not rockstars) as being pretty clean, and maybe they are, but the free-flowing booze lent this barn-burner of a set even more of a party-atmosphere.

I stood behind Stanton Moore, set up on a rug thrown on top of the hay-covered dirt floor and watched him play for hours into the night. At the end, he stood on top of his throne and addressed the crowd, saying, "This is why we play music!"

[Todd Norris]

Hey, welcome back Hillman! 

Stanton's the man.  Thanks for sharing!

[Dave Sharma]

sounds like a party!!

[percusboy]

totally jealous!

[chillman4130]

It was indeed a party. I thought they might be angry at the unprofessionalism of the festival, but it looked like the musicians were having a blast! It was just one of those rare magic moments when the wall between performer and spectator was completely broken down.