This past weekend was the National Folk Festival in Butte, Montana, and me and the family traveled down from Helena for the music on Saturday. It was a great time, not the least because Butte is a wonderful town, whose historic uptown was the site of the festival’s seven stages. (Note to readers: Butte will be host to the festival for the next two summers, and it’s not just for locals. It’s worth traveling for, and it’s free!) Despite not being very familiar with any of the featured acts, I caught four really good ones.

The Quebe Sisters:


Three young ladies with fiddles, and voices that can make you believe you’re listening to a vintage 1940s recording.

Wylie and the Wild West:


Fairly well known country rockers, led by yodeling maestro Wylie (fun fact: he is the voice of the Yahoo! soundbyte). Food purchasing kept me far from the stage, but I got close for the finale, during which Wylie announced the show wouldn’t be complete without a great cowboy song, and then launched into a bit of “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”

The Seldom Scene:


Apparently they are legendary within the bluegrass scene, if that is your thing, and for good reason: these four guys have beautiful voices and are fantastic harmonizers, and have a good wide-ranging repertory of songs. They got their start in Washington D.C. in the 1960s, so unsurprisingly they know what they’re doing.

Le Vent du Nord:


The crowd loved these guys, partly because they are the types of handsome young men that middle-aged women find enormously attractive. They are also exotic but not too exotic, hailing from French-speaking Canada (hence the name). Good earthy time.

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Also, has anyone seen the recently released tracklist for Rock Band 2? I played the original Rock Band for the first time this summer, but I might have to make a habit of it now that I can jam out to the likes of Dinosaur Jr, Bikini Kill and The Replacements.