3 Roots Music Performers at the Prospect Park Bandshell

The Hackensaw Brothers appeared first: very high, but not at all infectious energy; song forms, melodies etc. all from the public domain; their intentions were virtuous.

The Punch Brothers were next: a technical level that is unsurpassable; singing, and composing, and soloing that, when faced with the choice of "I can add this chord - I can play the most notes - I can use the most words" and "I will seek the most compelling melody - I will seek lyrical economy" unfailingly chose the former. They made the case for practicing one's instrument, but for ends other than the ones they seemed to want to achieve.

Jason Townes Earle was the most original stylistically of the performers, though through the medium of songs that hewed in both melody and form to the work of Jimmy Rodgers and ( maybe unsurprisingly) Townes Van Zandt. One struggled with one's own inflexible demand always to have to hear originality in composition, as his performance was so striking, especially as a guitarist/accompanist. Jason Earle brilliantly avoided the assumed innocence that detracts from the work of many roots music performers. In a genre where the word is almost never a compliment, Earle's urbanity was part of his authentic take on the tradition established by his father and his father's slightly older mentors.