Episode 23 is a special Mid West Music Fest edition of the show that begins with roots & blues magic via live tracks from both Mike Munson and the great Charlie Parr before music from the brand new Porcupine EP, intrepid Americana artist Jillian Rae, MPLS surf-punks France Camp, hypnotic indie-psych band Enemy Planes, and madcap Winonan Marv Wilt (aka yours truly, Adam Wiltgen).
MWMF 2014 was an absolute blast! Each of the acts featured here performed at the 5th annual festival in downtown Winona. I was able to see some of both France Camp and Jillian Rae and I’ve described what I caught below. I was also honored to perform at the festival, under my pseudonym Marv Wilt. KQAL Program Director Teri Market was on hand to record an interview and my performance for an episode of the prolific “Live Feed” radio show. She did an excellent job editing and I’m very thankful to be included as one of the 27 acts KQAL recorded during the festival. CLICK HERE to listen to Marv Wilt on The Live Feed.
Coming back down to 3rd Street after catching Anonymous Choir at the Winona Arts Center, I popped into Ed’s (no name) Bar and caught France Camp’s last song. The had the room worked into a frenzy at that point. As the raucous finale came to a close, the shirtless eponymous frontman’s guitar rig blew out, prompting him to demand a few spontaneous solos from the rhythm section before calling it a night. Blown away by the high energy set. the last minute power outage did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the others in the room that had caught more than the single song I did.
Jillian Rae was one of the headliners of the fest’s final day, taking the stage around midnight on Saturday. With my stamina low at that point, Rae’s upbeat, polished Americana sound did much to revive my spirits and get me dancing. The sound and production in the large back room of Broken World Records were downright astonishing, allowing both musicians and attendees alike to be fully immersed in the show. This was a welcome change in my opinion and a big hat tip here goes to Ben Assef and crew at Northern Sun Productions who expertly handled sound and production at all 13 MWMF stages.
Stream or download this episode via archive.org by CLICKING HERE.