By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Rain, cold temps, and high winds couldn’t keep rising blues star Samantha Fish from rocking the house to close last year’s Black Swamp Arts Festival.
She just did it within the confines of Howard’s Club H, not outside on the festival’s Main Stage.
The blues rocker was in her element in the iconic club playing for a packed house of festival fans trying to wring the last few drops of entertainment out of a soggy, blustery weekend.
The festival’s music team decided as great as that set was, they still wanted Fish, one of last year’s most anticipated acts, to have another shot at the Main Stage.
So she’ll be back when the Black Swamp Arts Festival is held in downtown Bowling Green Sept. 6, 7 and 8. Fish will perform in the primetime 8 p.m. slot on Friday, one of four acts from last year making return engagements.
That’s more than usual, said Cole Christensen, who co-chairs the performing art committee with Tim Concannon. But they wanted to give some acts another opportunity after the weather shortened sets or greatly diminished their crowds.
That includes bringing back last year’s Saturday night closer Shinyribs in the same slot. The quirky, high energy band ended up playing for a crowd of a few hundred braving a steady rain. Despite the weather and small crowd, Shinyribs and his band of entertainers poured it on.
In announcing the 2019 Main Stage line up, Christensen said the performing arts committee wanted more festival goers to have a chance to experience Shinyribs’ joyful sound. The Austin-based band will wrap up what inadvertently has turned into a night of music from Texas.
Two Tons of Steel and its punk rockabilly sound will return after playing an early Friday evening set last year. The band, which came with the enthusiastic recommendation of the festival’s site and logistics chief Alex Hann, was already planning a Black Swamp reprise after a scheduling snafu on its part led to a change in its set from Saturday night to Friday.
After Two Tons, the Austin-based Band of Heathens will hit. The Heathens are a collective of singer-songwriters making a mark with their song “Hurricane.”
Closing Sunday’s show will be Toledo’s own Nikki D & the Browns. The ensemble rooted in the sacred steel tradition had its early afternoon Sunday set last year moved into Howard’s, where their gospel exhortations rocked the house, setting the tone for Fish.
“We think they’re one of the best bands in the area,” Christensen said.
Howard’s owner Steve Feehan was so impressed he requested they do a late night set at the club on Saturday this year.
Diana Chittester, a singer songwriter based in Cleveland, who performed as a solo act at the 2013 festival, is another strong female voice and skillful songwriter. This year she’s bringing her full band to the festival, as well as playing solo sets on other stages.
New acts also add to the mix.
“We as always have been working to continue the tradition of diverse music representing a lot of different backgrounds and genres and even nationalities,” Christensen said.
That includes the two acts that sandwich Samantha Fish’s set on Friday night. Both are emerging on the scene with styles that expand on the tradition.
Closing the show will be the husband-and-wife duo The War and Treaty. Michael Trotter and Tanya Blount Trotter perform his Americana anthems in soul-stirring style. Michael Trotter, who was homeless much of his early life, came to music when as a soldier stationed in one of Saddam Hussein’s abandoned palaces, he found a piano … and his voice. When an officer who impressed him by treating him as an equal died in combat, Trotter wrote a song in his memory. Other officers heard it, and soon Trotter was in the rear assigned to compose pieces for other fallen warriors.
Tanya Blount Trotter was already an established performer, having broken out with a feature number in the movie “Sister Act 2,” when she met Trotter and was impressed by his songs. She sought to work with him, and an artistic and romantic partnership blossomed.
Before Fish on Friday will come young New Orleans trumpet Shamarr Allen. With his mix of Big Easy jazz and funk, he invites comparisons to Trombone Shorty, and he seems poised to break out the same way his older New Orleans counterpart did.
Royal Jelly Jive from San Francisco will bring its alternative cabaret sound to the Main Stage on Saturday. Sultry chanteuse Lauren Bjelde fronts this horn-powered sextet.
Veteran blues crooner Johnny Rawls will perform on Sunday.
Toko Telo, a super group of three of the most recognized folk artists from Madagascar, will perform on Saturday afternoon continuing the festival’s tradition of featuring music from throughout the continent of Africa.
The festival continues to put local acts center stage.
Singer songwriter Justin Payne, known for his passionate performances of original material will open the festival.
Opening Saturday will be Westbound Situation, a young super group from the University of Michigan. Bowling Green fiddle prodigy Grant Flick with two members of the group Matthew Davis, banjo, and Jacob Warren, bass, won the university’s Briggs Chamber Music Competition. Cellist Zach Brown makes it a trio.
Another bluegrass-based ensemble Old Salt Union from Illinois brings together classically trained musicians with a vocalist and bass player Jesse Farrar, who produces hip hop records, performed with the Four Freshman, and has family ties to alt rock through his uncle Jay Farrar of Son Volt. Old Salt Union will mix it up on Sunday.
Opening Sunday’s show will be another popular local band Moths in the Attic, the latest project of Bowling Green-bred musician Zack Fletcher.
According to the band’s press materials: “Moths in the Attic create ghostly and brooding sonic compositions that merge rock and classical guitar influences with progressive, folk, and hints of jazz. The songs float on playful tempo changes, momentous crescendos, and patient melodies shaped by Fletcher’s weary crooning voice and acoustic guitar skills.”
As usual a number of Main Stage acts will also perform on he Community and Family stages as well as at the late night shows at Howard’s and Stones Throw. Those schedules will be finalized later in the summer.
The Main Stage schedule is:
Friday Sept. 6
5 p.m.: Justin Payne & Co.
6:30 p.m.: Shamarr Allen
8 p.m.: Samantha Fish
10 p.m.: The War and Treaty
Saturday Sept. 7
Noon: Westbound Situation
1:30 p.m.: The Diana Chittester Band
3 p.m.: Toko Telo
4:30 p.m.: Royal Jelly Jive
6:15 p.m.: Two Tons of Steel
8 p.m.: The Band of Heathens
10 p.m.: Shinyribs
Sunday Sept. 8
11 a.m.: Moths in the Attic
12:30 p.m.: Johnny Rawls
2 p.m.: Old Salt Union
3:30 p.m.: Nikki D & the Browns
