'A little bit of everything' at music festival

The crowd moved in unison, like a single organism, as BabbFest headliner Clinton Fearon and The Boogie Brown Band opened their set with the pulsing "Focus," then moved seamlessly into the broad rhythms of the iconic "One Destiny."

Fearon's message of peace and hope, coupled with his deeply textured sound and commanding bass lines, reverberated with the crowd July 26.

"Here, I actually met a lot of cool people. You feel the laid-back vibe and ahhhhh, it's chill," the former Gladiators bassist, who also boasts six solo projects of his own, said before taking the stage.

Fearon speaks in an earthy Jamaican accent, evidence, perhaps, of his roots reggae pedigree, that possesses an almost hypnotic cadence. One wonders if that voice - seemingly larger than the man - would lose its power should Fearon, like Antaeus of Greek mythology, lose his grip with the earth.

"It's one tree. We're all belonging to that one tree," said Fearon, explaining the interconnectedness of all men and nature.

Later in his set, Fearon launches into "Livin' Is An Art," a song off his latest album, "Vision." The light sticks are already out and carving psychedelic arcs through the air. By midnight, three quarters of the crowd is zonked.

A set of twins, clad in flowing skirts and bikini tops, dance on top of the stage (actually a converted semi-trailer). Later, as music throbbed through the night air, that space would be occupied by flame dancers twirling burning staffs and chains.

After Fearon left the stage, the festival's tenor changes; hippie jam music and day-glo-painted hula-hoops give way to electronica and light shows. But that wide variety of genres is one of the festival's strengths.

"You want to have a little bit of everything," BabbFest organizer Ryan Braswell said. "That's the key to doing a festival, you want to touch everybody."

Anthony Smith's Trunk Fulla Funk opened the festival at Charlie's Place, one of the two bars in Babb, on the night of the July 25, playing several songs off their new album, "Life As We Know It."

The band's funk-based set evolved into an extended jam session, livened by the improvisational freedom of Anthony Smith's jazz-influenced keyboard and an arcing trumpet.

Charlie's Place, with its thick red carpet, black bar and smoke-wreathed stage, is where BabbFest - now 5 years old - all began.

BabbFest's eclectic nature stems from the inclusive attitude of former Charlie's Place owner and festival founder Robert Henry "Lil' Bob" Burns, a 6-foot 4-inch, 350-pound member of the Blackfeet tribe who died in February from complications related to alcoholism.

"He did it for so many years," said Braswell, who used to bartend at Charlie's Place. "He laughed and told jokes with hippies, cowboys, rednecks and [Native Americans]. It was a beautiful thing."

Hippies and freaks, hipsters and ravers all were in attendance at BabbFest.

Not billed on the main stage, a band called the Zookeepers set up a tarp-covered geodesic party shell in one corner of the campground and played heavy electronica late into each night. Their impromptu stage, complete with a couch and a light show, drew hundreds of dancers, acid-heads and Ecstasy-takers included. The DJ there often out-spun the house music between acts on the main stage.

In another area of Chewing Blackbones Campground, a man called Zolt held court from a large two-toned brown bus. Speakers and guitar players hung out of the windows, treating passersby to extended jam sessions.

On July 26, the festival moved from the stage at Charlie's Place to the campground on Montana 89, a couple of miles south of Babb. Bands began playing in the late afternoon and didn't stop until early the following morning. Dawn was breaking when the final strains of sound faded away and the speakers on the main stage went dead.

Missoula bands Voodoo Horseshoes and Luau Cinder played in the afternoon, performing a mixture of jam music, indie rock and bluegrass-inspired fusion.

"Yeah, this is a great festival," said Tony Gordon of the Voodoo Horseshoes, who after his band's set joined the Zookeepers at their dome with his electric mandolin. This year was the Voodoo Horseshoes' second at BabbFest, said Gordon, sweating in his cowboy hat and sleeveless T-shirt.

Bluestone, whose members hail from Kalispell and Whitefish, and Fulcrum Theory also played short sets on the main stage.

As evening approached, rock band Old Union took the stage. Judging by crowd reaction, Old Union may have been the festival's best-kept secret - think classic southern rock with a twangy Nashville twist.

"We kind of centered our whole tour around BabbFest," said Steve "Spotty" Swertfeger, who sings and plays guitar.

Old Union played a set heavily weighted with songs on their newest album, "Motels and Highways." The haunting intro to "Sweet Freedom" re-energized a crowd somewhat deadened by the hot sun and several hours of free beer - a gimmick Braswell characterized as the festival's claim to fame.

Old Union, which has performed at other festivals including the Edmonton Folk Festival, Riverbend Festival and Bonnaroo, finished its set with two extended, unreleased songs: "Traveling Show" and "Soul Screaming."

Good song writing may be where it starts, but Old Union's writhing guitar solos and songs structured for all-out rocking ripped the stage up.

Electronica ruled the late-night scene after Fearon left the stage. He was followed by Eoto, a live breakbeat, trip-hop, and house music duo. Jason Hann and Michael Travis, members of String Cheese Incident, invented a thumping drum and bass project that was neither pre-looped nor pre-planned.

Souleye, a Colorado-based MC who specializes in freestyle and improvisational lyrics, played one of the longest sets of the festival - both sitting in with Eoto and playing in front of the band BLVD.

The technically talented and lyrically gifted Souleye, who at times rapped about Montana culture and geography, kept a dwindling crowd dancing in front of the stage until after 3 a.m.

The campsite emptied rather quickly the morning after the festival. Even the Zookeepers, whose rotating roster played almost constantly for two days, didn't stick around very long.

And Babb, which hosts more people during the festival than on any other day of the year, returned to normal.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com