Rhythm & Roots Celebrates 20 Years
By: Chuck Hinman
September, 04, 2017
On Sunday, the 20th annual Rhythm and Roots music festival in Charlestown closed out with some great music, some wet weather and then a double rainbow. The music of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys sounded late into the night on Sunday at the Rhythm and Roots dance tent, a fitting end to another festival of Americana roots music and that specialty of the bayou, Cajun French dance grooves. This festival was the 20th incarnation of Rhythm & Roots, and Riley and band have been at every one. Drizzling rain, the remnants of Hurricane Harvey, made for soggy listening during the day, but by early evening, when Canada’s fiddling couple Natalie McMaster and Donnell Leahy took the stage, the sun had come out and sparked a double rainbow over the crowd. By the time Rosanne Cash appeared, there was an almost-full moon shining from clear skies.After her set, Cash had praise for the audience. “This crowd, I mean that was an impressive crowd. A lot of festivals you play, there are a lot of drunk people, they’re kind of crazy, they’re there for the ride,” she said. “But these people were there for the music. They were really listening. It was great.”
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