Tag: Cayamo

Cayamo 2023 soars with diverse sounds


By Paul T. Mueller

Neilson Hubbard, Mary Gauthier and Jaimee Harris (Photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Like any established music festival, Cayamo – the festival-at-sea that just wrapped up its 15th edition – faces the challenge of attracting new attendees while keeping returning guests interested. Sixthman, the Norwegian Cruise Line subsidiary that produces Cayamo, was up to the task this year, putting together a lineup that combined well-known veterans of the festival and less-familiar newcomers. As a bonus, the 2023 group was much more diverse than most previous years, featuring a considerable number of performers of color, a relatively large number of female artists, and a good balance of younger and older musicians. The result was, by consensus, a highly successful event, with scores of shows spanning a range of genres including folk, country, blues, bluegrass, rock, soul and others. 

Absent from the lineup were some “big names” from previous years, such as Brandi Carlile, Lyle Lovett, Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Emmylou Harris, and of course John Prine. But the cast of performers also included some familiar names, including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Neko Case, Andrew Bird, Paul Thorn, David Bromberg and Trampled by Turtles, among others. The full lineup can be seen here.

As always, the festival, held February 10-17 aboard the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship, featured a full schedule with many conflicts. Here are some highlights from notable shows.

The first-day sailaway show by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
In their debut appearance on Cayamo, the veteran bluegrass/country outfit performed a fine pool deck set that was short on originals (“Fishing in the Dark,” “Ripplin’ Waters”) but long on popular covers, including Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere,” John Prine’s “Grandpa Was a Carpenter,” Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles,” and Rodney Crowell’s “An American Dream” (with lyrics modified to reference Cayamo). The set closed with a lively sing-along on “Jambalaya.” Front and center for much of the show was guitarist and singer Jaime Hanna, son of NGDB co-founder Jeff Hanna.

History lessons and music from Jake Blount
Blount, who said he’s planning graduate studies in musicology and ethnomusicology, began with a haunting rendition of “Stolen Souls from Africa,” a mournful lament of slavery sung a capella over a recorded synthesizer track. The rest of his set consisted mostly of traditional tunes accompanied by fiddle and banjo, with explanations that were as educational as they were entertaining. For example, he pointed out that Black culture in the Americas originated on slave ships, where captives from various African countries and cultures intermingled and developed common ground in the form of music. Blount was aboard as part of the Black Opry Revue, a touring project of Nashville’s Black Opry, a collective of Black artists involved with American roots music. 

Caitlin Canty Photo by Paul T. Mueller

A fine set by Nashville-based singer-songwriter Caitlin Canty
Backed by bassist Miss Tess and pedal-steel and mandolin player Thomas Bryan Eaton, Canty performed several songs (“Heart of My Country,” “Come By the Highway Home,” “Wild Heart”) from her forthcoming album Quiet Flame. Canty charmed the audience with a bright and engaging stage presence to back up her thoughtful lyrics. Extra credit for overcoming distracting dinner-time noise from nearby bars and restaurants.

A raucous Rolling Stones tribute show
Wild and crazy folksinger Steve Poltz played emcee at this pool deck show, backed by a “house band” that included guitarists Larry Campbell and Anthony Da Costa and keyboardist John Fullbright.  Poltz kicked things off with an excellent take on “Far Away Eyes.”  A wide range of performers followed: Jazz-flavored bluegrass quartet Twisted Pine with “Dead Flowers,” Fullbright with a powerful take on “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Honky Tonk Women,” teenage vocal trio The Burney Sisters with lovely renditions of “Ruby Tuesday” and “Wild Horses,” Da Costa with a wildly energetic “No Expectations,” and so on.  The show’s emotional peak came mid-set with “Gimme Shelter,” featuring all-star drummer Brady Blade on lead vocals, strutting and gyrating with, yes, moves like Jagger. Meanwhile, Campbell and Da Costa traded Stones-worthy riffs, and Teresa Williams, Campbell’s wife and musical partner, gave an all-out effort on the song’s ominous choruses that would have made original singer Merry Clayton proud. Another highlight, near show’s end, was an all-hands-on-deck singalong of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

A soul music tribute, billed as “Motown vs. Stax”
The show, on the pool deck stage following the Stones tribute, was performed by mostly younger artists for a mostly older crowd, harking back to the days when popular music was a bigger tent. Nashville-based singer-songwriter Devon Gilfillian, emcee for the event, led off with an excellent take on Smokey Robinson’s “Cruisin’,” followed by Adia Victoria with “Heard It Through the Grapevine.” The rest of the show was pretty much a hit parade of ’60 and ‘70s soul and R&B: Black Opry Revue performer Julie Williams with “Where Did Our Love Go?,” the Rainbow Girls quartet with “Please Mr. Postman,” Raye Zaragoza with “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” and “Captain” Shawn Mullins with “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” among others. Singer-songwriter Katie Pruitt, in the last performance before a sudden downpour ended the show, did a fine version of “I’ll Take You There,” featuring a crowd-roaming performance by trombonist Ray Mason.

“Dirt Does Dylan,” a set of Bob Dylan songs performed by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and guests
The band started this Stardust Theater show with a sweet rendition of “Forever Young” before moving on to such classics as “Girl From the North Country,” “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” (with Jeff Tweedy and his children), “Meet Me in the Morning” (with Amy Helm and longtime Dylan sideman Larry Campbell), “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” (with David Bromberg) and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (with emerging superstar Allison Russell). The show concluded with an emotional “The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” that had much of the audience singing along, some through nostalgic tears.

The Sunday Soul Session, led by The Fairfield Four
Held on a warm and sunny pool deck stage, the show started with several a capella songs by the Nashville gospel quartet, the third iteration of the group since its founding in 1921. Other performances included “I Saw the Light,” featuring guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, singer-songwriter Amy Helm and Jeff Hanna; “Love You Anyway,” by Devon Gilfillian and his band, and “Gloryland,” performed a capella by Helm, who noted that she had also sung it with her father, the late Levon Helm of The Band.

Mary Gauthier & Friends
This Stardust Theater show was something of a career retrospective, ranging from Gauthier’s early “Drag Queens in Limousines” to “The War After the War,” from her Songwriting with Soldiers project, to the title track of her newest album, Dark Enough to See the Stars. Gauthier fully commanded the stage with stories – sometimes funny, sometimes painfully honest – about her musical journey, interspersed with her powerful songs. She got musical backing from singer-songwriter Jaimee Harris and drummer Neilson Hubbard, who also produced Dark Enough.

And so many more: Jeff Tweedy, Patty Griffin, Shovels & Rope, Paul Thorn, Wilder Woods, the Jerry Douglas Band, Joshua Radin and on and on.

Other fun moments:

Yasmin Williams Photo by Paul T. Mueller
  • Matraca Berg’s surprise vocal appearance on “Strawberry Wine” during the “Party On, Garth” tribute to ‘90s music hosted by Kelsey Waldon. Berg, who wrote the Deana Carter hit with Gary Harrison, wasn’t given her own set in the festival, but made occasional guest appearances at other artists’ shows.
  • The Burney Sisters’ sweetly harmonic take on Brandi Carlile’s “Right on Time” in the Soundcheck Showcase, which featured the three winners of the Soundcheck competition for new artists.
  • Fellow Soundcheck winners Twisted Pine with their jazzy rendition of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (Raye Zaragoza was the third Soundcheck artist.)
  • Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams’ excellent Spinnaker Lounge set, closing with a fine version of “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” with guests Tommy Emmanuel and David Bromberg.
  • Acoustic guitar virtuoso Yasmin Williams, making a big impression on her first Cayamo with shimmering New Age-ish tunes featuring a mix of strumming, picking and what she called flat-tapping, augmented by shoe-tap percussion and the occasional use of a small keyboard instrument called a kalimba. Williams’ mastery of her instrument was matched by her enthusiastic stage presence.
  • Amy Helm’s refusal to let a broken wrist slow her down. She suffered the injury early in the cruise during a run-in with a wind-blown deck chair, but carried on, cast and all, earning big ovations later in the week.

15th Cayamo Cruise opens booking to the public

Americana One – We’ve spent a lot of time on music-based cruises over the past decade, but the Cayamo cruise remains one of the most consistent and adventurous. They’ve just opened reservations to the general public with a line-up that includes Jeff Tweedy, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Neko Case, Shovels & Rope Andrew Bird and Trampled By Turtles,

Grace Potter performs on the Cayamo cruise in 2022. (photo by Paul T. Mueller)

This year’s cruise runs from Feb. 10-17 and includes stops at St. Maarten and Tortola, BVI.

Here’s the full current list of performers.

Cayamo 2022’s exuberant rebound


By Paul T. Mueller –

After a year lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cayamo cruise returned in mid-March, rewarding passengers and artists alike with nearly a week’s worth of floating music festival. The chartered cruise, produced by Norwegian Cruise Lines subsidiary Sixthman and held aboard the NCL Pearl, featured more than 40 bands and solo artists and around 2,000 passengers. Cayamo is a happy event in any case, but seemed even more exuberant this year after the unwanted hiatus. It was also an especially poignant year for the festival – the 14th since 2008’s maiden voyage – because of the loss of a number of prominent musicians in the past two years, most notably Cayamo veteran John Prine.

In retrospect, the week is something of a blur of stages, songs and singers. As always, seeing one great show meant missing another scheduled at the same time. Your correspondent was not able to attend every set. But certain moments stand out; here are some impressions from particularly memorable performances.

The Mavericks, Pool Deck, Friday: Cayamoans have been clamoring for The Mavericks for years, and this year they got their wish, with the high-energy band kicking off the March 18 departure from Miami (ports of call were St. Thomas and St. Kitts). The pool deck set was a showcase for frontman Raul Malo’s otherworldly vocals, backed by a very capable three-piece horn section, a tight rhythm section and other instrumentation including guitar and accordion.

Raul Malo (photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Grace Potter and Friends, Stardust Theater, Saturday: The songwriter-in-the-round format has become a Cayamo favorite over the years, and for good reason. It’s highly entertaining to get to see not only artists performing their own songs, but also the reactions of those artists to each other’s performances. Cayamo first-timer Grace Potter’s show featured Malo, the iconic Emmylou Harris, and Taylor Goldsmith, frontman of Los Angeles-based band Dawes. Goldsmith made a big impression with “The Game,” which he described as “my attempt to write a Guy Clark song,” and “House Parties,” an ode to the quiet joys of family vacations. Harris’ selections included a couple of songs from her landmark Red Dirt Girl album – “My Antonia” and “The Pearl (Hallelujah).”

Grace Potter (photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Madison Cunningham, Spinnaker Lounge, Saturday: Singer-songwriter and guitarist Madison Cunningham first played Cayamo in 2020, and this year’s festival was a showcase for her impressive artistic growth since then. Leading an accomplished small band, she played and sang with confidence and joy, with a sound that one observer later described on social media as “Joni Mitchell meets King Crimson.” As is common practice among Cayamo musicians, Cunningham also made several guest appearances during other artists’ sets.

Madison Cunningham (photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Quitters Coffee Acoustic Mornings, The Atrium, Sunday: The 9 a.m. show, curated by Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards, was an enjoyable start to the day for those fans and artists able to answer the early-morning call. Edwards, who famously left the music business several years ago to start a coffee shop named Quitters in an Ottawa suburb, recently quit that business, selling the shop in March. Her guests for the show, the second of the weekend, were Robbie Fulks, Steve Poltz, Aoife O’Donovan and John Paul White. Highlights included Fulks’ rendition of Cowboy Copas’ Sunday-appropriate “We’ll Walk Along Together” and O’Donovan’s lovely take on Joni Mitchell’s “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio.”

Kathleen Edwards (photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Six Questions with Maple Byrne, The Atrium, Sunday: Sixthman staffer Trae Vedder conducted a wide-ranging interview with Maple Byrne, longtime guitar tech to Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller and other Nashville notables. Topics included Byrne’s memories of a late ‘70s tour featuring Steve Martin and Steve Goodman, laundry tips for tour T-shirts (wash them inside out), Byrne’s top 10 Cayamo moments (he’s a longtime veteran of the festival), and his extensive collections of records and musical instruments. It was a fascinating peek behind the curtain with someone who’s played a crucial, if not always very visible, role in the success of Cayamo.

Aoife O’Donovan, Spinnaker Lounge, Sunday: Boston-based singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan brought along an excellent band, but for this show – a full performance of Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 acoustic album Nebraska – she was mostly on her own. Notwithstanding the incongruity between her lovely voice and guitar and Springsteen’s often dark tales, O’Donovan delivered a nuanced performance, adding her own twists to the songs while staying true to the album’s roots. She got assists from fiddler and former Crooked Still bandmate Brittany Haas on “Highway Patrolman” and brilliant young mandolinist and singer Sierra Hull on the closing “Reason to Believe.” Audience reactions, aside from pin-drop silence, included not a few tears and too many smiles to count.

Aoife Donovan (photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Tré Burt, Spinnaker Lounge, Monday: Sacramento, Calif.-based singer-songwriter Tré Burt started off with a nice rendition of John Prine’s “The Late John Garfield Blues” and proceeded through a set of mostly original material, accompanied at times by a young female singer named Levi. Burt’s voice, delivery and lyrics were, to some observers, reminiscent of the early Bob Dylan. A Dylanesque outrage at injustice was certainly evident in “Under the Devil’s Knee,” a pointed commentary on the killing of George Floyd in which Burt called not for sympathy but for action. Burt, who records for the Prine-founded Oh Boy Records label, closed with a sweet tribute to Prine titled “Dixie Red.”

Tré Burt (photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Paul Thorn’s Campfire Sessions, Stardust Theater, Wednesday: This songwriter round, on a stage decorated with fake foliage, a fake campfire and even a fake owl, featured Cayamo veterans Paul Thorn and Richard Thompson along with newcomer Jerron Paxton. Paxton, a California-based artist with Louisiana roots, features an old-timey sound that recalls blues recordings from the early decades of the 20th century. That sound is supported by his astounding command of a variety of instruments, ranging from guitar and banjo to piano and bones. Paxton also dropped one of the best onstage lines of the festival, stopping a song to admonish the audience about clapping along. “The last thing I need is a bunch of white people helping me with my rhythm,” he said with a big grin, earning laughter and applause. Thorn contributed his trademark mix of humor and poignancy, while Thompson applied his virtuosic acoustic guitar playing and expressive voice to “She Moved Through the Fair” and several other songs.

The Mavericks and Friends, Stardust Theater, Thursday: Raul Malo and his merry band opened their cruise-ending set with an impressive rendition of “Us and Them” from Pink Floyd’s landmark The Dark Side of the Moon album. The hit parade went on from there: “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down” by “stowaway” Jim Lauderdale; a sultry take on “Friday’s Child” by Kristi Rose, accompanied by husband Fats Kaplin (“I think I need a cigarette,” Malo said at song’s end, “and I don’t even smoke.”); Kathleen Edwards performing the Linda Ronstadt hit “When Will I Be Loved?” with high energy and unbridled joy; “Moon River,” with Malo crooning to the accompaniment of Australian guitar whiz Tommy Emmanuel; JD McPherson’s energetic take on Little Richard’s “Lucille,” and Nicole Atkins’ brilliant rendition of The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” complete with professional-grade dance moves and backup vocals (and dancing) by vocal trio Rainbow Girls. The Mavericks and all their guests closed out the set with an extended workout on one of the band’s big hits, “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down.”

Of course there was much, much more: An all-star tribute to musicians no longer with us; an “All the Best” show featuring friends of John Prine; another Prine tribute dubbed “Souvenirs: Songs of John Prine”; a nautical-themed sailaway show by Punch Brothers, featuring frequent shouts of “Ahoy!” by frontman and ace mandolinist Chris Thile; a Stowaway Reveal Show with “stowaways” Jim Lauderdale and Steve Poltz, featuring an album’s worth of songs written especially for Cayamo; the popular Sunday morning pool deck show, this year called Sunday Soul Session; Brady Blade’s Drum and Music Extravaganza, featuring the seemingly omnipresent drummer; an onstage conversation between Emmylou Harris and Fiona Prine, John’s widow; Cayamo debuts that included Austin blues legend Ruthie Foster, UK folk-rock duo Ida Mae, and others, and too many other shows and events to mention.

Next year’s Cayamo is scheduled for Feb. 10-17, 2023, sailing from Miami with stops at Tortola and St. Maarten.

Review: Red Dirt Boys’ Cayamo Edition

By Paul T. Mueller

Not every backing band can make an album that stands on its own, but the Red Dirt Boys are not just any backing band. Emmylou Harris’ touring outfit – guitarist/mandolinist Will Kimbrough, bassist Chris Donohue, drummer Bryan Owings and keyboardist/guitarist Phil Madeira, with all but Owings contributing vocals – are excellent musicians on their own. But they play together with a cohesion that comes from long experience playing together, and a sense of fun that comes from being friends as well as bandmates. This collection, produced in conjunction with their appearance with Ms. Harris on this year’s Cayamo music festival at sea, is a real pleasure to listen to.

There’s no fluff among the album’s 11 tracks, just solid, well-played and well-produced music that deals with themes ranging from Creole cooking (“Cook That Down”) to love (“Plenty Enough”) to hypocrisy (“Religion”) to death (“All Saints Day”). Much of it has a New Orleans sound and vibe, possibly owing to the proximity of Kimbrough’s native Alabama to the Crescent City.

It’s hard to talk about highlights when the whole collection is this good, but “Religion” delivers a heartfelt skewering to people who deserve it; “Plenty Enough” is a realistic take on real-life romance, and “All Saints Day” is a poignant farewell song sweetened by harmony vocals by Ms. Harris herself. Closing track “Jesse” finds Kimbrough and Madeira alternating vocals on a touching tribute to singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester. Kudos to John Mark Painter, whose horns add excellent atmosphere to several tunes.

Adults deserve adult music. The Red Dirt Boys deliver.

Cayamo 2019: An All-Star music cruise

By Paul T. Mueller

Early spring in Florida (and Arizona) means baseball – spring training, to be specific. It’s also the appointed time for another tradition – the Cayamo music cruise, which just wrapped up its 12th sailing, returning to Tampa on the Norwegian Pearl on Feb. 17 after a week in warm Caribbean waters. Dozens of artists, mostly singer-songwriters, took part in 130-plus shows, many playing multiple sets and sitting in with other performers. Let’s take a closer look through the lens of America’s national pastime.

Buddy Miller

Veterans

Even when you’ve been around for a while and proved your bona fides, you still have to show up and bring your “A” game. This year’s cruise featured excellent performances by many veterans of previous Cayamo rosters:

  • Buddy Miller – a fixture on all but one Cayamo, Americana superstar Miller and his fine band ripped through familiar tunes including “Does My Ring Burn Your Finger?,” “Wide River to Cross” and “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go.” Fellow Americana icon Emmylou Harris joined him for duets on “Burning the Midnight Oil” and “Love Hurts.” There was also a fine rendition of “Ellis County,” which Miller’s wife Julie wrote for and about her grandparents in Texas.
  • Second-timer Mary Gauthier, accompanied by vocalist Jaimee Harris and violinist/keyboardist Michele Gazich, thrilled a morning audience with several songs from her recent Rifles and Rosary Beads album, consisting of songs co-written with combat veterans and their families, as well as older favorites such as “Another Train” and the classic “Mercy Now.”
  • Jason Isbell returned with his band, the 400 Unit, for some powerful sets drawn from his last few albums. He also hosted an excellent “Jason Isbell and Friends” songwriter round featuring his wife, Amanda Shires, Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith, singer-songwriter Josh Ritter and ace guitarist and singer Molly Tuttle.
  • Los Angeles-based rockers Dawes brought the Big Rock Show Experience to the ship’s largest venues, the Stardust Theater and the pool deck. Their Stardust set was highlighted by several singalong anthems including “When My Time Comes” and “All Your Favorite Bands.” The latter show featured a surprise appearance by Lenny Goldsmith, father of Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith and his brother, drummer Griffin Goldsmith, singing R&B that recalled his days as the lead singer of ‘70s band Tower of Power.

Other veterans of note: Harris and Shires played well-received sets with their own bands, as did iconic folk-rock duo Indigo Girls, multi-instrumentalist and multi-genre songwriter Randall Bramblett, and soul powerhouse Bonnie Bishop. Roots guitarist and singer-songwriter Keb’ Mo’ and the wild and crazy Steve Poltz played mostly solo.

Raul Malo

Rookies

Festivals on cruise ships aren’t exactly the norm for most musicians, so some first-timers bring with them a bit of uncertainty about the experience. Most quickly adapt, heartened by enthusiastic audiences and the support of fellow performers. Standout newcomers this year included;

  • Raul Malo, who thrilled a full house in the Stardust Theater with powerful, emotional renditions of a wide variety of songs from various genres, including a couple recorded by his band, the Mavericks. Extra points for closing with what he called his favorite song ever, “Stardust.”
  • Virginia-based singer-songwriter Dori Freeman, accompanied by husband Nicholas Falk on drums and banjo, who charmed fans with bluegrass-tinged originals and classic country and gospel songs.
  • Nashville-based singer-songwriter and keyboardist Phil Madeira, who’s also a member of Emmylou Harris’ band, the Red Dirt Boys. Backed by fellow members of that outfit – Will Kimbrough on guitar, Bryan Owings on drums and Chris Donohue on bass – Madeira played a terrific set in the Atrium that drew heavily on his recent album Providence, a musical memoir of his Rhode Island upbringing. A lot of music, especially pop, is aimed at the young, but this was grown-up music for grown-up people.
  • Australian guitar wizard Tommy Emmanuel wowed the crowds with his mastery of the acoustic guitar, playing with speed, precision and soul in a variety of styles, and also using the instrument as a platform for percussion. In addition to playing several sets of his own, Emmanuel seemed to be everywhere on the boat, popping up as a guest at any number of other artists’ shows and mixing freely with fans.
  • Maggie Rose, a Nashville-based singer with a powerful, soulful voice well suited to her own material and well-chosen covers. She said she usually plays with an eight-member band, but on the Pearl she was backed by her husband and manager, Austin Marshall, and guitarist Tom Maxwell, also a singer-songwriter.

Other rookies with strong showings: Georgia singer-songwriter Eliot Bronson; English singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg; female vocal trio Red Molly, augmented by a bassist and a drummer; all-male vocal quartet Darlingside, and Australian singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers, accompanied by her father Bill Chambers and her three children.

Maggie Rose

All-Star Games
The week featured several large collaborative shows:

  • The Shawn Mullins Variety Show, hosted by the Georgia singer-songwriter who’s been part of every Cayamo, featured pirate costumes and appearances by Nashville singer-songwriter Chuck Cannon, the funny and endearing Paul Thorn, Bonnie Bishop, Amy Ray of Indigo Girls, the spiritual soul of Liz Vice, and the sweet but powerful harmonies of Red Molly.
  • A pool-deck tribute to Woodstock that kicked off with a Hendrixian take on the National Anthem by steel guitar ace Jerry Douglas and continued with a lovely take on “Helplessly Hoping” by Red Molly, a microphone-swinging performance of “Pinball Wizard” by Billy Bragg, and a nice take on “The Weight” by Maine-based The Ghost of Paul Revere, among many other highlights. The show closed with an all-hands singalong on “With a Little Help From My Friends.”
  • A “Cayamo After Hours” late-night show hosted by Amanda Shires and drummer Jerry Pentecost, featuring novel interpretations of classic songs written or performed by women. Among the entries: Maggie Rose with Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” Tommy Emmanuel with Carly Simon’s “It’s Too Late,” Paul Thorn with Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” Shires with Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy,” and Bishop’s mesmerizing take on Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”
  • A second after-hours show, dubbed “Sadler’s Garage” by its host, 400 Unit guitarist Sadler Vaden, who led off with a couple of rocking originals before covering The Band’s “Ophelia” and Joe Walsh’s “Life of Illusion.” Jason Isbell joined in on Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak,” which led into a full-length cover of the Allman Brothers’ “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” featuring keyboardist Peter Levin. The show closed with joyous singalongs on Tom Petty’s “Even the Losers” and “American Girl.”
  • The final-day gospel show, enthusiastically led by Michael and Tanya Trotter, making a return appearance as The War and Treaty. Contributing artists included Tommy Emmanuel (“Amazing Grace”), Dori Freeman (“Heavenly Sunlight”), Phil Madeira (“Give God the Blues”), Carlene Carter (“Will the Circle Be Unbroken”) and Buddy Miller (“Shelter Me”), among others.
Phil Madeira and Will Kimbrough

Utility Players

Cayamo is well-known for collaborations between artists who might not otherwise share stages. Several players seemed to pop up with great regularity for guest appearances at others’ shows: guitarists Tommy Emmanuel and Will Kimbrough, keyboardists Phil Madeira and Niji Adeleye, and fiddlers Eamon McLoughlin and Amanda Shires, to name a few.

The Sandlot

Cayamo 2019 featured, for the first time, a showcase for bands made up of amateurs – passengers who sent in audition tapes, were grouped into bands at the beginning of the week, and played a show in the Atrium on the last day. Each band performed one song by a Cayamo artist – selections included Buddy Miller’s “Gasoline and Matches” by Miller Time; Shawn Mullins’ “Beautiful Wreck” by Pipe Dreams (guest vocals by Mullins); the classic “Love Hurts” by The Emmys; Josh Ritter’s “Monster Ballads” by Monsters of Cayamo; Keb’ Mo’ ’s “Old Me Better” by Mo Betta (featuring a guest appearance by Keb’ Mo’ on kazoo), Claire and the 4 Units performing Jason Isbell’s “Something to Love,” and the unofficial winner of the band name contest, Flawes’ version of Dawes’ “All Your Favorite Bands.” You could have found more polished performances elsewhere on the boat; you could not have found more fun and enthusiasm anywhere.

Management

Kudos as always to Sixthman, the Atlanta-based company that produces Cayamo and several other music cruises (and, beginning this year, the land-based All the Best, scheduled for November in the Dominican Republic). Sound at the Pearl’s several venues was almost without exception excellent, and the company did a good job of programming to balance the crowds among the various shows on offer at any given time. Interactions with Norwegian Cruise Lines, which operates the Pearl, were smooth.

Errors

Few and far between. One of the big ones, this year and for the past few Cayamos, was the fact that a fair number of seats in the large Stardust Theater were broken and uncomfortable. No one has provided a satisfactory explanation as to why that issue hasn’t been addressed. The occasional sound glitch was usually fixed in a hurry. A beach excursion in Jamaica didn’t go as smoothly as planned – but Sixthman was quick to offer full refunds of the excursion charge to anyone left disappointed. There were the usual gripes about things like food quality and the balance between “seated” acts and “dancing” acts. Some differences of opinion are a given whenever 2,000-plus music fans gather, but the consensus among fans and artists alike is this is a very well-run festival that’s worth its substantial ticket price.

Cayamo Music Cruise 2018 preview

Brandi Carlile on Cayamo

Brandi Carlile

By Paul T. Mueller – Cayamo 2018, a “festival at sea” focused on singer-songwriters, celebrates its 10th anniversary (and 11th sailing) beginning Feb. 4. The cruise for the first time will depart from New Orleans, en route to a seven-night western Caribbean voyage with stops at Cozumel and Harvest Caye, off the coast of Belize.

More than 40 performers – some solo, some with bands – will provide the entertainment, which at times will span more than 12 hours a day of continuous shows. Six venues, ranging in size from a few dozen to several hundred, will accommodate the performances. That’s in addition to the usual after-hours jams, consisting mostly of amateur musicians but often featuring drop-in contributions by the professionals.

Paul Thorn will appear on Cayamo

Paul Thorn

Cayamo’s big names return

Big names in the lineup, in no particular order, include Cayamo veterans Richard Thompson, John Prine, Brandi Carlile, Buddy Miller, Patty Griffin, Lee Ann Womack, Paul Thorn, Jim Lauderdale, and Shawn Mullins – the only artist to have sailed on every Cayamo. Other veterans, possibly less familiar but no less capable, include Scott Miller, Hayes Carll, John Paul White, John Fullbright, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Brian Wright, Michael McDermott, Drew and Ellie Holcomb and Max Gomez.

The roster also includes a healthy crop of Cayamo newcomers, such as Margo Price, JD McPherson, Charley Crockett, Joe Pug, Lindi Ortega, The War and Treaty, Steve Poltz, Devon Gilfillian and Michael Logen. Other rookies include three acts – solo Caleb Caudle and duos Flagship Romance (Shawn Fisher and Jordyn Jackson) and Heart Society (Teneia Sanders-Eichelberger and Benjamin Eichelberger) who were voted aboard by Cayamo passengers in the annual Soundcheck competition.

Jim Lauderdale on Cayamo

Jim Lauderdale

Given the festival’s focus on the singular visions of singer-songwriters, duos and bands are, as always, in the minority. Those that made the cut include the rocking Band of Heathens, throwback crooners The Cactus Blossoms, Nashville soul sirens the McCrary Sisters and pop folkies Humming House. The complete Cayamo 2018 lineup can be found here.

Cayamo’s tributes and special shows

Tribute shows honoring John Prine and Tom Petty are on the schedule, as are several “Unlikely Sets” – songwriter rounds featuring several artists who might not share a stage otherwise. Previous Cayamos have shown that musical magic frequently results from such unexpected combinations.

In addition to shows, the week’s activities will include a “Tales and Ales” craft-beer tasting hosted by Paul Thorn; a screening of the film American Folk, starring Cayamo musicians Joe Purdy and Amber Rubarth, with a Q&A to follow; an “Artisans & Crafts” leatherworking workshop with Jonny Fritz, a member of the trio Traveller; a songwriter workshop with Fritz and his Traveller bandmates, Cory Chisel and Robert Ellis, and guest jams with backline equipment and assistance provided by Sixthman, the company that produces Cayamo and several other music cruises.




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Cayamo music cruise review: An astounding line-up

By Paul Mueller

The 10th edition of the Cayamo music cruise enjoyed sunny skies, smooth seas and a fairly astounding musical lineup. The festival at sea, aboard the Norwegian Jade, left Tampa on Feb. 19, and returned a week later, after stops at the islands of Cozumel, Mexico, and Roatan, Honduras. As always, it was billed as “A Journey Through Song,” and as always it lived up to that promise. The number of shows and their scheduling made it difficult to see every performer, but that’s a good problem to have.

Buddy Miller and Aaron Lee Tasjan

Most of the more than 50 performers played individual shows, and many appeared in themed and collaboration shows as well. Themed shows included a tribute to the late Guy Clark; a “Songs of Protest” show hosted by Gretchen Peters; a “variety show” hosted by Shawn Mullins; “All the Girls Who Cry,” a sad-song fest hosted by Alabama country-folk crooners The Secret Sisters, and a guitar-focused show dubbed “Buddy Miller’s Guitar 101.” There were several “and friends” shows, mostly featuring several singer-songwriters in an in-the-round format, and singer and multi-instrumentalist Luke Bulla hosted “Last Man Standing” jams that capped off three evenings’ music. Many made guest appearances at other artists’ shows throughout the week, and passenger jams, sometimes including professionals, were easily found all over the boat.

A weeklong festival inevitably produces too many high points to list them all, but here are a few. Be assured that at the same time as pretty much any of these shows, there was at least one other equally memorable show going on somewhere else on the Jade.

Sunday, Feb. 19: The opening set on the pool deck can be a tough slot, with many passengers still boarding and those already aboard busy looking around or reuniting with old friends. But singer-songwriter Christian Lopez, a West Virginia native who’s all of 21 years old, made the most of his rookie appearance, demonstrating a veteran’s savvy in capturing the attention of the crowd. Alternating between well-written originals and covers, and between full-band and solo formats, Lopez rocked hard and showed that he’d earned his spot

North Mississippi All-Stars

on the roster. Well-done renditions of the Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” Blaze Foley’s “Clay Pigeons” and Bill Withers’ “Use Me” played to the sensibilities of the crowd, much of which was three times Lopez’s age, but in a respectful way.

Also: Brandi Carlile,  a veteran of the first Cayamo music cruise in 2008 and most since, had herself a great time at the sail away show later in the afternoon, proclaiming the cruise “the greatest Cayamo ever.” Assisted as always by the Hanseroth twins (Phil on bass and Tim on guitar), she tore through favorites such as “Wherever Is Your Heart” and “The Eye” and closed with a nice rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California.”

Monday, Feb. 20: East Nashville-based singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan made his much-anticipated Cayamo music cruise debut at an evening pool-deck show, and fully met his fans’ high expectations. Accompanied by fellow singer-songwriter Brian Wright, Tasjan played most of his most recent album, Silver Tears, as well as a few older tunes. His outgoing personality contrasted with Wright’s more stoic approach, but they were two of a kind when they started trading guitar licks. Late in the show, Wright took the spotlight to offer a fine rendition of his murder ballad “Maria Sugarcane.” Tasjan closed with a vigorous workout on his anthemic “Success” that had much of the crowd singing along.

Love Junkies on Cayamo music cruise

Also: The Love Junkies (singer-songwriters Lori McKenna, Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey) played an engaging show, performing songs made famous by bigger names in Nashville. These included McKenna’s “Humble and Kind” (Tim McGraw), Lindsey’s co-write “Blue Ain’t Your Color” (Keith Urban) and “Girl Crush” (written by all three and recorded by Little Big Town). The trio got support from Cary Barlowe and Ruston Kelly. It’s always fun to hear songs performed by the people who wrote them, without the usual studio trappings. Extra points to Rose for pushing through despite a case of laryngitis.

Tuesday, Feb. 21: The Songs of Protest show, hosted by Nashville singer-songwriter Gretchen Peters and featuring several Cayamo newcomers, was one of the emotional high points of the cruise. Performances included a powerful rendition of Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody” by soul powerhouse Sarah Potenza; Allen Toussaint’s joyful “Yes We Can Can,” by Amy Helm; Randy Newman’s “Political Science,” sung by Peters’ husband, keyboardist Barry Walsh, from the viewpoint of the new U.S. president; and Mary Gauthier’s “Mercy Now,” sung with intensity by Gurf Morlix and Potenza. Peters’ selections included a beautiful rendition of Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee.”

Will Hoge

Also: A pool-deck tribute to Guy Clark tribute featured contributions from longtime Clark associates (Rodney Crowell, “Stuff That Works”; Emmylou Harris, “Immigrant Eyes”) as well as more recent acolytes (Sarah Jarosz, “Boats to Build”; Brian Wright, “Coyote”). Oddly missing from the set was the iconic “L.A. Freeway,” but Crowell and Steve Earle teamed up to close with “Desperadoes Waiting for a Train.”

Wednesday, Feb. 22: Fans might have expected the basics in a show called Buddy Miller’s Guitar 101; what they got was far more advanced. Singer-songwriter and producer Miller alternated between describing his own journey to guitar mastery and using his laptop to play snippets of six-string artistry by predecessors such as James Burton, Link Wray and Jimi Hendrix. Things got even better when Miller brought out his guests. Tasjan ripped through a terrific acoustic rendition of “Streets of Galilee,” which incorporates his own musical autobiography. Nashville session player Tom Bukovac played a funky/jazzy bit of electric improvisation that had Miller and Tasjan grinning and shaking their heads. North Mississippi Allstars frontman Luther Dickinson talked about his band’s mission in the blues world (“There’s a responsibility to respect the repertoire”) and demonstrated his mastery of both the acoustic six-string and a two-string instrument made from a coffee can. Finally, the legendary Richard Thompson talked a little about having played with Hendrix and executed a beautiful acoustic take on “Turning of the Tide,” along with an instrumental piece he described as “an Irish tune with Scottish variations.”

Also: Nashville singer-songwriter Will Hoge’s show in a well-packed Spinnaker Lounge, in which he talked about burning out and leaving music a few years ago before rediscovering his craft and returning to the road. The set featured the kind of confessional songs you’d expect, plus some favorites such as the funny but pointed “Jesus Came to Tennessee.” Hoge is a very funny guy, but also an intense performer, and his powerful songs and playing often had the sometimes-rowdy Spinnaker crowd listening in dead silence.

Sarah Jarosz on Cayamo music cruise

Thursday, Feb. 23: Against the backdrop of a nice Caribbean sunset, Kacey Musgraves and her band serenaded the sail-away from Roatan on the pool deck. The set list included a well-chosen mix of originals (“This Town,” “Merry Go ’Round,” “It Is What It Is”) and interesting covers (Weezer’s “Island in the Sun,” Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” Santo & Johnny’s “Sleepwalk”). There was also a fun and witty reworking of the Beach Boys’ “Kokomo,” with lyrics tailored to the Cayamo experience and a laid-back vibe that suited the occasion perfectly. Musgraves closed with her anthemic “Arrow.”

Also: Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz, another Cayamo music cruise rookie, still looks about 17, but she sings and plays like she’s been onstage forever. Accompanied by bassist Jeff Picker and Australian-turned-Austinite guitar ace Jedd Hughes, Jarosz played a lovely set highlighted by the powerful (and Grammy-winning) “House of Mercy,” co-written with Hughes. Jarosz seems able to play anything with strings; her instruments in this show included acoustic and electric guitars, banjo and her unusual octave mandolin, an eight-stringed instrument the size of a small guitar.

Friday, Feb. 24: If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to play rock ‘n’ roll at 10 a.m. on a cruise ship, the answer is, “It is if you’re the North Mississippi Allstars.” Playing to a nearly capacity crowd in the Jade’s largest indoor venue, the Stardust Theater, the Allstars (Luther and Cody Dickinson, plus bassist Dominic Davis, who played with several artists) featured a mix of acoustic blues and all-out boogie. Cody, usually the Allstars’ drummer, yielded the

Richard Thompson

skins to Brady Blade, also from Miller’s band, to step out front on guitar and vocals for the traditional “Deep Ellum Blues.” The set closed with a fine rendition of the classic “Sitting on Top of the World,” featuring Luther and his coffee-can guitar.

Also: Singer-songwriter and Cayamo music cruise first-timer Aoife O’Donovan played a mostly original set, by turns quiet and loud, in the Spinnaker. She was assisted by guitarist Anthony da Costa and drummer Steve Nistor, along with guests Stuart Duncan on fiddle and Sarah Jarosz (who has played in the folkie trio I’m With Her with O’Donovan and former Nickel Creeker Sara Watkins). O’Donovan closed with a lovely rendition of Steve Winwood’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” that might have drawn a few tears from those old enough to remember Blind Faith’s version.

Saturday, Feb. 24: The gospel show has become a well-loved Cayamo tradition. This year it took the form of a songwriter round rather than a succession of artists as in the past. Featured were country singer turned soul belter Bonnie Bishop, Nashville songwriters and performers (and spouses) Lari White and Chuck Cannon, and Sarah Potenza. Lending support were guitarists Ian Crossman, who’s married to Potenza, and Ford Thurston, who plays with Bishop, and bassist Patrick Blanchard). The show featured some traditional gospel, or at least gospel-ish, songs such as “I Shall Be Released” and “Power in the Blood,” as well as spiritual offerings such as Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody” and (perhaps inevitably in the wake of Leonard Cohen’s passing) a slow, intense rendition of “Hallelujah” by Potenza.

Bonnie Bishop

Also: The Wainwright Family, featuring patriarch Loudon Wainwright III and various descendants, exes and others, performed an excellent and eclectic set in the Stardust, kicking off with a team-effort “Meet the Wainwrights” to introduce the players. The cast included Wainwright’s son, Rufus Wainwright; his daughters, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche; Lucy’s mother, Suzzy Roche, and Wainwright’s sister, Sloan Wainwright. Guests included Emmylou Harris, who performed a song in honor of Wainwright’s former wife, the late folksinger Kate McGarrigle; Brandi Carlile, with the Hanseroth twins; fiddler-mandolinist David Mansfield, and guitarist Stephen Murphy. The show closed with an all-hands-on-deck sing-along on Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart” and a nice solo piano rendition of “Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright.

Honorable mentions on the Cayamo Music Cruise: Oklahoma folk-blues prodigy Parker Millsap, Mississippi rocker Paul Thorn, Nashville neo-diva Angaleena Presley, Colorado bluegrass outfit Trout Steak Revival, Nashville country-pop band Skyline Motel, North Carolina rockers American Aquarium, soulful Nashville singer-songwriter Sam Lewis, singer-songwriters Beth Wood and Patty Griffin, Nashville country traditionalist Lee Ann Womack, former Civil Wars member John Paul White, rising country artist Ryan Hurd, Nashville songstress Ruby Amanfu, former Toad the Wet Sprocket frontman Glen Phillips, young singer-songwriter Brian Dunne, new country star Maren Morris, Cayamo t’ai-chi master and clotheshorse Jim Lauderdale, Alabama folkie-rockers The Mulligan Brothers, and former Sea Level keyboardist and saxophonist Randall Bramblett.

Cayamo 2017: A music cruise preview

By Paul T. Mueller

The 2017 edition of the Cayamo music cruise sails southward today, with a few changes to mark the 10th edition of the singer-songwriter-focused festival at sea. For the first time, Cayamo will be leaving from Tampa, instead of Miami as in previous years. And the sold-out cruise will be aboard the Norwegian Jade instead of the Norwegian Pearl, its home for the past seven years.

Brandi Carlile

But the biggest change, for better or worse, may be the schedule. Cayamo has never been exactly a relaxing experience, but Sixthman, the Atlanta-based Norwegian Cruise Lines subsidiary that produces the seven-night voyage, seems to have been determined to stuff this year’s schedule with an almost unbelievable number of performers and shows. To accommodate this wealth of talent, shows on non-port days will start at 10 a.m., instead of noon as in years past. It’ll be interesting to see how that works out, given that musicians – and many Cayamoans – tend to be the nocturnal type, and in many cases will have been up late the night before. The large roster of performers will also dictate a lot of overlap between shows, making for some tough choices when deciding what to see and what to (regretfully) let go.

Much of the lineup on Cayamo 2017 reads like a Who’s Who of previous Cayamos – Emmylou Harris, Brandi Carlile, Richard Thompson, Rodney Crowell, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Steve Earle, Paul Thorn, Glen Phillips and Jim Lauderdale, among others. The Wainwright family is almost a lineup unto itself, comprising Loudon Wainwright III, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Sloan Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche and Suzzy Roche. And of course it wouldn’t be Cayamo without Shawn Mullins, the only musician who’s been along for every sailing.

Will Hoge

Returning veterans in the not-quite-household-names category include rocker Will Hoge, The Secret Sisters, Angaleena Presley, Sam Lewis, Ruby Amanfu and Beth Wood, among others.

This year also marks the debut of some much-anticipated newcomers on Cayamo 2017, among them Oklahoma phenom Parker Millsap, genre-spanning singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan, multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz, folk-rocker Amy Helm, veteran Americana performer and producer Gurf Morlix, country singer turned blues singer Bonnie Bishop and vocal powerhouse Sarah Potenza. Several bands will also make the voyage, including the bluegrass-oriented The Mulligan Brothers and Trout Steak Revival and the harder-rocking North Mississippi Allstars and American Aquarium.

For a little added intrigue, there will be at least one “stowaway,” an artist whose identity hasn’t yet been revealed. Who this might be has been the subject of considerable pre-cruise debate, fueled on social media by cryptic hints from Sixthman.

Buddy Miller

In addition to the usual straightforward sets, several special themed shows are scheduled, including a Songs of Protest set featuring singer-songwriter Gretchen Peters; Buddy Miller’s Guitar 101, with six-string aces Miller, Thompson and Tasjan, along with Luther Dickinson and Tom Bukovac; a tribute to the late Guy Clark, and a Shawn Mullins Variety Show, whatever that might entail. Several “and Friends” shows promise the interesting collaborations that Cayamo is known for. For those able to stay awake, three late-night “Last Man Standing” jams, hosted by fiddle wizard Luke Bulla, are slated for the Jade’s Atrium stage.

As if the music weren’t enough, there will also be a couple of port calls. The Jade will spend a day at Cozumel, off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, and a day at Roatan, a Caribbean island that’s part of Honduras. Also available will be such shipboard activities as a songwriting class (Camp Copperhead at Sea) hosted by Steve Earle; three guitar workshops; a beer tasting hosted by Paul Thorn, and the popular Sand Art event with Kacey Musgraves. Passenger jams can be expected to continue far into the night, while early risers will have the option of joining Jim Lauderdale on the pool deck for morning T‘ai Chi.

Review: Cayamo 2016 a magical musical tour

By Paul T. Mueller

Jason Isbell on Cayamo 2016

Jason Isbell on Cayamo 2016

Cayamo 2016 is in the books. The latest edition of the singer-songwriter-focused cruise, aboard the Norwegian Pearl, arrived back in Miami early on Sunday, Feb. 7, after a week’s voyage through the Caribbean and stops at the islands of Tortola and Sint Maarten. More than 2,000 passengers disembarked on a brisk, sunny South Florida morning, most of them tired, happy and prepared to relive the experience on social media and at meet-ups around the country until the 10th Cayamo sets sail in 2017.

Cayamo 2016  provided plenty of highs and a few lows. Let’s dispense quickly with the lows – too-chilly air conditioning in some of the indoor venues; considerably higher prices for adult beverages than in years past; problems (real and/or perceived) with things like food quality and sound mixes at some shows; restrictions on photography during sets by at least one high-profile performer; the occasional plumbing problem in a stateroom. But these matters weren’t enough to harsh the mellow of a weeklong musical festival at sea.

Steve Earle

Steve Earle

The highs on Cayamo 2016 were much more numerous. As always, there were more great performances than anyone subject to the laws of time and space could hope to see, so missing some magical moments was a given. But here, in more or less chronological order, is a subjective look at some outstanding performances from each day, from among many that could have been included.

Sunday, Jan. 31 – embarkation day

Americana superstar Jason Isbell and his band, the 400 Unit, took the pool-deck stage for the sailaway show as the Pearl left Miami. It’s hard to imagine a better choice, as the group ripped through a high-energy, 14-song set. Included were several tracks from Isbell’s most recent album, Something More than Free, along with older material such as “Decoration Day” and “Alabama Pines.” The set was capped by a rocking rendition of the Rolling Stones’ classic “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” with Isbell and lead guitarist Sadler Vaden trading licks in a more-than-passable echo of Keith Richards and Mick Taylor.

Steve Earle took the stage of the Pearl’s large auditorium, the Stardust Theater, Sunday evening for his only solo show (he also played two sets with Shawn Colvin later in the week). After opening with “Devil’s Right Hand,” Earle noted that it’s been 30 years since the release of his stellar debut album, Guitar Town, and then launched into the title track, still fresh despite the decades. What followed was pretty much a string of greatest hits, as many as could be fitted into a one-hour set. He closed with a quiet, powerful rendition of his death-penalty ballad “Billy Austin” and an excellent reading of the classic “Copperhead Road.”

Also: British guitarist Martin Harley’s high-powered slide guitar on the pool deck during boarding; Jimmy Galloway’s masterful picking in the Atrium; Jim Lauderdale’s endearing mix of goofiness and country chops in the Spinnaker Lounge.

Monday, Feb. 1 – at sea

Angaleena Presley

Angaleena Presley on Cayamo 2016

Monday afternoon featured an excellent “Unlikely Trio” show with three Cayamo rookies – Angaleena Presley, Foy Vance and Paul Thorn – taking turns performing their own songs, sometimes with backup from the others. Irish singer Vance delivered his selections with a powerful, expressive voice and vigorous guitar playing. His words weren’t always easy to follow, but the emotions behind them were. Several of Presley’s songs were taken from her most recent album, the fine American Middle Class. A newer song, “Bless Your Heart,” was a hilarious but biting jab at hypocrisy, and its title was soon to become a buzzword around the boat. Thorn, a veteran of other music cruises but a newcomer to many Cayamoans, wasted no time endearing himself to the crowd by dedicating “I’m Still Here” to a cancer patient he had met. One of the more charming aspects of shows of this kind is watching artists’ reactions to the work of others with whom they might not be all that familiar. It’s often a combination of amusement and admiration, and Monday’s show did not disappoint.

Foy Vance

Foy Vance

Also: Promising pop from young singer Rainey Qualley in the Great Outdoors; harmony-driven country folk from The Novel Ideas; singer-songwriter excellence from John Prine and John Hiatt in the Stardust; Nashville brilliance from the past and the present from Buddy Miller in the Stardust.

Tuesday, Feb. 2 – at sea

Lucinda Williams’ band, Buick 6, has accompanied her on Cayamo previously, but this year was the first time the band got its own sets. The first came Tuesday night, before a Lucinda set, and consisted of about a half-hour of high-energy power trio rock, with a little funk and jazz thrown in. Most of it was instrumental, with occasional nonverbal vocals and whistling. For fans of the power-trio format, or of instrumental rock in general, it was an invigorating warmup for Williams’ show. The band’s members – guitarist Stuart Mathis, bassist David Sutton and drummer Butch Norton – are excellent musicians, and the title of their debut album, Plays Well With Others, was well chosen.

Williams also put on a terrific show, mixing older material (“Drunken Angel,” “Lake Charles,” “Can’t Let Go,” “Joy”) with newer songs, including several from her just-released The Ghosts of Highway 20 (the title track and “Dust,” based on a work by her late father, poet Miller Williams). Appearing relaxed and confident, Williams produced some nice work on acoustic and electric guitar to accompany her gritty lyrics of love and loss, spirituality and sensuality. She drew laughs with her description of the time and effort she put into getting her hair ready for the show, only to see her labors literally blown away on the windy pool deck.

Jim Lauderdale on Cayamo 2016

Jim Lauderdale on Cayamo 2016

Also: The history of American roots music, plus stellar guest performances, from David Bromberg in the Stardust; fine bluesy guitar from Martin Harley in the Great Outdoors; high-volume country rock from Chris Stapleton on the pool deck; the midnight Grateful Dead tribute show on the pool deck, backed by American Babies and featuring contributions from Miller, Lauderdale, Bromberg and many others.

Wednesday, Feb. 3 – Sint Maarten/St. Martin Passengers returning Wednesday from excursions on Sint Maarten/St. Martin were treated to a sailaway show by Hurray for the Riff Raff, led by singer-songwriter Alynda Segarra. The Cayamo newcomers showed plenty of rock ‘n’ roll attitude to back up Segarra’s thoughtful and sometimes disturbing lyrics, as in “The Body Electric,” a reimagining of the classic Southern murder ballad from a different angle. “Like an old sad song, you heard it all before,” she sang. “Well, Delia’s gone, but I’m settling the score.”

Newly anointed American superstar Chris Stapleton’s first indoor show packed the Stardust Wednesday night. Stapleton and his band were a little more subdued than in their rocking pool deck show the previous night, but the set was still almost as much rock ‘n’ roll spectacle as Americana, fueled by Stapleton’s guitar heroics and plenty of high-powered backup from his very capable band. Stapleton did seem a bit nonplussed by the quiet and attentive Cayamo crowd – at one point he noted that he could hear a pin drop on stage between songs, and then (apparently) dropped something to prove just that. But the show, consisting mostly of material from the hugely successful Traveller album, was not without its rowdy charms, and the audience certainly seemed to eat it up, even calling the band out for an encore of “Sometimes I Cry.”

Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires and John Prine

Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires and John Prine

Also: Full-band rock and blues with a funny twist from Paul Thorn on the pool deck; purebred Americana from Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams in the Spinnaker; high-energy, late-night jamming with American Babies in the Atrium.

Thursday, Feb. 4 – Tortola

John Fullbright seemed to be embracing a bigger sound than on previous Cayamos, and this was much in evidence at his Thursday sailaway show on the pool deck. Fullbright and his band, with the help of guests including guitarist Davis Causey and keyboardist Daniel Walker, rocked out on signature tunes including “All the Time in the World” and “Fat Man.” But the emotional high point of the show might have been a powerful and dramatic rendition of Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee” – with a subtle lyrical twist that sounded a lot like a dig at anti-immigrant comments by a certain front-running Republican presidential candidate. Fullbright closed with a joyous, full-out take on the Box Tops classic “The Letter.”

Robert Ellis on Cayamo 2016

Robert Ellis on Cayamo 2016

Singer-songwriter Robert Ellis, who’d already played a solo set on the Pearl’s Great Outdoors stage and a couple of straight-up country tunes at Shawn Mullins’ Family Jam in Bar City, had a few surprises in store for his midnight Thursday show in the Stardust. A few songs in, backed by his nattily attired band, the Perfect Strangers, Ellis launched into a vigorous rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Free Man in Paris,” on which he demonstrated his monster guitar skills. He followed with other selections from his most recent album, The Lights from the Chemical Plant, along with new material. Things took a left turn late in the show with an extended instrumental jam that owed more to free jazz than to Ellis’ more usual genres, country and folk. The chaos finally resolved into “Sing Along,” Ellis’ blistering indictment of organized religion. Despite his veteran status – he also sailed on Cayamo in 2013 – Ellis seemed to be many Cayamoans’ “find” this year.

Also: Guitar-fueled singer-songwriter brilliance from Jason Isbell and band, including wife Amanda Shires, in the Stardust; bouncy pop from Kate York and Joe Pisapia in the Spinnaker; “heavy mellow” from Sugar & the Hi-Lows in the Atrium; well-written singer-songwriter fare from Sam Lewis in the Spinnaker.

Friday, Feb. 5 – at sea

After several years on the cruise as lead guitarist and vocalist in John Prine’s band, Jason Wilber finally got a set of his own on Cayamo 2016 on Friday, and he made the most of it, to the delight of an attentive Atrium crowd. Wilber led off with a lovely, slow rendition of Leon Russell’s “A Song for You,” following with the unfortunately timely “Oh You Pretty Things” by David Bowie. He brought out drummer Kenneth Blevins, of John Hiatt’s band, The Combo, and elicited laughs with “Quakertown Optimist Club,” inspired by a newspaper story about down times for an upbeat organization. Much of the rest of the show consisted of tracks from his new album, Echoes, on which he covers a range of material by other writers (including an excellent take on Prine’s mournful “Paradise”). Also included was the original “Ghost Light,” a tribute to the old theaters in which he often plays when touring with Prine.

Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams

Knoxville-based roots-rock outfit The Black Lillies delighted a large pool deck crowd Friday afternoon with an energetic set drawn largely from its recent album Hard to Please. The band, fronted by Cruz Contreras on guitars, keyboards and vocals and singer-guitarist Trisha Gene Brady, was clearly buoyed by the outpouring of support it received in the aftermath of having its van and a trailer full of instruments and other belongings stolen after a gig just days before Cayamo. Playing with borrowed instruments, the Lillies turned in strong performances on such familiar tunes as “Two Hearts Down” and “Ruby,” and newer material including the quiet ballad “Born to Roam,” the rocking touring tale “40 Days,” and the soulful “Mercy.” The band got a boost on a few songs from the trumpet and saxophone players from Austin-based funk-rock outfit Mingo Fishtrap.

Also: Harmony-driven adult pop from Johnnyswim on the pool deck; slightly quirky, personal tunes from Amanda Shires, accompanied by Jason Isbell, in the Spinnaker; acoustic pop with a New Orleans vibe from the Andrew Duhon Trio in the Great Outdoors; excellent folk and country in a mostly requests show by Slaid Cleaves in the Great Outdoors; pop country with a hip-hop twist from Maren Morris in the Atrium.

Saturday, Feb 6 – at sea

The final 2016 show by Shawn Mullins, the only musician to have performed on all nine Cayamos, was mostly a parade of familiar hits – “Beautiful Wreck,” “Light You Up,” “Twin Rocks, Oregon,” and so on – not new, but delivered as always with passion and style. Mullins also threw in some newer material, including a couple of songs from his recent album My Stupid Heart – the title track and “Ferguson,” a co-write with Chuck Cannon that addresses racial matters. Guitarist Davis Causey earned a cake and a standing ovation in honor of his 67th birthday, and the show resumed with “House of the Rising Sun” and “Lullabye.” A final sweet moment ensued when the hundred or so Cayamoans who had sailed on all nine voyages came down the aisles, attired in white bathrobes, to sing along with Shawn on “Sunshine.”

The performances of Cayamo 2016 drew to a close late Saturday with the Moonlight Revival, a guitar pull featuring three rounds of three or four singer-songwriters each. The event started out on the pool deck, but wind and rain necessitated its being moved to the Atrium after only a few songs. Early-round highlights of the acoustic show included Steve Earle’s heartfelt “Jerusalem,” Angaleena Presley’s snarky “Bless Your Heart” and Foy Vance’s literary epic “Noam Chomsky Is a Soft Revolution.”

Also: A morning gospel show featuring chicken and waffles and contemplative tunes from Birds of Chicago, Sam Lewis, Langhorne Slim, Martin Harley and The Bros. Landreth on the pool deck; more funny songs with serious messages, brilliantly played, from Paul Thorn and his band in the Stardust.

Finally, despite my efforts, I wasn’t able to catch enough of Shawn Colvin, The Alternate Routes or Watkins Family Hour to offer an informed opinion. I can say that all had many fans on Cayamo and all were reported to have turned in fine performances.

 

A quotable cruise: Cayamo 2016

By Paul Mueller

Best quotes from the stages of Cayamo 2016:

“It’s like playing in a Lava Lamp, but it’s a great feeling.” – Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff, during a sunny midday set on the pool deck

Lucinda Williams and her "boys"

Lucinda Williams and her “boys”

“This is my band! These are my boys! Three guys with the power of six! “– Lucinda Williams, on her band, Buick 6

“Twenty-three percent of my day – a little more – is spent waiting for Teresa.” – Larry Campbell, while waiting for his wife and musical partner, Teresa Williams, to join him onstage

“I’m sweating up here like Ted Cruz at a Steve Earle concert.” – Jim Lauderdale

“We ain’t on this cruise to do the right thing, are we? We gonna straighten up on Monday”. – Paul Thorn, on questionable dietary choices at the buffet

“When you think of great songs, you think 1980s and you think Echo and the Bunnymen. At least I do.” – Jason Wilber, before performing that band’s “The Game”

Buddy Miller on Cayamo 2016

Buddy Miller on Cayamo 2016

“It’s OK to love the Grateful Dead. It’s also OK to hate the Grateful Dead. “– Buddy Miller, before singing “Black Muddy River”

“You guys are unnervingly quiet.” – Chris Stapleton, to the audience at one of his large-theater shows

“Please sing along with congregational gusto.” – J.T. Nero of Birds of Chicago, during the Saturday morning gospel show

“We’re gonna sing some really sad songs, and somehow it’s gonna make us all happy. “– Slaid Cleaves

“That’s the saddest S.O.B. I have to offer.” – Jason Isbell, on his cancer ballad “Elephant”

“Play it again!” – David Bromberg, to several band members and guest artists after each had played a solo.

Award-worthy moments from Cayamo 2016

By Paul T. Mueller

Award-worthy moments from Cayamo 2016:

Jason Wilber

Jason Wilber

The Cover Me Award – Jason Wilber, who played songs by David Bowie, John Prine, Echo and the Bunnymen and others (plus some originals) in a very entertaining Atrium show.

The Press On Regardless Award – The Black Lillies, who played a series of great sets on Cayamo 2016 with borrowed instruments after having most of their gear stolen less than a week before the cruise.

The “They Must Be Clones” Award – (Tie) Daniel Walker (keyboards and accordion, John Fullbright) and Chojo Jacques (fiddle and mandolin, Slaid Cleaves), one or both of who seemed to be a guest performer at practically every set all week.

The “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” Award – Cruz Contreras (The Black Lillies), who was still playing as the Pearl pulled into the Port of Miami.

 

The Boogie Shoes Award – Mingo Fishtrap, whose late-night funk-rock shows kept the Atrium hopping.

The Dead Will Live Again Award – American Babies, “house band” for the Grateful Dead tribute show.

The Deadpan Delivery Award – J.T. Lindsay (Birds of Chicago), for his confession that he had been inadvertently drinking Jim Lauderdale’s wine and his promise to “make it right.”

The “Where’s the Beef?” Award – Paul Thorn and Shawn Mullins, for their “feud” pitting Mississippi morality against rock ‘n’ roll hedonism.

The Let’s Duet Award – Slaid Cleaves, who sang the Dewey Cox classic to passengers late one night in the Great Outdoors dining area.

Chris Stapleton on Cayamo 2016

Chris Stapleton on Cayamo 2016

The Fish Out of Water Award – Chris Stapleton, who seemed somewhat perplexed at the idea of playing for quiet audiences.

The “How Can You Be Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All” Award – every Cayamo passenger who found him- or herself desperately wanting to attend two shows at the same time.

The Bandleader Generosity Award – David Bromberg, who in at least one show insisted that almost every band member and guest take a solo – and then kept saying, “Play it again!.”

The Throwback Award – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, for their excellent rendition of the Rolling Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” at the sailaway show.

The Bless Your Heart Award – Angaleena Presley, for her very funny song by the same name, which became an oft-repeated catch phrase around the boat.

The Keepin’ It Clean Award – The Washy Washy Duo (Norwegian Cruise Lines employees Redelick on guitar and Komang on vocals and hand sanitizer spray bottle), who daily serenaded passengers entering the buffet with such classics as “Washy Washy, Happy Happy,” “I Wanna Wash Your Hands” and “Spray You, Spray Me.”

The Best Dressed Male Award – Robert Ellis, who apparently brought along steamer trunks filled with fashionable suits and accessories.

The Best Dressed Female Award – Rainey Qualley, for the beguiling black dress she wore at her Atrium show.

Parents of the Year – Paul “Hammy” Hamilton (Foy Vance’s drummer) and his wife, for cruising with a couple of very young kids.

Honorary Uncle of the Year Award – Foy Vance, who was often to be seen playing with his drummer’s young sons on the pool deck.

The Most Valuable Player Award – the crew of Sixthman, the Atlanta-based company that produces Cayamo.

New releases: Buddy Miller on Cayamo, Mark Huff

New and recent releases:

Cayamo Sessions at SeaBuddy Miller and Friends – We’ve been on the Cayamo music cruise a number of times and this new collection conveys what makes that such a rich musical experience. Take a couple of dozen Americana music artists, put them all on a cruise ship, and compelling collaborations result. Highlights include Miller and Nikki Lane on “Just Someone I Used to Know,” Lee Ann Womack’s take on “After the Fire is Gone” and Kacey Musgraves’ “Love’s Gonna Live Here.” Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, Richard Thompson, Elizabeth Cook, Shawn Colvin, Jill Andrews, Doug Seegers, Brandi Carlile and the Lone Bellow round out this thoroughly enjoyable collection.

Mark HuffDown RiverMark Huff – This vibrant new EP from Mark Huff moves seamlessly through rock, folk and country, fueled by some of Nashville’s best players. Down River was produced by Huff and Mark Robinson, joined in the studio by Audley Freed, Jen Gunderman, Paul Griffith, Mike Vargo and Lisa Oliver-Gray. Huff writes smart and personal songs with compelling hooks, a next-generation Elliott Murphy.  “Almost True” would be the ideal single if there still was such a thing.

Brown-Eyed Georgia Darlin’Sammy Walker – The legendary Phil Ochs championed Sammy Walker in the ‘70s, but commercial success eluded the Georgia folksinger. Give credit to Ramseur Records for unearthing the set of demos that launched Walker’s career. They’re very much of the era – “Talkin’ Women’s Lib”– but clear evidence that Walker’s songwriting and Arlo Guthrie-like vocals should have taken him further.

ExperiencedLarry Keel – Flatpicking guitarist Larry Keel’s new album features guest spots from Sam Bush, Del McCoury, Peter Rowan and Keller Williams.

Six on the OutThe Westies – Chicago-based duo follows up debut West Side Stories with a new collection of folk-rock narratives.

MultitudesJames Houlahan – Third solo album from former member of The Jody Grind and Dogs on Television.

Broken ManBen Hemming – London-based singer-songwriter’s first album features blues-fueled Americana. A U.S. tour is in the works.

 

Preview: Cayamo music cruise 2016

By Paul T. Mueller

Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams

The ninth annual Cayamo music cruise sails from Miami on Jan. 31, en route to a week of music and fun under the Caribbean sun. Produced by Atlanta-based Sixthman aboard the chartered Norwegian Pearl, Cayamo is a weeklong music festival at sea, featuring dozens of scheduled performances in indoor venues ranging from small lounges to a thousand-seat auditorium, as well as a couple of open-air stages on the pool deck.

Cayamo is also known for passenger participation; a fair number of the 2,000-plus cruisers bring along their instruments and can be found jamming at pretty much any hour of the day or night. These sessions often draw the attention, and participation, of some of the professional musicians as well.

John Hiatt

John Hiatt

Americana’s best

While it’s not specifically an Americana cruise, this year’s Cayamo features a couple of the biggest names in Americana music at the moment – Jason Isbell and Chris Stapleton, both still touring on the strength of excellent 2015 albums (Something More Than Free and Traveller, respectively). Other scheduled performers include two-time Cayamo veteran Lucinda Williams; three-timer John Prine; John Hiatt, back for a sixth tour; Nashville (and Nashville) superstar Buddy Miller, a fixture on every Cayamo except 2009; Shawn Colvin, who’s sailed five times before; John Fullbright, a two-time Cayamoan, and Steve Earle, back after two previous sailings. Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins, the only performer who’s been on every Cayamo, also returns to keep his streak unbroken.

Paul Thorn

Paul Thorn

New to the cruise

Buzzworthy newcomers this year include Alabama-based singer-songwriter Paul Thorn; former Maine resident turned Austin folkie Slaid Cleaves; Hurray for the Riff Raff, featuring neo-New Orleanian Alynda Segarrra; Irish singer Foy Vance; and Angaleena Presley, also known as a member of Nashville’s Pistol Annies.

Returning to the Cayamo music cruise after successful debuts on previous cruises are country songbird Kacey Musgraves, whose duet show with Prine was a big hit last year; Amanda Shires, a fiddler and singer-songwriter who’s married to Isbell and is a member of his band, the 400 Unit; the talented duo Birds of Chicago (2015); Texas singer-songwriter Robert Ellis (2013), and Knoxville, Tenn.-based The Black Lillies (2015).

Jim Lauderdale

Jim Lauderdale

Stepping out from sideman roles with scheduled sets of their own are Buick 6 (Lucinda Williams’ band, consisting of guitarist Stuart Mathis, bassist David Sutton and drummer Butch Norton) and Jason Wilber, Prine’s longtime guitarist.

A wide range of artists

The rest of the announced lineup for the Cayamo music cruise includes Jim Lauderdale, David Bromberg, Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, Watkins Family Hour (featuring former Nickel Creekers Sean and Sara Watkins and others), Johnnyswim, Angaleena Presley, Langhorne Slim, The Bros. Landreth, Sam Lewis, American Babies, Mingo Fishtrap, The Alternate Routes, Rainey Qualley, Kate York and Joe Pisapia, Sugar & the Hi-Lows, Maren Morris, Martin Harley and Jimmy Galloway. The winners of this year’s Soundcheck

Shawn Mullins

Shawn Mullins

competition for spots on the roster include the Andrew Duhon Trio, from New Orleans; The Novel Ideas, a Massachusetts-based folk quintet, and the aforementioned Slaid Cleaves. And the possibility of a “stowaway” surprise artist can never be ruled out; last year Todd Snider filled that role, coming aboard mid-cruise and performing a couple of excellent sets.

A good many Cayamo passengers don’t much care where the cruise goes and would just as soon sail around in circles for a week. But for those who like a little sightseeing with their music, this year’s ports of call are Tortola, one of the British Virgin Islands, and St. Maarten/St. Martin, which consists of both Dutch and French territory. There will also be four full days at sea, providing time for traditional cruise-ship activities – and for even more music than on port days.

(Cayamo music cruise photos by Paul T. Mueller.)

The 10 best lines on the Cayamo music cruise 2015

By Paul T. Mueller

The 10 best lines from artists on the 2015 Cayamo cruise:

Amy Speace

Amy Speace

  • It was sad knowing everyone I knew or loved was going to hell. – Elizabeth Cook on her fundamentalist upbringing (Saturday)
  • This has been a very palpable evening. – Jim Lauderdale, during John Fullbright’s “Unlikely Sit-In” show (Saturday)
  • I starred in “Shakespeare in the Parking Lot” – Amy Speace on her days as a Shakespearean actress in New York (Monday)
  • Thanks, Mom. – John Prine, in response to a female audience member’s shout of “You’re sexy, John Prine!” (Monday)
  • The difference between a freeloader and a free spirit is about three chords. – Todd Snider (Wednesday)
  • This was No. 1 for about two weeks on the radio in Serbia. Take that, Lyle Lovett! – Amy Speace on the title track of her new CD, “That Kind of Girl” (Thursday)
  • Morning, everyone! – Lucinda Williams, at a 1:30 p.m. show (Thursday)
  • He doesn’t consider himself an Eagle, but I do. No, I consider you an egret. – Shawn Colvin to guitarist Steuart Smith, who tours with The Eagles (Thursday)
  • What we do on Cayamo stays on Cayamo. – Shawn Colvin (Thursday)
  • Since you probably played on the original record, play a little guitar right here, good brother. – Rodney Crowell to David Bromberg, during “Like a Rolling Stone” (Friday)

 

 

Review: Cayamo 2015 may have been best yet

By Paul T. Mueller

You’re never going to get more than 2,000 music lovers to agree on everything, but there seems to be something of a consensus that this year’s Cayamo cruise was one of the strongest, if not the strongest, editions in the eight-voyage history of the festival-at-sea.

Lucinda Williams and Jim Lauderdale

Lucinda Williams and Jim Lauderdale

Cayamo, a production of Atlanta-based Sixthman, sailed from Miami on Jan. 17 aboard the Norwegian Pearl, its home since 2010. The event featured calls at the Caribbean islands of St. Barts and St. Croix, but the real draw, as always, was the music, which began before the ship left Miami and continued nearly nonstop, almost to the minute the Pearl returned to its home port a week later.

This year’s headliners, all veterans of previous Cayamos, were Lyle Lovett (with his Acoustic Group), John Prine, Brandi Carlile, and Richard Thompson (as part of his Electric Trio). The next level consisted of a large group of talented musicians and bands, including Lucinda Williams, Buddy Miller, Shawn Mullins (the only artist to have participated in every Cayamo), Jim Lauderdale, Kacey Musgraves, David Bromberg, Rodney Crowell, Shawn Colvin, John Fullbright, The Lone Bellow, Elizabeth Cook and many more.

New this year were five “Soundcheck Artists,” chosen by passenger vote before sailing from a group of 25 nominees. This group comprised Birds of Chicago, the Black Lillies, the Dusty 45s, the Michelle Malone Band and Amy Speace, who was backed by two of her East Nashville neighbors, Tim Easton and Megan Palmer.

The lineup also included one notable “stowaway” – the eccentric but brilliant Todd Snider, who caused a furor by backing out of last year’s Cayamo at the last minute. Finally aboard, he made his first appearance at a midnight show halfway through the week.

In addition, many passengers, not content with merely watching and listening to professionals make music, brought their own instruments aboard. Individuals and groups could be found picking and jamming at all hours in various corners of the vessel, but particularly in an area known as Bar City.

Buddy Miller, Dave Jacques and Fats Kaplin

Buddy Miller, Dave Jacques and Fats Kaplin

All of this added up to far too much music for any one person to take in, even given the abbreviated sleep schedule that’s an integral part of the Cayamo experience for many. Schedule conflicts also got in the way, despite Sixthman’s commendable efforts to program shows and stages so as to distribute the crowds as evenly as possible around the ship’s several performance venues. As great a show as one might be witnessing at any given moment, something equally excellent was more than likely happening somewhere else at the same time.

As the Pearl left the dock a couple of hours behind schedule, Birmingham, Ala.-based St. Paul & the Broken Bones kicked the party on the pool deck into high gear with their high-energy blend of rock and soul. “I know it’s early,” said lead singer Paul Janeway, “but we gotta let it loose!” Nearly a week and dozens of shows later, Cayamo drew to a close with a “No Sleep ‘til Land Jam” that lasted into the small hours just before docking. It was hosted by the Austin-based Band of Heathens and featured guest performances by a great many of the artists aboard.

This kind of collaboration is a longtime hallmark of the Cayamo experience, and it was much in evidence all week. Almost anyone was liable to show up at almost any gig, to lend a hand on an instrument, sing a verse or provide backing vocals.

There were a few glitches – the presence of some much larger vessels at Norwegian’s main terminal left the Pearl with a smaller and less efficient temporary terminal (actually a large tent), which led to long and frustrating lines at both ends of the cruise. Still, it was hard to find anyone with anything really negative to say about Cayamo. A week at sea in the sunny Caribbean, dozens of world-class musicians performing almost nonstop, thousands of kindred spirits in the audience (including, for many repeat cruisers, old friends from previous Cayamos), and all the comfort and convenience of a major-label cruise ship – all of that adds up to what many call the Best Vacation Ever – until next year’s edition.

Still to come: More detail on the week’s shows, big, small and in between.

Cayamo finale: Elizabeth Cook, David Bromberg

By Paul T. Mueller

Friday, Jan. 23 found the Norwegian Pearl in the home stretch of its return to Miami. The end of the Cayamo music cruise 2015 was just around the corner, but the day’s full schedule of music was an effective antidote to any possibility of negative thoughts. Who has time to mope when there are shows to get to?

Elizabeth Cook

Elizabeth Cook

Elizabeth Cook’s 12:30 set on the pool deck was a lively mix of the spiritual and the secular. The former was represented by several songs from her 2012 EP Gospel Plow, including the title track, “Hear Jerusalem Calling” and “Jesus.” The latter included “It Takes Balls to Be a Woman,” “El Camino,” “Goin’ Down” (with a vocal assist from Todd Snider) and “Methadone Blues.” Cook cut a fashionable figure in her hipster/hippie garb, while Snider went casual as always in cut-off jeans and a white undershirt, topped off with a jaunty nautical cap.

Amy Speace’s final show in the Spinnaker Lounge featured several songs from her new CD That Kind of Girl – the spiritually themed “Three Days,” the lonely love song “In Chicago,” the sad breakup song “Raincoat” (“You were my raincoat/Now you’re the rain”), a post-breakup song (“Epilogue (I Don’t Know How To Stop Loving You),” and the title track, a rueful reflection on the stories we tell ourselves. Backed by Tim Easton on guitar and Megan Palmer on fiddle, Speace also played a few older favorites, including “The Killer in Me” (with a guest appearance by guitarist Stuart Mathis), “Hunter Moon,” “In Salida,” “The Sea and the Shore” and “Vertigo.” There was also a nice rendition of “The Fortunate Ones,” which Speace dedicated to the audience.

David Bromberg

David Bromberg

David Bromberg’s final set, in the Stardust Theater at 3:00, was a varied show that included some solo work, some full-band efforts, and a couple of tunes by band members. From the opener – blues standard “Nobody’s Fault but Mine” – Bromberg moved on to a long rendition of his comic breakup songs “I’ll Take You Back.” Things got a little more serious with “The Fields Have Turned Brown” and a twangy rendition of “Last Date,” but slid back into comedy with “The Holdup,” a crime-caper tale co-written with George Harrison. Bromberg accompanied “Kaatskill Serenade,” on the surface a retelling of the Rip Van Winkle story, with an explanation of how the song is also about alienation, both personal and in a wider sense. Guitarist Mark Cosgrove took the spotlight with a skillfully flat-picked “Alabama Jubilee,” followed by some fiddle tunes featuring himself and Bromberg on guitar, accompanying fiddler Nate Grower. Bromberg closed the set with “Bring It On Home,” including a long discourse on the nature of true love and how he lost it and found it again, and returned for a full-band acoustic encore of “Roll On, John,” featuring Cosgrove’s fine mandolin playing.

Other Friday performers included Lisa Mills, winner of the open mic competition for songwriters, playing in the Pearl’s open-air Great Outdoors venue (backed by Richard Thompson’s rhythm section, bassist Taras Prodaniuk and drummer Michael Jerome); Kristy Lee and Dirt Road Revival, bringing the rock and soul to the pool deck with help from Shawn Mullins, and The Lone Bellow, getting assists from John Fullbright and Brandi Carlile in the Stardust.

Shawn Colvin and Lucinda Williams

Shawn Colvin and Lucinda Williams

Shawn Colvin’s 8:00 Stardust show consisted largely of songs by her large cast of guests, to whom she lent her fine voice and acoustic guitar, as well as Steuart Smith’s electric guitar. The set included Rodney Crowell performing his “The Rock of My Soul”; Jim Lauderdale’s rendition of Gram Parsons’ “Sin City”; Brandi Carlile helping out on “Calling All Angels” and the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle with Care”; Buddy Miller doing “Let It Be Me” (made popular by the Everly Brothers) and “Poison Love”; Lucinda Williams singing Parsons’ “Hickory Wind”; Richard Thompson with his “A Heart Needs a Home” and a cover of the Animals’ “We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place”; the Louvin Brothers’ “My Baby’s Gone,” featuring Luke Bulla, and Colvin with her “Diamond in the Rough,” getting assistance from Keith Sewell.

Michelle Malone kept the energy level high on the pool deck with a mostly electric set at 10:30. Highlights included “Weed & Wine,” a lament for lost youth; “Chicken Lickin’ Boogie,” featuring Jimmy Galloway on guitar; a vigorous rendition of “Preacher’s Daughter” that included an extended acoustic guitar workout by Malone, and “Feather in a Hurricane,” with help from Kristy Lee and the Black Lillies’ Cruz Contreras.

Rodney Crowell’s 11:30 Spinnaker set was a loose and joyous affair featuring a crowd on the stage and a bigger one in front of it. It was standing room only as Crowell and a plethora of guests – Joanne Gardner, Luke Bulla, Shawn Colvin, Steuart Smith, Keith Sewell, Dave Jacques and David Bromberg, among others – ripped through a rich and varied set list. Highlights included Gram Parsons’ “Return of the Grievous Angel”; a lively rendition of the Staple Singers’ soul hit “Respect Yourself”; a happy sing-along version of “Like a Rolling Stone,” featuring nice solos from several guests and enthusiastic audience participation, and Crowell’s own “Ain’t Living Long Like This.” After a crack about “long solos and sloppy endings,” Crowell summed up the show as “11 fast songs and one ballad” – the latter being his closer, a moving rendition of his “ ’Til I Gain Control Again.”

At that point, with disembarkation only hours away, many Cayamoans had had about all the musical fun they could stand. But others who weren’t done partying headed for the Atrium and the “No Sleep ’Til Land Jam,” led by the Band of Heathens, which continued well into the small hours of Saturday morning.

Cayamo Day 6: Shawn Colvin, Tim Easton, Black Lillies

By Paul T. Mueller

On Thursday, Jan. 22, the Norwegian Pearl, having left St. Croix the previous evening, was heading north and west through the blue Caribbean, on the homeward leg of the Cayamo music cruise 2015.

Days at sea mean days with more music, and one of the first shows scheduled was Amy Speace’s 11:00 a.m. set in the Spinnaker Lounge. And an excellent set it was, beginning with the title song from 2013’s How to Sleep in a Stormy Boat.

Amy Speace

Amy Speace

“I come from a long line of sailors and priests,” Speace said by way of explaining the prevalence of nautical imagery in her songs. More of her sharply observed and carefully written songs followed, backed by Tim Easton’s guitar and Megan Palmer’s fiddle – “Ghost,” which she said was written for her grandparents; “The Killer in Me,” a song of dysfunctional love; “The Sea and the Shore,” a sad and beautiful ballad that Speace said was “No. 1 for about two weeks on the radio in Serbia – take that, Lyle Lovett!”, and the uplifting funeral song “Hymn for the Crossing,” which Speace said she wrote with Irish singer Ben Glover the day after Pete Seeger died. She closed with a heartfelt rendition of “The Fortunate Ones,” featuring Easton’s fine acoustic guitar.

 

Lucinda Williams played another fine set in the Stardust Theater beginning at 1:30. After opening with a solo acoustic rendition of “Passionate Kisses,” Williams brought out her band for a string of old and new tunes. These included “Metal Firecracker,” “Right in Time” and “Drunken Angel,” all from her breakout Car Wheels on a Gravel Road collection; “Cold Day in Hell,” a bluesy kiss-off song from the new album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone; “I Lost It,” featuring an excellent solo by guitarist Stuart Mathis; and “Are You Down,” featuring a jazzy intro and an instrumental break that drew applause from Willliams herself. Other highlights were a duet with Jim Lauderdale on “Jailhouse Tears,” a stark, almost harsh reading of “Unsuffer Me,” and rocking treatments of “Essence,” “Joy” and “Get Right with God.” “This goes out to all of you,” Williams told the crowd before launching into a vigorous romp through Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin’s 3:00 p.m. show in the Spinnaker consisted of well-chosen and beautifully executed covers. With stellar assistance from guitarist and part-time Eagle Steuart Smith, Colvin more than did justice to songs including Steve Earle’s “Someday,” Graham Nash’s “I Used to Be a King,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Tougher than the Rest” and the Eagles’ “The Best of My Love.” Reportedly also performed, but not witnessed by this reviewer, were renditions of The Band’s “Acadian Driftwood,” Emmylou Harris’ “Red Dirt Girl,” Tom Waits’ “Hold On” and several others.

 

Tim Easton and Megan Palmer played a third “guerrilla set” in Bar City at 5:00 p.m. This time, Palmer divided her time between fiddle and piano, another instrument on which she is quite proficient. Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” and Easton’s “Don’t Lie” found Palmer at the keyboard and Bruce Lebovitz, a passenger and an accomplished player, taking over the fiddle duties. Palmer and Lebovitz brought a twin-fiddle approach to a couple of songs, including “Factory Girl.” Easton took over the piano for a rendition of his “Festival Song,” featuring a snippet of “Come Together” and some lyrics customized for Cayamo, and singer-songwriter Nellie Clay joined the group for her “Wichita Was a Bust.” The set closed with a rousing take on Big Bill Broonzy’s “How You Want Your Rollin’ Done,” again featuring Palmer on the piano.

Todd Snider drew a big crowd to his 6:30 show on the pool deck, backed by Elizabeth Cook’s band plus guitarist Jason Wilber from John Prine’s band. Seemingly as much at ease in the daylight as at midnight, Snider put on a loose and funny show, with more music and fewer stories than at his show the night before.                   The set included originals such as “The Last Laugh,” “Is This Thing Working?,” “Easy Money” and “Good News Blues.” There were also some fine covers, including the blues classic “I’m Ready,” “Enjoy Yourself,” Texas singer-songwriter Rusty Wier’s “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance” and Huey “Piano” Smith’s “Rockin’ Pneumonia” and “Sea Cruise.” Snider dedicated his last song, “Come from the Heart,” to Texas songwriter Guy Clark and Clark’s late wife, Susanna, who wrote the song with Richard Leigh.

Black Lillies

Black Lillies

The Black Lillies came to their 8:30 set in the Atrium ready to rock and ready to bring the crowd with them. They brought plenty of energy and excellent musicianship to their own songs, including “Smokestack Lady” and “40 Days and 40 Nights” (an account of the band’s first national tour), and to covers including the Everly Brothers’ “Wake Up, Little Susie” and the Grateful Dead’s “Tennessee Jed” (with Michelle Malone plus two band members, Trish Land on tambourine and Ben Holst on guitar).

Seattle-based band The Dusty 45s kept the Atrium rocking during their 10:30 set, with charismatic front man Billy Joe Huels pushing the pace with almost unbelievable energy. With Huels alternating between guitar and trumpet, the band ripped through some older material – “Devil Takes His Turn,” “Why Darlin’ Why” – and newer songs such as “Chase Your Dream,” “Two Beers in Texas,” “32 Quarters” and “Walking in the Rain.” There were also some nicely done covers, including Herb Alpert’s “A Taste of Honey,” John Prine’s “Glory of True Love,” the 1930 tune “Bye Bye Blues” (dedicated to guitarist Jerry Battista’s father) and “Misirlou,” made famous by surf-rock king Dick Dale.

The Throwdown

The Throwdown

As Thursday turned into Friday, the “Throwback Throwdown” got cranked up on the Pearl’s pool deck. A large cast of musicians, loosely led by Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale, spent the next 90 minutes or so doing honor to songs from the past. Highlights included Paul McCartney’s “Let Me Roll It,” getting the soul treatment from St. Paul and the Broken Bones; Fats Domino’s “I Lived My Life,” featuring Miller and Lucinda Williams; Jim Stafford’s “Swamp Witch,” performed with appropriate drama by Shawn Mullins; a convincing rendition of Loretta Lynn’s “You’re Lookin’ at Country” by Kacey Musgraves; Paul Simon’s “Slip Slidin’ Away,” sweetly done by The Lone Bellow; Willie Nelson’s “Crazy,” featuring the powerful vocals of Humming House’s Leslie Rodriguez and nice guitar by Davis Causey, and the Zombies’ “Time of the Season” by the Black Lillies. John Fullbright showed his range with a powerful take on Townes Van Zandt’s “Lungs” and a quieter rendition of Jimmy Webb’s “If You See Me Getting Smaller,” which left the often raucous pool deck in dead silence. The big finale was an all-hands-on-deck jam of the traditional blues “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad.”

Cayamo day 5: Brandi Carlile, Todd Snider, Kacey Musgraves

By Paul T. Mueller

Wednesday, Jan. 21 found the Norwegian Pearl docked at St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Many Cayamoans strolled off the ship to explore the island or just hang out on a nearby beach. One was Doug Seegers, the once-homeless Nashville country singer who’s made an unlikely comeback with the help of Cayamo stalwart Buddy Miller, singer-songwriter-producer Will Kimbrough and others. Seegers spent some time busking in front of one the shops that line the waterfront, reportedly collecting about $150 in his guitar case with a sign reading, “Can’t afford the boat.”

Kacey Musgraves

Kacey Musgraves

Back on the Pearl, the music started at 4:00 p.m. with a pool deck show by Kacey Musgraves. Rising star Musgraves, a small-town Texan relocated to Nashville, has plenty of attitude and some serious chops to go with it. Her Cayamo sets drew largely on her 2013 CD Same Trailer, Different Park, but on this sunny afternoon she also found space for a bit of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” with its catchy chorus, “Every little thing’s gonna be all right.”

The second “guerrilla set” by Tim Easton and Megan Palmer got going at 6:00 in the Bar City area. This one was heavy on Easton’s older tunes, several played by request, including “Carry Me,” “Broke My Heart,” “Bitters Past” and “Poor, Poor L.A.” There were also nice renditions of “The Young Girls” and a new song, “Elmore James.” The duo closed with Easton’s “Don’t Walk Alone,” featuring guest vocals by Nellie Clay.

Atlanta-based folk-rocker Michelle Malone played another strong set in the Spinnaker Lounge starting at 7:00. Malone led off with an acoustic version of “Shine,” from her 2012 album Day 2. She described it as a song about gratitude, a common theme among several Cayamo artists throughout the week. Alternating between acoustic and electric guitar, and throwing in some harmonica along the way, Malone showcased compositions that included the raucous barroom tale “Tanya Tucker”; the hard-luck ballad “Ramona,” featuring guitarist Davis Causey; the socially conscious “Immigration Game,” with help from Kristy Lee and Shawn Mullins, and the Beatles’ classic “Eleanor Rigby,” in a dramatic arrangement that blended jazz, blues and soul.

Seattle-based singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, a veteran of six previous Cayamos, took the Stardust Theater stage at 8:00 for her first appearance of this year’s cruise. Sometimes solo and sometimes accompanied by her band – guitarist Tim Hanseroth, bassist Phil Hanseroth, cellist Josh Neumann and drummer Brian Griffin – Carlile seemed even more animated than usual, possibly thanks to pent-up energy. Her set included her familiar hits “The Story” and “Caroline.” There was also a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” with a guest appearance by fiddler Luke Bulla, and some newer originals, such as the beautiful and hopeful “The Eye” and “The Things I Regret,” from her upcoming CD The Firewatcher’s Daughter. Kanene Pipkin, Zach Williams and Brian Elmquist of The Lone Bellow joined Carlile for a reprise performance of “His Eye Is On the Sparrow,” which they performed at Sunday’s gospel show, but the effort fell just short, with Carlile’s vocals not quite blending with the trio’s. Carlile closed with a dramatic, high-powered rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.” Some might have wondered why an artist of Carlile’s ability would choose for her finale a song so strongly associated with another band, but there was no denying the enthusiastic response it received.

Noah Gundersen, another singer-songwriter from Seattle, played the Spinnaker lounge at 9:00, with a set that included at least a couple of covers (Neil Young’s “Down By the River” and Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay”) along with several original songs, including “Dying Now” and “Cigarettes.” Backed by a strong band that included his sister, Abby, on fiddle, Gundersen demonstrated a dramatic vocal style and well-written lyrics.

The Spinnaker took a turn toward hard country with Doug Seegers’ 11:00 p.m. show. Fiddler Barbara Lamb provided expert accompaniment on tunes including “Angie’s Song” and “Baby Lost Her Way Home Again.” Jim Lauderdale lent vocal assistance on “I Met Jesus in a Bar”; David Ball’s “Honky Tonk Healer” got the Texas two-step treatment (Seegers spent some time living in Austin), and Seegers went slow and soulful on Gram Parsons’ “Hickory Wind.” Seegers introduced “Will You Take the Hand of Jesus” as his response to many good changes in his life in the past year. Some of those, no doubt, were thanks to the next song, “Going Down to the River,” which became a hit in Sweden after a Swedish documentary filmmaker discovered the struggling Seegers in Nashville.

Todd Snider

Todd Snider

One of Cayamo 2015’s high points occurred at midnight in the Stardust Theater, with the appearance of singer-songwriter Todd Snider, barefoot as usual. “I’m a little late,” Snider told the large crowd at the “stowaway” show, announced only earlier in the day. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get out here.”

This was a reference to his very late cancellation of his scheduled Cayamo appearance last year, reportedly for medical reasons. Hard feelings remain in some quarters, but the audience seemed to be in a forgiving mood – not that Snider seemed to care about forgiveness. Snider is a very talented songwriter and a gifted performer, and he brought his “A” game this night. The show featured a mix of stories, personal philosophy and enough songs from Snider’s extensive catalog to satisfy any but the most demanding fan.

The list included “Good Fortune,” “Play a Train Song,” “How Do You Know It’s Too Late,” “Greencastle Blues,” “Too Soon To Tell,” “Stuck on the Corner,” and, after a long story about meeting Jerry Jeff Walker, a nice rendition of Walker’s hit “Mr. Bojangles.” After asking for audience requests, Snider dedicated his next song to everyone who got mad at him for canceling in 2014 (“I was in a card game – I couldn’t get out of it”) and then played “Alright Guy” from 1994’s Songs for the Daily Planet. After closing with the bouncy 1949 tune “Enjoy Yourself” (“Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think”), he returned for an encore consisting of “Statistician’s Blues,” “If Tomorrow Never Comes” and Kris Kristofferson’s “To Beat the Devil.”

Cayamo day 4: John Prine, Edwin McCain, Tim Easton

After two days and three nights at sea, the Norwegian Pearl arrived early Tuesday, January 20, at the island of St. Barts in the French West Indies. Many Cayamoans boarded the Pearl’s lifeboats to go ashore and spend a few hours mingling with the well-to-do; others chose to stay aboard and relax. As always on port days, organized music got started later to accommodate the daytrippers, with the first shows beginning at 6:00 p.m.

Guitarist Tim Easton and fiddler Megan Palmer, despite being talented singer-songwriters as well as fine backing musicians for Amy Speace, weren’t given official performing slots of their own. No matter. Tuesday evening found the duo, neighbors in East Nashville, playing the first of three “guerrilla shows” in the Bar City area of the Pearl. Their nine-song set, played acoustically, was heavy on Easton’s songs. These included “Don’t Lie” from his current album, Not Cool, and older material (some by request) such as “Don’t Walk Alone” and “Dear Old Song and Dance.”

John Prine and Dave Jacques

John Prine and Dave Jacques

Palmer sang her dark tale “Knife Twister,” while Speace joined the two on her own “Strange Boat.” The relatively small audience at the beginning mostly comprised those who were already fans, but as often happens on Cayamo, a fair number of passers-by ended up in the crowd as well, contributing sing-along vocals and improvised percussion on covers of Lucinda Williams’ “People Talking” and the Rolling Stones’ “Factory Girl.”

John Prine’s 8:00 show in the Stardust Theater was an exercise in musical excellence. Highlights included the rousing antiwar anthem “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore”; “Souvenirs,” which Prine dedicated to his brother Doug; the gentle “Hello in There,” performed with heartbreaking beauty, and Prine’s duets with the seemingly omnipresent Brandi Carlile on “In Spite of Ourselves” and “Angel from Montgomery.” Prine took a solo turn on “Lydia” and “Sam Stone” before his band – guitarist Jason Wilber and bassist Dave Jacques – returned for a rousing but slightly muddy rendition of the Carter Family’s “Bear Creek Blues.” The band followed with a nice take on the enigmatic “Lake Marie” before closing, with assistance from singer-songwriter Joe Purdy, with “Paradise.”

 

South Carolina singer-songwriter Edwin McCain’s Tuesday night set in the Spinnaker Lounge turned into a 45th birthday party, complete with a clown, balloons and a cake. That didn’t keep McCain from showcasing his powerful voice and fine guitar playing with a set of intelligent adult pop – dealing, as befits a man in the early stages of middle age, with subjects such as a daughter’s wedding and lasting love. He also threw in some good stories, including one about discovering that Elgie Stover, the purveyor of his favorite barbecue, was in fact a songwriter and producer who co-wrote songs for Marvin Gaye, among others. McCain closed with Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” featuring a nice solo by saxophonist Craig Shields.

The second half of McCain’s show overlapped the first half of The Lone Bellow’s Atrium set, but judging from the last few songs it was a raucous affair. Late selections included a couple of songs from the band’s very successful 2013 album, The Lone Bellow – “You Never Need Nobody” and “The One You Should’ve Let Go.” No sophomore slump here – the band was every bit as good all week as it was last year in its Cayamo debut, and by some accounts even better.

A late-night jam in Bar City featured an all-star cast of artists, along with some talented amateurs. The event was anchored, as it were, by John Fullbright at the piano, along with Tim Easton on mandolin and Birds of Chicago’s Allison Russell on clarinet. Song selections included the Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women,” among others.

 

Cayamo Day 3: Richard Thompson, John Prine, Rodney Crowell

By Paul T. Mueller

Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson

Legendary British folkie and guitar monster Richard Thompson played the first of his three sets at 1:00 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19, in the Norwegian Pearl’s Stardust Theater. Backing him in his Electric Trio were bassist Taras Prodaniuk and drummer Michael Jerome, and the result was for the most part a thunderous affair – too loud for at least a few attendees, in fact. But the musicianship was excellent as expected and the sound was clean, as the trio ripped through such Thompson favorites as “Sally B” (with a little Pete Townshend jump at the end), “You Can’t Win” (featuring an extended solo), the jazzy “Al Bowlly’s in Heaven,” and “Wall of Death,” another long jam. There were also some new songs – “Josephine” and “Amsterdam,” both acoustic tunes, and “Guitar Heroes,” a tribute to Thompson’s role models. Called back for an encore, Thompson showed his country side on “Tear Stained Letter.”

Rodney Crowell, a second-timer on the cruise, followed with an excellent set featuring guitarist Steuart Smith. Crowell opened with a new song, “East Houston Blues,” before moving on to more familiar territory, including “Sex and Gasoline,” “Moving Work of Art” and “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight.” He described the inspiration for a couple of songs dealing with HIV, both from his fine 2001 album The Houston Kid, and then played both – “I Wish It Would Rain,” mostly as a solo effort, and “Wandering Boy,” accompanied brilliantly by Smith. The anthemic “Still Learning How to Fly” and the sing-along favorite “Pancho and Lefty” followed, and Crowell finished with the moving “Til I Can Gain Control Again.”

Lyle Lovett’s Q & A show Monday at 5:00 was a mix of music and dry comedy. The questions, from audience members, covered such diverse topics as Lovett’s recovery from injuries suffered during a run-in with a bull some years ago (he had high praise for his doctors); his experiences as a young artist playing in New York; what it’s like to have legendary drummer Russ Kunkel in his band, and even a question about how he stays so fit, from guest vocalist Shawn Colvin. The music included a fine rendition of “Friend of the Devil,” which Lovett recorded with Kunkel for a 1991 Grateful Dead tribute album; “Sleepwalking,” in response to a question about its enigmatic writer, Willis Alan Ramsey, and the inevitable “If I Had a Boat.”

Kacey Musgraves and John Prine

Kacey Musgraves and John Prine

Monday evening’s “Blind Faith” show was one of the week’s highlights. Admission was restricted to Cayamo 2014 passengers who put down deposits on this year’s cruise before the lineup was announced. Monday’s performers, whose identity was kept secret right up until showtime, turned out to be veteran singer-songwriter John Prine and rising country star Kacey Musgraves. It was an inspired pairing – each brought an impressive list of songs and the chemistry between them was (to borrow a word from the loquacious Jim Lauderdale) palpable. Prine’s selections included “Spanish Pipedream,” “Fish and Whistle,” “One Red Rose” and “That’s the Way the World Goes Round” (complete with a funny story about a fan who misheard a lyric as “happy enchilada”). Musgraves’ offerings included “The Trailer Song,” “Merry Go ‘Round” and “Follow Your Arrow” and a couple of new songs, “Biscuits” and “Pageant Material.” Most were funny and all carried a serious message along with the wordplay. Prine and Musgraves teamed up on the Prine classics “In Spite of Ourselves” and “Angel from Montgomery,” but the best moment might have come when Musgraves sang her own “John Prine,” in which she confesses a desire to “burn one with John Prine,” and Prine followed with his pot paean “Illegal Smile,” with help from the audience on the choruses. It was a classic Cayamo moment. Prine closed the show with a nice rendition of his environmental anthem “Paradise.”

A quick visit to the pool deck found Lucinda Williams and her band finishing up their show with a soulful reading of Gregg Allman’s “It’s Not My Cross to Bear,” followed by the rocking “Joy” and “Get Right with God.”

Soundcheck winner Amy Speace played the first of her three sets in the Spinnaker Lounge. She wisely brought along two of her East Nashville neighbors and friends, guitarist Tim Easton and fiddler Megan Palmer, and they did a fine job on such excellent tunes as “The Fortunate Ones,” “The Killer in Me” and “Hunter Moon.” Many of Speace’s lyrics deal with relationships, often troubled ones, and her sharp writing and world-class voice make for an emotionally moving performance. The seemingly omnipresent John Fullbright put in a guest appearance for the lovely “The Sea and the Shore.” Speace ended her set with “Hymn for the Crossing,” a funeral song, but one with a joyous message. “Don’t need a golden box for my bones/Don’t need your weeping and wailing,” Speace sang. “Don’t need my name carved into stone/Just sing me a hymn for the crossing.”

Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Michelle Malone has a reputation for being a fiery rocker, but she’s equally at home with quieter material. Toward the end of her Monday night Atrium show she performed a cool, jazzy take on the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” taken from the introspective Acoustic Winter album from last year. Things got livelier with the new song “When I Grow Up,” a fun and hopeful anthem; the Stratocaster-fueled “Teen Lament,” on which she got help from Black Lillies frontman Cruz Contreras and Alabama singer-songwriter Kristy Lee, and “Feather in a Hurricane.”