By Jim Stanford on March 27, 2007
Can’t make it to Jazz Fest this year?
Jazz Fest is coming to you.
The Neville Brothers, funk, jazz and R&B masters known as the heart and soul of New Orleans, will perform at Targhee Fest this summer.
The festival is slated for July 13-15 at Grand Targhee Resort in Alta, Wyo.
Organizers are close to finalizing a deal with fellow New Orleans funksters Galactic to perform as well.
The Nevilles are slated for Saturday, July 14, and would be followed by Galactic on Sunday.
Also booked are Louisiana slide guitarist Sonny Landreth, singer-songwriters Iris DeMent and David Wilcox, and country-blues tunesmith Kelly Joe Phelps. More artists are yet to come.
The addition of the Nevilles gives Targhee two dynamite lineups for its summer festivals. The 20th annual Bluegrass Fest on Aug. 10-12 will feature Yonder Mountain String Band, Sam Bush and David Grisman (in two bands).
Galactic gets its groove on at the Mangy Moose last summer.
This will be the first time the Neville Brothers have performed together in the Jackson Hole area and likely their first gig in Wyoming.
The band is anchored by the angelic-voiced Gospel Brother, Aaron Neville; the fiery Conga Brother, Cyril Neville; “Poppa Funk,” keyboardist Art Neville; and “Doctor” Charles Neville on saxophone. Aaron’s son Ivan Neville also sits in on keyboards.
New Orleans’ first family of funk traditionally closes out the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival each May, but the band has abdicated that role since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005, scattering the brothers across different cities.
The band has toured with the Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones and recorded 16 albums, notably the Grammy-winning Yellow Moon in 1989. Among their many well-known songs are “Hey Pocky-a-Way,” “Aiko-Aiko,” “My Blood” and “Shake Your Tambourine.” Their cover of Doby Gray’s “Drift Away” also is a classic.
Poppa Funk sets the soul free at the 2005 New Orleans Jazz Fest.
Art Neville recorded hits as early as the 1950s, and Aaron Neville enjoyed huge pop success in the 1980s singing duets with Linda Ronstandt and other artists. Art Neville also is keyboardist for the popular funk-rock group The Meters.
The Nevilles will bring the fi-yo of the Bayou to an aspen-lined ski slope at 8,000 feet and have the sandal-clad crowd doing the Mardi Gras Mambo.
Having Poppa Funk perform his sun-drenched keyboard melodies in the splendor of the Tetons is a dream come true for the legion of Jackson Hole Jazz Festers.
And the thought of Aaron Neville belting out his divine “Amazing Grace” as the sun goes down, or beneath a starry mountain sky, sends a tingle down the spine. A coup for Targhee, and a moment not to be missed.
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YouTube has a clip of the Neville Brothers and The Meters doing “Fiyo on the Bayou” on the Late Show With David Letterman last year.
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Here’s the full lineup for the Targhee Bluegrass Festival:
Friday, Aug. 10
4:00 PM Danny Barnes
6:00 PM The Wilders
8:00 PM Yonder Mountain String Band
Saturday, Aug. 11
12:00 PM Martha Scanlan
1:30 PM Tony Trischka
3:00 PM Kane’s River
5:00 PM Seldom Scene
7:00 PM David Grisman Bluegrass Experience
9:00 PM Sam Bush Band
Sunday, Aug. 12
12:00 PM Darol Anger & Mike Marshall
1:30 PM Larry Keel and Natural Bridge
3:00 PM Carolina Chocolate Drops
5:00 PM David Grisman Quintet
Or you could just go to Jazz Fest. Try as they might, Targhee can’t possibly replicate that delta swamp smell….
I was looking at the cubes the other night and wishing I was going.
we’ll take what we can get in the high country!