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Apr 25, 2023 By Mark Moody Photography by Christa Joyner Moody Web Exclusive

Driving north out of Florida in the springtime with every homebound “snow bird” is an ill advised activity. But if your destination is North Charleston’s High Water Festival it’s worth the hassle. This was our third year covering the Americana forward festival and first for Under the Radar. No doubt, the Shovels & Rope curated event is one worthy of attending regardless of line-up given its cosy confines and laid back vibe. It certainly doesn’t hurt though when your line-up is a stellar one full of artists we haven’t covered before.

First up for us on Saturday was Kentucky’s S.G. Goodman. Being a big fan of Goodman’s Old Time Feeling album from a few years back, it was great to hear that album’s title song and “Space And Time” in good and greasy live performances. Goodman trades on her backwoods vernacular and also got in an extended and funny story on fellow Kentuckian Tyler Childers. Extended takes on “Work Until I Die,” with a sly reference to an Alabama song, and a Waylon Jennings cover showed Goodman firmly rooted in her place in history. Next up on the main stage was Sierra Ferrell (one of our favourites of the weekend who we hadn’t seen before). A country and bluegrass traditionalist, Ferrell was backed by an acoustic trio and accompanied herself on guitar and fiddle throughout the set. An expert at making covers her own, her take on Willie Nelson’s “Seven Spanish Angels” was pristine, while “Give It Time” and “Bells Of Every Chapel,” from 2021’s Long Time Coming album, were also particularly fine.

Not everything on the High Water agenda comes with a country accent and the rest of day’s acts we covered bore that out. Regardless of your view on Jack Antonoff and his outfit Bleachers, Antonoff pulled off the most stunning guest slot of the festival. Two songs into the set, Antonoff casually introduced Lana Del Rey to the stage. Purportedly Del Rey’s first live performance in four years, she and Antonoff performed the gorgeous duet “Margaret” from Del Rey’s just released album. Antonoff knows how to throw a party with dual saxes leading the way on hits from 2017’s Gone Now, like “Let’s Get Married” and “I Miss Those Days.” Next days headliner, Beck, also joined Antonoff on stage for a somewhat head scratching cover of Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough.”

Second to last act for the night, Father John Misty, put on one of the best sets of the festival pulling from his earliest work up through last year’s return to form, Chloë and The Next 20th Century. Not short on the dramatics, with a few drop to the knees moments, Misty lead off with a smouldering take on “The Next 20th Century.” Shrouded in darkness or moody blue lights for most of the set, other highlights included a crowd sing-along inducing “Mr. Tillman” and the country tinged ode to a grieved cat, “Goodbye Mr. Blue.” The closer for the night, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, from the Carolina to the north, gave their fans what they want in high spirited takes on favourites “Devil Like Me” and “Cocaine Jesus.” Not your grandmother’s gospel music.

On a Sunday that threatened rain, thankfully none ever came. But making it rain was a fun and stellar set courtesy of the Black Opry Revue. The Revue consists of a loose collective of approximately 200 Black artists that haven’t historically had access in the country genre. Backed by a three piece “house band,” fronted by the incredible guitar work of Ping Rose, the artists on hand for this festival included Aaron Vance, Tylar Bryant, Nikki Morgan, Jett Holden, Julie Williams and Roberta Lee. Each artist took a turn at the mic with celebratory side stage support from the others and frankly from the crowd of fans out front at well. Vance opened with a twangy tune that could have easily fit in Alan Jackson’s catalog, Bryant aligns more with the new country movement with his witty “Outside The Box Of Wine,” Williams played a song and served as de facto spokesperson for the Revue’s mission, and Lee closed it out with a blustery blues tune.

On a day where recent Under the Radar cover artist, Ezra Furman, was scheduled to perform, sadly she was a last minute scratch due to a brief illness. But the following main stage set from the masked Orville Peck was a wildly entertaining one. Pulling heavily from last year’s Bronco album, Peck and his band sounded great on classic country and Elvis inspired songs such as “Curse of the Blackened Eye” and “Daytona Sands.” Peck also won over the crowd with his dialogue with a five-year old fully decked out cowgirl sitting on the rail. She and her mom were invited backstage for an impromptu photo op. Nicest moment of the festival for sure and representative of the low key atmosphere. Angel Olsen followed back on the smaller stage and put up quite a squall given her recent move to a softer, countrified sound. Olsen was in a mischievous mood which found her joking about a new song they wrote in the parking lot before ripping into “Shut Up Kiss Me.” Plenty of songs from last year’s Big Time album were also on display.

Though historically the festival hosts, Shovels & Rope, have played on the main stage, they wedged their set between those of Wilco and Beck. Wilco played a tight hour and fifteen minute set with only a few songs pulled from last year’s Cruel Country. Eric Slick joined the band on stage for a loose take of “Handshake Drugs” and of course guitarist Nels Cline put on a clinic with solos on songs like “Impossible Germany.” Jeff Tweedy and company were in fine form and the shortened set assured there was no room for filler. Shovels & Rope followed on the smaller stage and always receives a warm welcome from their hometown crowd. Having seen the band many times, their marquee song “Birmingham” was notably absent, but the set didn’t suffer for it.

The festival was closed out by the king of festival sets, the ever present Beck. With a darkened stage, Beck appeared playing solo with acoustic guitar. Five songs in, including a cover of Neil Young’s “Old Man,” it wasn’t clear if Beck was playing a full solo set, but he was joined by his band for “Devil’s Haircut” and the remainder of a 32 (!) song set including other favourites like “Debra” and “Dreams.” He closed out his set with a fitting cover of Daniel Johnston’s “True Love Will Find You In The End.” Bringing the two day festival to successful close and a realization that High Water always gets it right. The Americana leaning festival has made a point to bring diverse artists across a broad array of genres and for that we should all be grateful.