orangeblossomrevue

Orange Blossom Revue 2022 | An Exercise in Radical Love

Words by Jason Earle
Photos by Jenn Ross

Photo by Jenn Ross

Friday, December 2, 2022

It’s Friday, the first week in December 2022. The stream of folks filing into the venue has slowed to a trickle as everyone stakes their vantage point. Lake Wales, FL, is a stunning if surprising place for a firepower filled festival. Allison Russell, The Wood Brothers, Katie Pruitt- the list of roots music luminaries reads suited for a destination like Durango or Asheville. Nine years in, Orange Blossom Revue (OBR) is more than up to the task of hosting such talent but the festival is nonetheless playing second fiddle tonight. 

Perhaps no cultural event save college football takes precedence over the high school variety of pigskin in Florida. Tonight, the local team is deep into the state playoffs with the game kicking off just before Langhorne Slim takes the stage. Camping, which was offered for the first time this year, has been moved to accommodate the considerable need for parking a traffic flow. The Lake Wales Highlanders public address announcer and OBR emcee Garrett Woodward are dueling with good news. The home team is walloping their opponent and OBR is welcoming standout after standout to the stage.

Langhorne Slim surveys the landscape. Katie Pruitt and Neal Francis have more than primed the crowd with spectacular sets. The weather is stunning. Jeans and a light jacket weather typical of Central Florida in the short days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Slim jumps down from the stage and walks over to the barricade that creates a photo pit. He exchanges a few pleasantries with folks along the barrier, then starts to dismantle it. A concerned security guard hustles to thwart Slim’s benevolent plans.

“These are my friends,” he protests.

Langhorne Slim’s objections are met with a stern head shake as he retreats back to the stage. He wears a white linen suit. His jacket drapes over a t-shirt emblazoned with an air-brushed muscle car. He looks like one of Wes Anderson's protagonists. He opens his mouth and sings like only he is directing. 

Slim is a show stealer. He can write circles around most great songwriters. His stage presence is worthy of your favorite British rock stars. And, he is able to connect with an audience like almost no other. That last bit was evidenced by his actions for his “friends.” If that evidence was insufficient, he is now climbing over the barricade to mingle with the same fans from which he was barred. If the fans can’t come to him, he will go to the fans. 

Photo by Jenn Ross

Jenn Ross is there capturing his movements with her deft eye. Ross’s reputation as a premier concert photographer continues to grow. She grabs the smile on Slim’s face as he hugs a fan. The bliss on the mugs of the crowd as they await a generous high-five. The passion our star exudes as he strums his guitar.

“Where do the great ones go when they die?” Slim sings during fan favorite Song for Sid

As if the two events have merged, nearby Lake Wales Highlanders fans erupt to cheer their team. Or are those screams for Sid and the loved ones he represents in each of our hearts? There is no line at the moment. We are synced - us here on the festival grounds and those pulling for their friends and family on the field. It is all one sound.

Langhorne Slim’s set would be an impossible follow for even the most seasoned performer. Margo Price is up next and she is more than the most seasoned performer. Price is a force for all the good bits we want to see in the world. She and her band are also one of the better live acts you’ll see. This set includes a costume change and a performance delivered with chip firm on shoulder. 

“Country music won’t play my ass so we’ll just play like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,” she exclaims to applause.

Country radio is missing out on a lot of incredible musicians, Margo and her band being among the royalty of that list. 

PPhoto by Jenn Ross

Camping being moved to the parking lot is a sweet turn of events. The camp hosts are on top of their game. The town’s namesake is within eyesight, a calming body of water adding accent to what is shaping up to be another perfect festival. The folks who organize this gathering are professionals. No scheduling conflicts. One stage. Thirty minutes between performances. Getting a drink or some food is a breeze. Everyone is kind and accommodating.

Always feels good to crawl into the tent after a night like this. Bearing witness to such beauty is a blessing.

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Saturday morning comes at just the right time. Up with the sun in the way nature intended. Its rise over Lake Wailes promises another gorgeous day. 

There are exactly two places to get breakfast right now. Lake Wales Family Restaurant sounds perfect. It is a busy place. Southern hospitality and standard fare. Laney Jones comes on at noon. Then we get Cat Ridgeway, John R. Miller, Son Little, the incomparable Allison Russell, and The Wood Brothers. Better to tackle such bounty on a full stomach.

This day, like the one before, is special, and the anticipation building for Allison Russell could not ask for better shepherds. Every performance is incredible.

Understanding the allure of Allison Russell requires context, including her presence as a member of Brandi Carlile’s Bramily. They are fanatic in the best sense of the word. Passionately inclusive. Filled with love and light. Evangelical in their support of all that is good in the world and steadfast in their rebuke of the things that are wrong.

Russell being embraced by Brandi and her Bramily is no happenstance and they are here along the rail, all the way from as far as Idaho. The group arrived as gates opened at noon and have been here for every stirring performance all day. Now they get to bask in the glow that is Allison Russell and her incredible band. 

Allison moves with an ethereal cadence- simultaneously hyper present and occupying a space outside of this world. To meet her is to feel love personified. The first time we met, she was on the other end of an internet connection graciously sitting down for an episode of The Marinade. At the end of that conversation her partner JT Nero interrupted with the thrilling, well-deserved news that her masterpiece Outside Child was nominated for three Grammy awards

Laney Jones, Cat Ridgeway, John R. Miller, and Son Little have all put on headline-worthy performances. On any other day they may be the centerpiece of a written recap. This is not any other day. Today is all about Allison Russell.

Earlier today we met in person and she revealed herself to be the embodiment of love, empathy, and joy she projects in interviews and on record. This singular essence permeates every aspect of her work as displayed by the grace she is now displaying on stage.

Orange Blossom Revue has been a near perfect experience but there has been an ongoing challenge with the sound. Many of the sets have started late as a result. 

Allison Russell is a master of her craft. This work matters a great deal and she wants to deliver for her audience. The band is chomping at the bit to play. The expectancy is palpable.

She closes her eyes, perhaps in commune with whatever spirit shepherds her unique connection to the music and the people who make it come to life. Her eyes open and she addresses us. Allison brings the passionate crowd into the moment. 

She explains the difficulty, thanks us for being patient, and invites us to be a part of the process. This is not a band fumbling through soundcheck as eager fans grow impatient. It is a shared moment where we are all actors in the performance.

Photo by Jenn Ross

Allison Russell and her incredible band slide into an a cappella version of her breathtaking tune “Hy-Brasil.” What could have been a frustrating few minutes is transformed into a beautiful expression of what makes her chosen family so special. 

This high moment ushers in another and another as we witness one of the most arresting musical performances this writer has ever experienced.

Orange Blossom Revue is cemented as a must attend the first week of December each year. Every performance is outstanding. Every moment is beautiful. We could write volumes about this weekend and the impact it has on so many, but the performances speak louder than these words.

The festival is happening just a couple of weeks after Florida’s incumbent governor won reelection in a landslide on the back of an anti-queer, anti-Black, anti-woman, anti-immigrant platform. The presence of Allison Russell - a queer, Black, immigrant woman - standing on stage near the center of the state, at one of its highest elevations, with her all female band, is a statement to be immortalized. 

Russell is steadfast in her pushback against bigotry but it is her refusal to let hate enter the equation that makes her a leader for our time. Music is so much more than great fun with perfect weather in a stunning locale. It is the sensational love and community of Langhorne Slim; and the radical empathy of Allison Russell. It is the defiance of Margo Price who refuses to be anyone but Margo. It is the intentionality of The Wood Brothers who use their platform to uplift diverse voices. It is embodied by the embrace of disparate worlds coming together in the radiant expression of Orange Blossom Revue.

Photo by Jenn Ross

 












Photo by Jenn Ross

Review Under Two: Orange Blossom Revue Music Festival

Review Under Two is a segment of The Marinade with Jason Earle podcast where host Jason Earle reviews an artistic work he finds inspiring in under two minutes.

Our Review Under Two for Episode 101 with singer-songwriter Tennessee Jet focuses on the Orange Blossom Revue music festival.

All Photos by Jenn Ross.

Legend has it a local Indian chief once fought an alligator to the death in Lake Wales, FL. As the story goes, if you put your car in neutral at the bottom of nearby Spook Hill, as your death machine rolls backward it will appear as though you are actually travelling uphill rather than down. Make sense? 

We are sitting at the foot of Spook Hill just before heading to the Orange Bloosom Revue, a two day festival boasting headliners The Wood Brothers and Blackberry Smoke, along with headline-worthy artists like Devon Gilfillian, Hayes Carll, and the Steeldrivers. 

We follow the directions on the garish sign marking this hallowed spot. Pull up to the line, put the car in neutral, and marvel at the magic that ensues. My creative partner Jenn Ross drops the car in neutral, the vessel begins to roll backward, and it feels like…a car in neutral rolling backward. 

Life during the COVID-19 pandemic has felt like a trip to Spook Hill- build up and excitement for what is around the corner just to feel like a car rolling downhill and back from whence it came. Truth felt like fiction and fiction closer to truth.

The Orange Blossom Revue festival in Lake Wales, FL, just about a mile from Spook Hill, bucked this trend. Rather than feeling like a car rolling downhill, Orange Blossom Revue was more akin to a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway- gorgeous scenery all around with the windows down. Not a care in the world. 

The healing power of music acting as a coupler to hold frayed parts of society together for two glorious days. After a quick glance around Lake Wales, FL, one would be forgiven for thinking this was little more than the birthplace of Florida Man. There is the Endtime: Christian School of Excellence, a bevy of flags supporting the 45th president, a handful in favor of the long-defunct Confederate States of America, and more than a few indications that the messages of folks like Hayes Carll and the Steeldrivers may not be welcome around these parts. And yet, it all made so much sense. 

Everyone checked their bullshit at the gate to enjoy a rush of performances by artists on top of their game. The lineup fitting within the parameters of the Americana genre while stretching from the blues-influence of Gilfillian, to the heady lyrics of Carll, jumping up against the grooves of The Wood Brothers, and venturing into the mass appeal of Blackberry Smoke. 

Orange Blossom Revue was an intimate festival in a forgotten part of the world. For those two days, Lake Wales and Orange Blossom Revue allowed attendees and artists to pause and be entertained by some of the finest musicians in Americana. A strong lineup, with no scheduling conflicts, and a low bright burn of beautiful performances.