This past weekend brought the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music & Dance to Pittsboro, NC. The 18th edition of the gathering presented by Donna the Buffalo brought a stable of headliners to central North Carolina including Hiss Golden Messenger, Andy Frasco & The U.N., and Eric Krasno Trio. During the latter’s set, the titular guitarist welcomed one of North Carolina’s own, Kyle Travers (Travers Brothership), to lend a hand on The Allman Brothers Band‘s “Dreams”.
For his Trio, Krasno was joined by Otis McDonald (drums/vocals) and Eric Finland (keys). The lineup was a reduction for Travers, whose local favorite band Travers Brothership recently debuted a revamped lineup featuring Logan Jayne (drums), Marcus White (keys), and Oliver Snow (bass). In that absence of instrumentation, Krasno and Travers were able to fill in the gaps, hurling guitar licks back and forth in a friendly duel. Meanwhile, McDonald held down the jazz-inspired rhythm while howling out his best Gregg Allman.
Travers wrote of the experience on social media,
When Travers Brothership first started I was working 12hr shifts in a warehouse in Hickory, NC. I spent all the daylight hours of my day loading and unloading cabinets off of semi-trucks, I remember I’d go into the warehouse before the sun came up and leave after it went down.
During that period I was listening to Lettuce every shift. Their groove based music made my shift seem to go by quicker and I was able to dance and get down as I worked, my hand truck my dance partner. Hahaha. After a while my coworkers (who all listened to rap and hip-hop) grew curious as to why I was getting down so hard and finally allowed me to play my music on the crew’s Bluetooth speaker. THEY LOVED IT! Eventually we would all take turns spitting verses to Lettuce’s instrumentals.
Soon after I found Soulive and the solo records Kras has made. The Brothership even started to cover ‘Madison Square’ ‘Butter Biscuit’ and ‘Curse Lifter’ (and we still do sometimes) at TB shows. I can’t say how much this cat’s music has influenced mine throughout the years.
Anywho, this was an absolute honor. Thank you so much Kras for having me up. Can’t wait to do it again sometime. I can’t say how happy I am that this sit-in transpired, and that it was captured for everyone to see.
So much love to each and everyone of you.Â
Watch Kyle Travers sit in with Eric Krasno Trio on Friday for The Allman Brothers Band’s “Dreams” at Shakori Hills Festival.
Eric Krasno Trio, Kyle Travers – “Dreams” (Allman Brothers Band) – 10/7/22