ACL Stage Preview: AT&T's Sunday Lineup with Foo Fighters, Gnarls Barkley, Abigail Washburn and More
Remember that moment in those heady days at the beginning of this decade when O Brother, Where Art Thou? set off a crazed fascination with folk music of a certain ilk? Well, Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet is like something of that era, except with higher production values, and with a shot or two of Kronos Quartet mixed in for balance. The quartet features Washburn on vocals and clawhammer banjo, banjoist Béla Fleck (best known for his work with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones), cellist Ben Sollee, and Grammy-nominated fiddler Casey Driessen. All the musicians have some serious chops, and Washburn's voice moves easily between euphoric yodeling, a sweet singsong, and a breathy freak-folk yelp.
Adding to the audio milieu is the fact that Washburn is fluent in Mandarin and has recorded several songs in that language. The effect is both strange and mesmerizing -- a haunting kind of pastiche that hangs together shockingly well. Washburn and her posse will be breaking out the postmodern blue grass at 12:30 p.m. on the AT&T stage on Sunday. And, while it's a whole set of solid acts, Washburn is perhaps the act most worth disrupting your schedule for. The Sparrow Quartet produce something that is as old school and "traditional" as it is inspired and unusual, and that's something you don't stumble across too often.
Also on the docket for the day are TRL darlings Flyleaf, who offer a fine blend of teenaged angst and cheekbones and will take the stage at 2:30 p.m. The Texas natives have played with acts like Staind and 3 Doors Down, putting them in good post-alternative company. And, while it's not the sort of thing we usually go for, it's the kind of set your tweenager may well go gaga for, so if you're toting around someone young and surly with scene hair, you might score some points for letting him or her get thisclose to the stage for this one.
Those hankering for some indie rock can get their fix in the later part of the afternoon with L.A.-based Silversun Pickups. The quartet, set to hit the stage at 4:30 p.m., have an origin story that traces back to the Silver Lake scene, which has begat such hipster darlings as Rilo Kiley. They're currently plugging away on a new album to follow up on their 2006 LP, and, while the jury's out, the band seems to have secured a pretty solid place for themselves with a sound that's something like Smashing Pumpkins on mood stabilizers -- they've opened for the Kaiser Chiefs and Foo Fighters both, and that debut LP of theirs received a fairly solid slate of reviews.
Rounding out AT&Ts Sunday lineup are two acts who likely need little to no introduction, so we'll spare you, and just note that you can catch Gnarls Barkley at 6:30 and the Foo Fighters at 8:30.
