Angaleena Presley, Yola Carter, J.P. Harris and More Stretch Out at AmericanaFest

Saturday saw Music City reach peak AmericanaFest, with a smorgasbord of free day parties leading up to one last jam-packed night of concerts all over town. The Spin took in sets from singer-songwriters who drew on country, soul and folk, as well as a pop band, an instrumental rock group with country roots and a psych band. Is all of that truly Americana? Maybe. Did that philosophical question have any impact on how good the shows were? Not a bit.

In the same way you can't go wrong choosing restaurants favored by talented chefs, it's a pretty good rule of thumb that any festival gig with musicians in the audience is going to be a good one. So when we rolled up to The Groove for the Bootleg BBQ and realized we were standing right next to the Indigo Girls' Amy Ray, we knew we were in the right spot.

In its fifth year at AmericanaFest, the Bootleg BBQ is a production of the Americana Music Association U.K. and the website The Line of Best Fit, and hosted by BBC radio and TV personality Baylen Leonard. Billed as showcasing the best of the U.K.'s Americana talent as well as some U.S. up-and-comers, this year's BBQ featured a group of top-shelf musicians who happen to be women.

After a cornbread bowl from The Gambling Stick out front, we made our way to The Groove's backyard just in time for the beginning of Yola Carter's set. Carter, the AMA U.K.’s Artist of the Year, is a force on stage, commanding the attention of even the chit-chattiest BBQ-goers with a set of new songs from an as-yet-unrecorded album. It's hard to choose standout moments from Carter — who may well have the best voice at the festival — but highlights were the darkly spiritual “Corey's Song” and the bittersweet gospel-funk of "Free to Roam," the latter of which Carter touchingly dedicated to her late mother.

Another amazing voice took center stage when Courtney Marie Andrews and her band started their set. She played a handful of tunes — including the sarcastic kiss-off “How Quickly Your Heart Mends” and the warm, Laurel Canyon-esque “Irene” — from her critically acclaimed most recent album Honest Life. Andrews showed off her agile vocals throughout her short set, effortlessly rising from a quiet warble to a robust belt, easily traversing the boundaries between folk, pop and soul.

Hometown hero Angaleena Presley closed out the afternoon, taking the stage in a watermelon-print dress. It's hard not to smile when watching Presley, who could probably have a side gig as a comedian if she ever felt so inclined. Her set began with the tongue-in-cheek “Bless My Heart,” one of many great tracks from her excellent latest album Wrangled. She played a fair number of tunes from that album's predecessor American Middle Class, including the sharp title track and the darkly comic “Knocked Up.” Before playing the Wrangled highlight “Country” — which included a verse from Dolly Parton's “9 to 5” in place of Yelawolf’s rap from the studio version — Presley lamented the lack of women getting airtime on country radio, saying, “If I can kick down the door to make that happen, that's what I'm gonna do.” Right on.

Around rock o’clock, we headed up Cannery Row to get one last dose of AmericanaFest 2017. We started on the ground floor at Cannery Ballroom, where Escondido was deep into a set of mellowed-out pop with a bit of a desert-y twang. Jessica Maros and Tyler James were in fine voice, and their latest single “Darkness” gave off a Mazzy Star vibe — something we can always get behind.

In the Mercy Lounge, J.P. Harris led a superb band through some choice honky-tonk tunes. There were amped-up rockers and slow burners — serious dance music, which got some folks twirling and dipping. There were old tunes like perpetual favorite “Two for the Road,” and there were new ones from an album that Harris had just finished recording. One of the new cuts was a somewhat experimental stretch for a musician who usually hews close to traditional forms, played with five gently picked guitars and featuring a special guest appearance by the Watson Twins on harmony vocals. It had just a touch of Neil Diamond’s schmaltz in it, but not so much as to obscure the important message. “Women in the music business have the deck stacked against them in a lot of ways,” Harris explained as he introduced the song, “especially if they don’t conform to conventional beauty standards or conventional gender roles.” If this song is any indication, the new record is going to be dynamite when it’s released.

Up the ramp at The High Watt, Steelism wound their way through instrumental cuts from their new record ism with a few catalog classics sprinkled in. None of the guest vocalists who appear on ism performed with the band, but touring and session MVP (and former Deer Tick member) Robbie Crowell sat in on keys, and we had a high old time anyway. Their country-funk-krautrock-Morricone jams are always a treat, partly because they exemplify a perfect way to extend a vital Music City tradition — namely, marrying incredible technical skill to a deft emotional response and a smart sense of humor. It worked well on Kesha’s new album, Rainbow (in case you missed it, Steelism is the backing band for Kesha’s duet with Dolly Parton on “Old Flames”), and we recommend you let it work its magic on you when you get a chance. (Your next opportunity, by the way, will be during Pilgrimage Festival on Saturday, Sept. 23, when the band backs Ruby Amanfu.)

Liz Cooper and the Stampede, on the other hand, did have a parade of guest vocalists, because Cooper had lost her voice. She introduced each with a giant cue card, and they were all topflight, especially Leah Blevins (with a harmony assist from her sister), Molly Parden and Ron Gallo, the latter of whom wore a red jumpsuit that matched Cooper’s. Becca Mancari, though, came close to bringing down the house during “The Night.” Not having to sing freed Cooper up to shred without compromise, and she took full advantage of the situation, beaming her infectious grin as she raced up and down the fretboard. If there’s any better way to end a festival, we couldn’t think of it, so we called it night.