Annual Jamfest Brings 7 Bands to the Granite State

The 4th annual Jamfest — an annual music festival featuring local bands — started in 2021 when event organizer and founder Gavin Key of Keene, was trying to think of a way to welcome more live music to Keene. It takes place this Saturday, June 22nd at Granite Gorge Mountain Park in Roxbury, NH, just outside of Keene. The site is under new ownership and offers a year-round venue with a new restaurant: Roxbury Bar and Grill, a mountain bike park and live music in the summer and a ski area in the winter. "So, I thought my band — Kendall Row — should do a big show in the summer at Robin Hood Park Amphitheatre and then I added another band and another band, so it was a three-band bill. It was becoming a music festival, so I called it Jamfest. We had a great time," Key recalls in a recent phone call with The Keene Sentinel. Key graduated last month from Keene State College as a film production major. "Film is my career and music is just something I'm really passionate about. I've been playing in bands around Keene since I was 17 years old," Key adds. Key started Terrapin Sky — a multimedia company, with a focus on film production, live music, community engagement and more. Key has also just released a feature-length documentary, "Not Fade Away: A Celebration of the Grateful Dead Legacy." "It was free for the first two years but in order to get more bands, we are charging $20 for tickets this year, so we can pay the bands. It was all volunteer performances before that," Key says. "After we cover costs and pay the bands, if there is any money left, we will donate it to Let it Shine, the group that puts on the Keene Pumpkin Festival 2024," says Key. JAMFEST BANDS LINEUP Seguaro, a new band out of UNH in Durham, plays psychedelic, country music. Kendall Row, Gavin Key's band, does originals and Grateful Dead covers. The Matt Keller Band, from Keene, is sort of a jam band with lots of originals, indie rock, Phish and Goose covers. Blue Motel, from the Keene area, played in Jamfest 2022. This is one of their last gigs and a last chance to see them live, since they are retiring. They play indie, funk, R&B and Soul. All Night Boogie Band, from Burlington, VT, is a cool, old-school Blues band with a female singer and a horn section. The Evocatives, from Keene, are kind of like No Doubt but with a saxophone player. Wolfman Jack, the headliner, is a band which plays full sets of Primal Dead, based around the legendary early years of Grateful Dead from 1965-1972. They'll be playing from 6:30 – 8 p.m. WOLFMAN JACK - HEADLINER Renowned drummer, Jack Betzen, started his band, Wolfman Jack, in 2019. They play full sets of Primal Dead, based around the legendary early years of the Grateful Dead (1965-1972). Betzen, of Alstead, also plays drums with The Garcia Project and Heart Farm. "Our plan is to do some vintage Dead 1969 at this year's Jamfest. We might even play the Live/Dead album because we have an hour and half set," Betzen adds. Wolfman Jack's lineup for Jamfest is: Brian Wood, on lead guitar and vocals; Geoffrey Williams on rhythm guitar and vocals; David Alderman, on bass and vocals; Justin Lopes on keyboards and B3 organ; David Noonan, plays second drums and Jackson Betzen, founder of Wolfman Jack, is on drums. With a monthly residency at Electric Haze in Worcester, MA and dates all around New England, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts, drummer Jack Betzen is not home much these days. When asked about which drum kit he uses, Betzen says, "I play a Gretsch Maple kit, it's a wonderful kit. Because it's all maple it has special warmth," he adds. Gretsch Drums, an iconic American Drum Brand, has manufactured drums for the last 140 years in Ridgeland, S.C. https://www.gretschdrums.com/. "I tune it up so it sounds very vintage. It's just the drumheads themselves. I get certain densities that they used to do back in the 1960s, which they don't carry nowadays," says Betzen. He explains that the drumheads are a little thinner and made out of different materials, so they have a better resonance to them. "We all do that as a band, we try to dial our gear in to be as vintage as possible. We don't play with any guitar pedals, it's just raw," says Betzen. When asked what stands out about this particular era of the Grateful Dead, Betzen says, "The nature of the music they were playing. It's very in the moment and anything is possible while still being held down to earth with a Bluesy, Rock and Roll feel to it. And a sense of security when they go far into the deep unknown, they always have that to come back to, thanks to Pigpen, on keys and harp."