Only one show remained on the final night of the 2024 Bellingham Exit Music & Arts Festival: Bonny Light Horseman at the Wild Buffalo House of Music. To say the trio — Anaïs Mitchell (Hadestown), Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats, The Shins), and Josh Kaufman (The National, Hiss Golden Messenger, Josh Ritter) — brought the festival to a wonderfully satisfying close would be a vast understatement.
The band’s set at the wildly festooned Wild Buffalo concert space reflected exactly what Bellingham Exit strove to achieve: a sold-out, enthusiastic audience sharing love of live music with a band that performs with abandon, humor, and just enough quirkiness to keep the proceedings aligned with Bellingham’s uniqueness.
Bonny Light Horseman’s music breaks ground on an emerging genre: New American Folk. Distinct from the catch-all, and ultimately vague term, “Americana,” its melodies flow from traditional folk musical patterns and lyrical traditions but incorporate pop accessibility with a tinge of world-weariness. Mitchell, in particular, has been singled out as “the most engaging, and in some ways, most original artist currently working in the field of new American folk music.”
Formed in 2018 at Eaux Claires, a two-day music and arts festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the trio’s first sessions led to a formal commitment to record and perform in a more official capacity. Their self-titled debut album was released just over a year later, in January 2020. Containing a mix of traditional British folk songs and original material, it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Folk Album category. A second album, Rolling Golden Holy, came out in October 2022. The band’s third effort, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free, was released in June 2024 and supporting it has kept Bonny Light Horseman on the road throughout the USA ever since, with dates in Europe to follow in November.
On Oct. 13, the densely packed, passionate Wild Buffalo crowd was treated to a 21-song setlist of gorgeous melodies and harmonies that stretched out for nearly two hours. Toronto-based Charlotte Cornfield opened the evening with a 40-minute set drawn largely from her 2023 release, Could Have Done Anything (Double Double Whammy). Alternating between electric guitar and keyboards, Cornfield’s deceptively simple melodies contrasted with imagery-rich lyrics delivered with sweet honesty and playful wit.
After a short break to rearrange the stage, Bonny Light Horseman appeared, opening with a resplendent “Lover Take it Easy” from the new album. “The Roving” showcased Anaïs’s lovely, expressive singing and took us back in time to the band’s debut album. As the show steadily gained momentum, band members exchanged wide grins, leaning into the music as the audience, pressed up against the stage rail danced, laughed, and sang along.
“California” turned up the rhythm with its faintly bluegrassy feel, was followed by a subdued “Jane Jane” and the lovely ballad, “Your Arms (All the Time).” “Hare and Hound,” its Irish jig tones revealing the trio’s affinity for British folk. Anaïs again took the spotlight with the hymn-like “Keep Me on Your Mind” to close out the first hour.
Stream Bonny Light Horseman’s 2024 album, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free, on Spotify:
“Exile,” a funky, shuffling banjo tune opened up the second half of the show, highlighting once again the trio’s gorgeous harmonies. After the Dave Von Ronk cover, “Green Rocky Road,” a lovely “Fleur de Lis” drew us completely into the band’s musically intimate space.
Anyone who’s made a hobby (or a career) of attending concerts has a sixth sense about a show’s pacing and its approaching conclusion. There’s always a sense of sadness comingled with the anticipation of a big finish. As the band performed “See You Free,” “Old Dutch,” and the lullaby “Rock the Cradle” (with Kaufman taking lead vocals), those contradictory feelings of sadness and elation began to take hold.
Watch Bonny Light Horseman perform “Old Dutch” live on CBS Saturday Morning via YouTube:
The set ended with “I Know You Know” before the band returned for the encore which included the signature tune, “Bonny Light Horseman,” from the first album, and the melodically fun, quirky “Sweetbread,” it’s deadly serious lyrics nonetheless yearning for release from life’s temptations: “Sweetbread when I’m hungry, red liquor when I’m dry, take a lover when I’m lonely, blue sky, Lord, when I die.”
Watch the official music video of “I Know You Know” by Bonny Light Horseman on YouTube.
As the night faded and we headed out into the Bellingham night, the unmistakable scent of fall in the air, I reflected on my first Bellingham Exit. No superstar bands, no huge crowds, just an unmistakable sense of joy and belonging to those of us who were lucky enough to attend, whether in an ice cream shop, a local bar, an elegant theatre, or the Wild Buffalo’s House of Music.
Co-founded by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) in 2015, the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival was conceived to combat what he described as “all the things I hate at festivals: really loud music all the time, no breaks, bad food, all that kind of thing.” Although the Eaux Claires festival has been on extended hiatus since 2018, it nonetheless gave the world Bonny Light Horseman. That the trio is still going strong and brought the 2nd annual Bellingham Exit to a thrilling conclusion, signals good things for the future of Bellingham’s own homegrown music and arts festival.
Bonny Light Horseman (along with Aoife O’Donovan) is scheduled to play the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall on October 22nd and will perform orchestral arrangements by Bryce Dessner, as well as music from the new album.
Find tickets, music, video, and more at Bonny Light Horseman’s website.
Here are some more photos of Bonny Light Horseman at the Wild Buffalo on Oct. 13, 2024. All photos courtesy of and copyright Mark Caicedo.
