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Photos by Ana Gibert

Hailing from Texas’ own music city, Austin, Shakey Graves is a hat act without the twang, he just wears the working cowhand’s hat. Showing up with an acoustic guitar and a throbbing kick drum, Graves picks like he was born with a guitar in his hand, and those two instruments sound like he’s got a full band backing him. How a man can sing about making a dollar from the grave on a song called “Roll the Bones,” and still make an entire audience smile is beyond me, but he does it. Graves (known to his Mom as Alejandro Rose-Garcia) shortly, however, he turned out Patrick O’Connor (guitar), John shocks and Chris Busano, his actual band. Graves is an engaging showman, constantly mugging from song to song, moving into selections from the new CD, Can’t Wake Up, released only a couple of weeks ago. One new tune, “Dining Alone,” raised questions: How could Shakey Graves would write a song like that? I doubt that he has ever dined alone in his life, but somehow he makes it sound like fun.

Trombone Shorty brought his flashy moves and New Orleans funk to wine country, proving that everything goes with Cajun food and everything goes with Napa reds. ’Nuf said.

I’ve loved the Struts for a few years, and they have only improved—no easy feat. On the big Jam Stage at BottleRock, the Struts bounded out to near-deafening feedback and even louder cheers from the audience; irrepressible frontman Luke Spiller raced back and forth across the stage, all fringe and energy, connecting the crowd and the band with “12-3 Jump!” as if we all were tied to the same jolt of electricity—a real possibility. Delivering one tasty song after another, the Struts ranged the spectrum of rock, from new to old-school “The Kiss,” with heavy guitar riffs from guitarist Adam Slack, and heart-pounding rhythms from bassist Jed Elliott, and drummer Gethin Davies. Their version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” did the Boss proud, but, true to the lines in their opening number, “Put Your Hands Up,” “Gotta get it while it’s hot/Or you’ll be missing out/On  something that we got…We are the future.” Amen to that future, and thank you Jesus and the Struts.

If the Struts are the future, Earth, Wind & Fire are both the past and present, and a rich dose of each. Taking the stage with funky horns in red and gold, outfits in black and white and rhinestone, this band’s been electrifying stages and Top 10 lists for nearly a half century, but they sound as fresh and charismatic as they did when they changed the sound of black pop music in 1969. Having sold over 90 million records and counting, you’d think they might at least relax on their laurels, but no, they sang and danced like twenty-somethings, and brought a bopping crowd along with them. With that much talent and history behind them, their set wasn’t long enough to go through all the hits. They started out with “Sing a Song,”and for the second song, “Shining Star” the sweet scent of medical marijuana wafted through the dancing crowd; by their final songs, with included “September,” there wasn’t a sad eye or a seated butt in the house.

I knew the Chainsmokers from their pop hits like “Closer,” with Halsey, and looked forward to seeing them for the first time. I was mistaken. We’re going to get some mail on this, but this EDM DJ duo appeared in a Napa-Valley-caliber clouds of smoke and explosions that woke up neighboring cemeteries. The buff guys exhorted the crowd with repeated “Are you ready?” and its sister “Are you really ready?” The crowd went wild while the professionals in the photo pit looked at one another with their own question, which was: “Really?” One number bled into another, and to our surprise, we were informed the three-song limit had been reached, so time to leave the photo pit. I couldn’t tell we’d heard three songs, but I wasn’t anxious to question the command since I’ve rarely been so happy to exit a performance. If you want a good dose of the Chainsmokers, my advice is to look at these photos, because the visuals are terrific, but the “music” is….not so much. Reminded of Julius Caesar’s “bread and circuses” solution to a difficult age, I thought, “Is this what we’ve come to?” As Esquire Magazine reported earlier on the Chainsmokers, “The duo brings all the worst cliches of the genre, and just might destroy it.” No disagreement here.

Happily one act out of the many at BottleRock didn’t put a dent in our enthusiasm, and we’ve still got two days to go.

—Suzanne Cadgène