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Photos by Laura Carbone

The Dance Stage is a big draw at Charlestown, RI’s Rhythm & Roots festival, so you’ll see plenty of women wearing cowboy boots below short, filmy dresses, patchwork skirts or (of course) jeans, but everyone at R&R is wearing a big smile, and often Mardi Gras beads. Here, it’s always a party.

Few bands have the onstage party atmosphere evidenced by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue or Shinyribs, and we saw them both in one night here.

Trombone Shorty shows start with the energy and volume that characterize most acts’ closing tunes, and they keep the action going for about 90 minutes. Trombone Shorty came onstage to a blast of Richard Strauss, the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and built from there, if you can imagine.

No one stops moving onstage. Shorty himself doesn’t walk anywhere: he struts, he strides, he skips, he saults, he never, ever, stays still. Band members obviously have a great time. Continual hamming between musicians were fun to watch: the saxophonist spiritedly harassed drummer Joey Peebles, while the lead guitarist Peter Murano turned and showed off classic Guitar God moves to those of us watching from backstage.

Trombone Shorty plays everything to a T: Trombone, Trumpet and Tambourine take center stage, but his vocals and dance moves can’t be discounted; the energy is palpable, both from Shorty himself and the rest of the band. At one point he played with circular breathing, about five minutes solid. The front line musicians often synchronize dance moves, and one memorable riff went on for about 10 minutes as the six leads jammed. Drummer works his ass off, as he has for 20 years with the band.

I fell in love with Shinyribs at SXSW years ago, and while the band has become more serious lyrically, they’ve only gotten better. Leader Kevin Russell blends New Orleans funk with Texas blues to make an intoxicating cocktail you just don’t find anywhere else. Even when the band plays covers, it’s a sampling: The original “Take Me Lake Charles” morphs into “Take me to the river, wash me down,” then “rollin’ on a river,” then “Slow Ride,” leading into a Jimmy Buffett tribute (Buffett passed away that day) and “Margaritaville.” Again, beginning with the original “Who Built the Moon,” somehow along the way turns into Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” and ends with very credible yodeling. Really? Yes, really.

Russell and company are showmen. A middle-aged white James Brown or Michael Jackson, Russsell shimmies and slides, arms out to embrace a very willing crowd. Originals like “Devil’s Song,” joined new tunes from the new album Transit Damage, with a new seriousness, like “Instant Enlightenment,” and the memorable “Dark Cloud.”

I do miss the irreverent humor of the early days (like “Poor People’s Store,” about Walmart), but the tradeoff for the depth of the new album is worth it. Russell’s humor does come out in his patter: “My cousin doesn’t have all his teeth, but he has a silver tongue. He’ll talk you in or out of anything.” As he’s singing “wash me down,” he does exactly that onstage, scrubbing his substantial body with imaginary soap. Shiny ribs, indeed—these guys can wash me down any time.

—Suzanne Cadgène