The grassroots approach worked for The Bridge, locally at least. And Baltimoreans have a fierce kind of loyalty to their own. That loyalty was most evident at this summer’s All Good Music Festival – at which, The Bridge, as usual, was in attendance.
The Bridge has played All Good Music Festival seven years in a row. And on a cloudless afternoon in mid-July, they took the Crane Stage for the last time. The emcee introduced them by saying this would be their “final” All Good performance.
“But maybe we can convince them to come back next year,” he added. Wait a minute. What? I guess we’ve learned that all break-ups aren’t necessarily final. Remember when Phish broke up? As devastating as it was for some, it seemed inevitable for others. And it wound up being an inadvertent marketing strategy that even Jay-Z attempted: when you’ve reached a point of over saturation, create a need. Everybody loves a come back. If Phish’s break-up taught us anything it is how invigorating that down time can be for a band that feels it’s done all it can do.
Regardless of the confusing intro, familiar Natty Boh signs were held high that “final” Sunday at All Good – I didn’t see any other city represent as hard as Baltimore did all weekend. A purple Ed Reed Ravens jersey danced around on a stick like a scarecrow, a crazy totem in the sun, before eventually making its way onto the stage to sit in with the band.
“This is how Baltimore does it,” Kenny said. And then launched into his trademark human beat box routine while a seated Jacobs shredded a lap steel to pieces.
Despite their energetic All Good appearance I could hear the rumors spreading through the crowd. Suspicions persist among the fans – and with good reason. What causes a band with the substance and style of The Bridge to quit mid-stride, just on the heels of their biggest release?
Fans seem to be watching closely for signs of bad blood.
“I heard Kenny and Cris were fighting,” a friend said to me. “Don’t they seem kind of pissed at each other?”
“I don’t think so,” I said shaking my head. But I wasn’t so sure. That this band could spawn rumors like this was a testament to the power of their influence.
Band relationships are very much like romantic relationships, and the more personalities involved the harder it is to keep everybody happy. Bad blood seems a likely reason for a group of six to split. The stress of being broke and on the road is enough to make even close friends tire of each other’s company – come to think of it, especially close friends. But Kenny and Cris laugh off the rumors and continue to collaborate in wake of the news. They have already built the business bridges they need to sustain separate careers, and with the number of side projects the band has spawned, they each have several “bridges” to choose from.
As Cris noted in the band’s farewell letter: “One chapter ends so another one can begin.”
He has plenty to keep him busy and has learned that if you’re going to follow your muse you better not neglect her. He is just as excited about his new project, Cris Jacobs Band, featuring The Bridge’s Mike Gambone on drums, Jake Leckie on upright bass, and Dave Hadley on pedal steel guitar.
“The natural chemistry between us is scary good right off the bat, and I’ve been writing faster than ever before,” Cris said. “And yes, certain Bridge songs are definitely making their way into the repertoire, although they might sound a little different.”
In the meantime the band has promised to lay it down as always. I recently went to see them play a free concert in Baltimore to a record-setting crowd. Toward the end of their early evening set they broke out a fan favorite, “Born Ramblin’” – to which as always, many sang along with the well known refrain: “Home is where the van is.”
“That’s a sentimental one,” Kenny told the crowd afterward. And I thought so, too. The song expresses a romantic dream that a lot of young bands share. But the reality is that after playing 200 or more shows a year one’s sense of home gets skewed.
The Bridge has always reminded me of The Band – they’re a real band’s band. These guys have developed some serious chops on stage, so it’s a shame to see them hang it up. But you can’t blame any one of them. The money just isn’t there. As Jacobs admitted in his letter, “The economy won.” The Bridge’s last waltz will be their annual Thanksgiving eve show this fall in Baltimore.
And there is a silver lining to this story. The dream of rambling around the country in a van with your friends and calling it a career might be over for The Bridge as a collective, but the music will live on. As soon as they closed out the free show in Baltimore, Jacobs ran off to perform a solo set supporting The New Riders of the Purple Sage.
“I guess I haven’t learned my lesson,” he said. It’s true. He was born to be a rambler.
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