Sounds Local: Returning to their roots: The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow brings annual Mountain Day festival to Berkshire East on Saturday
Published: 06-11-2025 3:11 PM |
When the Whiskey Treaty Roadshow performed at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton in April, it was a good old-fashioned foot stompin’ rockin’ dance party complete with plenty of sing-alongs. Everyone had a great time, and it’s guaranteed to be more of the same when the band hosts their fourth annual Mountain Day festival at Berkshire East Ski Resort in Charlemont on Saturday, June 14, at 4 p.m.
In previous years, the festival took place at Bousquet Mountain in Pittsfield, including last year when it featured a full lineup of guest performers. However, with the move to the new location, the Whiskey Treaty Roadshow will be the only band performing.
The group consists of four songwriters — Tory Hanna, David Tanklefsky, Greg Smith and Chris Merenda — who swap off on lead vocals and accompany themselves on guitar, banjo and trumpet. (Billy Keene left the group earlier this year to move to North Carolina and focus on his solo career.) In January 2020, the band released its debut studio album, “Band Together,” featuring Steve Gorman (The Black Crowes) on drums and Pat Sansone (Wilco) on bass. They have played at the Green River Festival, FreshGrass, the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival, The Rock Boat, Strange Creek, and more. They were also the winners of the 2022 New England Music Awards for folk rock act of the year.
“This year, Bousquet has slowed down with their summer shows and may not even do any, and we wanted to keep Mountain Day going, so we decided to bring it to Berkshire East, which is in some way more of our home base than the Berkshires because we started in Franklin County,” said Shelburne Falls native Tory Hanna. “We have had some amazing summer shows at Berkshire East. They have this new stage set up at the base of the hill, and honestly, people come out in hordes, and it’s really fun.”
Hanna went on to say that the Mountain Day Festival first came about when one of their old pals, Andy Wrba, who has played bass with the band, was setting up a summer concert series at Bousquet Mountain and invited the Treaty to play. “We wanted to make it something bigger, and since we had always wanted to throw our own festival, Andy was totally down with the idea,” recalled Hanna.
At the first festival, each Treaty member went back to their roots and played their solo music, followed by a full band set. The following year, they invited the Cambridge-based musical collective, Session Americana, to open the festival. Then last year, Mountain Day was a full out festival with an extensive lineup of bands.
Now, with the move to Berkshire East, it once again will have a different format.
“This year, it’s just us, and we are going to play for a long time,” Hanna said with a laugh.” We are going to have two super long sets, and we are bringing in a special guest, Joe Nerney, who is a killer vocalist, sax and piano player.”
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Nerney is an old friend of band member Greg Smith, who is a Charlemont native and grew up near Berkshire East. “Greg is loved at Berkshire East. He does a lot of solo work there in the winter, so this is sort of his turf.”
In other Treaty news, the band is currently recording a new album at 1357 Recording Studio in Greenfield.
“Most of it is new music that we haven’t put out, but some songs we have played and just haven’t recorded,” said Hanna of the upcoming release.
In addition, their banjo-driven cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” appeared on a recently released Springsteen tribute album called “Springsteen’s Country.” The album also includes contributions from the likes of Kenny Chesney, Emmylou Harris, and Travis Tritt. The Treaty’s cover of this song, which features each member taking a turn on vocals, originally appeared on their 2021 album, “Recovered.” They recorded “The Rising” and the other songs on that album during COVID because they wanted to provide listeners with a collection of uplifting songs at a time when people needed it most.
“We are really stoked,” said Hanna about the song’s inclusion on the album. “They reached out to us in the fall and said we really like ‘The Rising’ and we’d like to put it out on this compilation album are you OK with that?”
The band didn’t have to think long to answer the question, especially considering the company they are keeping on this project. “It’s a wicked honor, and we love Springsteen. We are feeling a lot of love from that album,” he added.
Those good feelings will no doubt continue at the Mountain Day Festival.
Tickets are $20 in advance and available at www.berkshireeast.com, or $25 at the door.
Juneteenth is only a week away, and Jake Blount, an award-winning scholar and musician who has extensively studied and performed traditional African-American music, will honor the upcoming holiday with a special Juneteenth Celebration concert at the Deerfield Community Center, 16 Memorial St., on Friday, June 13, at 7 p.m.
Blount, whose music is described as ”Afrofuturist folklore,” recently received a Masters degree in Musicology and Ethnomusicology from Brown University. He is a multi-instrumentalist who performs on banjo, fiddle, electric guitar, and synthesizer. He delves into old country, bluegrass, and roots music and, in doing so, reclaims his ancestors’ stories and their roles in the creation of this music.
Black musicians who were vital in creating the music commonly lumped under the banner of “old time” were written out of that narrative, and Blount is one of the musicians working today to rewrite that narrative.
A resident of Providence, Rhode Island, Blount picked up the guitar at the age of 14, focusing on rock and funk. However, that all changed after the death of Trayvon Martin, which had such an impact on him that it sent him down the path of learning about the history of African American music.
On his debut album, “Spider Tales,” which was released in 2020, he recorded a collection of African American blues, shuffles, and fiddle tunes. The album was well-received for showcasing his musical skills and for presenting this music in a new light. Blount’s two most recent albums, “The New Faith” and “Symbiont,” were released by Smithsonian Folkways Records as part of their African-American Legacy Series.
He has performed at the Newport Folk Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, and at many other venues and festivals across the globe.
We should note that June is African American Music Appreciation Month, celebrated here in the United States to recognize the contributions of Black musicians, composers, singers, and songwriters. This celebration recognizes the profound impact of African American musical traditions on American culture and music.
There are limited tickets available for this Juneteenth Celebration, and they can be purchased at Historicdeerfield.org.
Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer who resides in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national publications. She can be reached at soundslocal@yahoo.com.