The summer concert market seems to have saturated itself with a plethora of festival tours (HORDE, Ozzfest) and glam-based stadium rock (U2).

It is refreshing to find that quality music does exist on a smaller scale and at a smaller ticket price. It is most prevalent in the uniquely styled music of Rusted Root.

On tour with Santana

Opening this summer for guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana, Rusted Root certainly has its work cut out for it. Being asked to open for such a prestigious rock act can certainly put your musical style in perspective, as Rusted Root percussionist Jim Donovan would say.

“It’s like being in school again,” Donovan said during a phone interview last Friday from his hotel room in Boise, Idaho. It was on the opening night of the Santana tour.

“It’s rewarding to be on our own because we get to play longer. But it’s also rewarding to play with someone who’s been in the business for 20 to 25 years.”

From listening to Rusted Root’s major label records (“When I Woke” and “Remember”), it is easy to categorize them within the same genre as groups like Santana — most of the band’s musical influences come from sporadic points on the globe and not just the contemporary scene.

But the band would say it is entirely unconscious of how it incorporates its worldly influences in its songs.

“We might record a song and then later on, after listening to it, we might say ‘Oh, that has a sort of African beat to it,'” Donovan said. “But we don’t claim ownership to any of our musical influences. I believe that everyone gets their influences from the same place, you know, the Great…Whatever.”

The “Great Whatever”

If the “Great Whatever” is the band’s primary influence, then it was certainly present at the Supertoad Nightclub in Des Moines Monday evening, when Rusted Root took time away from its gig opening for Santana to headline an all-ages show.

Some might ask why such a band with a neo-hippie following would end up at a venue dubbed a country bar. The linedancing instructor probably had the night off, since in its place was sweaty, boogie-down dancing.

But labels were soon forgotten when the melodic tribal stomp that is Rusted Root took the stage. By starting with the bluegrass-influenced “Rain,” it was apparent that the sextet from Pennsylvania came to make the audience dance into a sweaty frenzy right from the start.

To continue the mood, “Voodoo” followed and was complete with the odd wailing cries of vocalists Michael Glabicki and Liz Berlin.

The rest of the concert showcased equal time from “When I Woke” and “Remember,” as well as tinging the set with some newer material the band was testing on the road.

Some of the most titilating moments came during such songs as “Dangle,” that incorporated a couple lines from Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” the melodic and pleasantly simple “Heaven” and the Latin-funk based “Ecstasy,” which had enough energy to tire a good portion of the audience.

The show began to come to a close with the darkly mooding “Cruel Sun” that featured engrossing solos in the form of John Buynak’s melifluous flute, as well as some structured percussion duets between Donovan and Jim Dispirito.

Send them on their way

Of course, Rusted Root could not finish a concert without playing the mega-MTV hit, “Send Me On My Way.” But after two hours of continuous playing, the band still had a lot of life to add to the show.

Without skipping a beat, Rusted Root took the end of “Send” and turned it into its trademark six-person percussion jam.

After twelve minutes of non-stop drumming, the end of the jam session blended nicely with the opening chords to the “When I Woke.” The fast paced salsa-like tune came to a close almost too early — and with a few gratifying waves to the crowd, Rusted Root walked off stage.

After five minutes of racous crowd noise, the six members returned to the stage to play the softer, more mysterious “Laugh as the Sun.” This was more than enough to please the concert-goers after Rusted Root played for almost two-and-a half hours.

From the heart

What was most predominant was the feeling that all the band members had something to offer to their music set, and each had an intricate role to contribute.

“We want to give them something that is real and that is really heartfelt,” Donovan said. “That’s the problem with music today — a lot of it isn’t really heartfelt. That’s something we pride ourselves on.”

After the concert in Des Moines last Monday, Rusted Root made it clear that its music comes straight from the heart.