My favorite live musicians are the ones who play with unbridled joy — I mean, come on, if you’re going to live the damn rough life of a musician, you might as well love it, despite the roughness. Josh Ritter, for example. Langhorne Slim, for another, who played a balls-to-the-wall joyous set at Haw River last night, buoyed by a crowd that was more than happy to feed it all back to him. Lots of singalongs, lots of handclaps, lots of Langhorne freaking out and flailing around the stage in that way that makes him so unique and so lovely live. I never leave a Langhorne set sad; last night I left happy, and buoyed up with joy. What’s not to love?

Photos, including opener Jonny Fritz (who played a great set of dirty, funny, straight up country songs, and who I am totally smitten with), are here.