Someday, it'll make sense to me why taking in Rusted Root has become an annual ritual among my friends and me.

Like a majority of those taking in the Friday-night show at Summerfest's Miller Lite stage, any one of us would be dammed when asked to name a majority of the songs' titles, yet ... there is something about Rusted Root that draws you in.

If you caught me on the street and asked me to name any album that the group has ever released, I'd respond with a blank stare like that of a guy who just did something foul in an elevator. I'll admit, aside from "Drum Trip" and "Martyr" ... I have absolutely no idea what songs the band plays.

Still, I keep coming back. And every year, I try to figure out what it is and I come up with nothing. The music, on a whole, is simply welcoming. In an age where pre-mixed and post-produced music dominates the radio playlists, there's something reassuring about a group that relies on the basics; acoustic guitars, drums, tambourines ... simple instruments -- with, of course, the necessary electric bass - that just sounds good.

I still recognize only about three or four songs, and that probably won't change anytime soon. But should I see Rusted Root on the Summerfest schedule in 2009, it's safe to say that my friends and I will happily be the "old guys on the picnic tables."