Suwannee Springfest Coming Right Up

Camping  by the cypress lake at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park

Less than a month from now, bluegrass, jazzgrass, punkgrass, folkgrass, Cajun-grass, and you-don't-even-know grass will break out in Live, Oak, Florida's gorgeous  Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park at Suwannee Springfest, one of the loveliest and most family-friendly fests around.

It happens March 22-25.

There is a a ridiculous amount of talent on the slate -- Tony Rice, Yonder Mountain String Band, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, Joe Craven, Larkin Poe, Guy Clark, Verlon Thompson, Donna The Buffalo, The Gourds, Justin Townes Earle, the Emmitt-Nershi Band, Great American Taxi, The Infamous Stringdusters, Dread Clampitt, Tornado Rider, Jeff Mosier, and more. (See the full lineup below.)

Springfest kicks off a busy festing season in our part of the world (Actually, the livetronic-jam Aura fest is the first of the season, March 9-11 in St. Cloud, Fla.) Starting in March,  music fests start happening  in South Georgia, Alabama, and Florida about every weekend. Keep your camping gear handy and take advantage of it if you can! I'll post what you need to know before you go.

Thursday-to-Sunday tickets for Suwannee Springfest are $150 now, and on March 16, they go up to $165. They will be $180 at the gate. (There was a special deal at Magnolia Fest in the fall, where you could get 4-day Springfest tickets for just $115, so look for another deal like that at Springfest.)

Tickets for just Saturday and Sunday are $115, available at the gate only. Single day tickets are also available.

If you have a valid student or military identification, you get a special at-the-gate price of $125.

Ticket price includes four nights of  primitive camping under the pines, oaks, cypress, and Spanish moss in the lovely campgrounds. You can camp by your car, and you can camp close to the music. There is a pool. a playground, a restaurant, a river beach, and organized stuff for kids to do. The river beach is a long bike ride/short car ride/golf cart ride away -- the music is not right along the river, just so you know. If you can, get out to the river, it is absolutely beautiful, with a sugar-sand beach and limestone banks. See?

If you want an electric/water hookup, it's extra, and you need to contact the park for hookups or golf cart rentals.

This fest,  now in its 16th year, is a bargain, in any case, with string players from all over the world coming to play for us out there in the middle of nowhere by the Suwannee River. I have seen really astonishing performances  here, swiniging in my hammock, sipping a cold one, and loving being with my fest family to start another year of incredible experiences. Bliss, I tell you, pure bliss!

* Yonder Mountain String Band

* Donna The Buffalo

* Justin Townes Earle

* Emmitt-Nershi Band

* Guy Clark

* Verlon Thompson

* Darol Anger and the Republic of Strings

* Tea Leaf Green

* Hot Buttered Rum

* The Gourds

* Tony Rice

* The Mosier Brothers

* Tornado Rider

* Greensky Bluegrass

* Infamous Stringdusters

* Great American Taxi

* Ryan Montbleau Band

* Roy Book Binder

* Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit

* Jim Lauderdale

* Joe Craven

* Larry Keel & Natural Bridge

* Dread Clampitt

* Grant Peeples

* Randall Bramblett with Geoff Achison

* Split Lip Rayfield

* Ralph Roddenbery Band

* Elephant Revival

* Two Man Gentleman Band

* The Pinkham Family

* Saltwater Grass

* Jubal’s Kin

* Larkin Poe

* Big Cosmo

* Habanero Honeys

* Packway Handle Band

* Bobby Miller & The Virginia Dare Devils

* Whetherman

* Sloppy Joe

* Quartermoon

* Two Foot Level

* Grandpa’s Cough Medicine

* Mickey Abraham’s Traveling Acoustic Ensemble

* Sosos

* Uproot Hootenanny

* Short Straw Pickers

* Tennessee Firearms

* Bibb City Ramblers

* Lefty Williams Band

* Donna Hopkins Band

* Sanctum Sully

* Red June

* Taylor Martin’s Engine

* Lizzy Ross Band

* Honey Blue

Aura Fest Pre Parties

The folks putting on the live electronica and jamband event, the Aura Festival March 9-11 in St. Cloud, Fla. are holding a series of pre parties throughout the state. This weekend, the party's at Tampa's Skipper's Smokehouse  with The Resolvers, Ketchy Shuby, and Aquaphonics.

Tickets to Aura Festival are $90 for the weekend. This is a camping fest, and it happens at Forever Florida, a 4,700-acre eco-ranch.

They hand out campsites as you roll in, so if you want to camp with friends, best to meet outside the gate. There are no RV hookups, but if you want to camp in your RV anyway, it's an extra $50 to bring it in.

Funky Leap Jam Art and Music Festival This Weekend

The Lee Boys Headline Friday

Maddox Ranch outside Lakeland is home to the Funky Leap Jam Art and Music Festival this weekend (Feb. 24-26.) The Lee Boys headline Friday night and Cope headlines Saturday night.

The music starts at 6 p.m. Friday and goes through Saturday night. Weekend passes are $45, and that includes tent camping. If you want to bring an RV, it's $18 extra. There are no hookups. Bring a grill or elevated fire pit for your campfire. No glass.




Other acts include:

Beebs & Her Money Makers

Honey Henny Lime

AppleButter Express

Legacy & the heard

Juanjamon Band

Danka

Riverside Project

IRE



This little festie is a benefit for the family of Arnulfo Crispin of Lakeland. You can enter to win a free ticket to this fest, plus three other Florida fests happening this spring, here

Nathan Moore and Suprise Me Mr. Davis

I just can't seem to listen to enough of the arty, incredibly prolilfic singer-songwriter Nathan Moore. He is a tremendous lyricist with a wonderful bass voice. You can check out his work on the nifty player on his web site.
Last year, Moore headed across the country on a blow-with-the-wind tour called the "Hippy Fiasco" and did it with a live Internet feed,, playing parties and house concerts along the way.

Moore tours on his own and also fronts Surprise Me Mr. Davis, a band with a performance art feel and a wide range which was a standout at last year's  Bear Creek Music and Art Festival. The band is basically Moore with members of the avant garde Boston band, The Slip and Marco Benevento.

Moore is great as a quirky front man (he even does magic tricks sometimes). But I am  lately loving his stripped down singer-songwriter stuff.

This is not a new clip, but it is a wonderful one -- Moore's "Tombstone." Below that, he sings "Understand Under" and lastly, Surprise Me Mr. Davis does a song that's a total blast, "Sissyfuss."

All Hail George Clinton, Funk.H.D.

Funk master George Clinton, leader of the legendary Parliament-Funkadelic, gets an honorary degree today from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, the school says,  "in recognition for the funk icon's enduring musical and cultural contributions."

At 70, Clinton is still touring. You can check out his latest happenings on his blog here.

Here's a great 1978 P-Funk show for your enjoyment:

The Funk Grass Experiment

Tallahassee mandolinist Mickey Abraham is hosting what he's calling The Funk Grass Experiment at The Mockingbird Thursday night from 7 to 10. There's no cover, and this should be interesting.

Mickey says: 

"What happens when you take four musicians from different worlds and improvise... I dunno? Come out on Wednesday, Feb. 15 (7-10) to find out. This will most likely be a one time thing (if it's really cool we may do it again)....

I feel I've got an all-star line up of groove-meisters coming to throw down on some funk/fusion/grass.

Kevin Robertson - Guitar

Kyle Chervanik - Electric Bass

Dave Kelsay - Drums

Mickey Abraham - Mandolin
w/ Scott Campbell and Drew Matulich"

The Mockingbird has great food, too!

Congrats to Tedeschi-Trucks band!

Larry Busacca, Getty Images

Congratulations are in order for our Wanee festival friends Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. whose Tedeschi-Trucks Band album, Revelator, won the Grammy for Best Blues Album. Totally deserved, this album is fantastic.

You can see these Grammy winners in just a few weeks, when Wanee happens at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park April 19-21. Here was one of my favorite performances at least year's Wanee Festival.

Polyphonic Spree!

Out-there symphonic choir  The Polyphonic Spree plays their only Florida date on their current tour at The Moon in Tallahassee Saturday night. It's an early show -- doors open at  6:30 p.m. and the show is at 7 p.m. It's free for FSU students and $15 for general admission.

I thnk it's safe to say there's nobody out there quite like them. this clip is from a few years back, and it's pretty much what I saw when I saw them live. A spectacle!

Hangout Announces Lineup

The Hangout Music Festival, which happens at Gulf Shores, Alabama May 18-20, announced its lineup today, with Dave Matthews, Jack White, String Cheese Incident, The Flaming Lips (Doing Dark Side of the Moon), Randy Newman, Dr. Dog, G. Love and Special Sauce, and more.

This is a fest on the beach, but it is not a camping fest. You need to book a condo or a hotel. And although you are on the beach,  you can't actually swim  at the fest site.  Basic tickets are $195 advanced, and there are a bunch of different package deals as well with lodging and various levels of  VIP-ness.

A Most Interesting Band

New England's Rubblebucket put on an incendiary late show at Bear Creek Music And Art Festival last fall. I just can't stop listening to and watching this band.

These guys have the goofy sensibility of 80s New Wave bands like the Talking Heads or Squeeze, and they are galvanizing performers. Lead singer Kalmia Traver has that special performance-art magic, with jazz vocal training. You just can't take your eyes off her on stage as she alternates between complicated vocals, playing the sax, dancing wildly, and fiddling with sound effects. Her partner, band founder Alex Toth, goes into transcendant dances while also managing to blow some mean trumpet.

Rubblebucket heads into Florida for four dates this week and next: Feb. 10 at Jack Rabbit's in Jacksonville, Feb. 11 at Tampa's Crowbar, Feb, 12 at the Virginia Key Grassroots Music Festival, and Feb. 13 at Orlando's The Social.  Below are two catchy Rubblebucket tunes for your enjoyment --first "She Came Out of a Lady" and also the catchy  "Our Silly Fathers."

Zach Deputy and Cope tonight

Hey y'all  -- especially you Bear Creek Music and Art  festival folks out there -- don't forget to come out and support our hard-working touring friends  Zach Deputy and Cope at the Warehouse in Tallahassee tonight. Show starts at 9, details are here

Here's Zach doing the island-inspored "Coconuts."

Dumpstaphunk Does P Funk

This news from the prodicers of April's Wanee Festival at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park makes festgrrl very, very happy.

Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk will be returning to the Mothership with a set of 'D-Funk does P-Funk' -- a special Wanee Exlusive! 


Here's a little Dumpstaphunk (Not doing P funk) to brighten your day...