For many years, a small community of music lovers has been gathering for regular family-friendly and dog-friendly weekend camp outs in the countryside around Gainesville, Florida.
These inexpensive Farm to Family festivals has a small but dedicated crowd, a single stage, and a few food and arts & crafts vendors. Bring your cooler and chair, set up at the stage, and you're done.
It is so laid back and fun. Farm to Family took some time off while looking for a new venue, and this weekend, it's BACK, and it is timed or us to enjoy Saturday night's full moon!
Farm To Family happens Thursday through Sunday at Ellie Ray's RV Resort along the Santa Fe River, near Branford, Fla. (outside High Springs, just north of Gainesville.) Latest details are on the fest's Facebook page.
The fun and talented bluegrass band, Applebutter Express plays, along with String Kings, Thomas and Hannah Winn, De Lions of Jah reggae band, Quartermoon, and assorted regional acts. You can see the lineup here.
Tickets are $45 advanced through March 31, and $55 at the gate.
This is a great fest to take kids to. (Kids under 13 are free.) You can bring dogs, but you have to register them,
It's going to be a beautiful weekend along the river with kind folks and cool tunes, and remember:
Well, there is a boatload of talent for our listening pleasure in Florida right now. Here is a look at three fests happening this weekend, one in Southwest Florida, one in the center of the state, and one just north of Jacksonville.
The great percussionist Joe Craven plays Safety Harbor Songfest
STEEP CANYON RANGERS • SHAWN MULLINS • JOE CRAVEN • JIM
LAUDERDALE
WILLIE SUGARCAPPS • MEIKO • SETH WALKER • CAROLINE KOLE • CALLAGHAN
RANDALL BRAMBLETT • DAVID JACOBS-STRAIN • KAWEHI • JOSEPH ARTHUR
DAPHNE WILLIS • CHRIS GELBUDA • GARETH ASHER • EMILY KOPP
SHANNON WHITWORTH • RYAN MONTBLEAU • THE VESPERS
This happens in the Safety Harbor Waterfront Park by the Safety Harbor Resport and Spa. This is not a camping festival, so you will have to find a place to stay, check out the fest’s lodging, RV and primitive camping links.
Kids 12 and under are free
Railroad Earth headlines Slide Into Spring Festival
The Slide Into Spring Music and Craft Beer Festival happens in Northeast Florida's Fernandina Beach. (Friday March 27th 2015 from 6pm – 9pm; Saturday March 28th 2015 from 12pm – 10pm;Sunday March 29th 2015 from 1pm – 8pm)
Railroad Earth headlines, with Matisyahu, The Wailers, The Fritz, The Corbitt Brothers, Post Pluto, and amazing New York funk band Turkuaz paying, among others.
Weekend tickets are $75, Saturday only tickets are $40 and Sunday tickets are $35. You can get a primitive camping site for $100 for up to four people at an offsite location with a shuttle to and from the fest site (shuttle ride is $1 and benefits local council on aging.) This is a family friendly event, also accommodates late-nighters with after parties at local watering holes and a silent disco.
Toubab Krewe plays Little Econ Love Fest
The Little Econ Love Fest happens outside Lakeland (March-26-29.) This is a primitive camping festival (with showers and potties available) at Maddox Ranch. RVs are welcome but there are no hookups.
Four-day admission is $65, single day options also available. North Carolina world-beat wonders Toubab Krewe headline the event that also features The Mud Flappers, Holey Miss Moley, S.P.O.R.E., Displace, Lucky Costello and many more local and regional acts. You can get the latest info at the event's Facebook page.This is a family friendly event with kids activities.
The Aura Music & Arts Festival delivered in a big
way for its sixth year. Over a beautiful weekend March 6-8, headliners moe. and
The Disco Biscuits brought sophisticated, extended-play sets and mind-blowing light shows.
The setting for the main stage – Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park’s
mystical moss-draped ampitheater – is one of the most beautiful venues in its
own right; adding futuristic lasers and Papadosio’s crazy video screens was
just about over the top.
Jason Koerner photo.
Jason Koerner photo.
Fest organizers Daryl Wolff and Cameron Ferguson picked
a nice musical roster this year with a mix of funk, jam, live electronica, and
even a little bluegrass and roots music for good measure.
Aura had a really sweet vibe, with musicians mixing in the
crowd, Yoga and art everywhere, hoopers and twirlers and pretty lights.
Awwww! festgrrl photo.
With about 5,000 people in the large venue, it never felt
crowded – except (thankfully) on the dance floor.
Lucky us -- the Thursday night pre-party got moved out of
the indoor Music Hall into the ampitheater and featured Ghost Owl (which has members of
Perpetual Groove,) Colorado funk masters The Motet, and electronic prog-rockers
Dopapod.
The Motet. festgrrl photo.
moe. delivered two fine sets Friday night, heavy on the
groove. They didn’t exactly break out the untz, but they did spin out some very
cool dancey-trancey lines. You can check out this excellent video of an
extended Bearsong-Meat jam here. (Thank you Cheesehead Productions!) The highlight of the night was a two-man extended vibe solo (check it out on the video, it starts about 24 minutes in) with guest Matt Dillon on stage.
Meet-and-greet with moe. Owleyesonyou photo.
The moe. set list Jeffrey Dupuis photo.
moe. festgrrl photo.
moe. festgrrl photo.
The Heavy Pets, Jimkata, Fusik, The Mantras, Juke, Brother Bean, Spontaneous Underground, the McLovins, Turbo Suit, Papadosio and Dopapod also played Friday night. I personally loved the “Funkin Grateful” band made up of members of The Heavy Pets and other Florida jam bands, with excellent string player Billy Gilmore holding down lead. They presided over a nice dance party and jam in the Music Hall that had everybody smiling.
festgrrl photo.
festgrrl photo.
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong pulled out the twangy jam-funk (see
some of it here) at a late night show
that started at 2 a.m. in the Music Hall. After that, the dancers headed to the
Silent Disco, which went until 5 a.m.
festgrrl photo.
Saturday afternoon came pretty fast, with Consider the
Source kicking things off, followed by sets from Ghost Owl, Ketchy Shuby, The
Motet, Lucky Costello, The Main Squeeze, Lather Up!, and The Fritz.
festgrrl photo.
Papadosio delivered an ethereal early-evening show in the
ampitheater, then the crowd was off to catch Raq and the Mike Dillon Band. I
caught a band I’d never heard before, a South Florida jam band called Stinky Pockets (check them out here,) and they
absolutely killed it with trumpeter/singer Emily Carroll sitting in. (Carroll
had her own ensemble Sunday evening, which I heard good things about.)
festgrrl photo.
The Disco Biscuits turned in a balls-to-the-wall dance show
that had the packed ampitheater boogieing from 10:30 to almost 2 a.m., just
when you thought you couldn't dance anymore, well, they wouldn't let you sit down.
festgrrl photo.
So many people came to see buzzed-about New York fusion band
Tauk in the Music Hall that there was a line out the door, and new people could
only go in when other people left. This instrumental improvisational quartet is
something to see, and Tauk drummer Isaac Teel is simply a force of nature.
Isaac Teel of Tauk. festgrrl photo.
American Babies took the Music Hall stage at 2 a.m. for
those who still had steam after the Biscuits finished.
Sadly, festgrrl had to bug out early Sunday due to Real Life Concerns after a great bluegrass set by Uproot Hootenanny. Tauk, Fat Mannequin, and McLovins played through the Sunday afternoon. Killer funk band Kung Fu played early Sunday evening and the Break Science Live Band, a supergroup with members of Pretty Lights and Lettuce: featuring Jesus Coomes, Adam Smirnoff, Ryan Zoidis, and Eric Bloom, Borahm Lee and drummer Adam Deitch closed out the wonderful weekend.
festgrrl photo.
The talk later was all
about The Main Squeeze’s Michael Jackson cover set Sunday afternoon - you can see one of the songs here, Aura Music & Arts Festival liked it so much they made an official video. Warning: It will make you wish you were back there right now!
This year's Americana lineup has some newcomer bands, as well as longtime heavy hitters Lucinda Williams, John Hiatt, Del McCoury and David Grisman, among others. Catch Keller Williams, the Wood Brothers, Shovels and Rope, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Hot Rize, and Larry Keel over the talent-packed weekend. One of the best songwriters in America, Verlon Thompson, plays afternoon sets on Saturday and Sunday. Also highly recommended: Shinyribs, a band started by Kevin Russell of the late great Texas band, The Gourds. Shinyribs plays Thursday and Friday. festgrrl always stays for Sunday night's love-filled closing dance-athon with Cajun jammers Donna the Buffalo and friends.
If you buy an advanced four-day ticket, it works out to a little less than $44 a day, and that includes primitive camping right by your vehicle, people!
David Grisman plays Thursday with Del McCoury
The fest starts on Thursday, March 19. It's a lovely, low-key gathering beneath the spring blossoms with a family-friendly vibe (kids under 12 are free) and the late-night/early morning campground picking is legendary.
I always like to get there a day or so early so I've got time to catch some campground jams without missing the stage acts. And I always use the occasion to have my first dip of the year in the Suwannee River.
The Music Park's Suwannee River Beach
Here's a look at the lineup, and you can check out the schedule here. I've laid out the ticket prices and logistical info below the lineup for your planning pleasure.
I'll just say this now: If you're on the fence, jump over it and go. It's a gorgeous time of year, and great lineup, and remember that your only job for a couple days is to listen.
Suwannee Springfest 2015 Lineup Lucinda Williams
John Hiatt
Del McCoury & David Grisman
Wood Brothers
Shovels and Rope
Hot Rize with Red Knuckles and The Trailblazers
Keller Williams and The Travelin’ McCourys
The Infamous Stringdusters
Jeff Austin
Blind Boys of Alabama
Donna The Buffalo
Larry Keel Experience
Cabinet
Jim Lauderdale
The Duhks
Verlon Thompson
The Seth Walker Band
Fruition
Town Mountain
Joe Craven
Dread Clampitt
Pgrass
Shinyribs
Jon Stickley Trio
The Shook Twins
Jim White VS. The Packway Handle
Band
Taylor Martin’s Acoustic Band
Ralph Roddenbery Band
Grandpa’s Cough Medicine
Virginia Dare Devils
Whetherman
Flagship Romance
The Applebutter Express
Sloppy Joe
Nikki Talley
Big Cosmo
Canary in the Coalmine
Grits & Soul
Quartermoon
The Josh Daniel/Mark Schimick Project
Steve Pruett's Back from the Brink
Oak Hay
Short Straw Pickers
Sarah Mac Band
Acoustic Ensemble
Four-day tickets, which include primitive camping, are $175
advanced, $200 at the gate.
Saturday-Sunday only tickets are $130 at the gate.
The fun and talented bluegrass band, Applebutter Express plays, along with String Kings, Thomas and Hannah Winn, De Lions of Jah reggae band, Quartermoon, and assorted regional acts. You can see the lineup here.
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