Some April Music Fests Worth Catching

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The Southeast is chock full of  music festivals in April. The biggest and best, of course, is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival April 22- May 1, and that's a world unto itself. To get the latest on Jazzfest, head here.

Since not all of us can travel to the Big Easy, here are a few smaller fests ( plus one pretty large one) worth checking out in April:


Fool's Paradise - April 1-3, St Augustine, Fl. This funk and live electronica extravaganza happens Friday and Saturday at the St Augustine Ampitheater, which is a nice outdoor venue on Anastasia Island next to the beachy Anastasia State Park. Fool's Paradise is not a camping festival, but there is a KOA campground very close by and the fest has reserved some campsites and will provide shuttles for fans. The fest will also have late-night sets at different venues.

Lettuce. Vernon Webb photo.

The lineup features Lettuce & Friends, GRiZ, Vulfpeck, Chris Robinson’s Soul Revue (Ivan Neville, George Porter Jr., Eric Krasno, Nikki Glaspie, Neal Casal & The Shady Horns), Goldfish, The Nth Power, Break Science, the Fools for Funk Supergroup TBA, Cory Henry of Snarky Puppy as an artist-at-large, electronic future-funk producers Marvel Years and Brasstracks, Herd of Watts, The Groove Orient, Morning Fatty, and Love Chunk.

Advance tickets are $90 for the weekend, $110 at the gate. You can get single-day tickets for $50 advanced, $60 at the gate. Get your tickets here. Late night shows, VIP hotel-tickets packages, and camping passes are extra.
You can also sign up for daytime outings with the musicians, check out my previous Fool's Fest post here.

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Safety Harbor Songfest happens April 2-3 on the grounds of the Safety Harbor Resort & Spa, near Clearwater, Fla.

Honey Honey. Publicity photo.

It has a stellar lineup: Robin Zander, Otis Taylor • Shawn Mullins, Love and theft, Ben Sollee •  anne harris• chris gelbuda • billy strings  dan rodriguez • daphne willis • david jacobs strain • honeyhoney, joe craven  • matt the electrician  • randall bramblett • shel, tall heights • the mastersons • shook twins • the vespers.

This is not a camping festival. Weekend tickets are $40 and single-day tickets are $25 and you can get them here.  Check out the festval's Facebook page for details. 

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Southern Music Rising Festival: This is a one-day Americana festival on April 9 in the quaint town of Monticello, Florida, which is about a 40-minute drive east of Tallahassee on Highway 90.

Music runs 10 a.m to midnight with stages at the historic Monticello Opera House, the John Denham House and Tupelo's Bakery in downtown Monticello.

Tickets are $15 for Daytime Show Pass (10:00 am - 5:00 pm,) $15 for Night Show Only (7:00 pm - 10:00 pm,) and $25 for an All-Day Pass to all shows.  Kids 2 & under are free.

Here is a look at the lineup and schedule:

DAY SHOWS - Monticello Opera House Upstairs

11:00 am   Kally O'Mally

12:00 pm   Mimi and the Hearn Dogs
  1:00 pm   Belmont and Jones
  2:00 pm   Sam Pacetti
  3:00 pm   Slim Fatz
  4:00 pm   Highway 238
  5:00 pm   Chris Henry and the Hardcore Grass
    

Monticello Opera House Garden Stage

 10:00 am    Wreckin' So

11:00 am    The Common 'Taters and the Turn-ups
12:00 pm    Highway 238
  1:00 pm    Cosmic Swamp
  2:00 pm    The Purvis Brothers and Friends
  3:00 pm    Chris Henry and the Hardcore Grass
  4:00 pm    Sam Pacetti
  5:00 pm    Brian Smalley 

Denham House Stage
10:00 am    Children's Show

11:00 am    George Gray
12:00 pm    Bill Reetz
  1:00 pm    Kally O'Mally
  2:00 pm    Ric Edmiston / Cliff Miller
  3:00 pm    Belmont and Jones
  4:00 pm    Frank Lindamood
  5:00 pm    Slim Fatz

EVENING HEADLINER (NIGHT SHOW)

Monticello Opera House 

 7:00 pm    Bill Sheffield

8:30 pm    The New 76ers
AFTER PARTY from 10-midnight at Monticello Opera House Garden Stage with the Allie Cats.

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Farm to Family Full Moon Gathering - April 22-24. This is a sweet camping and music festival that's great to bring kids to. Very small and chill, and you can bring your own beverages. 

This year it is being held at the All-Tech Raceway in Lake City, Fla. In past years (the fest was in different locations,) camping has been conveniently located right near the stages. 

Advanced weekend tickets are $45, and single day options are available here. 

This year's performers include some really excellent musicians, including Taylor Martin, Billy Gillmore, Hannah Barber, Grass is Dead, Come Back Alice, Jesse Smith, Brian Smalley and more. Lineup and info about the bands is here. For up-to-the-minute info, check out the Farm to Family Facebook page.

Wanee. festgrrl photo.

Wanee Festival  is a big-time camping fest with national acts happening April 14-16 at the wonderful Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fla. 

This fest is known as the Allman Brothers Band’s festival, and although they broke up, various members of the band will be performing this year; Gregg Allman with his band, Warren Haynes with his Ashes & Dust and Government Mule bands, plus Les Brers, featuring Allman founders and alumni (Butch Trucks, Jaimoe, Oteil Burbridge, Marc Quinones, Jack Pearson, Pate Bergeron, Bruce Katz and Lamar Wiiliams Jr.) 

Southern jam-rockers Widespread Panic headline two nights. Also playing are Devon Allman Band, Melvin Seals and JGB with Karl Denson,  Billy & the Kids (Bill Kreutzmann from the Grateful Dead,) bassist Stanley Clarke, Umphrey’s McGee, Hot Tuna Electric with Steve Kimock, Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers, Dumpstaphunk’s Earth War & Power, North Mississippi Allstars,  Anders Osborne and more. 

This fest is always a packed, rollicking rock-and-roll party. A 3-day weekend ticket (includes primitive camping) is $210 plus fees.  VIP tickets available. 

Ahhhh...Suwannee Springfest!

Campground playing. festgrrl photo. 

On the relaxation scale, it doesn't get much better than the laid-back Suwannee Springfest, happening March 17-20. You sit back and sip a cold one while the Americana and bluegrass rage the stages.

Jon Prine publicity photo

This year’s performers include John Prine, The Del McCoury Band, Brandi Carlile, Larry Keel, Railroad Earth, The Infamous Stringdusters, Keller Williams, Jeff Austin Band, Donna the Buffalo, Jim Lauderdale, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, and more. (Complete lineup is below.)

This is the 20th year for Suwannee Springfest, which annually gathers some of the finest string players in the world into the Spanish-moss draped woods of the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fla. It's an intimate camping festival that has some fine campground picking day and night. If you don't like to camp, there are hotels nearby.

Del McCoury. festgrrl photo

This is a big promise, but I've been to enough Suwannee Springfests to guarantee it: You will be blown away by the weekend's mad-skills musical performances, and you'll come home with some new-to-you bands to love.

Donna the Buffalo. festgrrl photo. 

Weekend tickets cover four days of music, from Thursday to Sunday night (include primitive camping) are $200 advanced and $210 at the gate. Kids 12 and under are free. Single-day and VIP tickets are also available.

Gina's washtub bass. festgrrl photo

Don't forget to take a trip down to the riverside beach. (best to use a car, golf cart, or bike -- it's a lo-o-o-o-ng walk.)

Spirit of the Suwannee River beach. festgrrl photo.

This is a family-friendly festival, so expect lots of little ones scurrying about and some budding pint-sized string players busking for spare change. Food and spirits are readily available, plus there's a camp store and a restaurant on site.

Camping by the lake. festgrrl photo.

Sunday night is always hosted by jam-Cajun-roots band Donna the Buffalo, so if you can get Monday off, I advise staying for the duration. Keller Williams Grateful Grass is also playing Sunday, with fanciful covers of Grateful Dead tunes to get your boogie on.

Scramble Campbell art. festgrrl photo.

Also worth checking out are the numerous intimate workshops held during the weekend, where musicians perform and describe techniques.  

It's hard to find a better way to spend a spring weekend in North Florida, am I right? Yes I am. 

Chilling at the ampitheater stage. festgrrl photo. 

Here's a look at who is playing, and you can check out the daily schedule here 

Suwannee Springfest 2016 Lineup
John Prine
Brandi Carlile
Railroad Earth
The Del McCoury Band
Keller Williams Grateful Grass
Infamous Stringdusters
Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers
Jeff Austin Band
The Larry Keel Experience
Donna the Buffalo
Dave & Dave (of Trampled By Turtles)
Jim Lauderdale
Cabinet
Fruition
Jon Stickley Trio
Horseshoes & Hand Grenades
Nora Jane Struthers
Mandolin Orange
Della Mae
Rumpke Mountain Boys
The Broadcast
The Virginia Daredevils
The Applebutter Express
Grits & Soul
Grandpa’s Cough Medicine
Big Cosmo
Habanero Honeys
Nikki Talley
Sloppy Joe
Quartermoon
Steve Pruett
Canary in the Coalmine
Taylor Martin’s Engine
Two Foot Level
The Steppin Stones
Acoustic Ensemble

Goof Around with Lettuce and Break Science at Fool's Paradise Fest

Lettuce. Photo by Honest Tune.

A brand-new festival in St Augustine, Fla. is coming up April 1 & 2, and the fest -- called Fool's Paradise  -- will also have special excursions that fans can take with musical artists.

Want to play mini-golf with Lettuce members Eric Krasno and Jesus Coomes or go on a Crocodile Crossing Zipline Adventure with Break Science’s Borahm Lee? ($22 for the mini golf and $32 for the croc zipline.) You can also go sailing and drinking with Lettuce's Shady Horns for $64.

Fool's Paradise is not a camping festival, but there is a KOA campground very close by and the fest has reserved some campsites and will provide shuttles for fans. The music happens Friday and Saturday at the St Augustine Ampitheater, which is a nice outdoor venue on Anastasia Island next to the beachy Anastasia State Park. The fest will also have late-night sets at different venues.

The lineup features Lettuce & Friends, GRiZ, Vulfpeck, Chris Robinson’s Soul Revue (Ivan Neville, George Porter Jr., Eric Krasno, Nikki Glaspie, Neal Casal & The Shady Horns), Goldfish, The Nth Power, Break Science, the Fools for Funk Supergroup TBA, Cory Henry of Snarky Puppy as an artist-at-large, electronic future-funk producers Marvel Years and Brasstracks, Herd of Watts, The Groove Orient, Morning Fatty, and Love Chunk.

St Augustine Ampitheater

Advance tickets are $90 for the weekend, $110 at the gate. You can get single-day tickets for $50 advanced, $60 at the gate. Get your tickets here. Late night shows, VIP hotel-tickets packages, and camping passes are extra. 

Ziplining at the Alligator Farm