Dancin' in the Streets! Sunfest, Shaky Knees, Jazzfest, and More

This weekend is packed, y'all: Not only is it the second weekend for New Orleans Jazzfest, as well as the Gamble Rogers Fest in St. Augustine, Fla this weekend, there's more:

West Palm Beach is home to Sunfest, and Atlanta is putting on the Shaky Knees Music Festival.

Sunfest, West Palm Beach's  huge downtown street festival, kicks off tomorrow (Wednesday, May 1) at happy hour, with several bands before twin headliners Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and the Smashing Pumpkins. Then it's four more days of music, featuring:

Train, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Offspring, Ed Sheeran, Morgan Page, David Solano, The Black Crowes, Slightly Stoopid, Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller, Big Sean, Gavin DeGraw, Phillip Phillips, Boz Scaggs, Cheap Trick, Barenaked Ladies, Jimmy Cliff, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, Dickey Betts & Great Southern, The Airborne Toxic Event, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, Yellowcard, Gary Clark Jr., Molly Hatchet, The Chevin, Tribal Seeds, The Lone Bellow, AAN, Kaleigh baker, Roadkill Ghost Choir, Breeze Davinci, Chris McCarty and The Underground Movement, Community Property, Dharmata, Future Prezidents, Jahguar, Making Faces, Rich Coccaro, Set the Score, SJ, Stiletto Red, The Curve, The Duppies, UNRB, Shatterglass, Shifta, Jonnie Morgan Band, Shootout Winner, Raggy Monster, The Crazy Carls

Atlanta's Shaky Knees Fest has a sweet lineup as well:

The Lumineers, Band of Horses, Drive-By Truckers, Jim James, Gary Clark Jr., Dr. Dog, The Joy Formidable, Lucero, Delta Spirit, Kurt Vile, Heartless Bastards, The Antlers, J. Roddy Walston and The Business, Moon Taxi, Murder by Death, Oberhofer, Vintage Trouble, Shovels & Rope, Robert Ellis, The Orwells, Frontier Ruckus, Hanni El Khatib, Roadkill Ghost Choir, T. Hardy Morris, You Me and Apollo, Death on Two Wheels

Enjoy!

Getting Folky: St. Augustine Hosts Bob Dylan, Gamble Rogers Fest This Weekend

Dylan Back in The Day

Bob Dylan  (Do we even have to link him? Oh, what the hell) hits Florida's St. Augustine Ampitheater Sunday, May 5. The ampitheater is a great outdoor venue (mostly covered) and it is adjacent to the lovely Anastasia State Park, which has camping. Dylan recenlty announced he's going to team up with Wilco and My Morning Jacket for this summer's tour,called the "AmericanaramA Festival of Music," which kicks off June 27 at Cruzan Ampitheater in West Palm Beach (ensuring a sweltering time for all.)

This weekend, Dylan (with Dawes) follows a packed musical weekend in St. Augustine, the Gamble Rogers Music Festival , with performances by the Claire Lynch Band, Nouveau Honkies, Sam Pacetti, Grant Peeples, and more. Check out the lineup here.

This fest pays tribute to the late Florida troubador Gamble Rogers. This is not a camping fest, although there are plenty of places to camp in the area, including the above-mentioned Anastasia State Park. As you probably already know, St Augustine is a tourist town filled with B&Bs and hotels.

Here's a description of the Gamble Rogers Fest from the promoters:

Friday Night May 3rd, the festival will open with a party/concert in beautiful downtown St. Augustine right on the waterfront at the Municipal Marina, the same as last year. With sun setting over the skyline and the sea breezes whipping the harbor flags, we will kick off at 5 PM and enjoy the music and atmosphere until 10PM. The Friday night show will also coincide with the monthly First Friday Art Walk in downtown St. Augustine so come on down and make it the beginning of a great weekend.

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Saturday May 4th, we move to the St. Augustine Amphitheatre, one of the top ranked outdoor music venues of its size in the entire world!  Our show will begin at noon and we will have 4 stages of music and song and story operating simultaneously until around 7 PM. Then, all attention will focus on the main stage of the Amphitheatre for the headliner show, capped by the appearance of the Claire Lynch Band.

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​Sunday May 5th, we will have an open-house celebration of the 18th birthday of the festival which will take place at the St. Augustine Beach Pier Pavilion on A1A a couple of miles south of the Amphitheatre.  This will be an un-ticketed event and it will feature live music from noon until…we are not really sure when…with beverage and food sales. Bring your own chair and get their early as parking is what it is.
Sunday evening, under separate ticketing and independent of our festival, Bob Dylan (with Dawes) will be appearing at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre.

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Wonderful Wanee

Costumes, costumes everywhere. Madness reigned

Last weekend's Wanee Festival at Spirit of the Suwanee Music Park was one for the record books -- stellar performances, a kind crowd, mostly good weather (several shows were rained out last year, but this year the shows went on) and lots of  festival color.

Some fine photographers wandered the event, and now it's our great fortune to take a look at their fine images, it'll take you right back there to paradise!

Click here to see a wonderful Wanee album by Broward-Palm Beach New Times photographer Claire Nelson

And here's Claire's highly entertaining album of Wanee people

Click here for a lovely slide show of photos by Tarver Shelton of Jamsplus

And these by photographer Ian Rawn

And these by photographer Jason Koerner

Last but not least, one of the the most buzzed-about tunes of the weekend - the video is kinda shaky but the performance and sound rock:

Jazzfest - The Big Daddy of Southern Music Festivals

The big daddy of Southern music festivals kicks off its two-week run this weekend. I'm talking, of course, about the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival,  You can get the skinny on all things Jazzfest (April 26-May 5), including links to live feeds, here at NOLA.com. And don't forget you can stream from WWOZ, one of the best radio stations on the planet.

A regular general admission Jazzfest ticket costs $59 a day, and there are more expensive and elaborate options as well. No camping -- you have to find accommodations (or a friend's couch.)

Check out the lineup to pick your days, and remember that an insane amount of music happens after-hours in the bars.

And if you're not going to Jazzfest, starting this Wednesday, April 24-28, the absolutely amazing, free Festival International de Louisiane happens in Lafayette, Louisiana. This downtown fest has an incomparable world-beat, funk,  jazz, and dance lineup and killer Louisiana food.  Go to the festival website to find someplace to stay -- no camping at this one. 

Also this coming weekend, don't forget Merlfest in North Carolina.

Whew! Get out there and find some live music, y'all!

Merlefest This Weekend!

The late, great  Doc Watson

Roots and Americana fans will be converging on the campus of  Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina for Merlefest this coming weekend (April 25-28.)

This fest is in its 26th year, and this will be the first without eight-time Grammy winner Doc Watson, who died in March 2012. Doc founded the festival to honor the memory of Merle Watson, his late son and picking partner who died in a tractor accident in 1985.

This year's lineup includes The Avett Brothers, Sam Bush, Gov’t Mule, John Cowan, Peter Rowan, Del McCoury and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Donna The Buffalo, Leon Russell, Jerry Douglas, Delta Rae, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Charlie Daniels Band, Michael Martin Murphy, Leon Russell, Steep Canyon Rangers, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, The Waybacks and more.

This is not an on-site camping fest, other than a lot for RVs (with no electricity hookups.) There are private campgrounds, cabins, motels, and homes for rent in the area. Shows are held in various venues throughout the campus. It's a very family-friendly crowd -- you can't bring alcohol into the venue.

Tickets: Four-day general admission, $150; Thursday, $40; Friday, $55; Saturday, $60; Sunday, $45.

In the early evening on Saturday, Sam Bush will lead an all-star lineup of 15 or so musicians who knew Doc and Merle best in a tribute that will include film clips and interviews with Doc. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band headlines on Saturday. 

WMVY Radio in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts (now an online-only station) has a great archive where you can stream past Merlefest performances.  

Gone Festing!

festgrrl is rocking the Wanee Festival this week, catch her posts on Facebook (as long as the Internet connection lasts over there in the middle of nowhere)  just click over there on the Facebook icon right!

Funkin Wanee - Galactic and Dirty Dozen

A Galactic show will wear your boogie ass out. This New Orleans-based band comes at you with blasting horns, a slinky bass line, and driving drums that pull you out of your seat until they quit. At least that's how it always is for me.

Galactic hosts the Saturday night Wanee closeout after the Allman Brothers play their set on the main stage. The Galactic & Friends show -- during which all manner of sit-ins will happen -- starts at midnight on the Mushroom stage. Check this out:

New Orleans stalwarts, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, know how to throw a dance party. They play 1:30-2:30 p.m Saturday on The Mushroom Stage.