This Weekend -TDAwg's Back Porch Hootenanny

Larry Keel and Natural Bridge

TDawg is a South Georgia music promoter who draws excellent talent to his corner of the North Georgia woods, and he creates down-home festivals he calls Back Porch Hootenannys. He's putting on TDawg's Back Porch Hootenanny Sept. 13-14 with flatpicking phenom Larry Keel and his band Natural Bridge headlining.

TDawg has his fests at Cherokee Farm, which is up in north Georgia near the Tennessee and Alabama borders, not far from Chattanooga. Tickets for the weekend are $50 advanced, $60 at the gate, and kids 12 and under are free. Price  includes on-site camping. Daily tickets are also available. 

Here's what TDawg has to say about the lineup. And below that, I've posted the schedule. 

Larry Keel & Natural Bridge, 3-time (MerleFest) Chris Austin Songwriting Competition winner David Via &Grammy winner/Atlanta Music Hall of Fame inductee (2001)/New Grass Revival founding member Curtis Burch, Bobby Miller, and the return of the wonderfully eclectic Strung Like A Horse highlight a lineup full of high octane energy. The roots between Keel, Via & Burch run deep in the history of TDawg events, and any chance to bring together the perfect show with master flat-picker Keel and his darlin’ wife Jenny on bass, with his band of merrymen Mark Schimick on mandolin and Will Lee on banjo is ALWAYS a very special evening! There will be a lot of buddies, old & new, that will be hanging around, so look out!

Schedule

Friday Shed Stage  (Bill Monroe’s Birthday)
9:00 – 10:15   Slim Pickins
10:45 – 12:30   Bibb City Ramblers

Saturday Shed Stage

12:30 – 2:00   Gibson Wilbanks
2:45 – 4:15   Lefty Williams Band
5:00 – 6:30   Dave Jordan & The Neighborhood Improvement Association
7:15 – 8:30   Curtis Burch & David Via
9:15 – 10:45   Larry Keel & Natural Bridge
11:15 – 1:15   Strung Like A Horse

Grateful Fred Stage
Noon – 12:25   Welcome Jam
2:00 – 2:45   Bibb City Ramblers w/ Bobby Miller, Richie Jones & Scott Warren
4:15 – 5:00   Vagabond Swing
6:30 – 7:15   Gibson Wilbanks & Friends
8:30 – 9:15   Ralph & Friends
1:15 – 2:15    HOOTENANNY JAMs back POrch Hoo

Lock'n Festival in Virginia This Weekend!

The masses are heading to rural Virginia outside Arrington in the Blue Ridge Mountains (about 35 miles south of Charlottesville)   for a heavy-hitting lineup at the inaugural Lock'n Festival (formerly called Interlochen)  The fest starts Thursday night., Sept. 5, and runs through Sunday, September 8.

It's an embarrassment of musical  riches with Furthur, Jimmy Cliff, Trey Anastasio Band, Widespread Panic, String Cheese Incident, Grace Potter, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Warren Haynes Band, Black Crowes, The Punch Brothers, John Fogerty and lots more. The organizers plan continuous uninterrupted music between two stages, which means everybody there will get to see the same shows. That's relaxing and fantastic.

There are still tickets available -- a four-day pass is $285. You have to buy a separate camping pass, and there are various options, some where you can camp alongside your car and some where you can't.  A four-day pass that allows you to camp with your car is $50.

This fest is being put on by Dave Frey and Peter Shapiro. Frey puts out the excellent  Relix magazine. The lineup, the beautiful setting, the two-stage setup, all of it -- promises to be an epic end to the summer fest season.  Dance dance dance and shake your bones!

Check out TDawg's Back Porch Hootenanny Sept. 13-14

Larry Keel and Natural Bridge

TDawg is a South Georgia music promoter who draws excellent talent to his corner of the North Georgia woods, and he creates down-home festivals he calls Back Porch Hootenannys. He's putting on TDawg's Back Porch Hootenanny Sept. 13-14 with flatpicking phenom Larry Keel and his band Natural Bridge headlining.

TDawg has his fests at Cherokee Farm, which is up in north Georgia near the Tennessee and Alabama borders, not far from Chattanooga. Tickets for the weekend are $50 advanced, $60 at the gate, and kids 12 and under are free. Price  includes on-site camping. Daily tickets are also available. 

Here's what TDawg has to say about the lineup. And below that, I've posted the schedule. 

Larry Keel & Natural Bridge, 3-time (MerleFest) Chris Austin Songwriting Competition winner David Via &Grammy winner/Atlanta Music Hall of Fame inductee (2001)/New Grass Revival founding member Curtis Burch, Bobby Miller, and the return of the wonderfully eclectic Strung Like A Horse highlight a lineup full of high octane energy. The roots between Keel, Via & Burch run deep in the history of TDawg events, and any chance to bring together the perfect show with master flat-picker Keel and his darlin’ wife Jenny on bass, with his band of merrymen Mark Schimick on mandolin and Will Lee on banjo is ALWAYS a very special evening! There will be a lot of buddies, old & new, that will be hanging around, so look out!

Schedule

Friday Shed Stage  (Bill Monroe’s Birthday)
9:00 – 10:15   Slim Pickins
10:45 – 12:30   Bibb City Ramblers

Saturday Shed Stage

12:30 – 2:00   Gibson Wilbanks
2:45 – 4:15   Lefty Williams Band
5:00 – 6:30   Dave Jordan & The Neighborhood Improvement Association
7:15 – 8:30   Curtis Burch & David Via
9:15 – 10:45   Larry Keel & Natural Bridge
11:15 – 1:15   Strung Like A Horse

Grateful Fred Stage
Noon – 12:25   Welcome Jam
2:00 – 2:45   Bibb City Ramblers w/ Bobby Miller, Richie Jones & Scott Warren
4:15 – 5:00   Vagabond Swing
6:30 – 7:15   Gibson Wilbanks & Friends
8:30 – 9:15   Ralph & Friends
1:15 – 2:15    HOOTENANNY JAM

Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk Tours Florida This Week

(left to right) Ivan Neville, Ian Neville, Nick Daniels III, Tony Hall, Nikki Glaspie

Incomparable New Orleans funkateers Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk will be laying down fat grooves in Florida this week with performances in Orlando, St. Petersburg, Fort Lauderdale,  Jacksonville, and shows next week in Charleston, S.C., Atlanta and Athens, Ga. (See details and venues below.)

Dumpstaphunk has just put out a new album, Dirty Word, a superfine followup to their compulsively listen-able 2010 Everybody Want Sum. You can have a listen to Dirty Word's deliciousness here.

Dirty Word has guest performances by Art Neville, Trombone Shorty, Rebirth Brass Band (all on "Raise The House"), Skerik (with Trombone Shorty on "I Wish You Would"), Grooveline Horns ("Water" and "I Know You Know"), Ani DiFranco ("Dirty Word") and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers ("If I'm In Luck").

A Dumpstaphunk show is always a rowdy funk party, just like you'd expect from New Orleans funk originals like these cats. This fall, they'll be presiding over the massive booty party that is Bear Creek Music and Arts Festival Nov. 14-17 at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fla.

Until then, catch them at these shows: 

Southeast Summer 2013 Tour:
8.29 - Orlando, FL - The Social
8.30 - St. Petersburg, FL - Local 662
8.31 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - B.E. Easy Music & Arts Fest
9.1 - Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbits
9.2 - Charleston, SC - Brick House
9.4 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre
9.5 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West

Killer Fall Festivals Bring Musicians From All Over the World

School's back in session, summer's almost ending, time to think about FESTING. Three killer fall festivals will bring talent from all over the world to our corner of the North Florida woods, specifically, to The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, where you can camp under the trees with your friends, and pick around the campfire under the stars. Aren't we lucky?

Ampitheater Stage

If you do 'em all, it's works out like this: A weekend festing, a weekend off, a weekend festing, a weekend off, and a weekend festing. You just keep all your camping stuff in a pile and do a load of laundry every other weekend.  Ride this lucky live music train while it lasts people, ride it while it lasts.

Magnolia Fest happens Oct. 17-20 with Willie Nelson, John Prine, Mavis Staples, Kris Kristopherson, Stephen Marley, Railroad Earth, Drive By Truckers, The Travelin' McCoury's, Keller Williams, The Duhks, Donna The Buffalo, Tornado Rider, Col. Bruce Hampton, Honey Island Swamp Band, and more. This Americana festival could not be more sweet. It's family friendly, lovely in the fall, and, as you can see,  has some real towering musical giants playing this year.

A 4-day weekend ticket , which includes primitive camping, is $155 and the price goes up September 1.

Suwaneee Hulaween happens Oct. 31-Nov. 2. This fest  is hosted by the incomparable  improvisational band, The String Cheese Incident. These cats can PLAY, and they will -- all three nights. Also playing: Emancipator, Conspirator,Steve Kimock & Friends, Suwannee Bluegrass Surprise, Future Rock,Brock Butler, Jennifer Hartswick, Van Ghost, Moon Taxi and Applebutter Express, One of the coolest things about this festival will be the special electric forest light and art installation along the park's already beautiful cypress lake in the campground. The promoters say: "Fans can expect an epic fusion of dazzling lights, art installations and performance art that morphs the Spirit Lake waterfront and adjacent forest into a vivid dream-like space that fully engages the senses. Working with some of the Southeast’s most talented sculptors, fire/metal workers, painters, performance artists and lighting designers, the Spirit Lake Promenade will also host a Silent Disco and other astonishing Hulaween creations." So you're going, right? Right?

Weekend ticket is $159, and that includes primitive camping.

The cypress lake

Da Bears

Bear Creek Music and Arts Festival, Nov. 14-17 (It actually starts on Nov.13 with a special musical benefit for $25 that includes camping with The New Mastersounds, The Revivalists, Toubab Krewe and more.) Bear Creek is the creme de la creme of Southeast festivals if you like to dance. It's a funky throwdown of epic proportions. Lineup is: The Roots, Bootsy Collins and the Funk Unity Band, Galactic x2, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe x2, Lettuce x2, Bonobo Live Band , Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk x2, The New Mastersounds x2, Antibalas, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Zach Deputy x2, Toubab Krewe x2, George Porter Jr's Runnin Pardners, The Motet x 2 , Jennifer Hartswick Band x2 , Break Science , Mike Dillon Band, Pimps of Joytime x2, Robert Walter's 20th Congress x2, Bernie Worrell Orchestra, Roosevelt Collier Band, Dr. Klaw, The Revivalists, Kung Fu x2 , The Werks , The Malah x2 , Space Capone x2 , Nth Power , Flow Tribe , Dopapod , The Legendary JC's , Ron Haynes Game Changers x2 , Brownout x2 , Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes x2 , Jaime McLean Band , The Monophonics , Ghost Owl , Greenhouse Lounge, Cope , Chris McCarty and the Underground Movement , The Resolvers , Profit , Suenalo , Lucky Costello, SOUNDUO Artists at Large:, Oteil Burbridge , Karl Denson , George Porter Jr. , Skerik , Mike Dillon , Roosevelt Collier , Jennifer Hartswick , Natalie Cressman , Dave Watts , Joey Porter , Jans Ingber , Clay Watson, Pee Wee Ellis , Ron Haynes.

Four-day weekend pass is $155, that includes camping, and the price starts going up Sept. 15.

So excited to get to Suwannee for the fall!!

Camping on the cypress lake

OK It's Not Music But....

Festivarians, just in case you find yourself wondering what the hell you're doing living where you live and doing what you do every day between fests, it's worth knowing The Best Cities for Hippies in America. Just in case.

Suwanee Hulaween Announces New Artists

Suwannee Hulaween, the new festival happening Halloween weekend at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fla  just added some new acts. 

In addition to headliners The String Cheese Incident (our hosts, playing 3 nights,)  organizers have added to the roster, and here it is:

STS9 (late night)

Big Gigantic (late night)

Emancipator

Conspirator

Steve Kimock & Friends

Suwannee Bluegrass Surprise

Brock Butler

Future Rock

Moon Taxi

Van Ghost

Jennifer Hartswick

Applebutter Express

And listen to this delicious descrption of a light-art installation that will be happening around the park's already beautiful cypress lake:

Set in the midst of 800 acres of Spanish moss-draped oak and cypress along the Suwannee River, SOSMP is one of the most beautiful live music venues in the country. During Suwanee Hulaween the space will transform into the first rendition of the Spirit Lake Promenade, a visual arts extravaganza never before seen at SOSMP.  Fans can expect an epic fusion of dazzling lights, art installations and performance art that morphs the Spirit Lake waterfront and adjacent forest into a vivid dream-like space that fully engages the senses. Working with some of the Southeast's most talented sculptors, fire/metal workers, painters, performance artists and lighting designers, the Spirit Lake Promenade will also host a Silent Disco and other astonishing Hulaween creations. “I'm extremely thrilled and honored to have been brought on as the Art Director for the Spirit Lake Promenade 2013! It's a very exciting project on a remarkable chunk of land. My intention is to bring the local art community together in a way that unifies us all creatively while blowing people’s minds,” said Andrew Carroll.

Tickets are currently available or $163 including all taxes and fees but prices will go up soon. Stay tuned for info on Ultimate Incident VIP Packages and additional details. To join the wait list for cabins, golf cart rentals and RV hook-ups, please contact SOSMP at 386.364.1683.