Monday, December 30, 2013

Railroad Earth at the Orange Peel

Last night, the Gnometown gang caught the first night of the three night Railroad Earth's New Year's Eve run at the Orange Peel. It was a great time spent with friends and family, listening to one of our favorite bands. As a bonus, we got to hear the first live playing of the title track of Railroad Earth's upcoming album, The Last Of The Outlaws.
Here's the set list:

Set 1:
Like a Buddha
420
Peace on Earth
Been Down This Road
Came Up Smilin'
Right in Tune
Where Songs Begin
Carrying Coal to Newcastle -->
Chasin' a Rainbow

Set 2:
Mission Man
Long Way To Go
Drag Him Down
Colorado
For Love
The Last of the Outlaws (A)
Mourning Flies -->
Lone Croft Farewell
Crossing the Gap
Gold Rush
Elko

Encore:
Water Fountain Quicksand

(A) First time played. Written by
Todd Sheaffer and Carey Harmon

Here's the taper's version: Internet Archive

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Hometown Hiker's Live Band List 2013


While looking back and reviewing all my YouTube videos and blog posts from this past year, I am beginning to realize that 2013 emerged as a pretty terrific year of live music for the Hometown gang. Black Betty and I were joined by family and friends to boogie to some of the best music ever, played by many of the most talented artists in the world. As I have said before,  "There were so many incredible shows, so much inspiring music!"

Here is a list of many of the incredible bands that we were fortunate enough to see in 2013:

Donna The Buffalo, Railroad Earth, Cooking With Quanta, Town Mountain, Greensky Bluegrass, Danny Barnes, Willie Nelson, Apple Butter Express, Peter Rowan, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, The Traveling McCourys, John Prine, The Duhks, Jeff Sipe Trio, The Freight Hoppers, The Horse Flies, The Deadly Gentlemen, Solas, Tornado Rider, Col. Bruce Hampton, Ralph Roddenbery, Bibb City Ramblers, Keller and The Keels, Keller and Traveling McCourys, Taylor Martin Acoustic Band, Mavis Staples, The Corbitt Brothers, Jim Lauderdale, The Brothers Comatose, Stephen Marley, Drive By Truckers, Todd Sheaffer, Rayna Gellert, Strung Like A Horse, Grandpa's Cough Medicine, Darol Anger, Elephant Revival, Kris Kristofferson, Lizzy Ross Band, The Hackensaw Boys, Bobby Miller, Heavy Pets, Mamajowali, Apple Chill Cloggers, David Via and Curtis Burch, Scythian, The Stacks, Vagabond Swing, Leftovers Salmon, Jerry Douglas, Dread Clampitt, Yonder Mountain String Band.








Sunday, December 22, 2013

Manna Food Bank Bluegrass Benefit

 

On Friday, December 20th, the Isis Music Hall in West Asheville hosted the Manna Food Bank Bluegrass Benefit. The benefit featured our favorite Asheville bluegrass band, the hard driving Town Mountain, and the flat picking guitar maestro, Larry Keel, and his equally talented band, Natural Bridge.

It proved to be a fun and rowdy night of world class bluegrass tunes performed in front of a music loving crowd in Asheville. The Isis Music Hall is emerging as a premier small venue at which to see some of the best bands breezing through town. If you haven't been there yet, you need to check it out.

It was a great way for the local community of music lovers, artists, and businesses to take time to help the hungry in western North Carolina. We even got to hear Larry Keel and Robert Greer sing some Christmas tunes.

According to publicist Erin Scholze of Dreamspider, $1000. was raised for Manna Food Bank.
To read more about Manna Food Bank, Town Mountain, and Larry Keel: Dreamspider Article.

Town Mountain

Larry Keel   


Scott, Hometown, Black Betty


Sunday, December 8, 2013

Hometown Hiker Shuttle

Based out of Franklin, North Carolina, I am available to shuttle hikers to various trail heads on the Appalachian Trail, Bartram Trail, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and anywhere else that you may want to go in the southern Appalachian area. I also can provide rides to and from the Asheville Airport and other locations upon arrangement. I can be reached by email, text, or phone call. Contact numbers are available under my profile on this blog.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Todd Sheaffer

We were in for a special musical treat last night when Todd Sheaffer of Railroad Earth performed a solo show at the Isis Music Hall in West Asheville. It was our first time seeing Todd without the band and our first time at the Isis venue. We absolutely loved both. The venue was intimate, and it was if Sheaffer was in our living room, singing to us, and telling us the stories behind the songs that we know and love so well.


Man, you've got to love Asheville on a Thursday night in November when you can spend it like this!

Saturday, October 26, 2013

MagnoliaFest 2013

Black Betty, Becky, and I packed up our little Gnometown on Thursday and headed down I-75 to the Spirit of the Suwannee music park near Live Oak, Florida for Magfest 2013.


The first thing that grabbed our attention as we entered the park was the large crowd. The place was incredibly packed out for a Magfest Thursday. Most of the reserved sites in the campground seemed already to be occupied, and as we approached our regularly sparsely populated, primitive camping area, it was crowded with tents. I never saw this many peeps at a Magfest, even on a Saturday.  We pushed just a little further beyond before setting up Gnometown out in the grassy field, amongst the live oaks, Spanish moss, and fire ants. Oh yeah, we were ready for some music.

Home sweet Gnometown.




By the time we got down to the Amphitheater stage, it was time for the legendary Col. Bruce Hampton 
and Friends to "Hampmotize" the assembled crowd. The Colonel's band set the mood for the weekend, rocking and rolling, with class and style. They finished with an incredible cover of Cream's, I'm So Glad. If I close my eyes, I can still hear the Festivarian chorus singing along with the Colonel, "I"m so glad, I'm so glad, I'm so glad, glad, glad..." We were glad, indeed.

Col. Bruce.



Next up was the outlaw bluegrass trio, Grandpa's Cough Medicine from the Jacksonville area. We have seen them before at Suwannee and they just continue to deliver the medicine. Brett Bass, guitar picker extraordinaire, is a perfect pitchman for their songs of murder, deceit, and corruption. They are lots of fun and well worth seeking out if they play around your town.

To wrap up the night, we were treated to the Gnometown favorite, Railroad Earth. I was rather surprised that I was approached by several folks (I was wearing a RRE shirt) who had never heard them and wanted to know about them. One guy asked me the type of music they played, and when I replied, "JamGrass" he said, "I like to smoke grass and I like to jam, so I will probably like them." I'm thinking he probably did like them.

Anyway, when RRE took the stage, they did effectively blow the crowd away with their absurdly exceptional musicianship and Todd Sheaffer's  wonderfully lyrical songwriting and haunting vocals. It continues to amaze me how they continue to deliver such incredible music. I've never seen a "tired" show or any evidence of the band having a "bad day". Noteworthy of this show, RRE did a spot-on cover of The Band's Acadian Driftwood (I hadn't heard them do that one for a while), and they performed a somewhat short but perfectly jammy and delectable, Head. I actually believe, deep down in my heart that this time, during the heated battle between Tim Carbone on fiddle and John Skehan on mandolin (which drives the song, Head), that John kicked Tim's ass. I've seen this war fought dozens of times, usually with mixed results. This particular time there is no question in my mind who the victor was. Wow!


Railroad Earth.





Todd Sheaffer.

It was quiet back at Gnometown and I slept really good. One advantage of being in the back fields at Suwannee is that it is mostly far removed from the drum circle, all night jams, partying, and drunken yahoo-ing, which is sometimes difficult to escape at music festivals. Believe me, at my age, I value my sleep more than listening to a blow by blow live time account of someone "pushing the fool button".

We were camped in a large area populated by families with lots of young kids so things were quiet at night, and the kids were wide open during the day. Lots of football, soccer, Frisbee, bike riding, sword fighting, tag, etc. It was a very entertaining scene to watch over morning coffee.

We discovered that, despite our best effort to avoid the fire ants, we must have been on top of some. The little buggers were crawling up on the pop-up and causing trouble, so I had to purchase some deterrent from the camp store. Problem solved.
Camp Becky.
 The Corbitt Brothers Band was playing at the Meadow stage in the early afternoon. They are friends of Becky's and are a hard-driving southern rock band from the Jacksonville area and have a Franklin, NC connection, so we went and checked them out. They were gritty, passionate, and intense. Brother Isaac on freight train harmonica and brother Newsome on guitar and vocals kept the large crowd dancing in the meadow.

Corbitt Bros.
 Later in the afternoon, we returned to the stages for the evening performances. Keller Williams and the Traveling McCourys were on the Meadow stage. No matter how many times I hear this collaboration, I just continue to gain more and more appreciation of it. Keller fits in perfectly with these guys and The McCourys bring it, for sure. You can tell that they have collaborated for many years and have a true respect and admiration for the musicianship of each other and a pure love and understanding of the tunes that they deliver. It clearly shines through in their playing. Besides playing many wonderful tunes from their album, Pick, they nailed a dead-on cover (pun-intended) of the Grateful Dead's Candy Man. Becky said that although it was never among her favorite Dead songs, hearing Keller and Co. doing it certainly gave her a new appreciation of the song. Man, it was all good stuff!

Meadow stage during Keller and Traveling McCourys.
Next up was Kris Kristofferson at the Amphitheater stage. Yes, he is a legendary songwriter.. Now, this venue was packed out; you could barely make your way down into the amphitheater. Pretty much, it was Kris, his guitar, his trademark voice, his two minute songs. You get the picture. For me, his show would have been better suited for a small bar or honky-tonk than for the big stage. We couldn't quite hang with it; although, I am sure some folks loved it.

Who cares whether Kris rang our bell or not, because John Prine was up next at the Meadow stage. Now, this was the show of the weekend. Prine manifested as the reincarnation of Buddha on stage. He was funny, he was sweet, he was insightful, he was all knowing, and he transcended space and time. He was the intuitive songwriter who wrote all those tender songs which revealed his complete understanding of the human condition. We knew all the words to all his songs. During Sam Stone, you could hear a pin drop. I've never witnessed that phenomenon in such a large festival crowd before. During Hello In There, an older woman who was sitting by me, turned and whispered in my ear, "That song is just pitiful, just pitiful!"  I had to agree. Black Betty started crying at Angel From Montgomery and wept through the rest of the show. It was truly a transcendental experience and one of those live music moments that I live for. Kris Kristofferson joined Prine on stage for an encore of Paradise.







After Prine, we walked back over to the amphitheater to listen to Stephen Marley. As a five time Grammy winner and son of Bob Marley, Stephen is no slouch. We listened to some sweet, sweet, reggae before heading back to Gnometown for some quality dream time.

Stephen Marley

Saturday  was spent with lots of great music. Tornado Rider started us off with their regular insane intensity and Rashad Eggleston's nonsensical verbal ramblings and hard rocking cello punk band. Next, we dug on the Heavy Pets trancey reggae fusion

Like almost everyone else at Magfest, we were really excited to see The Duhks again. Leonard, Tania Elizabeth, and company brought the love back to Suwannee with them and it was certainly palpable in the crowd.

The Duhks


Mavis Staples rocks, what can I say? I loved her doing The Weight and praising the late, great Levon Helm. Great stuff, her powerful stage presence took my breath away!

Mavis Staples Band


Donna The Buffalo really brought their "A" game with them. You know, I really love them, and I can't say enough about just how ass-kicking this current configuration of the band is. Dave McCracken, Kyle Sparks, and Mark Raudabaugh, without a doubt, kick up the energy and vibe of the band bringing Jeb and Tara with them. Awesome stuff. My only complaint is that they didn't play all four days! Some sweet boogie time, for sure!

Tara Nevins.

Jeb, Kyle, Mark.

Dave McCracken


Willie Nelson and Family were up next and were as great as ever. I saw them for the first time 33 years ago in Austin, and I couldn't tell that Willie has slowed up any. Actually, few things in this old world can trump listening to Willie sing Always On My Mind on a warm fall evening with your family and friends. The fact the Willie is 80 years old and singing, "Roll me up and smoke me when I die" says it all. This man is truly an American icon. BTW, some lucky fan in the meadow got to go home with Willie's black cowboy hat that he tossed into the crowd during his performance. Just think what a family heirloom that hat is destined to become! Oh yeah, our very own Jim Lauderdale along with Willie's daughter, Amy, came out on stage for the finale.

The Drive By Truckers finished our night out for us. Loud, hard rocking, fun. Hey, it was the Truckers!

Willie Nelson.


Unfortunately, we had to pack up Gnometown on Sunday to head back home to North Cackalacky. So we missed all the great Donna The Buffalo Sunday jams. I hope the tapers got it all recorded and are loading it up to archive, so we can hear what we missed.

Magfest Vibes:

Over all, it was a nice weekend of music. We missed lots of music, but you can only see so much. What we did see was spectacular!

The weather was perfect, if not a little hot. Highs were in the 80's, lows in the 60's. No rain, just a light sprinkle for about 5 minutes.

I don't know what they were thinking with the the scheduling of the Porch Stage and the Amphitheater. Many times they had music going on at the same time on these two close-proximity stages. The sound would often bleed through to the other stage while we were trying to enjoy the band in front of us. Bummer.

This festival had a much larger crowd than the Magfests of the past. We actually prefer smaller fests, the big crowds tend to make it too difficult to get as close to the music as we like to be. We talked on the way home about the possibility of just sticking with Springfest in the spring and Shakori Hills in the fall for next year. We will see what the lineup looks like. 

Gnometown Festivarians.


Monday, May 6, 2013

Shakori Hills Grassroots



We were thrilled by our decision to attend Shakori Hill Grassroots Festival for the first time this year.
Black Betty and I are pretty dedicated Suwannee Spring Festivarians so haven't made it out to Shakori Hills before now. This year we decided to go for the day on Saturday.  We drove out in the morning (4 1/2 hours), saw a bunch of shows, and grabbed a motel for the night.

It definitely was worth the effort to go, even for just the day. We had a blast, loved the Festival, and were thrilled by all the music. We will be back.

The groups we saw were: The Apple Chill Cloggers, Lizzy Ross Band, The Horse Flies, Donna The Buffalo, The Brothers Comatose, and Solas.


Shakori Hills The Brothers Comatose





We were lucky enough to catch The Brothers Comatose at Shakori Hills on 4/20/2013. It was our first look at this San Francisco grass band. We loved 'em and hope to see lots more of them. I did see that they were playing Bristol this Fall, so there is even more reason to make it to Rhythm and Roots in September.

The Duhks!

On Saturday night, (4/6/2013) Black Betty and I joined friends, Mike, Aimee, and Cassidy on a little ride to Pisgah Brewing Company in Black Mountain to see the original Duhks.


I think it may have been 3 or 4 years since I last saw them. It was a true joy to share the evening with them.
They were rocking, the crowd was loving it, we had a blissful night of love and music....and nothing but love and music!

Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga Trail Trip.


My brother, Matt, drove up from his home in Florida and met me at The Rock Campground near Rockmart, Georgia for this one. The friendly folks at the campground informed us that we had heavy rain on the way and told us where we could pitch our tents on higher ground.  We also had the use of a large gazebo to stay dry. After getting set up and squared away, we rode our bikes down the Silver Comet to Rockmart and ate a giant and delicious pizza with meatballs, mushrooms, and tomatoes at Frankie's Italian Restaurant.

Camp

Matt at Frankie's

4/28 Smyrna to The Rock CG - 35.4 miles

Heavy rain came during the night. Our plan today was to shuttle to the start of The Silver Comet Trail in Smyrna, GA and ride back to the campground. As big "gluttons for punishment" as we may be, we didn't actually want to begin the ride in the rain, so we waited it out in Highland Station Shopping Center where we would leave the car parked. There is a 1 mile long connector trail here that takes you directly to the start of the trail at Mavell Road. And better yet, it's downhill!

Finally at 2 pm, it let up and we were ready to ride. We quickly rolled down the hill to the start of the Silver Comet. Shortly after hitting the trail, Matt discovered that he left his helmet in the car. I offered to wait while he went back for it, but alas, he declined.

Within 30 minutes, the rain started again. It increased with intensity as we rode west. The advantage of riding in such lousy conditions (if there was any at all) was this part of the trail would have been crowded with folks on a nice Sunday afternoon and, instead, was virtually empty. We saw one fellow pushing his bike and possibly one other rider. That was about it. Most people have better sense than to be out in bad weather. The disadvantage of riding through this section of trail during a monsoon was we could not appreciate riding over the 750 foot long Pumpkinvine Creek Trestle (mile 23) and through the Paulding Wildlife Management Area. This is some of the nicest section of trail on the Silver Comet, but we couldn't see it for the monsoon.


Matt in Brushy Mountain Tunnel

Hometown

We stopped in the 800 foot long, three story high Brushy Mountain Tunnel (mile 30) to take a break and stretch our legs. The rain was thundering down the face of the tunnel as it was pouring off the mountain. The noise was truly ominous. It sounded as if a train was rumbling through the tunnel.  As we got closer to camp, lightning strikes crashed close by. A 100 foot tall oak tree completely blocked the trail near Coot's Lake (mile 33.5). We had to lift our bikes over the three or four large sections of main trunk.

In spite of the hurdles, dangers, and obstacles, we managed to return to camp in one piece.  We wasted no time getting nice hot showers to thaw our frigid hands and feet and changing into dry clothes. After shuttling the cars, we found a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner.


4/29 The Rock CG to Alabama State Line - 28.10 miles

We were able to dry out today. We lounged around camp in a lazy man's vacation mode, drinking coffee and eating bagels. We shuttled a car to the Alabama state line at Esom Hill and then drove back to the campground to start riding our bikes west.

The ride through Rockmart was nice, with a few hills alongside US 278. The trail turned flat again as we regained the railroad grade and followed the train tracks until we spotted the giant clay hill at the "supermax" Polk Co. Landfill. Here, at mile 46 things got hilly, like granny-gear-steep-hilly. The good thing about climbing is that you know that you eventually get to go downhill! We had fun screaming through the rollers for a few miles.

We stopped at the cool, old train depot at the Cedartown Welcome Center (mile 52) and filled up on water and took a break. We noticed that riding through both Rockmart and Cedartown, everyone seemed very courteous towards us as cyclists and stopped at road intersections and waved us through. We appreciated the hospitality.

Continuing west from town, the area once again became less populated and more rural. We saw turkeys, guineas, and squirrels. We had several dogs bark at us but never saw one on the trail. We finished the day at the end of the Silver Comet (mile 61.5) and the start of the Chief Ladiga at the State Line Gateway Park.

Matt mentioned a desire for catfish for supper so we made ourselves at home at Sidekicks Restaurant in Rockmart that evening. and ate a big plate of fried goodness. Back at camp, we gathered wet wood, made a pretty decent camp fire, and listened to the Braves on the radio before going to bed. Good stuff!

Gazebo at The Rock campground



The Silver Comet.

A Cedartown welcome

Cool bike tool and pump at the Cedartown Depot


Cedartown Depot


4/30 The Chief Ladiga Trail - 33.75 miles

We actually wanted to get a little earlier start on the trail today, but I neglected to have any real directions to the Chief Ladiga Trail trail head at Mike Tucker Memorial Park in Anniston. Needless to say, there were a few delays in finding the place and dropping off a car. Eventually, we made the shuttle and were back at the state line and ready to ride. 

The good thing about riding the Chief Ladiga Trail east to west is that it is generally downhill. If you ride west to east, you have the prevailing wind to your back, so maybe you can feel smug about that, too. Either way, it's paved and fairly smooth all the way. 

We were interested in checking out the Chief Ladiga Campground at mile 7, but when we got there it seemed to be closed. We stopped and talked to a couple from Jacksonville, AL who were out for a 50 mile ride. In the friendly little town of Piedmont, we stopped at the Eubanks Welcome Center (mile 13.6) and met Les, a 75 year old trail rider and volunteer. We chatted on the porch for a while and got good advice on a lunch spot in town. That turned out to be the Solid Rock Cafe where I had a delicious French dip sandwich.

Ten more miles down the road, we came to the quaint little college town of Jacksonville (mile 25). We stopped at the train depot to get water and talked to a  girl who was walking on the trail. She worked at a motel in Anniston and said that they routinely lodged cyclists. We saw numerous cyclists, joggers, and walkers on the entire length of the trail, and more so in Jacksonville. It seemed to be getting put to good use by the populace. Again in Alabama, like in Georgia, the drivers were very courteous to us in the small towns at road crossings. Traffic was never a problem.

We finished the ride at the southern terminus of the Chief Ladiga Trail at Michael Tucker Memorial Park (mile 32.5). 

Post ride, we managed to find a good little BBQ joint to stuff ourselves in. This was Bar-L-Bar-B-Que in Rockmart. They literally give us enough pork each for about 4 people. I did manage to persevere and eat it all, though. Oink!

Then we were back to camp for more Braves baseball on the radio and a nice campfire. All in all, it was an enjoyable visit with my brother and a relaxing little bike ride.  I'm ready to do it again.
 


Gateway park looking west

Gateway park looking east


Eubanks House Welcome Center in Piedmont

A good place to eat in Piedmont

A granddaddy snapping turtle


Matt and Hometown at the ride's end







From the website:
The Silver Comet Trail is located 13 miles northwest of Atlanta, Georgia. It's free of charge, and travels west through Cobb, Paulding, and Polk counties. This quiet, non-motorized, paved trail is for walkers, hikers, bicyclists, rollerbladers, horses, dog walkers, and is wheelchair accessible.

The Silver Comet Trail is 61.5 miles long, and starts at the Mavell Road Trailhead in Smyrna, Georgia. It ends at the Georgia/Alabama state line, near Cedartown and The Esom Hill Trailhead.

At the Georgia/Alabama state line, the Silver Comet connects to the 33-mile long Chief Ladiga Trail. Plans are underway to extend the Chief Ladiga an additional 7 miles. Both the Silver Comet Trail and Chief Ladiga are fully paved rail-trails built on abandoned railroad lines. The combined Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga trail length is estimated to be 94.5 paved miles from Smyrna, Georgia to Anniston, Alabama.


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Dutch Oven Venison Meatloaf


I am a hiker not a hunter but I do love the taste of game meat, so whenever folks offer it to me I am more than happy to take it off their hands. Recently I found myself in possession of 3 pounds of ground venison and I decided that a dutch oven meatloaf would be mighty tasty.



Mix together thoroughly:
3lbs. ground venison
1 lb. ground pork sausage
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup ketchup
2 eggs
1 pkg. Lipton onion soup mix

Form into a loaf.
Use the basket weaving skills that you acquired in college and neatly cover the top of the loaf with any thick sliced bacon that you would like.

Bake in a 12 inch medium heat Dutch oven for 1 hour or until meat reaches 160 degrees internal temperature.

Notes:
I used 20 charcoals on top and 10 on bottom. 
The sausage was added since the venison was so lean, the added fat was perfect.
About halfway through the cooking, I carefully removed the lid from the D.O. and drained the fat.
I mixed my loaf ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.
Let it stand for a few minutes after baking and before slicing and carving.
I use a digital remote thermometer, I love it.
I would have taken it off at 150 degrees, but went to 160 because of the pork.
This meatloaf was moist and delicious, everyone loved it. 



In the pot.





A thing of beauty!











Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Suwannee Springfest 2013


Springfest 2013 notes:

It was a wet and cold Springfest at times this year, but we still had a fun time and saw lots of killer music.
Gnometown was out in full force with Nate, Phil, Cody, Jessie, and Lucas joining us in camp.

 The 2013 Springfest lineup stayed true to its roots and we couldn't have asked for a better weekend of music. Just maybe, better weather. Hey, it happens. At least our little popup stayed dry. I bet that was the exception and not the rule, I saw lots of wet tents out there! It's about the live music for us, and we were not disappointed.

Black Betty and I did bow out of a couple of shows due to the excessive thunderstorm activity on Saturday night, so we missed a few of our favorites, but what we did see was right on.

I got lucky this year and won the Tie Dye hanging in the LOMAF raffle. Nice!

I cooked up a big dutch oven full of my infamous Pineapple Express for our Gnometown dinner on Friday evening. Somehow, we missed out on our regular nightly servings of Sweet Revenge apple crisp and ice cream.

The river was flooded and the beach was closed, so we did not get a swim in this year. It was pretty cool over the weekend though, with night time lows dipping down into the high 30's to low 40's so the water may have been pretty cool yet. I did however, get a nice bike ride in on Friday with Nate and Phil and we explored the old highway and closed bridge area across the road from the park.

Due to the storming on Saturday afternoon and evening, Black Betty and I ventured into Live Oak for supper and found some delicious fried oysters at the Dixie Diner. It was our first visit.

As always, the Sunday Donna The Buffalo Jam was as hot as it gets and I was in jam heaven with the return of Peter Rowan to Suwannee Springfest after his conspicuous absence last year. Peter seemed to be everywhere! He was having a fantastic time playing with many of the bands that were there. I know we were having a great time listening to him.

I was lucky enough to capture some special moments on video and I still smile every time I watch Peter and DtB buring it up on "Burningman".


Some of  the bands/artists we were fortunate enough to see: 
Applebutter Express   Tornado Rider   Scythian   
Hackensaw Boys   Dangermuffin   Dread Clampitt
Elephant Revival   Leftover Salmon   Keller & The Keels   
The Travelin' McCourys   Mamajowali   Grandpa's Cough Medicine   
Larry Keel & Natural Bridge   Jim Lauderdale   Peter Rowan   
Darol Anger    Bobby MIller   Jerry Douglas   Donna The Buffalo

Phil "Free Mexican AirForce"

Lucas

Cody

Hometown and Black Betty

Jessie


Nimble Nate

Wayne



With Sam and Mary and girls.


Gnometown

Amphitheater stage.

 Raffle win!

Gnometown Camp.
Bobby Miller with Jeb Purveyor.

Hackensaw Boys.

Salmon! Vince Herman.

Sythian

Jim Lauderdale.

Peter Rowan with the McCourys.

Moon from the Porch Stage area.

Larry Keel and Keller Williams.


 

Lucas and friends playing in the meadow on Saturday.


And really, can it get any better than Keller, The Keels, The Traveling McCourys, Drew Emmitt, and Vince Herman doing "Born To Be Wild"???? I think not.



Here is a link to all 15 of my Springfest videos: Springfest 2013.

See you next year!