Pablo Picasso said that every child is an artist. The Jacksonville Center in Floyd has a host of upcoming opportunities to help kids exercise their innate creative talents.
The Jax’s Kids Art Camp will be held during the week of Aug. 2 - 6. Participating kids will stretch their imaginations with activities including: (more…)
Name? The Packway Handle Band
Where are you based? Athens, Georgia
Where do you typically tour or perform? Throughout the Southeast year-round, though we have spent a lot of time touring throughout the rest of the country, particularly out West. Lately we’ve been starting to spend more time in the Northeast.
What’s your most recent CD? What Are We Gonna Do Now?
Who are your musical influences? Devo, The Pixies, Ralph Stanley, Hot Rize, Air, Leonard Cohen, Ween, Violent Femmes, Andrew Bird, The Louvin Brothers, Trailer Bride, Velvet Underground
Who are some musical acts that sound like you? Hackensaw Boys, Chatham County Line, Hot Rize
Why should I come see you at the festival? 1) To find out what a Packway Handle is; 2) because “things” happen at our shows that cannot be captured on recordings; 3) because we try to put on the kind of show that we would like to see.
When will you be playing? 5:30 on Thursday on the Main Stage
What are you most looking forward to about playing at FloydFest? Floydfest has a diverse lineup including many of the bands that we cross paths with throughout the year. We look forward to catching up with old friends and seeing new acts we haven’t gotten the chance to see yet.
Name? The Two Man Gentlemen Band
Where are you based? New York City
Where do you typically tour or perform? We play nearly 200 dates per year all across the USA and occasionally in Europe, too.
What’s your most recent CD? Dos Amigos Una Fiesta, our sixth CD will be released in August on Serious Business Records. But we’ll have advance copies with us at the fest! And find our previous CDs online.
Who are your musical influences? The Jean Goldkette Orchestra and Slim & Slam.
Who are some musical acts that sound like you? A reviewer once described us as Leon Redbone on uppers. That sounded about right to us.
Why should I come see you at the festival? As far as I know, our act is the only “two-man hot vaudevillian swing spectacular” at the festival this year. And we’re certainly the only one playing early Sunday morning.
When will you be playing? 4 p.m. Saturday on the VIP stage; 10:45 a.m. Sunday in the Dance Tent.
What are you most looking forward to about playing at FloydFest? Being the best-dressed two-man band at the festival. We’ve set aside some lovely, and surprisingly cool, summer suits for the occasion.
The evening air will be filled with the sounds of praise and worship through vibrant songs Saturday, July 24, when the Blue Ridge Music Center presents Glorious Mountain Gospel at 7 p.m.
With the stellar gospel group, Larnell Starkey and the Spiritual Seven, and bluegrass-gospel band Pathway, taking the stage, the theme might be not only an evening of worship in music, but families with decades of tradition
in doing just that.
Larnell Starkey and the Spiritual Seven is a family group from Wirtz, Va., made up of brothers, sons, and cousins who all attend Chestnut Grove Missionary Baptist Church. Some of the group’s members have been singing together for 41 years, traveling the United States and spreading the gospel through song. Their music takes listeners back to the old quartet style of singing and embraces more contemporary sounds as well.
Pathway is based in Mount Airy, N.C., and is made up of three brothers who’ve been playing together for years, a son of one of the brothers, and two friends. The group in its current formation came together in 2007. The band
plays bluegrass and gospel, blending familiar tunes with original compositions.
The concert starts at 7 pm with seating beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for this concert are $15. BRMC Concert Club members get a $2 discount per ticket. Call 276.236.5309 ext. 112 for info on how to join and save. This is an all ages event. Children 12 and under are free.
Advance tickets and more information are available online at www.blueridgemusiccenter.org or by calling the Blue Ridge Music Center at 276.236.5309. Tickets will also be available at the gate. No pets in the amphitheater or alcohol. Picnic food is permitted. Concessions are available on concert nights. Lawnchairs and blankets recommended. The Blue Ridge Music Center has evening concerts weekends through mid-September in the outdoor amphitheater at the foot of Fisher Peak between the Fancy Gap and Galax exits.
Name? Soulhound
Where are you based? Atlanta
Where do you typically tour or perform? Smoky bars, juke joints across the Southeast, our basement, and sweet festivals like FloydFest.
What’s your most recent CD? A Quickie in the Cave
What are your musical influences? In no particular order: James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Medeski Martin & Wood, Sly Stone, Steely Dan, Jimi Hendrix, The Meters, Zeppelin, The Beatles; as long as it’s good music, we love it all.
Who are some musical acts that sound like you? If Barry Manilow and Karen Carpenter got into a “thing” back in the 70s and had a child and that child shunned their parents influence and sounded like The Meters, Steely Dan, Galactic, Sly and the Family Stone … that would be us. Someone once said we sounded like The Screaming Headless Torsos, which is a great compliment.
Why should I come see you at the festival? Hmmmmm … our music is funky and unique. Each of us come from a different place musically, so our sound is something completely different. A little bit of funk, rock, improv, and soul all mixed into a sticky concoction. And like the tears of Chuck Norris, our music heals all types of afflictions.
When will you be playing? Friday 7/23 @ 9 on the Beer Garden Stage; Saturday 7/24 @ 8:30 on the VIP Stage. Check out Soulhound.com for more details.
What are you most looking forward to about playing at FloydFest? Meeting up with all of the people we met at last year’s festival and seeing some of our favorite bands perform.
Name of band? Old Sledge
Where are you based? Floyd and Eggleston, Virginia
Where do you typically tour or perform? Mostly on the East Coast, sometimes out West and Europe; next year we’re touring Canada, we get around.
What’s your most recent CD? Our first EP, it’s great, buy it, listen to it, love it.
Who are your musical influences? Lots of old timers, mostly from the 1930s. Most of our favorite musicians are dead.
Who are some musical acts that sound like you? Mmmm, we hate this question, how about Old Crow Medecine Show or Uncle Earl? Nah, you figure it out.
Why should I come see you at the festival? Because you will be overcome by the urge to tap your feet if not downright dance, but please resist the urge to rush the stage, we have body guards, very tough large body guards.
When will you be playing? Saturday at 3:15-4 p.m. and Sunday at 12:45-1:15 p.m. & 3:15-3:45 p.m. in the Dance Tent. Y’all come.
What are you most looking forward to about playing at FloydFest? Our fiddle player recently moved to Floyd! We prefer playing locally because it gives us a break from being on the road. We love playing outside at festivals and we dig what Floydfest is all about.
