He rocked Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Music Festival last summer and recently Rolling Stone named him “Best Young Gun,” Gary Clark Jr. may just be the next great blues musician. Hailing from Austin Texas, Clark Jr. can span many genres of music but his slick, powering guitar skills has had him compared to Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan time and time again. He’s got a ways to go but definitely off to a great start. Part of the Café Artists line-up at Bonnaroo, I can’t wait to see and hear him live.
We are 49 days away from Bonnaroo!! Since I’m claiming it as a holiday, here are 49 Reasons to look forward to Bonnaroo June 9-12.
49. Saying you are going to Tennessee just sounds so good
48. GIVERS are going to be going Up! Up! Up! after playing the festival
47. Bonnaroo Buzz from Ben & Jerry’s
46. Getting a chance to hear an amazing talent in Bobby Long
45. A good excuse to go buy galoshes
44. Justin’s Maple Almond Butter packets in tow
43. Donald Glover is part of the comedy line-up
42. Getting a chance to see The Band of Heathens live!
41. The legend, Henry Rollins
40. “Let’s Go Surfing” by The Drums
39. Mud sliding during and after the rain
38. Sonic Stage
37. Florence Welch – I can’t wait to see her perform
36. Grace Potter
35. Matt & Kim’s intro music (Beastie Boys – “No Sleep Til Brooklyn”) and they’re fun live
34. Check out the works on display at the Poster Art Exhibit
33. Portugal. The Man
32. The cinema but only if The Big Lebowski or My Blue Heaven are playing
31. Listening to Ryan Bingham play tracks off Mescalito, his first album
30. Since Jimmy Fallon announced the initial line-up maybe hope that he and The Roots show-up as a surprise guests
29. Old Crow Medicine Show belt out “Wagon Wheel”
28. Les Claypool
27. Checking out Eminem to see if he reaches way back and busts out D12 “Purple Pills”
26. The Black Keys rock out (I’ve been blown away by their performances twice this year already)
25. Grammy Winners Arcade Fire play yet another festival as a headliner and after years on the smaller stages
24. Getting down with Galactic
23. Late night with Bootsy Collins
22. A chance to see The Decemberists before the pack it in
21. Planet Roo
20. The only way I’ll see Lil Wayne because I know I wouldn’t buy a ticket to just his concert
19. Have you ever seen Ray LaMontagne live?
18. Austin’s Finest – Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
17. The Silent Disco
16. Listen to blues music with G. Love
15. Lewis Black, nuff said
14. Party into the night with Girl Talk
13. Seeing the sun rise
12. Mumford & Sons play their largest show to date
11. The honor of seeing Mr. Robert Plant live
10. Hearing Warren Haynes play “Soulshine”
9. One more time to see Gregg Allman before it’s too late
8. Superjam
7. Late night with Dr. John and the Original Meters
6. Surprise performances that are sure to be in store this year
5. Celebrate 25 years of Widespread Panic
4. Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bonnaroo
3. String Cheese Incident do their thing
2. In my lifetime getting a chance to see Buffalo Springfield perform live
1. Four days listening to music and camping with great friends
Of course there are a whole lot more than 49 reasons to look forward to Bonnaroo so feel free to drop yours in the comment section below.
Today Bonnaroo announced artist additions and the comedy line-up for this summer. I know some people were hoping for bigger names but really, you couldn’t expect more headlining acts to be announced. Could it have been better, sure but either way I for one am stoked as two of my favorite artists we added, G. Love and Black Joe Lewis. Add in Galactic, Black Uhuru and Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub and Superfly definitely added some great talent. DJ line-up should be coming soon too.
Artists Additions
NOFX
Galactic
G. Love & Special Sauce
Black Uhuru
Shpongle Presents Shpongletron Experience
Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub
Allen Toussaint (w Dr. John and The Original Meters)
Anthony B
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
Ben Sollee
Graveyard
Dennis Coffey
Forro in the Dark
The Knux
Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens
Futurebirds
Hangaii
Comedy Lineup!
Lewis Black
420 Comedy Blaze hosted by Cheech Marin featuring Ralphie May, the stars of Workaholics and more
John Waters
Henry Rollins
Henson Alternative’s Stuffed & Unstrung
The League (Paul Scheer, Nick Kroll, Jon Lajoie, Stephen Rannazzisi)
Donald Glover
The Gregory Brothers
Kathleen Madigan
Eugene Mirman
Ted Alexandro
Tim Minchin
Tig Notaro
Hannibal Buress
Craig Baldo
Nate Bergatze
Great creative :30 second spot by Ben & Jerry’s and Bonnaroo for the new Bonnaroo Buzz Ice Cream. Music courtesy of Galactic – “Muss The Hair.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOxPKgLMa6M
Jamestown Revival, heard of this band before? If not you better get on top of their EP, The Knives & Pipes. The laidback duo of Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance originally hail from Magnolia, Texas and are currently one of 16 bands vying for the cover of Rolling Stone. In what’s a really sweet contest featuring many great up-and-coming bands, give a listen to Jamestown Revival and cast your vote for the guys (final four bands will rock out at Bonnaroo in a Battle of the Bands this June). Even better, vote for Jamestown Revival, click the Facebook ‘Like’ icon and then shoot at email to ivoted@jamestownrevival.com and you can score a free copy of their EP.
Wondering what their sound is like? Personally I think it’s a blend of a handful of genres including their country roots, bluegrass, pop, rock and rockabilly, soul and they pull it off so elegantly. They have a more mellow, chillaxing approach which makes listening to them that much more enjoyable. I know after one listen I was hooked and have found myself pushing repeat again and again the past week.
The Coachella lineup is pretty damn sick but after seeing the initial announcement of artists slated to perform at Bonnaroo, I am now torn and thinking I should look into heading to Tennessee this summer. I mean at Bonnaroo you have the return of Buffalo Springfield and Widespread Panic celebrating 25 years, String Cheese Incident, Warren Haynes and Gregg Allman which I can all but see some fun little guest appearances in the works, Mumford & Sons are thrust to the big time stage, Ray Lamontagne and Iron & Wine finally out of the tiny print on the line-up, just knowing Primus is going to be there leaves me wondering what Les Claypool has up his sleeve, Sleigh Bells, Portugal the Man, The Drums, Wavves, Ryan Bingham! Plus Smith Westerns, Beats Antique and STS9, Hayes Carll, Amos Lee, Deer Tick, Matt & Kim, Grace Potter and so many more great acts and that’s not even including the headliners, Eminem and Arcade Fire.
Here’s the line-up as of today:
Do You Hear The Music? 