Posted on February 15, 2017
The first full outdoor music fest hits Campus No. 805 this April.
Spring Fest, now in its third year, promises live music, food and beer on April 21-22 on the Butler Green between Yellowhammer and Straight to Ale breweries. And this year Spring Fest is expanding. The event will span two evenings, as Muscle Shoals comes to town on Friday night followed by a Saturday focus on the sounds and flavors of Nashville.
FRIDAY/SHOALS: The first night features headliner John Paul White, the Grammy-winning folksy Southern rocker who settled in his hometown in the Shoals. White recently released his first solo album in nearly a decade. Opening on Friday, we’ll have rising singer-songwriter Dylan LeBlanc. Also of Muscle Shoals, LeBlanc, at just 27, has put out three albums, jammed with Springsteen and the Drive-By Truckers, opened for Lucinda Williams and the Civil Wars. At Spring Fest, he’ll be backed by The Pollies, the popular Southern rock band from Florence with influences ranging from the Beatles to Sonic Youth.
APRIL 21
7:45 p.m. Dylan Leblanc & The Pollies
9:30 p.m. John Paul White
SATURDAY/NASHVILLE: The second day of the fest features the raw, often twangy, occasionally punk-influenced sounds of the creative hotbed that is East Nashville. The headliner will be singer-songwriter Cory Branan. A Mississippi native now based in Nashville, Branan in 2014 was listed in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 10 New Artists You Need to Know and the first single, “Imogene,” off his new album was featured by Rolling Stone this month. We’ll also have Nashville alt-country quintet Great Peacock and East Nashville’s wry singer-songwriter Lilly Hiatt, as well as food trucks and vendors from Nashville. On Saturday, we’ll also mix it up a little, featuring the stripped down country meets R&B of The Deslondes out of New Orleans and the boisterous rock n’ roll of Alabama favorites The Dexateens.
APRIL 22
3 p.m. The Deslondes
4:30 p.m. Lilly Hiatt
6 p.m. Great Peacock
7:30 p.m. Dexateens
9:30 p.m. Cory Branan
Advance tickets are $25 for one day or $40 for the weekend. Tickets are $30 per day or $50 for the weekend at the time of fest. Physical tickets are available in the taproom of Yellowhammer Brewing. As well as, Tangled String Studios, located at Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment. Online tickets will also be available later this week.
Spring Fest started in 2015 as an all-day music fest at the previous location of Yellowhammer Brewing on Clinton Avenue West. Spring Fest is a partnership with Tangled String Studios, Rocket City Sounds and Yellowhammer Brewing. This year Spring Fest is happy to include all sorts of new participants, including Straight to Ale Brewing, Fleet Feet of Huntsville, Vertical House Records and Echo Records.
Vertical House and Echo Records will help deejay between sets. The festival grounds will include portions of Yellowhammer and Straight to Ale breweries. There will be numerous food trucks and craft vendors each day. The event is rain or shine.
Special note: This will be the first multi-day music fest for Campus No. 805, Huntsville’s quickly growing nightlife destination. Camus 805 expects to soon be able to seek city approval as an entertainment zone. We welcome the designation. But if that should not come to pass, festival organizers will make other normal accommodations similar to those made by other municipal festivals. In short, there will be beer in the park between the breweries.
For information about Spring Fest, please contact Justin Tidwell of Rocket City Sounds at 256.652.6100 or rocketcitysounds@yahoo.com or Todd Haller of Tangled String at Todd@tangledstringstudios.com.