Roots

I love how they describe the location for the new Hangout Beach Music & Arts Festival—"on the beach, next to the Hangout restaurant, at the southern end of Alabama Highway 59. If you hit the Gulf of Mexico, you went just a little too far."

Word first came out in December that a new festival was planned was planned for May 14-16. Now the festival is out with its first round of announcements, and it is a pretty impressive start.  The first batch of artists named suggest an edgier outlook than might have been expected. Zac Brown Band, John Legend, and Alison Krauss and Union Station lead the initial slate of acts named.

Other notable names include The Black Crowes, Brett Dennen, Guster, Girl Talk, The Whigs, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Keller Williams, Matisyahu, Jerry Jeff Walker, Ozomatli and the Blind Boys of Alabama. The festival says there will be more than 60 acts. This batch was about one-third of that.

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Alison Krauss & Union Station will return to the stage in a limited run in 2010, including a highly anticipated stop at Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The long-running contemporary traditional band, which played a key role in the renewed popular interest in bluegrass music, has not toured since 2007.

AKUS will appear with featured sideman, dobroist Jerry Douglas, who will also play with his own band and as a member of the Telluride House Band at the festival. The bookings mark the 12th appearance at Telluride by Krauss, beginning in 1989. Douglas will celebrate his 26th appearance at the festival. The 2010 festival, running June 17-20 at Town Park in Telluride CO, will be the 37th year for the influential roots festival.

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Langiappe Productions presents its 18th Annual Cajun & Zydeco Mardi Gras Ball on Saturday, February 13, in Cranston RI. Louisiana favorites Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys, Corey Ledet & His Zydeco Band and Hot Tamale Brass Band will be joined by jam band Donna the Buffalo for a raucous night of Mardi Gras fun, running 6 pm to midnight at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet.

A highlight of the evening is the annual costume contest. Many of the attendees come dressed up in full regalia (you don't have to but its fun). Prizes are given in a variety of categories. For complete information

Even though there won't be a big rock festival at the Soo Ranch in Detroit Lakes MN this year, the venue's much larger and longer running country festival continues strong in 2010. Known for its stellar lineups among other attractions, WE Fest surely does not disappoint with as good a list of country stars as you could imagine.

It starts with the previously announced headline trio of Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban and Kid Rock. The rest of the list of national touring acts that will be appearing was announced, and country fans will be delighted: Dierks Bentley, Jason Aldean, Montgomery Gentry, Gloriana, Gretchen Wilson, and Blake Shelton top the list.

WE Fest returns for its 28th year August 5-7 in the northwestern Minnesota community where is has become an important piece of the local economy, especially so after the festival partners decided to cancel the 10,000 Lakes Festival for 2010 and probably future years.

For complete information

Status: Bulk of acts named with date of performance. A few performers still to be named.

Headliners: Steel Pulse, King Sunny Ade, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Notables: Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni ba, Lunasa, Chiwonsio, Sonny Landreth, Los de Abajo, Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band, Grupo Fantasma, Mucca Pazza, La Excelencia, Taj Weekes and Adowa, Nation Beat, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, Les Breastfeeders, Kinobe and Soul Beat Africa, Fishtank Ensemble, Geno Delafose and French Rockin' Boogie, Feufollet, Donna the Buffalo

Comment: This festival seems to get better every year with its mix of African, reggae, zydeco and other world roots genres. There are more than 100 performers presented over five days—all free to the public. The festival in Lafayette LA coincides with the first weekend of New Orleans Jazzfest but starts several days earlier so out-of-towners can catch some of both.

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A new jam-band music festival will launch for the New England market next 4th of July weekend in Oxford ME near Lewiston. The Nateva Music & Camping Festival calls itself "New England's premier Jam-based music festival." It received approvals from the local community this week and is now set to go July 2-4 at the Oxford Fairgrounds. The venue is about 2-1/2 hours from Boston and less than an hour north of Portland.

So far, promoter Nateva Festivals of Newton MA has yet to announce any artists for the first festival, but the festival website says that a headliner will be named soon. The site says to expect "a sweet mix of Country, Folk, Reggae, Classic Rock and Indie Artists" as well as jam. We'll keep watching since it seems like there could be a good opening for an event like this in upper New England.