Spring in Atlanta is a huge festival season with 420 Fest, Candler Park Festival, Atlanta Jazz Festival, Afropunk Festival and small neighborhood festivals on different weekends. All pre-dated the pandemic and have mostly been on hiatus until this year. The second annual Lost Art Music Festival is coming up June 17-18th at Foxhall Resort having been launched mid-pandemic last year with St. Paul and the Broken Bones as the headliner.
This year’s festivities feature another fantastic retro-soul and R&B group, Durand Jones & The Indications and another seven excellent groups over the Friday and Saturday schedule. Here’s a rundown of the music you can expect to hear and I’ll be there to catch as much as possible.
Friday, June 17th
Aaron Lee Tasjan is the headliner on Friday night and he brings a hot Nashville band with him. Tasjan plays some old-school rock with hints of groups like The Mamas and Papas and The Traveling Wilburys supergroup. They’ve got tasty licks and catchy lyrics and definitely a nice draw
Gabe Lee, also out of Nashville, opens the festival Friday night with his solid Americana guitar playing and singing. He’s touring supporting his latest album ‘Honky Tonk Hell.”
Saturday, June 18th
Durand Jones & The Indications are a “wow” band and headline the whole festival, closing out the Saturday night action. The “wow” is the common reaction when seeing them for the first time because their melodies are so tight and lyrics just right. They have that retro cool 60s feel while being completely up to date. This will be my fourth time seeing them following their 2019 show at Terminal West in Atlanta, Hulaween in 2021 and Suwannee Rising 2022 this past April. Their songs are so catchy it’s no doubt they’ll be on your repeat playlist after the show. The video of the song “Witchoo” is one of my all time favorites with another level of cool vibe – it just makes me wanna be at that party!
Paul Cauthen, a country signer out of Tyler, Texas seems to equal parts bad boy and faith healer. Many of his tunes are of the bad-boy, outlaw variety – partying, whiskey and other activities – and there’s always the possibility of repentance on the other side. He’s got a great baritone voice and some will hear the greats like Johnny Cash in him. Paul Cauthen just dropped his brand new record, Country Coming Down this month. He should be a great lead in to the final set of the weekend.
Rayland Baxter reminds me of a modern James Taylor with well composed songs played largely acoustically with Baxter on guitar. His most recent album Good MMornin‘ is a tribute to Mac Miller. He draws a lot upon the southern rock and blues roots of Memphis and I look forward to seeing him for the first time.
The Lone Bellow plays country infused music and comes from Brooklyn, NY of all places. The displacement of their music and locale creates a mix of music fun. The threesome released their latest album ‘Half Moon Light‘ in 2020.
Southern Avenue is mostly a great family band out of Memphis with the old school feel – the band’s name comes from a street near Stax. It has new takes twists brought from it’s members . The family aspect comes from the Jackson sisters, Ava, the youngest and newest band member on vocals, Tikyra (TK) on drums and vocals and powerhouse lead vocalist Tierini. Ori Naftaly on guitar and Tierini are married with children keeping the band tight musically and emotionally. The band has super high energy and catchy tunes like ‘Don’t Give Up’ that naturally elicit audience participation. This is a band I definitely want to catch anytime i can.
Margo Cilker opens the Saturday festivities with her style of American rock-folk music. She hails from the West Coast and writes here songs about her personal experiences. Here debut album is Pohorylle which came out in late 2021.