Presenting Sponsor of Savannah Music Festival Encore A Savannah Music Festival ENCORE pre-festival concert After 25 years, twelve albums, four Grammy Award nominations, and sold out shows all over the world, North Mississippi Allstars continue to expand the band’s sound, which is always rooted in the blues tradition of the Mississippi hill country. Please note...
Presented by Savannah Music Festival and Co-Produced by Plant Riverside District Tinsley Ellis describes his forthcoming Feb. 9 Alligator Records release “Naked Truth,” which is his first solo acoustic project in a career spanning four decades, as both “a departure and an arrival.” Throughout his career, Ellis has recorded and traveled the world, delivering his...
Additional Showtimes: 8:30 pm, Thursday March 28 Part of the new generation of contemporary folk musicians, Lena Jonsson is one of Scandinavia's most influential fiddlers. Her unique style combines a deep knowledge of traditional Swedish folk music and the youthful sounds of rock, pop, jazz, American old-time and bluegrass. Lena Jonsson is joined by Kristofer...
Additional Showtimes: 5 pm, Thursday, March 28 Part of the new generation of contemporary folk musicians, Lena Jonsson is one of Scandinavia's most influential fiddlers. Her unique style combines a deep knowledge of traditional Swedish folk music and the youthful sounds of rock, pop, jazz, American old-time and bluegrass. Lena Jonsson is joined by Kristofer...
Additional Showtimes: 9 pm, Friday, March 29 Clayton Joseph Chenier is Creole music royalty. His father, the legendary Clifton Chenier, invented the style of music we know today as Zydeco and was the first Creole musician to be recognized with a Grammy Award. Enjoy an evening that brings the Louisiana dancehall experience to SMF, as...
Rock juggernaut Futurebirds is an Athens, Georgia based group described by singer/guitarist Carter King as "always too indie rock for the jam festival, too country for the indie scene, a little too psych-rock to feel like we were Americana." Founding members King, Daniel Womack, Thomas Johnson and bassist Brannen Miles began playing together as students...
Additional Showtimes: 6 pm, Friday, March 29 Clayton Joseph Chenier is Creole music royalty. His father, the legendary Clifton Chenier, invented the style of music we know today as Zydeco and was the first Creole musician to be recognized with a Grammy Award. Enjoy an evening that brings the Louisiana dancehall experience to SMF, as...
Kennedy Center Honoree Renée Fleming is one of the most highly acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world's great opera houses and concert halls. Winner of five Grammy Awards and the US National Medal of Arts, she has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the...
Rosanne Cash is a composer and singer-songwriter with four Grammy Awards, in addition to having partnered in programming collaborations with Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, SFJAZZ, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Library of Congress. She is also an author, whose 2010 memoir “Composed” landed on The New York Times bestseller list. In 2021, she became the...
Country Music Hall of Famer and 15-time Grammy Award-winner Ricky Skaggs returns to Savannah Music Festival after five years, fronting his powerhouse band Kentucky Thunder. "This group of guys meets my approval every night," Ricky says. "Each and every one of the pickers in Kentucky Thunder totally amazes me in every show...and that, to me,...
Celebrating the recent centenary of Doc Watson’s birth in Deep Gap, North Carolina, this free program begins with a talk led by host and author Ted Olson. Olson’s talk is followed by stories and performances shared by artists Jack Lawrence, Wayne Henderson and Jack Hinshelwood, who knew Doc as a friend and fellow performer. This...
Dumpstaphunk is simply one of the funkiest bands out of the Crescent City. Born on the Jazz & Heritage Festival stage, and composed of Neville and Meters family bloodlines, the group ignites deep, gritty grooves that keep audiences on their feet. Alongside Tony Hall, Nick Daniels, Alex Wasily, John Michael Bradford and Deven Trusclair, cousins...
Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs both had transformative impacts on bluegrass and American acoustic music. Celebrating their 100th birth years, this co-bill spotlights each of their musical legacies through stories, tunes and songs. Doc at 100 pulls together friends and former musical collaborators of Arthel "Doc" Watson, also featuring commentary from Ted Olson, author of...
Additional Showtimes: 5:30 pm, Friday, April 5 Dumpstaphunk is simply one of the funkiest bands out of the Crescent City. Born on the Jazz & Heritage Festival stage, and composed of Neville and Meters family bloodlines, the group ignites deep, gritty grooves that keep audiences on their feet. Alongside Tony Hall, Nick Daniels, Alex Wasily,...
Tony Trischka is considered one of the most influential living banjo players. Trischka's EarlJam honors Scruggs, the pioneer of a unique three-finger banjo style and one of the most important figures in bluegrass. "The depth of Earl's genius becomes ever more apparent when I transcribe his solos, which I've been doing my entire life and...
Additional Showtimes: 7 pm, Saturday, April 6 Aptly named the "First Family of Cajun Music," the Savoy Family Cajun Band hails from Eunice, Louisiana. Patriarch and celebrated accordion builder Marc Savoy is a National Heritage Fellow. His wife Ann Savoy wrote a well-known book on Cajun music history, and has produced numerous recordings with the...
Additional Showtimes: 4:30 pm, Saturday, April 6 Aptly named the "First Family of Cajun Music," the Savoy Family Cajun Band hails from Eunice, Louisiana. Patriarch and celebrated accordion builder Marc Savoy is a National Heritage Fellow. His wife Ann Savoy wrote a well-known book on Cajun music history, and has produced numerous recordings with the...
Grammy Award-winning guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Christone “Kingfish” Ingram has quickly become the defining blues voice of his generation. From his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi to stages around the globe, the young blues star has already headlined multiple U.S. and European tours. Selected in summer 2022 to open for The Rolling Stones in London’s Hyde...
Additional Showtimes: 7 pm, Sunday, April 7 Formed in the Smoky Mountains, The Po' Ramblin' Boys are exactly what you would expect and not at all what you would expect from a tattooed East Tennessee bluegrass outfit. However, they take pride in being ambassadors of their genre. The group has brought their music from rural...
Additional Showtimes: 3 pm, Sunday, April 7 Formed in the Smoky Mountains, The Po' Ramblin' Boys are exactly what you would expect and not at all what you would expect from a tattooed East Tennessee bluegrass outfit. However, they take pride in being ambassadors of their genre. The group has brought their music from rural...
Additional Showtimes: 8 pm, Tuesday, April 9 Grenadian-Canadian Kaia Kater's jazz-fueled voice and deft songcraft have garnered her extensive critical acclaim. Through artful banjo playing and lush songwriting, Kaia draws on influences rooted in Quebec, the Caribbean and Appalachia, all of which reflect the diversity of her background. Kater was a participant in SMF's Acoustic...
Additional Showtimes: 5 pm, Tuesday, April 9 Grenadian-Canadian Kaia Kater's jazz-fueled voice and deft songcraft have garnered her extensive critical acclaim. Through artful banjo playing and lush songwriting, Kaia draws on influences rooted in Quebec, the Caribbean and Appalachia, all of which reflect the diversity of her background. Kater was a participant in SMF's Acoustic...
The North Mississippi Allstars are joined by blues and R&B showman Bobby Rushto celebrate the music of pioneering bluesmen Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. After 25 years, twelve albums, four Grammy Award nominations, and sold out shows all over the world, North Mississippi Allstars continue to expand the band's sound, which is always rooted in...
Madison Cunningham is a 26-year- old Grammy Award-winning artist and songwriter known for her "wonderfully tangled imagery and cutting self-awareness" (NPR). As a guitarist, Madison has pushed the boundaries of a conventional singer-songwriter as her "guitar work is both classic and wildly emotive, and her soaring vocals are pristine and inspired" (Consequence of Sound). Madison...
Additional Showtimes: 8:30 pm, Friday, April 12 Singer and multi-instrumentalist Amy Helm makes her SMF debut on closing weekend with her ace band. The daughter of Levon Helm of The Band and singer-songwriter Libby Titus, Amy Helm was a member of her father’s band in the 90s and 2000s, was a founding member of acclaimed...
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Amy Helm makes her SMF debut on closing weekend with her ace band. The daughter of Levon Helm of The Band and singer-songwriter Libby Titus, Amy Helm was a member of her father’s band in the 90s and 2000s, was a founding member of acclaimed roots-rock ensemble Ollabelle, and has released three...
Featuring Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge (Punch Brothers), Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse) and Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon) At its heart, bluegrass music is about what happens when you commit to the moment. The joy of improvisation keeps the music fresh. This true spirit of bluegrass infuses Mighty Poplar, a new all-star roots project featuring Andrew Marlin,...
Following their appearance with Terence Blanchard & E-Collective, the Turtle Island Quartet returns with Island Prayers. This performance features four new works co-commissioned by Savannah Music Festival, composed by founding violinist David Balakrishnan, Rhiannon Giddens, Terence Blanchard and Jerod Impichchaachaacha’ Tate. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts....
For nearly four decades, the Grammy Award-winning Rebirth Brass Band has been one of the Crescent City’s premier musical ambassadors. Their trademark sound pays homage to the New Orleans brass band tradition while weaving a tapestry that combines elements of jazz, funk, soul, R&B and the sounds from the streets they grew up on. Founded...
Amythyst Kiah is a Chattanooga-bred singer-songwriter with an artistic conception influenced by alt-rock, roots and old-time music. Her song “Black Myself” earned a Grammy nomination and won the Song of the Year Award from Folk Alliance International. “Her razor-sharp guitar picking alone guarantees her a place among masters, but it’s her deep-hued voice that can...
Steve Earle is one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation. A protege of legendary songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, he quickly became a master storyteller in his own right, with his songs being recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, The Pretenders, and countless others. 1986 saw the...
