all day music stage

100% Free!

Entertainment will be the main draw for this event, especially as it grows and matures. With the Main Stage on West Main Street, music will begin on Saturday at 12:30pm and feature local artists with a headline performance from 8:30-10:30PM. Sunday's music runs from 11:15am-7:30pm.

Saturday: August 29, 2009

Donna the Buffalo

http://www.donnathebuffalo.com/

(8:30-10:30 pm)
The dawn of Donna the Buffalo began in upstate New York in the 80's. Their music is built on a foundation of traditional mountain music and infused with elements of Cajun, rock, folk, reggae and country. The interchange of energy and emotion between the band and the audience comes alive at their concerts and makes being at one an unforgettable experience. A concert with this band is not a time for sitting down. It's hard for anyone to keep their feet still when the Herd rocks out.

Great American Taxi

http://www.greatamericantaxi.com/

(6:30-8:00 pm)
Great American Taxi has been led by Vince Herman (Leftover Salmon) and Chad Staehly since they founded the band in 2005. Taxi's sound has been compared to such roots oriented bands as New Riders of the Purple Sage, Wilco, The Byrds and a Grateful Dead for the new millennium. With threads of Leftover Salmon woven throughout, Taxi is a melting pot of musical tastes and styles.

Town Mountain

http://www.townmountain.net/

(4:30-6:00 pm)
An exciting new sound from Asheville, NC that occupies the common ground between traditional bluegrass, outlaw country and pure old time mountain music. A group that harnesses the frantic energy of the modern punk string band, yet remains respectfully rooted in traditional bluegrass.

Reverend Slanky

http://www.myspace.com/reverendslanky

(2:30-4:00 pm)
Those who know the band certainly have felt their hyper-percussive beats reverberate through their feet in the last couple of years on the floor of the Top Hat, the Other Side, the Badlander and every outdoor venue where they have injected a litany of funk and soul, R&B and Afro-Cuban beats - Al Green to Stevie Wonder to Beck - into the Missoula music scene.

For nearly two years, ever since five of its original musicians gathered for a wedding gig in Big Sky in 2006, has Reverend Slanky been a prominent member of the scene as an eight-piece horn band that regularly has people of all ages - and by all ages, we mean 18 to 90 - whipped into a frenzy of everything from Motown classics to the Grateful Dead. Show up wherever Slanky is playing, and you'll see 20-somethings bodily enthralled next to dancers twice their age. Slanky's performances have more an air of a Southern tent revival than a bar gig.

Cash for Junkers

http://www.myspace.com/cashforjunkers

(12:30-2:00 pm)
Cash For Junkers formed in Missoula in 1998, playing for drinks and tips every Sunday at Charlie B's. Voted best band in Missoula in 2000, C4J began traveling around Montana and later around the northern part of the U.S. The band has played at great venues from Seattle to Minneapolis, and shared the stage with great musicians like The Gourds, Kim Lenz, Deke Dickerson, and Johnny Gimble.

C4J is back at it-playing that honky-tonk hillbilly jazz that's unlike any other band you've ever heard. Playing great original songs, and obscure old country and jazz songs so that they're not forgotten.

Sunday: August 30, 2009

Hot Buttered Rum

http://www.hotbutteredrum.net/

(5:00-7:00 pm)
Hot Buttered Rum, one of the hardest-working and fastest-rising acts in acoustic rock, began in the San Francisco Bay area setting out to create a new Northern California sound. Often referred to as a rock band with bluegrass instruments, the band recently has blended drums and electric instruments into their otherwise acoustic folk-rock live performances. Like many bands from the Bay Area, they make no separation between their music and their activism. They live their beliefs by touring in a biofueled bus and donating their time to service work at schools, Native American reservations and political fundraisers.

Trampled by Turtles

http://www.trampledbyturtles.com/

(3:00-4:30 pm)
Trampled by Turtles came together in 2003 in Duluth, MN and. They have been called the best band in the state of Minnesota and have wowed not only the state, but they have also dazzled the country with bluegrass rhythms, punk attitudes, country tuned souls and pure hearts of musical sentiment. Their live performances have a raw intensity that leaves audiences simultaneously raising cane and crying in their beers.

Larry Keel

http://www.larrykeel.com/

(1:00-2:30 pm)
Connecting traditional songs of yesterday with their own original and inventive sounds of today, Larry Keel & Natural Bridge create astonishingly powerful acoustic music rich in heritage, heart and hot licks! With a style that evokes both atomic rock energy and dynamic tonal purity, Keel and his ensemble are intent upon taking their instruments and their voices to their fullest potential for emotion and amazement. While paying respect to the legacy left by the forefathers of bluegrass, Keel bridges the gap between traditional and contemporary American Mountain Music. Larry Keel & Natural Bridge includes flatpicking guitar master Larry Keel (guitar, vocals), Jenny Keel (bass fiddle, vocals), Mark Schimick (mandolin, vocals), and, Jason Flournoy (banjo, vocals). Connecting traditional songs of yesterday with their own original and inventive sounds of today, Larry Keel & Natural Bridge create astonishingly powerful acoustic music rich in heritage, heart and hot licks! With a style that evokes both atomic rock energy and dynamic tonal purity, Keel and his ensemble are intent upon taking their instruments and their voices to their fullest potential for emotion and amazement. While paying respect to the legacy left by the forefathers of bluegrass, Keel bridges the gap between traditional and contemporary American Mountain Music. Larry Keel & Natural Bridge includes flatpicking guitar master Larry Keel (guitar, vocals), Jenny Keel (bass fiddle, vocals), Mark Schimick (mandolin, vocals), and, Jason Flournoy (banjo, vocals).

Andrea Harsell

http://www.myspace.com/andreaharsell

(11:15 am-12:30 pm)
From her home base in the beautiful mountains of Western Montana, Andrea Harsell has been bringing her vibrant performing style and exceptional songwriting to audiences around the country for over ten years. With a powerful, supple voice and a passel of outstanding original songs, Andrea is more than just a major talent - she's a force of nature. Her music defies categorization, as she moves freely between bluegrass, folk, country, and rock'n roll.

*Times are subject to change