Ted Lukas of Tampa band Hangtown has been cooking up the idea to organize an alt-country rock festival for nearly a decade.
The first of what the 36-year-old singer-guitarist hopes will be an annual tradition, the Americana Music Festival takes to the stage at 5 p.m. Sunday (7/16), at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa.
"I've always wanted to do this, even when we were playing in the '90s - last century," Lukas says. "I've had a hard time making it happen, but over the years I guess we just got to know a lot of people, and it became easier and the timing was right."
Lukas, whose band recently reunited after a four-year hiatus, realized he couldn't draw the crowds needed to make the event successful on his own. So he enlisted the help of local community radio station WMNF-88.5 and in turn allowed the event to be a benefit, with proceeds going to the station.
"WMNF has always been so supportive of local Americana music. Randy (Wynne, WMNF programming director) was totally into it."
The station airs an Americana show at 9 a.m. Monday mornings, featuring national acts like Lucero, along with the local acts playing in the showcase.
Hangtown co-headlines the fest with the Diviners, Steve Connelly and the Lesser Gods, Urbane Cowboys, Rebekah Pulley and the Reluctant Prophets, Fillmore South, Ronny Elliott and the Nationals and Experimental Pilot.
The event marks the return of a few longtime music scene vets. Connelly is well-known for playing guitar in one of Tampa Bay's longest running bands, the Headlights, and Experimental Pilot, an electric-acoustic duo, features Robert and Stephen Vessenmeyer of Men from Earth.
The assortment of pioneer and veteran local acts offers a chance to hear a wide variety of music styles that share in common homespun American flavors.
Songs will range from the raucous rock 'n' roll and bluesy licks of Urbane Cowboys to the gentle acoustic ballads and heartfelt lyrics of Rebekah Pulley and the Reluctant Prophets. Influences range from Buddy Holly to Steve Earle to Gram Parsons to Emmylou Harris.
Lukas credits Tampa Bay for having exceptionally talented artists in the genre such as the Diviners' Will Quinlan, who's been steadfast since forming one of the bay area's first bands to play alt-country, Pagan Saints, nearly two decades ago.
Ironically, Lukas got around to organizing the Americana festival of his dreams now that his band has veered away from its country sound into a more straight-ahead rock direction with its new EP, Gone Today, Here Tomorrow.
"Part of me wanting to do this was not just an excuse for Hangtown to play a show - of course it comes in handy," Lukas says, "but I really am a fan of a lot the local Americana artists. And they've gotten better over the years."
(For a profile of Hangtown, please see page 5E.)
