Frolic at the Farm

Bayou SuperJam 

Featuring: Joel Cummins (Umphrey's McGee), Dennis Chambers (P-Funk), Joe Marcinek, Big Sam (Big Sam's Funky Nation), Brad Walker (Sturgill Simpson), Nate Edgar (The Nth Power) and Cliff Porter (Karl Denson's Tiny Universe)

Billy Keane and The Waking Dream

Bluestone Quarry - Chloe Cannon, Charlie Thurman, Riley Packer, Mark Roman

And more TBA!

Last year, something unexpected happened.

WKZE threw a concert on a farm and people loved it.

Not because it was the biggest event of the summer. It wasn't. Not because there were giant stages, massive crowds, or fancy production. There weren't.

People loved it because it felt different.

The music was great. The setting was beautiful. People hung out. They bumped into old friends. They met new ones. They discovered artists they hadn't heard before. Nobody seemed to be in much of a hurry to leave.

By the end of the day, people weren't asking if we'd do it again. They were asking when.

So we're doing it again.

This year, Frolic at the Farm moves to Hardeman Orchards in Red Hook.

When we started talking about where to hold the event, Hardeman's kept coming up in conversation. If you've ever been there, you know why. It's a beautiful working farm with an incredible old barn that seems like it was built for live music.

After seeing the barn, the discussion was pretty much over.

Of course, a beautiful setting only gets you so far. The music has to deliver.

That's one of the reasons we're excited to welcome Joe Marcinek.

Trying to describe a Joe Marcinek show is a little like trying to describe a really good road trip. You can tell people where it started. You can tell them where it ended. But the interesting part is everything that happened in between.

One minute you're hearing a groove that sounds like it rolled out of New Orleans. A few minutes later you're somewhere between a rock show, a jazz set, and a jam session. Marcinek has built a career around bringing talented musicians together and seeing what happens when everybody leaves a little room for surprise.

That's what makes seeing him live so much fun.

We're also thrilled to welcome Billy Keane.

Billy is one of those artists people tend to discover accidentally and then spend the next six months telling their friends about. He's a terrific songwriter, a great performer, and the kind of artist who can hold a crowd's attention with nothing more than a guitar and a great song.

The more we listened, the more we knew he belonged at Frolic.

Joe Marcinek and Billy Keane are the first artists we're announcing, but they won't be the last.

One of the advantages of being an independent radio station is that we don't have to build these things by committee. We can call friends, chase interesting ideas, and occasionally say "yes" before thinking too hard about it.

That's pretty much how Frolic at the Farm came together in the first place.

We've got a few more artists and a few more surprises up our sleeve that we'll be announcing as August gets closer.

For now, though, we're pretty happy with where this is headed.

One other thing.

Kids 12 and under get in free.

We'd rather have families spend the day with us than spend the week trying to figure out how many tickets they can afford.

Besides, a farm seems like a pretty good place to be a kid for an afternoon.

WKZE has always believed that great music is best enjoyed with other people. That's really what Frolic at the Farm is all about.

A farm. A barn. Some great musicians. Good food. Good company.

We'll take care of the rest.

We hope you'll join us.