This weekend, Sag Harbor is ready to rock.
The annual Sag Harbor American Music Festival, a four-day long music extravaganza now in its 15th year, starts tomorrow night, Sept. 25, with a 6 p.m. kick-off performance at the Whaling Museum (200 Main St.) with Inda Eaton and special guests, Mama Lee and Rose. The performance will be followed by an 8 p.m. open blues and jazz jam session inside the Masonic Temple (upstairs of the museum). The music continues all afternoon Friday and all day both Saturday and Sunday. According to festival co-founder Kelly Dodds, there are about 40 musical acts performing this year.
Now in its 15th year, the Sag Harbor American Music Festival holds about 40 musical acts. (Photos by Wil Weiss)
“My co artistic director is Kerry Farrell and we have lots of experience working together with festivals,” Dodds says. “In the beginning, we only had 20 bands; half of the amount that we have now.”
While the selection process is still challenging, this year marks the first that the festival has implored utilizing an application system for would-be performers to use to save their spot for the festival. “That’s made it a little easier,” Dodds says, noting there were over 100 applicants each year the past three years. “There’s always the local, iconic bands that local people love and they’re amazing, and so we have them pretty much every year. And then we have other bands that are regional, and that we like to uplift any new artists coming in that we’ve heard about.”
Familiar and local musical favorites slated to perform during the festival include Real East End Brass, HooDoo Loungers, Mambo Loco, Julia King, Lina Maxine, Nancy Atlas, Gene Casey and the Lonesharks, Annie Trezza and Friday Night Traditional. All music is free to enjoy, except for the performance at Bay Street Theater on Friday night at 8 p.m. featuring three-time Grammy Award-winning singer Cecile McLorin Salvant. Tickets are $60 per person and are available here.
“When we call ourselves a Sag Harbor American Music Festival, the idea is celebrating the diversity within American music, because America is so diverse culturally, and that, of course, impacts our music,” Dodds says.
This year’s festival will not only see a good amount of rock-n-roll, but additionally will include folk, blues, country, gospel and jazz as well.
The music festival will include 10 pop-up locations throughout Sag Harbor Village as well as three main stages. (Photos by Wil Weiss)
“We try to keep it light, we try to keep it well balanced with a good mix, and we always try to focus on people who have original music,” Dodds says. “And that doesn’t mean they just write a tune here or there: it’s about people who are dedicated to pursuing a career in music, that are putting out music consistently.”
Additionally, there are a couple new venues that will serve as sites for listening to toe-tappin’ and shoulder-swayin’ tunes, most notably Amy’s Hardware (which also houses a music store inside) on Division Street. All weekend long, music can be found throughout 10 pop-up locations and three main stages throughout Sag Harbor Village’s business district, with venues including K Pasa, Kidd Squid, Windmill Beach, Sag Pizza, LT Burger, Sen, Tutto Il Giorno, Steinbeck Park, Bay Street Theater and Sag Harbor Inn. The main stage will be erected, as usual, at Marine Park.
While things kick off tomorrow night, the festival starts up again at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon, culminating in Salvant’s performance. Saturday and Sunday, music starts at 10 a.m., continuing until about 8 p.m. on Saturday and until 5 p.m. Sunday. To take a peek at the schedule, click here.
