There’s good local music every night in this town, but it takes a special event to fill an entire Saturday with St. Louis’ best and brightest musicians. Such an event arrives this Saturday at The Big Top (3401 Washington Ave.) in the Grand Center Arts District with the third annual Pines Fest.
Pines Fest is the brainchild of The Mighty Pines. Led by singer (and former The Voice contestant) Neil Salsich’s soulful tenor, the group describe themselves as “a soul-inspired roots rock band influenced by the wide rivers and red-brick streets of St. Louis.” The lineups of the two previous Pines Fests took a note from the Pines’ own roots-minded-but-not-genre-beholden style, featuring acts like the reggae/blues jam band Aaron Kamm and the One Drops, “genre mixologists” the Brothers Lazaroff, and the funk/soul/jazz all-star band David Grelle’s Playadors.
The third edition of Pines Fest hits the Big Top stage this weekend with a lineup that’s similarly eclectic in the way it explores roots music. Preceding the Mighty Pines’ headlining set are a pair of out-of-towners: Chicago acoustic bluegrass quartet Henhouse Prowlers and Handmade Moments, a duo founded in Fayetteville, AR, but now based out of New Orleans that takes a kitchen sink approach to instrumentation (guitar, sure, but also sax, clarinet, sousaphone, even beatboxing) to craft their hip-hop-tinged folk rock. Joining these out-of-towners on the main stare are The Urge frontman (and hot dog purveyor extraordinaire) Steve Ewing and the bayou brass stylings of the Funky Butt Brass Band. Between sets on the main stage, a second stage will feature two short sets apiece by Yard Eagle and Americana singer-songwriter extraordinaire Beth Bombara, plus a night-ending set from Celtic-tinged bluegrass/jazz/Americana band Moon Valley. You can find the latest on the lineup and set times at the fest’s Facebook page.
As a special treat, each edition of Pines Fest has featured an “artist-at-large” that guests with every artist on the bill for a one-night-only experience. This year’s artist-at-large is one of the most beloved guitar players in town: Jimmy Griffin, the former KINGOFTHEHILL guitarist who can be found in all of St. Louis’ most notable tribute bands (the Led Zeppelin tribute Celebration Day, the Tom Petty tribute The Hard Promses, and the perennially popular Pink Floyd tribute El Monstero) as well as leading his own original band, The Incurables.
Doors for the show open at 3:00pm. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 day of show, with limited VIP seating available for $100. The show is all ages, and while there is a $3 minor surcharge, children 6 and under are free. To purchase tickets in advance, visit Metrotix.com. | Jason Green
