Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sunlight through leaves, the flowing river at the edges of grass and music from the flatbed trailer: the annual Palouse Music Festival is set to return to Hayton Green Park Saturday.
This year’s lineup features a range of styles culminating in the rhythm and blues of Heather and the Soul Motions in the 7 p.m. hour singing Stax Records and Motown.
“We try to end the day with something funky that people can dance to,” said Paul Smith of the Palouse Arts Council, which organizes the event with the Palouse Community Center.
Aside from the music, craft-sellers will be on hand, the beer garden will be open and Palouse Caboose and Hearth of the Dragon will serve food.
Music begins at 11 a.m. with the experimental pop of Arman Bohn, a Palouse resident.
“It’s him, a guitar and a computer,” Smith said.
Next will be old folk songs on ukulele and washboard from the Cherry Sisters Revival.
The father-son act of John and Robin Elwood will sing traditional folk, Irish-Scottish, English and American with John on dulcimer and Robin on acoustic guitar.
Classic country is next as Shiloh and the Young Guns take the stage.
As the long shadows extend, a new four-piece group named Purple Teeth will follow.
The all-Palouse group features Smith on fiddle, Tianna Gregg on guitar and a new Palouse couple by way of Bellingham, James Harris and Jessie Twigg-Harris. The foursome plays Americana with songs stretching from the Eagles to the Lumineers, Woody Guthrie and Eric Clapton, along with a couple of originals.
Honeyboy and Boots, based in Nashville, will follow, featuring cellist Courtney Blackwell who grew up just outside Palouse. She and her husband Drew will play country and folk.
Tickets for the Palouse Music Festival are $10 for adults, $5 for kids 6-16 and 5-and-younger are free.
Proceeds from ticket sales go to the Palouse Arts Council.
“The money pays for the festival next year,” Smith said. “We’ll keep doing it until it doesn’t.”
Beer garden proceeds go to support the Palouse Community Center, with all beer donated by Paradise Creek Brewery.
“I think our park is one of the best in Whitman County, and there’s nothing like a hot Saturday at the end of July to come out to enjoy local music,” said Marie Dymkoski, volunteer festival director.
The music concludes at 8 p.m.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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