Magical Mucklewain Memories - Knoxville520 Blogs

There's just something about live music in wide open spaces that makes people feel good.

There's also something about seeing 33 fantastic musical acts for thirty bucks that makes you feel a little guilty.

Last Saturday's Mucklewain Southern American Rock Festival brought several thousand people all the way out to Whicker Park, beautifully situated in the middle of nowhere--I mean, Harriman.

Without the attention-grabbing corporate funding that we're used to seeing behind ginormous music fests, Mucklewain tiptoed into East Tennessee without much fanfare. Organizers had filled the stages with the likes of Steve Earle, Todd Snider, Scott Miller & the Commonwealth, Lucero, Allison Moorer and Will Hoge--to name a few. That kind of talent demands attendance. In the days leading up to the festival, it seemed that only die-hard music fans knew about it. I wouldn't be surprised if that caused some concern among coordinators--especially for co-founder Joie Todd Kerns, for whom Mucklewain was a labor of love.

"Mucklewain, Mucklewain...I only want to see your drunk ass at the Mucklewain"

But sure enough, folks began to arrive at Whicker by bus from the parking lot as soon as the gates opened and some even arrived the night before to set up their Mucklecamps and enjoy an adult beverage or two. As usual, there were many creative alcoholic concoctions to be found among the concert-goers. Perhaps the most intriguing (and repellent) was the Redneck Margarita, which consists of nothing more than Sundrop and tequila.

By about 5pm, there were scads sweaty people wandering from stage to stage with their High Life and shrimp po' boys, taking in the sounds. Some were lucky enough to find a spot under the occasional shade tree to shield themselves from the blazing heat. Most just grabbed a bail of hay and toughed it out. While the sky eventually darkened and tantalized the crowd with a few cooling raindrops, the downpour never came.

Even though this was the first year of Mucklewain, the event seemed to run without any glitches. With impressive orchestration, when the final chord was struck on one stage, another stage came to life. There was no down-time between the shows, but no stage drowned out the others. With each artist being given a 25-minute set, the day flew by. The only time the crowd could really catch its breath was during the extra-long solo set by Steve Earle, which poignantly began with "F**k the FCC". The rest of the night passed with the raw energy of Will Hoge, the quirky musings of Todd Snider and closed with Lucero, cult favorites from Memphis.

Todd Snider

When the day was over, the crowds made their way back to the buses--the long, winding path lit only by the intermittent 4-wheeler headlight, by LCD screens on cell-phones or by someone's lighter. Once back at the parking lot/campground, one could hear strains of Scott Miller emanating from the iPods of campers who just weren't ready to be done with the magic of Mucklewain.

For their sake, and the sake of music lovers everywhere, let's hope that this Brigadoon of music festivals will show itself again next summer.

An all-natural Mucklehead