EFFINGHAM – The sixth annual three-day long Summer Sundown Music Festival over the weekend saw dozens of local and not-so-local musicians hit the stages around Lake Sara. From local vendors to confetti cannons, Summer Sundown had something for everyone of all ages.
It was The Local Honeys’ second year performing at the festival, bringing back their distinctive sound of Americana. By incorporating instruments such as a violin, a harmonium and a banjo with the harmonies of the two lead women, the Eastern-Kentucky band brings a new and unique sound to both original songs and “covers.”
“By covers, stuff nobody’s ever heard, like digging up some very deep songs and recordings,” said co-lead singer-songwriter Linda Stokley. “I worked in the archives at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music. So we derive a lot of the stuff that we learned from fiddlers and banjo players and songsters from our region that we recorded, and as well as doing our own research and meeting folks that are still alive that have carried on that tradition, too.”
The idea for a full electric band came in 2020, and during the Covid-19 pandemic, the members individually practiced and wrote songs, according to other co-lead singer-songwriter Montana Hobbs. After restrictions were lifted and it was safe to do so, both Hobbs and Stokley traveled throughout Europe to play folk clubs and listening rooms. After this, the duo traveled with the other band members across America to play more festivals.
“I think the festival mentality is freedom and discovery,” said Hobbs. “You don’t go out with a plan. It’s a very unique experience, and it’s really cool that you all have brought this into this area… If you don’t dig the music all that much, you’re still probably going to dig the good time, like the food, the vendors, the dancing – like the whole space.”
{span id=”docs-internal-guid-dca3bedf-7fff-d294-1f25-622f9517671d”}{span}The band even recorded an episode for a podcast run by Bill Passalacqua – one of the three Summer Sundown organizers – called “The Guest List” on Sunday afternoon. The band played its top five songs and discussed the meanings behind each one for the episode. {/span}{/span}
Nick Meissen and some friends of his were staying in a lake house for a class reunion when they noticed the festival going on Friday night. Meissen then came to check it out, and he was immediately hooked. On Saturday night, he and his buddies were at The Rusty Reel when Meissen convinced his friends to check out Summer Sundown. This was everyone in the group’s first time visiting the music festival.
“Boys, just trust me. Come this way,” said Meissen about his friends. “It’s going to be way more magical. Live bands, great people, great everything, and here we are.”
The group is from Charleston, Ill., and they didn’t know the festival was happening when they had made plans at the lake house; it was a happy accident.
“There’s a good chance that if we’re going to plan another reunion, we’ll plan it around these two weekends [Summer Sundown and Moccasin Creek Festival] because this is a great option,” said Meissen. “You got two full days of music and afterparties. It’s good value, and these bands are so good. Like, you gotta support them.”
Master of Ceremonies Brit Passalacqua was this year’s announcer at Summer Sundown, and she’s a part of Y2K Revue – the last band to perform during the festival.
Brit has been to every Summer Sundown festival since its inception in 2018, and she loves to bring her dogs Fern and Salvador to get in on the festivities, as well.
“I really like this festival. It’s really small, and it’s really gentle and easy. And I really like how it’s local acts,” said Brit. “Everybody’s so excited to have the bands, but then, the bands in turn are like, ‘we love this festival. Like, make this festival keep going forever.’ The lead singer from Sun Stereo on stage last night was like, ‘I hope this festival lasts for as long as I inhabit this Earthly body and beyond.’”
Bill Passalacqua said the festival went well, even though the weather was on the warmer side.
“We’d always love to see more members of the community out here. We did see quite a few more than we have in the past, so it’s growing,” said Bill. “I think the music was amazing. It was probably the most consistent great music we had, and I just enjoyed it from beat one to the very end.”