LIVE OAK, Florida — Suwannee Roots Revival 2019 got underway in a big way Wednesday night at The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park (SOSMP) in Live Oak, Fla. The event took place in the Music Hall with a pre-party benefit featuring Brett Bass and Melted Plectrum, Billy Gilmore & Friends and The Firewater Tent Revival.
This event for those already in the SOSMP campground for the festival asked for a $20 donation from those attending to raise money which helps fund the Suwannee Spirit Kids Music Camp and other Live Oak Music and Arts Foundation (LOMAF) events to bring music to kids and encourage them to learn to play music instruments such as bass, harmonica, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, drums and more. This free camp for kids ages 5 -17 is held multiple times each year at the SOSMP with volunteers running this great music camp under the direction of Charlie Dame. The camp was begun by the late Jean Carrithers Cornett, who with her husband Bob started the SOSMP after successfully starting a bluegrass festival and kids’ music camp in their home state of Kentucky. “Miss” Jean, as she was called, felt it necessary to teach kids to love the bluegrass/Americana music, learn to play the instruments our forefathers played or this music could be lost to future generations.
The benefit kicked off the 4th Annual Suwannee Roots Revival on the banks of the famed Suwannee River in Live Oak. The first official music began Thursday on the Amphitheater stage at 3 p.m.
The Suwannee Roots Revival runs through Sunday, Oct. 13, with some of the best Americana music anywhere played on the SOSMP’s historic stages where for more than three decades the music you love to hear has wafted from stages and across the 800-acre music park on the banks of the Suwannee River.
If you would like to join your friends here for Suwannee Roots Revival, tickets are available at the gate. If you want to camp for the festival call the SOSMP at (386) 364-1683, email spirit@musicliveshere.com, go to www.musicliveshere.com or check out the festival website at www.suwanneerootsrevival.com where you can find the artists’ schedule, ticket info and everything needed to get you to Live Oak and Suwannee Roots Revival. The SOSMP is located 4.5 miles south of Interstate 75 and 4.5 miles north of Interstate 10 at the beautiful Suwannee River off US 129 at 3076 95th Drive in Live Oak, Fla.
