Every now and then I receive a package in the mail or sometimes via email. Usually a new CD release or a media release and pics about a new band or event on the horizon. We try to post these releases up on the Blog as much as is practical.
This week I received a package from a festival event in Atlanta Georgia called Chomp and Stomp. This reminded my of the BBQ and Bluegrass Festival held in Bangalow NSW and of course sparked my interest.
The 13th annual Chomp & Stomp Festival is happening on November 7th. The festival is an annual fundraiser for the town of Cabbagetown’s Community Development Association. Cabbagetown boasts a historic mill village just out from downtown Atlanta. The Fulton Cotton Mill which was built in 1885. I could not ascertain whether it was still operational but given the “historic” status I assume not.
Cabbagetown is the birth place of Country Music Legend Fiddlin’ John Carson.
The free admission festival started off 13 years ago as a little neighbourhood fundraiser. The first festival had a Chili Cook-off with 20 individual chili’s and about 900 attendees. Last year there was 100 individual chilis, 29 restaurants chilis, 75 artists, 20 food vendors, 19 celebrity judges, and between 22,000 and 24,000 attendees.
The program features a 5k race which can be walked or run; a host of chilli stands and three stages of music through out the day. No dogs allowed.
https://youtu.be/qenMJyZiIAc
If you’re in the Atlanta area in early November you might want to check it out and let us know – it looks and sounds like fun.
The CD features some exciting music from a variety of artists who have performed at Chomp and Stomp over the years. The artists are little known this side of the Pacific Ocean, nevertheless they reflect the town’s musical heritage and continue the legacy of great string band music.
The CD festures: The Villain Family, Georgia Fireflies, Steel String Session, The Whiskey Gentry, High Strung String Band, Smokey’s Farmland Band, The Georgia Crackers, Barker Brothers, The Buck Buckley Band, Parker Smith and the Bandwidth, Apostles of Bluegrass, Stovall and Joyce Brookshire.
Cabbagetown was a white ghetto in the middle of downtown Atlanta. In the early 1900s the mill recruited folks from the hills of Appalachia to work at the mill. The mill closed in 1972 and the vestiges of this unique community lasted until about the 1990s at which point yuppies began buying up properties. The demographic is now dominated by young, wealthy, white professionals. Sad to see the community disappear. Google “Oraien Catledge Cabbagetown” for a fascinating glimpse into Cabbagetown’s unique past.