EUREKA SPRINGS — The 2018 Ozark Mountain Music Festival, better known as OzMoMu, has added 9 bands to its 2 previously announced headliners – Tall Tall Trees and Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy – to fill out the lineup for the January 18-21, 2018 event.
The popular intimate, indoor music festival held in the ballrooms of the Basin Park Hotel in downtown Eureka Springs features an “Ozark Mountain Fusion” of bluegrass, folk, and Americana-roots music. Headlining the 2018 edition of OzMoMu will be Tall Tall Trees from Asheville, North Carolina, and Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy from Lawrence, Kansas. Full-event passes are $55 each and are available at the festival website while they last.
Arkansounds and OzMoMu have partnered to offer an epic weekend getaway giveaway, which includes 2 full-event passes to the festival and a room for 2 at the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights; total retail value is $590. To enter to win, join the Arkansounds Insider weekly email by clicking here, or through the “Sign Up” button on the Arkansounds Facebook page. The Crescent Hotel is a sister hotel to the beautiful Basin Park Hotel; a free shuttle in the downtown area is offered to guests of both hotels. Winner will be selected randomly from the Insiders member list at noon on Jan. 11; winner will be notified via email and must confirm and claim prize within 36 hours or prize will be forfeited and a new winner chosen.
STAGE SCHEDULE AND PERFORMER DETAILS FOR OZMOMU
Thursday, 6 pm, Basin Park Hotel: DimeTrip describes themselves as five guys from Eureka Springs “creating and playing original music with diverse sounds for as many people as this life allows.” At 10 pm, all attendees and musicians are invited to an open jam at the hotel. Anyone who brings an instrument can enter free Thursday night for the jam, no festival pass required.
Friday, 6 pm, Basin Park Hotel: Alaina Blake & Dylan Hawf are two young, gifted musicians from Fayetteville who have teamed up to prove that when it comes to music, style, and performance skill 1+1 can, in fact, equal 3 — much to the wild enjoyment of their fans. Alaina & Dylan also will perform at Chelsea’s Corner Cafe & Bar starting at 9:30 on Friday.
Friday, 8 pm, Basin Park Hotel: Urban Pioneers: Mix 1 part Texas fiddle and 1 part Tennessee banjo, add doghouse bass, a splash of guitar, and bushels and bushels of wild-haired, reckless energy, and you have Urban Pioneers. This string band hammers out a variety of original songs that encompass old-time hillbilly music, Western swing, rockabilly, and even a few gypsy-style songs for good measure.
Friday, 10:30 pm, Basin Park Hotel: Tall, Tall Trees is Mike Savino, a pioneer in the the world of experimental and psychedelic banjo music. Often performing solo, Savino’s modern take on the one-man band involves running his homemade instrument, dubbed the “Banjotron 5000,” through a slab of effects and loopers, bowing, drumming, and strumming out multi-textured arrangements to support his lyrically driven songs. Savino has reshaped the landscape of what is possible with his instrument featuring its basic iteration and the banjo’s drum roots. Audiences are wildly mesmerized with his mastery of electronic effects, loops, toy ray guns, and heaps of spontaneous creativity. Following Tall, Tall Trees’ set, Chelsea’s Corner Cafe & Bar will host a late-night jam.
Saturday, noon, Basin Park Hotel: Hi-Fi Hillbillies is a self-described trio of “knuckleheads” from Tulsa who have way too much fun playing music! They came together through a comedy of errors and are riding the musical train to see where it goes. They play beloved songs by artists like Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Saturday, 2 pm, Basin Park Hotel: The Creek Rocks is a high-impact duo that grew out of the infamous Springfield-based Big Smith bluegrass band after their retirement 6 years ago. Mark Bilyeu and Cindy Woolf delve into the ups and downs of the deep Ozarks sound with a special focus on old-time music that soars above the hills and hollers.
Saturday, 4 pm, Basin Park Hotel: American Lions – From Conway comes this band formed in early 2012 and today features a new style of music from blues-driven ballads to rowdy indie rock, all connected with the influences of Southern roots.
Saturday, 6 pm, Basin Park Hotel: Grassfed is quick-pickin’ string quartet out of Kansas City that entwines traditional bluegrass with an eclectic array of influences. Forged by songwriters and driven by instrumental conversation, this band brings a punching sound all its own.
Saturday, 8 pm, Basin Park Hotel: Miles Over Mountains is a progressive bluegrass band based in McHenry, Illinois. Their live shows are high-energy, featuring an arsenal of original material alongisde a refreshing variety of covers served up in their own unique style.
Saturday, 10 pm, Basin Park Hotel: Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy is a high-energy “Brass ‘n’ Grass” sextet whose sound has been described as “a stagecoach in overdrive.” Their eclectic blend of bluegrass, ska, punk, and Dixieland has energized audiences all across America and internationally.
Over at Chelsea’s late Saturday, Americana standout Chucky Waggs – one of the region’s most prolific songwriters – will perform with special guests, beginning at 9:30 pm Saturday, followed by a late-night jam.
Sunday Bloody Mary set, noon, Basin Park Hotel: The Camptown Ladies is two very gifted women, Gina Gallina and Melissa Carper, from Eureka Springs. Together they serve up hillbilly swing that hits the senses like a high-dollar buffet of sound. This duo, plus some surprise guests, is dynamic, to say the least.
All performances all four days will be on stages in the 1905 Basin Park Hotel, located in the middle of the historic downtown Eureka Springs. The popular Late Night Jam on both Friday and Saturday nights will be held in the nearby Chelsea’s Corner Cafe & Bar, a block from the Basin Park Hotel.
For more information including tickets, visit OzarkMountainMusicFestival.com or call 888-388-4776. Tickets are $55 for the full 4-day pass.