Tag Archives: Music

Committee meeting in Cedar Key for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2018-02-25

This weekend in Cedar Key, a meeting of the organizing Committee for the First Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest. And we’re going to hold the actual contest in Cedar Key; stay tuned for details.

When: 1PM Sunday, February 25, 2018

Where: 83 West, 310 Dock St, Cedar Key, FL 32625

What: WWALS Songwriting Committee meeting to plan the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest. You do not have to be a Committee member to come to the meeting, but if you want to be on the internal forums where decisions are also made, you can apply to join the Committee.

Event: facebook

83 West by Ken E.
Photo: Ken E., Yelp review of 83 West.

The Story So Far

Decisions so far include:

When: June 2018.

Where: Cedar Key, Florida.

What to submit: Lyrics and sound (mp3) about any river, creek, spring, sink, swamp, or pond in the Suwannee River Basin (except not the Santa Fe River nor creeks, sinks, etc. on it, because it has its own contest). Nature, people, or events, are all good.

Songwriting Contest Committee Members, Picture
The Committee at the Crossroads, Feb. 18, 2018. We could use some musicians on the committee.

The Committee decided to invite submissions from every genre on this extensive music genres list, from Art Punk to Zydeco. Hip hop, K-pop, rock, reggae, R&B, and solo cello classical are all invited, among many others, including of course folk and country. You can even sing a capella, and if you’re really brave, maybe recite poetry. But remember that while lyrics are the most important aspect, this is a songwriting contest, so playing an instrument would be good.

What not to submit: Avoid politics, religion, or flamingos. While we’d be hard put to reject Robert Johnson’s Crossroads (if it mentioned one of our rivers), it is just a tad religious. While Butch Hancock’s Give Them Water is a great a capella song, it is more than a bit political. And please don’t just cover somebody else’s song: while Ray Charles’ Swanee River Rock is nice, the lyrics were already known.

How to submit: Ready to submit a song? Well, soon, the Committee is still working out the details.

Before the event: Submissions will be narrowed down to half a dozen or so, in two categories: from within the Basin, and from elsewhere.

The event: Finalists will perform live, and judges will decide. Contestants and especially winners will get prizes. Food, song, sunshine, and a fine time.

Do you want to be a judge, or suggest who should be? Let us know.

Format: If the format sounds familiar, that’s because we are shamelessly copying the long-running Our Santa Fe River Songwriting Contest, which we recommend you also attend. The rivers are different, and the winners will get prizes.

We may make format changes because Cedar Key is far to go and people love any reason to stay there for a weekend.

You do need to be present to win. However, you do not have to sing your own song: you can have somebody else do that for you.

Come to the WWALS Songwriting Committee meeting on February 25th and help decide how we will pick some more songs about our rivers!

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Committee meeting: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2018-02-19

Remember, Stephen C. Foster never saw the Suwannee River before he made it famous in his song. So at its meeting last week, the Songwriting Committee decided to have two categories: submissions from within the Suwannee River Basin, and submissions from anywhere else in the world.

Come on down to the Crossroads Sunday afternoon and help us decide more about the First Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest:

When: 1PM Sunday, February 18, 2018

Where: Crossroads Market & Grill, Inc., 5463 State Rd 6 West, Jasper, FL 32052

What: WWALS Songwriting Committee meeting to plan the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest. You do not have to be a Committee member to come to the meeting, but if you want to be on the internal forums where decisions are also made, you can apply to join the Committee.

Event: facebook, meetup

Ray Charles, Swanee River Rock

The Story So Far

Decisions and discussions so far include: Continue reading →

Walter Parks, Swamp by Chandelier

You won’t hear this every day. Thanks to Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers for pointing to these Okefenokee Swamp hollers by Walter Parks.

And don’t forget WWALS has an outing 10AM this Saturday December 10th at Georgia’s Stephen C. Foster State Park on the Suwannee River near Fargo, GA, to paddle into the Okefenokee Swamp. Continue reading →

WWALS at Suwannee River Roots Revival 2016-10-15

Music and advocacy on the banks of the iconic Suwannee River!

Gretchen Quarterman and Dave Hetzel by Leeann Drabenstott Culbreath WWALS outings, rivers, Valdosta wastewater, agricultural runoff, and the issue half the people wanted to talk about was the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline: nobody wants it.

Thanks to Leeann Drabenstott Culbreath for the great picture of WWALS Treasurer Gretchen Quarterman and Ambassador Dave Hetzel, who engages everybody who walks past. Thanks to WWALS member Bret Huntley for camping overnight last night and setting up this morning. Gretchen took the other pictures of Dave and Bret. WWALS president John S. Quarterman took the one of the Shook Twins on the Amphitheater Stage in Spirit of Suwannee Music Park at Suwannee River Roots Revival on the banks of the Suwannee River.

Come on down to these upcoming WWALS events and outings: Continue reading →

WWALS at Suwannee River Roots Festival

At Wanee

More about that. We’ll be there today, Saturday, and Sunday, too. Come on down!

-jsq

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

WWALS at Suwannee River Roots Revival this week

WWALS Watershed Coalition, the Waterkeeper® Alliance Affiliate for the upper Suwannee River, will have a table at the Suwannee River Roots Revival at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, 13-16 October 2016. That’s starting 4PM tomorrow, Thursday October 13th.

This is the festival we wrote has roots going back to the 1950s in the Suwannee River Jamboree radio show.

If you’d like to help with the WWALS table, Continue reading →

From Suwannee River Jamboree to Suwannee River Roots Revival

This old time radio show, Suwannee River Jamboree Radio Program, has some names you probably have heard of, others no doubt famous at the time, others more local, and others, well enthusiastic.

Welcome to the Florida Folklife Collection podcast series from the State Library and Archives of Florida.

In this feature we’ll take a nostalgic look at old time Florida radio with an original broadcast of the Suwannee River Jamboree preview. The Suwannee River Jamboree was broadcast from WNER out of Live Oak, Florida. The program ran from 1952 to 1962 and was billed as the deep south country music show from the heart of the Suwannee River Country.

This broadcast, believed to be from 1958, was created from a tape reel transfer of one of the original transcription discs from the radio program. So, let’s sit back and adjust our dial for 1958 and the Suwannee River Jamboree preview, the show’s about to start.

Follow the link to listen. Continue reading →