Fly South Music Festival comes to town

On Saturday, Nov. 17, the Big House Museum hosted the fourth annual Fly South Music Festival, an outdoor music festival originally started by Bragg Jam, which began at 3 p.m. and ended at 10 p.m.
Several bands, including Mathis Brothers, the Travis Denning Band, Lingo, Flannel Church and Saint Francis, took the stage over the course of the day to entertain the guests at the Big House.
The Big House is the museum about the Allman Brothers Band and is set in the home they once lived in.
Lisa McLendon, Executive Director of the Big House was excited at the opportunity to host the event this year.
She has served on the committee of previous Fly South festivals and was presented with the opportunity to host it at the Big House.
New Town has hosted the event the previous two years, but due to their usual venue being located near a construction area, the Big House took over management of the event this year.
McLendon was glad that this year’s event was a success and is already looking towards hosting it again in the future.
“We’ve taken it over, so it’s ours now. Which is a good thing,” McLendon said.
McLendon added, “I have nothing against the previous organizations. They are fabulous organizations. I just think that it is a good marriage. With us being a music based museum, it just kind of makes sense for us to be doing it this year and we are just thrilled that it is going to continue.”
E.J. Devokaitis, the curator and archivist of the Big House, says that the museum is lucky to get such talented performers for these events.
He feels that this is due to its heritage in music community.
“Being part of the music community, we already have relationships with the music industry, managers, booking agents, so we know a lot of people. When it comes time to do an event, we reach out to our friends first and see who can come play,” Devokaitis said.
Flannel Church is one example. Flannel Church’s drummer and front man, Duane Trucks, is the brother of Allman Brothers’ guitarist, Derek Trucks.
Some of the bands that preformed were: Travis Denning Band and Flannel Church.
The Travis Denning Band is still a young band. This band showed skill in combining modern southern rock with classic country.
Their cover of the classic John Anderson country song, “Seminole Wind” was especially crowd-pleasing.
They brought modern Southern Rock elements to a classic song.
Flannel Church performed original material.
Every member of the band performed to their highest potential throughout the performance.
The first Fly South Music Festival hosted by the Big House seemed to be an overall success.
McLendon said that she and Big House will be evaluating whether to move the festival to a bigger stage in the future, or if it should remain on the Big House premises.
This annual music festival will be held again next November.
The location of the festical and the bands that will perform are still yet to be determined.