The extraordinarily popular Ozark Mountain Music Festival, more commonly referred to as OzMoMu, returns to the stages of Eureka Springs’ downtown 1905 Basin Park Hotel January 21 to 24, 2016. This year’s musical extravaganza, OzMoMu3, will once again focus around an Ozark Mountain fusion of bluegrass, folk, and American roots musicwith a festival lineup that includes multiple stages and lively music for four exciting days.”
The band everyone in the region is buzzing about is The Haunted Windchimes. Their sound is traditional folk and blues with songs of vintage quality leaving crowds wondering if the tune was written yesterday or 75 years ago. The group’s subtle and collective genius features original material. Their vocal harmonies are interwoven with instrumental mastery to form an embroidered musical sound that really set them apart. They will be headlining on Friday night.
Kicking off the four days on Thursday night is Friends of the Phamily from Rogers, Arkansas. Even though they enjoy performing original material, the focus of their time on stage is devoted to their “true love”, the music of the Grateful Dead. This performance will be followed by the first round of probably the wildest blending of sounds of the long weekend. These four nightly finale sessions, aptly called Group JAM!, will be where all bands gather ‘round and play together as one until the wee hours.
Entertaining on Friday night in addition to aforementioned The Haunted Windchimes will be Chucky Waggs, a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter based out of the hills of Eureka Springs. He will present his intimate, often humorous, folk ballads and downright rowdy stomp-alongs. Also taking the stage for one of the six performances that day will be The Whole Famn Damily. This Conway, Arkansas band is not related by blood, only by the sweat and tears they pour into their music rooted in the old traditions of the mountains.
Saturday the festival will feature nine performances featuring the headliner, The Kansas City Bear Fighters. Their sound is said to be an homage to the music that serves as a salve for one’s soul. Other groups taking one of the Basin Park stages, Barefoot Ballroom, Ozark Room and The Balcony, are Grazzhopper from Tulsa, Oklahoma with their fusion of the best parts of bluegrass and folk; Opal Agagia & The Sweet Nothings from Eureka Springs offering sweet bluegrass, jazz and funk as they did at OzMoMu2; Cindy Woolf & Mark Bilyeu (a.k.a. The Creekrocks) from Springfield, Missouri who have been making “Big Smith” music for more than a dozen years and sweet harmonies as a married duo for two; Arkansauce from Fayetteville, Arkansas play their inspired brand of Ozark Mountain music, a blend of bluegrass and folk; and Calamity Cubes from Wichita, Kansas, a four-piece “thrashicana band”.
And when the sun is high in the sky on Sunday, OzMoMu3 closes out their weekend music festival extravaganza with the über-popular Bloody Mary Show, this year featuring Jimmy Wayne Garrett Band from Eureka Springs. They will ring up another bluesy performance as gathered music lovers say farewell to the festival and each other knowing full-well they will be returning to OzMoMu4 in 2017.
Jack Moyer, general manager and vice-president of operations for the 1905 Basin Park Hotel commented, “The Basin Park Hotel has always been on the cutting edge of all great music start ups from the Eureka Springs’ Blues Festival, New Year’s Eve with Jimmy Thackery, Eureka Springs’ Mardi Gras, The Cate Brothers, and Chris Duarte to when Levon Helm reunited ‘The Band’ to play a ten-year reunion show in our Barefoot Ballroom. We are excited to be hosting this next great Eureka Springs musical tradition. With our solid two-year start of our Ozark Mountain Music Festival, we are planning on OzMoMu being an annual event for many, many years to come.”
Moyer went on to say, “The key to establishing this event has been in both providing great relevant music performed by regional talent on multiple stages, and inventing a path where the festival-style atmosphere makes the Basin Park Hotel abuzz with activity like attendees enjoying all-access passes, overnighting at the hotel, and being immersed in an atmosphere that encourages eating, drinking and dancing in one indoor central location that has an outdoor festival grounds feel, per se.”
Room bundles for two attendees include three-nights lodging and (2) “4-Day All-Access” passes. CLICK HERE
Two-nights lodging and 2 Day Passes-CLICK HERE
BUY TICKETS- CLICK HERE
General festival information may be found at OzarkMountianMusicFestival.com and on Facebook