Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band.
(Top) Johnny Neel
Bands and music fans are set to converge on Hippie Hill for Afteroo, a week of music and good vibes scheduled for June 16-22.
Now in its 12th year, Afteroo has grown to be a week-long affair, packed with some real-deal touring talent.
“Afteroo started with no music; it was just a bunch of family hanging out and having a good time,” said Mama Jeanie, who resides with Hippie on the piece of land along the outer limits of Rutherford County known as Hippie Hill.
Many individuals of the hippie-music-fan variety were in the Middle Tennessee area after the Bonnaroo festival, and decided to bring the party to Hippie Hill; the annual June tradition has been growing ever since.
Performers range from “Middle Tennessee’s favorite party band,” The Corbitt Brothers and Southern-rockers of the ’70s Black Oak Arkansas (featuring Jim “Dandy” Mangrum) to “child sensation” Emi Sunshine (a little girl with a big bluegrass voice, now gaining national attention), said Richard Thornton, with Hippie Hill Productions, also making note of slated-t0-appear act Saint Francis.
“They recently signed with Universal!” he said of the rootsy seven-piece band, who spent time in Nashville working on new material, including collaborations with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the Music City Full Gospel Choir.
Emi Sunshine
Mama Jeanie said she was especially excited about hosting Angel Mary & the Tennessee Werewolves, who recently worked with John Carter Cash on a remake of “Folsom Prison Blues.”
“And they play real country music, like Johnny Cash,” Mama said of the Tennessee Werewolves.
Also among the performers is veteran keyboardist Johnny Neel.
“It’s my first time [on Hippie Hill],” Neel said. “I’m looking forward to going out there.”
Neel, a longtime touring and recording professional who celebrates 30 years in Middle Tennessee this year, took a moment to talk with the Murfreesboro Pulse about his career in music.
After all of these years, he seems to have the seasonal rhythm of the music industry down.
“In the summer, there’s more festival work; in the winter there’s more studio work,” he said.
His current performing lineup includes Quincy Meeks on guitar and Herschel Van Dyke on drums, players a generation removed from Neel but both very involved in Middle Tennessee’s live music scene themselves over the past years.
“These young guys, they’re good to work with,” Neel said. “They’re good guys. They’re willing to travel.
“I’m playing left-hand bass right now; the economy’s forcing me to play as a trio,” he joked. “When the economy gets better I can hire a bass player.”
Neel has been an innovator on the keys, and likes switching things up and trying new techniques and structures; composing new pieces and pushing boundaries. He can play the blues in a traditional way, but is also known to experiment with sounds, styles, tempos, textures and musical emotions in his work.
He said he’d have a hard time picking a single recording as a representative example of his catalog.
“There are so many genres I play, I couldn’t pick just one,” he said. “I’ll play a little jazz, a little Allman Brothers [Neel was a member of the Allmans from 1989-1990], a little Paul Rodgers, then something acoustic . . . I don’t get jammed up in playing one particular style.”
Neel said he expects to have a new EP out in the fall, and is also working on a collection of Christmas music.
“Between the two I should have something soon,” he said.
So what first drew Neel, who celebrates his 60th birthday this month, to music?
“I went to blind school, and they were pretty musical,” he said, when asked about some of his earliest music memories. “About age 6 or 7 I got into music pretty good. All the kids were into music somehow. They were playing piano or tuning pianos or playing guitars or tuning guitars . . .
Johnny Neel will perform at Afteroo on opening night, June 16, as will Black Oak Arkansas.
Spongecake and the Fluff Ramblers will be around all week, performing every day of the six-day festival.
Strung Like a Horse and Flea Market Hustlers will perform on Tuesday, “a day filled with string bands.”
“Thursday is funk night with local favorites The AquaDucks and Captain Midnite opening for top touring funk band Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band,” Thornton said.
“If you’re a music lover, it is a show not to be missed,” he said of the festival.
For more information on Afteroo and Hippie Hill, visit hippiehilltn.org or find Hippie Hill TN on Facebook.
Black Oak Arkansas
Afteroo 2014 schedule:
Monday, June 16
(Opening Day & meet & greet with members of Black Oak Arkansas & Johnny Neel Band)
5 p.m. Osiella
7 p.m. OTIS
9 p.m. Black Oak Arkansas (unplugged)
10 p.m. Johnny Neel
12 a.m. Spongecake and The Fluff Ramblers
(Alex Duggan & Donna Frost will perform in between sets)
Tuesday, June 17
4 p.m. Spongecake and the Fluff Ramblers
6 p.m. The Underhills
8 p.m. Gators in the Sawgrass
10 p.m. Strung Like a Horse
12 a.m. Flea Market Hustlers
(Erisa Rei will perform in between sets)
Wednesday, June 18
4 p.m. Spongecake and The Fluff Ramblers
6 p.m. Whyte Noyse
8 p.m. Angel Mary & the Tennessee Werewolves
10 p.m. Roots of a Rebellion
12 a.m. Pierce Edens & the Dirty Work
Thursday, June 19
4 p.m. Spongecake and the Fluff Ramblers
6 p.m. The Aquaducks
8 p.m. The Captain Midnight Band
10 p.m. Yo’ Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band
12 a.m. Stone Sugar Shakedown
(Stuart Montez will perform in between sets)
Friday, June 20
4 p.m. Emi Sunshine & the Rain
6 p.m. Sugar Lime Blue
8 p.m. Saint Francis
10 p.m. Black Oak Arkansas
12 a.m. Spongecake & the Fluff Ramblers
Saturday, June 21
11 a.m. Spongecake and the Fluff Ramblers
1 p.m. The Gypsy Begonias
3 p.m. Aubryn & Ashley’s Variety show
6 p.m. Joecephus & the George Jonestown Massacre
8 p.m. Husky Burnette
10 p.m. The Corbitt Brothers Band
12 a.m. ?HOOTEROLL?
