The inaugural Southern Skies Music Festival, curated by home town favorites The Dirty Guv’nahs, will come to World’s Fair Park in Knoxville, TN on May 16, 2020.
The one-day event will feature seven musical acts across two stages, food trucks, craft beer, wine, specialty cocktails, a Maker Market and more.
In addition to The Dirty Guv’nahs, the music lineup includes headliner Ben Rector, Elenowen, Sawyer, Electric Darling, Carly Bannister and one more surprise guest to be announced soon.
Festival passes go on sale Friday, January 24 at 10AM (EST) at southernskiesmusicfestival.com. Tier 1 prices are $40 while supplies last, while VIP are $125 (with access to premium viewing area, hangout space with private bars and restrooms, festival merchandise and more).
“We’ve been dreaming up a festival event in our hometown of Knoxville for nearly a decade,” says Guv’s front man, James Trimble. “This is the city that gave us a shot and supported our rock & roll dreams. Fourteen years later, we’re still at it. We’re still writing new songs and dreaming about how to bring people together for good through music. It is an absolute honor to work with Dogwood Arts as we officially launch an event that we intend to grow together for many years to come. We love their mission, creativity, and our shared authentic love for Knoxville. Can’t wait to see where this goes!”
The Guv’s live experience has been hailed as one of the best in the southeast and according to Music Connection Magazine, “The Dirty Guv’nahs don’t just play music; they capture the human experience through song.” Likewise, Southern Skies will capture the spirit of Knoxville and honor the Dogwood Arts mission to promote emerging local and regional musical artists.
Southern Skies is produced by Dogwood Arts and is the newest addition to their music programming, which includes Rhythm N’ Blooms Music Festival, Open Mic Nights in the Dogwood Gallery and musical entertainment at the Dogwood Arts Festival. Dogwood Arts is working with Born & Raised Productions, the Knoxville-based music production company behind Sunset on Central, the Outpost and Silent Disco Knox on this year’s festival.
“Dogwood Arts is proud to introduce this one-day celebration of music, art, and community and invite everyone to experience Southern Skies in its inaugural year,” says Sherry Jenkins, Executive Director of Dogwood Arts.
BLANK caught up with Born and Raised co-founder Kent Oglesby to find out more about the event. Our conversation is below.
BLANK: How did this event come about and how did Born & Raised get involved?
Kent O: We had been discussing with The Dirty Guv’nahs on a festival concept for a while. They loved the idea of playing at World’s Fair Park for an album release show and so did we. It evolved over time into a one-day fest curated by The Guvs’.
We’ve had close relationships in the past with both Dogwood Arts and The Dirty Guv’nahs, and it just so happened that we had the opportunity to bring all three parties together. So when we were presented with the opportunity to collaborate, we couldn’t wait to jump in. It’s a good team with different skill sets and resources that compliment each other well.
BLANK: How excited are you to highlight World’s Fair park, a space that has been underutilized in recent years?
KO: We’re incredibly excited! It’s a big, beautiful venue with a lot of local history under Knoxville’s most iconic landmark. And the renovations that have been done are incredible. It’s perfect for big music events. I hope to see more concerts coming to World’s Fair Park. On a personal note, World’s Fair Park was the place that I saw my very first concert when I was five years old. It was B-52s and The Pretenders. So it’s kind of surreal being able to work on an event of this magnitude in this venue. I mean, it was on The Simpsons!
BLANK: What time will the gates open and where should people park?
KO: Gates will open at 1pm, an hour before the music starts. As the date approaches, we’ll have a parking map for patrons to check out, but for now we’d encourage festival goers to take advantage of the downtown garages. For example, the 11th Street garage is right next to the festival lawn. You can find a map of all public parking in the downtown area on the Downtown Knoxville website.
BLANK: What are you most excited about for this event and where does it fit in the local festival landscape?
KO: The venue is a big deal to us. Getting to work with all these great artists is truly exciting. Like most events we do, I think the thing I’m most excited about is getting there that day and seeing everyone there enjoying themselves and getting into the music. It’s hard to say how it fits into the Knoxville festival landscape, and I think time will tell on that. We’re just really excited about this festival and can’t wait to kick it off.
Tix will be available Friday at southernskiesmusicfestival.com.
