For immediate release.

14th annual Americana, rock, soul and roots music festival returns to St. Louis

Headliners include: Jason & the Scorchers, Detroit Cobras, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Blue Rodeo and Big Smith

St. Louis, April 21, 2010. Twangfest, the non-profit, grassroots music festival presented by 88.1 KDHX, celebrates its 14th year of booking legendary and up-and-coming artists in American music.

This year’s lineup features one of the seminal figures in the alt-country, cow punk, roots rock, whatever-you-want-to-call-it revolution: Jason & the Scorchers. Formed in 1981, the band, known for its incendiary live shows, and led by founders Jason Ringenberg and Warner Hodges, has regrouped for a new album, Halcyon Times, and an international tour. The band appears at Twangfest, on Saturday, June 12 at the Blueberry Hill Duck Room.

Also on the bill for Saturday is Springfield, Mo.’s Ha Ha Tonka, whose star has been steadily rising since the 2009 release of Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South, hailed by Spin.com as “violent, literate, unapologetic Southern rock.”

Friday, June 11, Twangfest presents a garage soul showcase at the Duck Room, featuring headliners the Detroit Cobras. With the beyond sultry vocals and stage-melting presence of Rachel Nagy, the Cobras enter their 16th year together as, in the words of Amplifier magazine, “the most intuitive and soulful garage band on the planet.”

Joining the Detroit Cobras are Those Darlins, who just may be Murfreesboro, Tenn.’s answer to the Runaways, and JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, who could be Chicago’s answer to Otis Redding fronting the Kingsmen.

On Thursday, June 10, Twangfest is proud to present legendary songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard, who makes his first appearance in St. Louis in nearly a decade. Hubbard started out in the same hard-drinking honky tonks as his friends Jerry Jeff Walker and Willie Nelson, but he’s gone on to become one of the most respected and engaging performers in acoustic music (though he’s just as likely to rev up an electric guitar).

Co-headlining Thursday night is definitive Canadian country pop band Blue Rodeo. Formed in 1984, Blue Rodeo has released over a dozen records, and has influenced a generation of Americana artists both north and south of the border. The band is currently touring in support of the ambitious double album The Things We Left Behind. Also on the bill for night 2 of Twangfest is eclectic indie band These United States and lyrical St. Louis rockers Magnolia Summer.

Kicking it all off on Wednesday night, June 9, is Big Smith, a rambunctious acoustic rock band from Springfield, Mo. The collective of cousins combines acoustic guitars, mandolin, bass, fiddle and washboard to revel in the good, the bad and the wild side of Ozark life. Twangfest is also pleased to welcome a rare St. Louis appearance by Oxford, Miss. group Shannon McNally and Hot Sauce, who has just released the album Coldwater, produced by the legendary Jim Dickinson.

Single night tickets are $15 for Wednesday, June 9 at the Schlafly Tap Room, and $20 for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at the Blueberry Hill Duck Room. Four-night passes to Twangfest are available online through Twangfest.com for a discount rate of $70. Single night tickets for Duck Room shows go on sale through Ticketmaster on Friday, April 23 at 5 p.m. Central. Single tickets for Wednesday, June 9 will be available at the Tap Room the night of the show.

This year, KDHX and Twangfest are pleased to offer the Friends of Twangfest “Dan Pack” for $125. This deluxe package includes admission to all 4 nights of Twangfest, plus an invitation to a Special House Concert and Reception with Warner Hodges and Jason Ringenberg of Jason and the Scorchers. This afternoon party will be held Saturday, June 12 from 1-4 p.m. Central, and is exclusive to Friends of Twangfest, and limited to the first 70 individuals to purchase the Friends of Twangfest “Dan Pack.” Beverages will be provided, and the band will be performing acoustic and taking advance requests from Friends of Twangfest.

All proceeds from the Friends of Twangfest packages and the 4-night passes go directly to KDHX Community Media, a non-profit, non-commercial radio, TV and film institution, celebrating over 22 years of enriching the cultural life of the St. Louis metro region and beyond. Purchases of Friends of Twangfest “Dan Packs” are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

For the complete Twangfest 14 schedule and online orders for the Friends of Twangfest “Dan Packs” and 4-Night passes visit Twangfest.com.

Media contact:
Nico Leone  Co-Executive Director KDHX
nico at kdhx dot org   (314) 664-3955 x 301