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Radio Woodstock’s Speed of Sound Festival celebrates the Album-oriented Adult Alternative format pioneer’s 35th year of broadcasting with a finely balanced lineup of national acts, local local acts and the increasingly common phenomenon of the local act gone national and the national act moved local. North Carolina’s strapping roots-rockers the Avett Brothers headline the Saturday, September 26 one-shot festival, which goes down on the tarmac at the Dutchess County Airport in Wappingers Falls.
The lineup reflects WDST’s time-honored twin interests in roots/rock and in contemporary singer/songwriters of all stripes. The Chris Robinson Brotherhood finds the Black Crowes frontman venturing further into psychedelia and further into studio-constructed pop than the Black Crowes were ever likely to go. Amy Helm’s luminous and funky 2015 release Didn’t It Rain is one of the crowning achievements of the Woodstock-area A-list scene, featuring contributions from Larry Campbell, Marco Benevento, John Medeski, Jim Weider, Daniel Littleton and many more. And then there’s electric Hot f*&%ing Tuna; ’nuff said.
Connor Kennedy and Minstrel – his road-seasoned ensemble of young players’ players – deal in a kind of multimode original roots/rock that is both reverent and forward-looking. Kennedy’s Woodstockcentric 2015 release Live at Utopia is proof positive of the band’s performance prowess. Bill Payne from Little Feat, Kate Pierson and Jackie Greene will be joining Kennedy and Minstrel. Other performers on the bill include the Woodstock songwriter Elijah Wolf, Buffalo Stack, Mercury Rev and New Paltz’s traveling hootenany Upstate Rubdown.
Speed of Sound will feature local Hudson Valley food vendors and artisans as well as craft breweries. Airplane rides, zombie paintball, a solar-powered homespun kids’ merry-go-round and various arts and crafts activities gear Speed of Sound toward the whole family, with kids under the age of 10 admitted for free. General admission tickets cost $65 in advance, $75 the day of the show. Mile High Club VIP tickets cost $185 or $200. For tickets and complete information, visit www.speedofsoundfest.com. The Dutchess County Airport is located at 263 New Hackensack Road in Wappingers Falls.
Speed of Sound, Saturday, September 26, 12 noon, Dutchess County Airport, 263 New Hackensack Road, Wappingers Falls; www.speedofsoundfest.com.