Hit the Field
Putting on a big weekend concert with multiple acts isn’t exactly groundbreaking (Woodstock, anyone?). Still, the trail blazed a few years back by Manchester, Tennessee’s Bonnaroo Music Festival (and followed by the local Wakarusa organizers) has become a template. The formula’s pretty simple: Head out of the city, find a plot of land, build a stage and recruit exciting bands to come out and play.
Yet a small hiccup in this strategy often gets overlooked: The entertainment seldom reflects the tastes of the citizens who live in the small-town host communities. It hardly seems likely that the average Manchester resident wears patchwork pants and noodle dances to String Cheese Incident. Seems to us that country folk prefer country music, canned beer and wet-T-shirt contests.
The Big Creek Festival in Pattonsburg, Missouri, partly addresses this error by offering a modest blend of urban and rural flavors. Americana rockers the Bottle Rockets headline, carrying the No Depression flag and sharing the bill with Zeerok (featuring Zhenya Rock of the Red Elvises) and Jesse Dayton. Also featured is the Holy Ghost, a Brooklyn outfit that wouldn’t be out of place at an indie-rock mecca like California’s Coachella Festival. Call it something for everyone, inspired by nothing more than the desire to have a backwoods party.
“My buddy and I were standing in a field under the Missouri moon one night and decided to try a concert in the sticks,” Big Creek co-founder Scott Burnett tells us matter-of-factly. “We made a list, talked to some people, and the next thing you know, we’re up to a full day of music with 12 bands.”
Twelve bands, sure — but don’t forget the hot-body contest. Pictured front and center on the Big Creek flier is a busty blonde on grandpa’s lap. It’s a bit cheap, but Burnett says that’s just an aspect of the festival’s rural side. “You can’t have a glorified field party without some type of atrocity involving string bikinis and Cover Girl mascara,” he says.
We find it difficult to argue with his logic. (For those interested, the contest starts midevening, it’s for ladies only, and the winner takes home $1,000.)
The enjoyable day of Midwestern country and blues music comes with a few other unusual distractions, such as log presses and car lifts from the muscleheads at KCStrong (KCstrongman.com) and information for wild weather enthusiasts courtesy of the Texas-based storm chasers at Stormgasm.com. Camping is available, and there’s a race called the Tour de Franzia that finally answers the people’s call to unite cheap booze from a box with bike riding.
“Live performance and fun are the emphasis here,” Burnett says of the eclectic lineup. “Plus, we’ve eliminated the price gouging and commercialism people associate with the live music experience.”
If nothing else, Big Creek provides city slickers with an opportunity to leave the metro for a day (Pattonsburg is roughly 75 miles northeast of downtown KC) and get in touch with their inner red-staters. Capacity is somewhat limited, so those interested are urged to buy advance tickets or come early in the day.
“Otherwise,” Burnett says, “they may have to listen from the cornfield.”
