Are You Experienced? Taking Stock of Music Festival Culture and History From Ancient Greece to Albino Skunk

Did you know that almost three thousand years ago, before there were athletic competitions at the first Olympics, there were music competitions at Delphi in Greece, with contestants singing hymns to Apollo? Or that, in the late 19th century in America, John Philip Sousa protégé Bohumir Kryl's Bohemian Band was frequently seen on the Chautauqua circuit, and featured four husky timpanists in leather aprons hammering on anvils shooting sparks across the darkened stage? These early festivals set the stage for music festivals today, which are doing quite well overall, having recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, and surpassing the level of success before the worldwide shutdown on the whole.

In this episode, we trace the origins of music festivals like the Pythian Games to modern day festivals like the Monterey International Pop Music Festival, where Jimi Hendrix famously lit his guitar on fire, and small roots music festivals like the Albino Skunk Music Festival. We welcome music artists Shelby Means, Joel Timmons, Liam Purcell, Mac Leaphart and Ian George, as well as Albino Skunk staffers Peter Eisenbrown, Kristen Grissom and Thieme Hall, who give us their insights into festival culture, their best and worst moments on stage and at festivals, as well as the first music festivals they attended.

Site of the Pythian Games in Greece (photo: greeka.com)

Cover art for The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live at Monterey

Songs heard in this episode:

“Wild Thing” by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, from Live at Monterey

“Calamity Jane” by Shelby Means Trio, performed live at the Albino Skunk Music Festival 10/03/25

“Soldier’s Heart” by Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road, performed live at The Albino Skunk Music Festival 10/03/25, excerpt

Peter Eisenbrown introduction of Fellow Pynins into Fellow Pynins performance at The Albino Skunk Music Festival, 10/03/25, excerpt

Thank you for listening, and we hope you can spread awareness of this endeavor and help us reach more music fans just like yourself. Please take a moment and give us a top rating on your podcast platform of choice, and where you can, a review. It makes a big impact on the ranking and therefore the visibility of this series to all the other music fans who also follow podcasts. This is Southern Songs and Stories, where our quest is to explore and celebrate the unfolding history and culture of music rooted in the American South, and going beyond to the styles and artists that it inspired and informed. - Joe Kendrick

The Impact of Place, and the Art of Collaboration With Maya De Vitry and Joel Timmons

It never ceases to delight me how connected we are in the roots music world. Take Maya De Vitry and Joel Timmons, for example. The two have been making music together for five years, and have worked together with Joel’s wife Shelby Means, the bass player in Molly Tuttle’s Band. Molly Tuttle’s partner is Ketch Secor, who was our guest a couple episodes ago. Maya’s partner and bandmate Ethan Jodziewicz has played on record with former Southern Songs and Stories guest Sierra Hull, and forthcoming guest Lindsay Lou. Joel, also a founding member of the Charleston, SC band Sol Driven Train, has known one of my best friends since he was a child.

These connections color wide swathes of the mural of our lives, fostering creative endeavors as well as giving us an array of common reference points to pick up on whenever we meet people who live in or travel through the universe of acoustic, roots and Americana music. They can be the difference between having a career or not, and are overall far more valuable than any one hit song, podcast episode or viral meme could be.

This episode bears witness to the connections listed above, including one that happened much more recently than I had imagined, as our preceding guest Margo Cilker recruited Maya De Vitry to play with her at the Albino Skunk Music Festival only weeks before they were to arrive. This is one of the stories that Maya tells here, and she is joined by Joel Timmons in his own interview in an episode which highlights how important their connection to home is in their songwriting, how beneficial collaborations can be, the importance of leveraging ever-capricious streaming platforms while remaining independent, and more, including music from Maya De Vitry’s performance at the spring Albino Skunk Music Festival in May 2024.

Maya De Vitry performs at the Albino Skunk Music Festival, Greer, SC 05-10-24

photo: Joe Kendrick

Thanks for joining us! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice, both of which are quick, easy and free! You can find us on Apple here, and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, including performers at The Albino Skunk Music Festival like Sierra Ferrell, Shinyribs, Darrell Scott, Lizzie No, and The Ruen Brothers, among many others.

From there it takes just a moment to give us a top rating, and where it is an option, a review! It makes a great difference because the more top reviews and ratings we get, the more visible we become to everyone on those platforms, which means that more people just like you discover and connect with artists like Maya De Vitry and Joel Timmons. 

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to everyone on staff at Albino Skunk for their help in making this episode possible. Thanks also to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs — you can link to his music here. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick