SALEM — Eastbound Throwdown goes down at the Irwin Farm in the shadows of Vermont’s Green Mountains on Friday and Saturday, Sept 6 and 7, at the Irwin Farm.
It’s the fourth year Eastbound Jesus and Guthrie/Bell Productions has pieced together this homegrown, two-day music festival. It takes music lovers from Albany a little more than an hour away from home, on a farm that’s about a frisbee toss away from New England.
The boys from Eastbound Jesus not only play on the stage, they also built it. And, they plan on sharing it with a hayride full of acts familiar to our local music scene.
For Driftwood, the festival marks the last show for its 12-stop summer tour — an extension to its “Tree of Shade Tour” that saw the band travel throughout the Northeast and Midwest.
The five-piece band out of Binghamton last played the area scene with a show at Rockin’ on the River in June.
Self-catagorized as a circus punk band, Bella’s Bartok will play at Irwin Farm this weekend. The seven-piece band out of Northampton, Mass. just finished a rigerous summer tour that included three stops in Colorado in August. It’s latest album, “Is Me That Monster?” an eclectic mash of Americana and just plain fun music, was released last June. It’s available for purchase and can be streamed on Spotify.
The Mallett Brothers, out of Maine, have picked up a lot of accolades while touring across the country. The alt-country will capture your attention with one of its recent release, “Long Black Braid.” It, too, is scheduled to take the stage at Eastbound Throwdown.
Some of the more local bands scheduled to appear this year includes Girl Blue, Zan and the Winter Folk and C.K. and the Rising Tide.
Zan and the Winter Folk has blossomed into one of the better bands in our local scene.
The band was nominated for an Eddie Award in March, and named by Saratoga Living magazine as one of eight female front bands to watch out of upstate New York. Singer and songwriter Zan Strumfeld captures the audience’s attention with her vulnerable lyrics. The band only just released “How to be Alone,” on Spotify.
C.K. and the Rising Tide has also climbed up in popularity since coming together as a band last year. We featured the band two weeks ago as it prepared to drop its latest release, “Perfect Stranger.”
Another one of those acts featured in Saratoga Living’s list of bands to watch was Girl Blue. The Eddie Award-winning artist continues to produce quality while aggressively playing the local scene. Her latest album, “Home Movies,” perhaps features her while at her best; live and alone. She’s currently working on yet another release and is expected to take the stage this weekend.
This year’s lineup also includes Yarn, The Ghost of Paul Revere, The Blind Owl Band, Tigerman WOAH, Rebel Darling, Saints & Liars, Dan Johnson, Blind Crow, Turf ‘N’ Turf, Union Grits, Band of Rustlers, J Floyd, and Green.
With local vendors, two stages built by the band themselves, and friends and family as volunteers to staff the event which is set on the beautiful rolling hills of the farm.
It is a family-friendly festival, all ages are welcome. Tickets cost $65 for the weekend, which covers the cost of admission and camping on the farm for two days. To purchase, visit eastboundthrowdown.com and guthriebellproductions.com.
