Savannah Stopover Music Festival Was Scheduled to take Place March 4-6, 2021
“New year in the city/Burning blue on a screen/Fall asleep by the TV/ All tomorrow's parties in my dreams”
- Saintseneca from “All You’ve Got Is Everyone”
With every email, press release or music news article that crossed my desk, I’d let out an audible sigh. Fruit Bats have a new album coming out March 5? They’d be a fantastic opening night headliner. It could be an album release party. Cut Worms would be a cool opener. Love that band. The Antlers are releasing their first album in 7 years on March 25? They haven’t played the market since 2010 on their way to SXSW. They’d be amazing in Trinity Church. The Hold Steady have a new record due in February? I’m such a fan of Craig Finn’s work. Kanine Records is releasing Kip Berman’s (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart) new solo project Natvral in April? I’ve been wanting to get Kip to Savannah for years. We offered on The Black Pumas in 2019 and 2020, but couldn’t make the logistics work; would the third time be the charm? I love this new band, Hoorsees, from Paris. And FRITZ from Australia. Wait, there’s a band calling their genre “Regret Pop?” Ok, I’ll listen.
I did what I do every year. I started a spreadsheet with notes on bands that were likely to be “in cycle” in spring 2021, and I opened up my annual “bucket list” playlist on Spotify where I drag new songs and new music that I love -- music that would be a good fit for our eclectic indie festival.
We knew in early fall that there probably wouldn’t be a Stopover 2021, and yet, I kept at it. Maybe something would change--things could improve quickly, right? We were so lucky to have not only held Stopover X (our 10th anniversary!) on March 5-7, 2020, but to also have gotten through it safely. But by the last night of the festival there was a feeling in the air that this might be it for a while. People were fist bumping instead of hugging. We had hand sanitizer at every venue. SXSW had just been cancelled.
Six days after Stopover ended, the entire world shut down. It literally felt like we were the last music festival on earth. In fact, I think we were.
It’s now twelve months later, and none of the normal spring rites of passage in the music industry are happening as planned. Everything’s changed. Except for the music. The music is still coming; it’s being recorded and released, and it’s good. New, young indie bands are putting out singles and EP’s and debut albums all over the world. Some of our favorite past Stopover artists are about to have breakout years. So I did what any music obsessed, festival owner nerd would do. I decided to create my dream lineup for 2021--a NoFest faux lineup. Who would we have booked? Who would we have wanted? Who would have submitted to play? I kept our budget in mind. I thought about which venue each band would play. And yes, I took some liberties with international bands, where we normally have a high cancellation rate due to VISA issues. Hey, one can work magic with a faux lineup!
What some might consider a fruitless process has kept me sane and connected to doing what I love to do, while discovering lots of great new bands and new music, which is what Savannah Stopover is all about. The result is a 40 band playlist that would have kept Stopover fans hopping from venue to venue, arguing over who their new favorite artist was (including a few Savannah bands that have recently released fantastic new music). And please remember- this is not an actual lineup... but we’d welcome each and every one of these bands at future Stopovers!
Tonight would have been the opening night of Savannah Stopover 2021. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope you’ll fire up this playlist and salute all of the bands and musicians and record labels and press reps and managers and booking agents and venues who have endured an incredibly trying year but have kept their eye on the prize; putting out great recorded music... with festivals and concerts coming back just down the road a bit.
And to all of our Stopover extended family--our over 700 alum bands and our fans and volunteers and sound engineers and production crews and venues and sponsors--this one’s for you! We’ll see you all soon. #happystopover
-Kayne Lanahan and the Stopover Team!
