To quote my good friend and fellow melophobe, Raul Moreno, Pickathon is "the most sublime experience anyone on the melophobe staff has ever had, excluding perhaps prom and summer camp." For anyone who has shared this experience of wandering around the Pendarvis Farm grounds, immersed in good music, organic food carts, and friendly people, the point is hard to argue.
And clearly, the word has spread. Pickathon is no longer the well-kept secret jewel of summer festivals: the early round of weekend tickets have already sold out! While Pickathon has grown considerably from its 92-person audience in 1997, it has maintained the incredibly rustic (yet progressive) and intimate aura that captured melophobe's heart time and time again.
In addition to being, arguably, the best festival in which to be an audience member, bands love it too. The 2012 lineup reads like a best-of list of Pickathon's past, with Alela Diane, Langhorne Slim, Dr. Dog, Blitzen Trapper, Laura Gibson, Heartless Bastards, and The Cave Singers amongst others. Oh yes, Neko Case, Phosphorescent, Cass McCombs, and Bowerbirds will also be there. It is an incredible lineup for what is always an incredible festival. So, grab your camping gear and block out the first week of August!
Full Lineup:
AA Bondy
Abigail Washburn
Alela Diane
Blitzen Trapper
Bowerbirds
Bruce Molksy Band
Cajun Country Revival, ft. Jesse Lége and Joel Savoy
Captain Bogg & Salty
Cass McCombs
CW Stoneking
Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass
Doug Paisley
Dr. Dog
Foghorn Stringband
Genticorum
Handsome Furs
Heartless Bastards
Hot 8 Brass Band
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
Lake Street Dive
Langhorne Slim
Laura Gibson
Lonnie Walker
Los Cojolites
Lost Bayou Ramblers, ft. Gordon Gano
Midtown Dickens
Neko Case
Petunia & The Vipers
Phosphorescent
Reverend KM Williams
Robert Ellis
Shovels & Rope
Sonny & The Sunsets
Southeast Engine
Ted Jones and the Tarheel Boys
The Barr Brothers
The Cave Singers
The Mynabirds
The Wood Brothers
Two Man Gentlemen Band
Typhoon
Vieux Farka Touré
White Denim
Whitey Morgan & The 78’s
Y La Bamba