Route 1 South

Story & Photo by Todd Ranson

The recently completed South by Southwest Music festival generally creates quite a buzz these days in the music biz all over the country. One of the hotter topics on everyone’s lips this year was the upcoming Route 1 South Festival, running from May 29 - June 1, right here in river city! Brett Cassis and Dan-O, Route 1’s gurus and all around dedicated music fans, should know because they were in Austin for SXSW and heard the skinny themselves. Based on the plans cooked up by these two and their loyal staff for this year’s event, the talk is justified.

Just to get things off on the absolute right foot, the Route 1 South folks have added another night, are in cahoots with WCVE for a big night of traditional American music at the Carpenter Center, booked seminars with informed and "real life" experienced insiders, and corralled roughly 200 bands to play for you, dear Richmond music fan, over three nights and two days.

Another important development that’s been a goal of the pair from the inception of this two-year-old festival is the growing partnership with the City of Richmond throughout the whole process.

According to Dan-O, "I think we can probably count on 300-400 hotel occupancies solely because of this event." Those are the kind of numbers that get the city’s attention and make our elected officials sit up and take notice. It has been the stated goal of Route 1 South to actively show the city that music, and in particular today’s highly diverse styles of rock-n-roll music, is indeed big business. The city and state’s Departments of Economic Development have been working closely with the Route 1 South gang.

In pursuit of that goal, Route 1 has gotten in bed with the stalwart and very Richmond WCVE for what promises to be a wonderful night at the Carpenter Center featuring Junior Brown, Terrence Simien, Terry Garland and hosted by Page Wilson. There will be the a Friday Cheers showcase and the usual music lover’s smorgasbord at clubs all over town. When pressed to name some of the other notable "acts" scheduled to appear Cassis and Dan-O, while promising some really big names, refused to let the cat out of the bag too early (by our deadline), for fear of sending out the wrong signals. They hope to avoid some of the confusion and rumor that surrounded last year’s bookings.

The music industry panels at last year’s effort were cited by several national magazines for their quality. Route 1 South staff are eager to build upon that success by keeping the focus on the little guys just starting out and giving them real information by real insiders. Cassis elaborated, "We’re very focused on ‘do it yourself issues;’ basics like demos, getting started, the question of when or if you need a manager, where the industry is heading, radio airplay, and handling yourself in the marketplace.

"We’re also very interested in bringing in some new elements to the mix like Hip-Hop and Rap and having a panel on this whole East Coast/West Coast thing," he said, "as well as bringing in some traditional country stuff, not those awful hat acts but some of the new, I guess, alternative country, although I don’t think that’s a good name for it."

Dan-O chimed in, "We’re not concentrating on stars who will entertain at the seminars, but rather, top quality music industry insiders who can make a difference."

To prove this point, the festival will feature noted authority, author, and newly-ensconced label president Tim Sweeny, with a speech on "How to Get the Most Out of a Music Festival."

"Boom! Right off the bat we want to give bands the tools to really take home some useful knowledge from this festival," Dan-O continued.

This year the festival will not "go softly into the good night" either. They’ve scheduled a big finale called the "Pig, Pin & Pool Extravaganza" at a Southside bowling alley on that will feature bands, of course, and a huge BBQ, bowling, pool tourney, and rock-n-roll flea market. Man, I get tired and wired just thinking about it all. This is an important event for all music fans, the City of Richmond, and probably one day soon, the music industry as a whole. More information available at both Plan 9 Records or by calling (804) 648-0364.