Bubbapalooza goes back to its country roots
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
There’s a hefty buzz surrounding this year’s Bubbapalooza at The Star Bar over Memorial Day weekend (May 22-24) . Local musicians across the board are singing praises of the club’s booking agent, Bryan Malone, for helping steer the festival back in the direction that it was originally intended to go when founder Gregory Dean Smalley originally hatched the idea.
This year marks the 12th installment of Bubbapalooza and Creative Loafing contributing music writer James Kelley has lifted a self-imposed six-year exile to play the festival with his band Slim Chance and the Convicts, and he couldn’t be happier about it.
Chad Radford: You give Bubbapalooza your stamp of approval this year?
James Kelley: Yes, I sure do. This year’s lineup is moving back in the direction of where Bubbapalooza originally started, and that was to feature alternative country, country rock, roots music and Americana. The last 4 or 5 years there have been only one or two country bands on the bill for the whole weekend. It had just moved toward hard rock, punk and psychobilly, but this year it’s returning to what it used to be.
