The music festival season is here again and with SXSW wrapping up last week, thousands of hippies, hipsters, houligans and Horton Hears a Who (alright, so my alliteration got a bit carried away), will be looking for some good tunes under the hot, scorching sun.
We all know the famous ones like Bonnaroo, Coachella and even Sasquatch. However, Doo-Nanny the folky, foot-stompin, banjo-strummin Alabama Festival is still an underground gem. Though the festival has gained popularity since it's 1996 inception, it is still a southern secret to anyone outside "Yellowhammer State." Ending yesterday, the two day event had an art show, a "wacky lo-fi film festival," and of course, an array of Rock-abilly, Uke-abilly and...uh, even more "abilly's."
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| Jenny Juice, one of Doo-Nanny's funkiest musical acts. |
The lineup feels organic, with incredibly talented artists still waiting to be picked out of the musical garden. Mad Tea Party, a duo who sounds like an ensemble, has been described as "B-52s meets Buddy Holly with a lot more thump." Morgan O'Kane's fast strumming fingers have put audience members in a trance, with one reviewer saying : "After hearing Morgans first full length release “Nine Lives” your sorrows will be drowned, your spirits lifted, and all your ideas of what it means to play the banjo will be dismantled." And Jenny Juice, the crazy-haired, in-your-face twenty-something is a "singularly hipster mix of swingy, bluesy, refreshingly original funk and folk."
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| John Henry Toney |
All starting with a turnip, the legendary origin of Doo-Nanny is what makes it so special. Originally as a roadside show in Seale, Alabama, the reclusive, yet famous artist Butch Anthony adopted the event and along with his Museum of Wonder, and expanded the show three years ago onto his 80 acre farm. His fame was due in part to a local tractor-for-hire John Henry Toney, who in 1994 was plowing in Anthony's garden and found a turnip that looked like it had a face. Toney drew a picture of the purple vegetable and stuck it in a window with a $50 dollar price tag on it. Within a week a local art collector bought it. Amazed that a picture of turnip could sell so well, Anthony put on display his eccentric, handmade art and after years of hard work gained national attention, even being profiled in The New York Times.
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| Butch Anthony with his original, handmade work "Tin Can Fish." |
Mr.Anthony and Mr. Toney continue to make and sell their art. Mr. Anthony has described his art as "intertwangleism." His definition: "Inter, meaning to mix," he said, "and twang, a distinct way of speaking. If I make up my own 'ism,' no one can say anything or tell me I'm doing is wrong." Let's hope Doo-Nanny stays its' own "ism," keeping the "outsiders" inside and the critics at bay.
