A two day country music festival with two stages of music from ten awesome country bands in our backyard is only five months away! The 2012 Ramble Jamcountry music festival lineup was *just* announced and we are beyond excited to share that RANDY HOUSER, THE DIRT DRIFTERS, SUNNY SWEENEY, JOSH THOMPSON, and LEE BRICE will be headlining this year's show! Also joining the lineup are Rocket Club, Dustin Lynch, Lost Highway, Greene & Hurst and Sara Lynn Wallin with Two Mile Final.
The 2012 festival, taking place Friday and Saturday September 14th and 15th in Farmington, Minnesota is sure to be the biggest and best yet. With a rock solid stone-cold country lineup like this, it is guaranteed to be one big badass barn party! Randy, Sunny, Josh and The Dirt Drifters are some of my favorite artists and to have them all at one festival blows my mind. I am THRILLED about the great music coming to this year's Ramble Jam - and you should be, too!
FRIDAY | September 14th
Sara Lynn Wallin and Two Mile Final
The Dirt Drifters
Dustin Lynch
Randy Houser
SATURDAY | September 15th
Greene & Hurst
Lost Highway
Rocket Club
Sunny Sweeney
Josh Thompson
Lee Brice
As one of country music's strongest and most genuine country voices, talented songwriters, and passionate performers, Friday night's headliner Randy Houser is going to deliver a show unlike anything Ramble Jam-ers have ever heard. The southern rock, blues, and soul influences that fuel the native-Mississippian's good timin' southern man anthems ("Boots On," "Whistlin' Dixie," "They Call Me Cadillac," "My Kinda Country," and his latest single "How Country Feels") and pure country ballads ("Anything Goes," "In God's Time") are a more than welcomed addition to the Ramble Jam lineup. Go pick up They Call Me Cadillac, one of my favorite albums - ever, right now!
South Carolinian country singer-songwriter Lee Brice headlines Saturday night's party, and although his popular singles are slower in tempo ("Woman Like You," "Love Like Crazy, "Beautiful Every Time") we've been witness to his wild live show ways and know he'll be throwing down a hell of a performance to close the festival (hopefully including an all-star jam with his friends also on the bill). Lee's new album, Hard 2 Love, drops (tomorrow) 4.24.12.
The Dirt Drifters, bar-none one of the best new bands on the country scene, is comprised of five talented musicians that met in Nashville and forged their sound; "top-shelf honky-tonk music, bringing vintage sounds and sensibilities up to date in a country landscape hungry to reconnect with its roots" ("Something Better," "Always A Reason," "There She Goes"), breaking the mold in a city of factory-milled ripoffs. As a favorite of ours, we know you'll trust us when we say that their debut release, This Is My Blood (2011), is a MUST-own album. This band has the heart of Springsteen rock n' roll with Bakersfield country soul and the craft of red dirt songwriting, with an intense live show to boot. The Dirt Drifters will be bringing the honkytonk rock to Ramble Jam 2012!
As the lone female artist, East Texas' Sunny Sweeney perfectly fits the bill for this South Metro music fest with her authentic honkytonkin' workin woman tunes ("Everybody Else [Can Kiss My A$$]," "Drink Myself Single," "Staying's Worse Than Leaving," "From A Table Away") and spunky attitude that we ab-so-lutely love about her. We can't wait to make her feel right at home at Ramble Jam!
The gritty vocals, rough and rowdy man's-Man songwriting ("Way Out Here," "Blame It On Waylon," "Beer on the Table," "Won't Be Lonely Long," "Coming Around," "Change"), and killer roadhouse-style live show of Wisconsin-nativeJosh Thompson is an awesome fit for Ramble Jam 2012. If you've ever seen a Josh Thompson show in Minnesota, his adopted home away from home, it's always a guaranteed GREAT time!
I'm intrigued to hear Dustin Lynch's music, a new artist from Nashville making waves with his ballad "Cowboys and Angels" currently on country radio, but most of all, it's great to see that Minnesota's hottest live country bands like Rocket Club and Lost Highway will be back to take on Ramble Jam round II with more to be announced in the coming weeks!
We had an amazing time with Frankie Ballard, Bomshel (well.. sorta), Rocket Club, Lost Highway and others at the inaugural festival last October. The one-day fest was a fantastically well organized event that drew country fans from all over the Midwest to the south metro for a great experience that gave fans the biggest bang for their buck. I have no doubts that this year's event will only build upon those successes, and grow to become an even bigger and better full-scale end-of-summer music festival which we are excited to welcome into our annual traditions!
Stay tuned to [Ramble Jam]'s official website, Twitter handle, and Facebook page for ticket information… and we'll see you at this barn this September!
Beth
