Amplify Decatur Music Festival Set For Saturday

DECATUR, GA — Roots-based alternative rock and country will be at the forefront when the Amplify Decatur Music Festival kicks off Saturday in Decatur Square.

The one-day festival opens at 3:30 p.m., with music starting at 4 p.m. Acts performing at the festival, which will benefit a group working with the homeless in Decatur, will be The Lone Bellow, The Jayhawks, Amanda Shires, Parker Millsap and Dwayne Shivers.

Tickets for the festival range from $45-155 and may be purchased online. They will be available online until 2 p.m. Saturday. After that, tickets will be available at the box office on site as long as they last. Wristbands will allow patrons to enter and leave the festival area as they please and all bars and restaurants around the square will be open.

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Children under 8 get in free and all children must be accompanied by an adult. Organizers, however, emphasize the festival is an outdoor event serving alcohol and say they aren't encouraging children to attend.

Organizers warn festival-goers that parking downtown will be limited and urge them to take MARTA to the Decatur station or use a ride service like Lyft or Uber. There also will be a bike valet service sponsored by Bike Law Georgia, letting people ride their bikes to the festival and keeping them safe during the event.

Attendees may bring one chair each to the festival and chairs must remain in a dedicated area in the back of the general admission section. Strollers and blankets also are permitted in that area.

Amplify Decatur benefits Decatur Cooperative Ministry, which works with thousands of families each year. Since 2011, Amplify has raised more than $150,000 for the group.

The Lone Bellow is touring in support of their third studio album, "Walk Into A Storm." The Nashville-via-Brooklyn band’s raw, intimate, and undeniably soulful Dave Cobb-produced LP was recorded in Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A as the follow-up to 2014’s cherished "Then Came The Morning."

Founded in Minneapolis in the 1980s, The Jayhawks would go on to become a driving force and inspiration behind the '90s Americana movement with a series of touchstone albums that included "Hollywood Town Hall" and "Tomorrow The Green Grass." When co-founder Mark Olson left to pursue a solo career, Gary Louris took over the lead songwriting role, creating some of the group's best selling and most well-received albums including "Smile" and "Rainy Day Music." The group's latest album, "Paying Mr. Proust," was produced in Portland, in part by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck.

Following the release of her most recent album, "My Piece of Land," Amanda Shires was recognized as "Emerging Artist of the Year" at the 2017 Americana Music Honors & Awards. Shires began her career as a teenager playing fiddle with the Texas Playboys. Since then, she’s toured and recorded with John Prine, Billy Joe Shaver, Todd Snider, Justin Townes Earle, Shovels & Rope, and, most recently her husband, Grammy-winner Jason Isbell.

For more details, visit the Amplify Decatur website.

Here is the festival lineup:

• Dwayne Shivers at 4 p.m.
• Parker Millsap at 5 p.m.
• Amanda Shires at 6:15 p.m.
• The Jayhawks at 7:45 p.m.
• The Lone Bellow at 9:30 p.m.

The Lone Bellow photo courtesy Grandstand Media