"Old-fashioned hoppin' country" will be part of a weekend festival to benefit lyme disease awareness.
The area country band Oak Hill Drifters (photo at right) and other groups will perform during the Junkyard Dog Days Music Festival. The festival will be 1 to 1 p.m. July 24 at the Junkyard Saloon, 5115 N. Hwy. 17, DeLeon Springs. Admission is $10 and includes food, "cheap beer" and more, organizers say.
For more information call Pete Heimo at 386-972-2668 or the venue at 386-624-4444. For information on a poker run being held in conjunction with the festival, call 386-559-3185.
Proceeds will benefit the Barbara Kennedy Lyme Disease Foundation. The foundation was set up in April 2009 by Barbara's sisters, including area resident Linda Heimo. The foundation's website, barbarakennedyfoundation.org, states its mission is to "put a face with a disease that some do not even believe exists. The purpose is to educate the public and help raise funds to assist with the medical bills that continue to grow."
Barbara Kennedy and her family live in Concord, N.C. Her sons Eric, 13, and Darin, 9 -- who sing in a choir in their hometown -- will perform a folk song and a classical work at the festival.
The Oak Hill Drifters play "mostly just good old-fashioned hoppin' country," says Rick Lane, the band's harmonica player. "We are a Hank Williams/Patsy Cline-type band musically, with many originals, and we also branch out to western swing, rockabilly, a little blues, a little two step.
"We also bust a couple of rock songs -- 'Ace of Spades' Motorhead style and 'She's So Fine' a la the Stones," Lane says.
The festival also will feature music by the Scrap Blues Band, Big Jeff Special, Ronnie and His Polka Pals, and Russian violinist Mikhail Levitsky.
Photo: The local band Oak Hill Drifters includes, from left: harmonica player Rick Lane, acoustic guitarist and steel guitar player Tommy Cooper, lead guitarist Ricky Melendy and bassist Pappa Gus Ramage.
