As summer comes to an end and the music festival season winds down, Birmingham, Alabama was treated with the 8th annual Secret Stages Music Discovery Festival last weekend. This year it was held in a new location in the Avondale area, really improving the overall experience by including venues that hold concerts throughout the year like Saturn and Avondale Brewery. All 5 venues were located on one intersection, including the VIP area, so attendees could easily hop from stage to stage, which only helps to encourage the festival’s core value – new music discovery.

Secret Stages has always been an intimate festival with some of the best up and coming artists, including locally grown around the southeast and national touring acts. If you look through previous lineups, the festival is always on the forefront, bringing in exciting young artists. Previous lineups have included artists such as Dawes, Dylan LeBlanc, Futerebirds, Pujol, Hiss Golden Messenger, Lydia Loveless, Robert Ellis, Shovels and Rope, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, New Madrid, Adia Victoria, All Them Witches, The Seratones, Spaceface, The Burning Peppermints, White Reaper, Little Tybee, SunSeeker and Snail Mail.

The festival kicked off with the first set at 5:30pm on Friday. It is hard to draw a crowd so early but those that did make it in time to see Dogwood Lung were in for a treat. A four-piece band from Auburn, Dogwood Lung proved to be a perfect start to the weekend with smooth melodies and easy rhythm.

Next on the Avondale Brewery outdoor stage was Tanya Montana Coe. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree with this one as David Allen Coe’s daughter took the staged and absolutely owned it. Coming off her new singles “Electric Blue” & “Damed”, she entertained the early crowd with just her and a guitar player.

The next band was a late addition to the lineup. Their set at Slossfest had to be canceled because of weather delays, and the Secret Stages organizers wanted to give them a shot. Heath Green and the Makeshifters is a local band that have collected quite a following around town known for their soulful rhythms and gritty vocals of Heath Green. Their set was highly anticipated and brought a nice crowd to the early time slot.

The local flavor continued with two more bands from the Birmingham area. Captain Kudzu performed on the Saturn stage and Me and My Knife were on the 41st Street Pub stage. The first time I heard Captain Kudzu‘s music, I was surprised to hear a West Coast vibe in their music. Not only do they sound like they are not from around here, they don’t even sound like they are from around now. Captain Kudzu has a great, nostalgic sound that almost belongs on an eight-track rolling down Santa Monica Boulevard.

Me and My Knife brought a harder sound with a faster pace. Their punk rock was a change of pace that was made for the stage they were on. Really worth catching if you get the chance.

After the local bands had their time, some of the regional acts took to their respective stages. Two sets that stood out are both HipHop artists that hail from Mississippi. D. Horton (Columbus) and SilaS (Jackson) had the crowds jumping and moving with heavy bass beats and silky lyrics.

Next up was two of my top sets of the festival and both made the 2-hour drive from Atlanta. Sa-Roc was first on the Avondale outdoor stage enjoying full command of her crowd. In true Goddess MC form, she had the lucky crowd moving to the beat.

But the Goddess of the beat that night was the drummer for CHEW. Snare-ah Wilson was absolutely killing it surrounded by her two talented band mates on guitar/keyboard and bass guitar. CHEW had really solid jam sessions with high energy drums over ambient background tracks and sick guitar riffs. See this band live!

Wrapping up the night were a couple of bands from Nashville. The Minks were first up on the Avondale Brewery loft stage. The band showed classic vocals with an Americana vibe. Their recent EP release of Blue showcases their bluesy sound with a foot-stomping beat.

The best band name goes to the last show on the Saturn Stage. Daddy Issues lived up to the hype. The 3-piece girl band had a cool grunge sound that sent the late-night crowd home buzzing. On board with Infinity Cat Recordings, Daddy Issues are currently on a coast to coast US tour with a European tour starting in November.

After it was all said and done, the first day in its new location proved to be what Secret Stages needed. “It just feels like home” said one of the festival founders and I couldn’t agree more. It had everything you could ask for in a small festival and far exceeded expectations in terms of the way the fans, artists, volunteers and journalists were treated.

All photos by Art Husband