As a kid, Mike Farris would drive to Huntsville from his Winchester, Tenn. hometown to see rock concerts by bands like Foreigner at the Von Braun Center. Later, during the '90s, Farris' own band Screaming' Cheetah Wheelies performed at the Big Spring Jam music festival here and headlined clubs including Crossroads and Vapors.

Based in Nashville, Farris hasn't played Huntsville in a few years though.

That will change in August when Farris, who won a 2015 Grammy for his album "Shine For All The People," closes out the inaugural Fireside Music Festival, a new four-day event coming to MidCity Huntsville, a mixed-use development located on the University Drive area parcel formerly occupied by Madison Square Mall.

Of playing festivals like Fireside, Farris, calling from his home studio, says, "You come in and there's also this cross-pollination happening. It works from both perspectives, from the stage and as a fan. People get exposed to things they normally wouldn't and that's always good."

Fireside, set for Aug. 9 - 12, will feature "enormous production," says Shawn Patrick, in charge of the festival's music and talent development. This includes a large stage complete with a 16-foot LED screen and multiple cameras to broadcast the action.

The music lineup also boasts: talented young Mississippi rockers Bishop Gunn; major label folk-pop act firekid (featuring Florence native Dillon Hodges); singer/songwriter and "American Idol" album Paul McDonald; Russ Randolph (formerly of electronic jam-band Boombox); Dave Anderson Project (Huntsville guitar legend Dave Anderson of Atlanta Rhythm Section, Brother Cane and Black Jacket Symphony, performing all-new original music); rising Florence combo Rob Aldridge & The Proponents; melodic, jammy Huntsville band Toy Shop; Muscle Shoals songwriter James LeBlanc Band; and R&B vocalist Billy D. Allen. (Complete festival performance schedule below.)

Farris' set will feature his nine-piece band Roseland Rhythm Revue, complete with horns and backing vocalists. Expect songs from the last 10 years or so of Farris's career (sorry, no Cheetah Wheelies tunes), including "Shine For All The People" tracks like "River Jordan" and songs planned for the follow-up LP.

Patrick put the Fireside music lineup together about seven weeks ago. "I'm excited that Huntsville has a new music festival," says Patrick, who played bass in beloved Alabama alt-rockers Storm Orphans. "And I'm excited about all of the artists that are playing. I'm incredibly excited to see Russ Randolph's debut show as a solo artist, I think it's going to be really amazing."

Tickets for Fireside are capped at 2,000 each day and available via eventbrite.com. Four-day passes are $45, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday single-day tickets are each $10 advance/$15 day of, Saturday tickets are $25 advance/$30 day of show.

"The pricing's incredible," Patrick says. "Our hope is to sell it out. I think the people in Huntsville are looking for a music festival. In a city this big, 2,000 tickets is not a lot so we'll see."

Fireside will be the first event held at The Camp, a MidCity precursor with rotating food venues, fixed restaurant, dog friendly park and event programming, according to developer RCP Companies. "The Camp is just going to be really cool and I hope everybody's curiosity about what's going to be going on at MidCity is going to bring folks out," Patrick says. Local food and beverage vendors will also be a part of the 1.4-acre Fireside site. On Saturday, yoga and family-oriented activities will be involved too, organizers says.

Bishop Gunn singer Travis McCready believes playing festivals, "is the most necessary part of the music business," for a young band developing their audience. "Today when it's so easy to cut records and upload your music, it gets everything into just a big pile, "McCready says, "and you don't really know what's what until you see it live." Bishop Gunn has been recording at Muscle Shoals Sound. The band's bluesy southern-rock includes new songs like "Come On Now," recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound. Drummer Burne Sharp says "Something about this building's bringing it out of us even more." McCready calls Muscle Shoals music "the mothership."

Rock band Bishop Gunn. (Courtesy photo)

Anderson is used to playing festivals with Atlanta Rhythm Section. His set for Fireside will include songs planned for his first-ever solo album, including "Deja Blue," "Chasing Vistas," "Autumn Skye," "Witching Hour" and "What If." "I wanted it to be a lot of songs that nobody's heard before," says Anderson, a frequent performer and strong-draw at Huntsville clubs. In addition to Anderson on vocals and guitar, the Dave Anderson Project features guitarist Stone Anderson (Dave's son, also a member of Rob Aldridge & The Proponents), drummer James Irvin, bassist Matt Ross and keyboardist Clint Bailey.

Huntsville has been without a large-scale music festival since Big Spring Jam discontinued after a disappointing 2011. Patrick played the Jam as a member of country band The Inlaws and remembers travelling to Huntsville from the Shoals to attend the festival to see friends' bands too. "People in the Shoals area were sad when Big Spring Jam closed down," Patrick says. "I've talked to many people who loved to come over here for that." His long-term hope for Fireside is that it becomes "the replacement for Big Spring Jam and grows into a major regional festival. I think there's a huge need and want for this (in North Alabama) and it's something we're all excited about and the city to be excited about."

At its peak during the early-2000s, Big Spring Jam drew around 200,000 to downtown Huntsville. Bookings included Foo Fighters, Destiny's Child, Al Green, Zac Brown Band, Allman Brothers, Joan Jett and a teenaged Taylor Swift. So Fireside certainly has some growing to do, to reach that level. Rocket City Sounds' Spring Fest debuted in 2015 and has emerged as another eventual potential Big Spring Jam successor, attracting a few thousand or so over two-days to Campus No. 805 this year with a lineup boasting John Paul White, The Dexateens and Dylan LeBlanc.

One thing Big Spring Jam wasn't known for was being particularly welcoming to local acts. Anderson hopes Fireside's inaugural lineup is a sign Huntsville musicians will continue to play a more integral role in this festival. "It would be really good to see what they could do to make local bands feel welcome and feel like they belong," Anderson says.

Checking in from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following an ARS gig, Anderson feels "you can't overstate the impact" the return a yearly large-scale festival could have on the Huntsville music scene. Particularly on newer musicians, "because today there are great opportunities online, but not so much great opportunities to make money and play. Playing live is a huge part of them surviving and doing music, which is what we all need."

Fireside_Promo_1 from Red Brick Strategies on Vimeo.

Fireside Music Festival schedule

Wednesday

8:30 p.m. Russ Randolph and Friends

Thursday

7 p.m. Rob Aldridge & The Proponents

8:30 p.m. Dave Anderson Project

Friday

7:30 p.m. Bishop Gunn

9 p.m. Paul McDonald

Saturday

1 p.m. Toy Shop

3 p.m. James LeBlanc Band

5 p.m. firekid

7 p.m. Billy D. Allen

8:30 p.m. Mike Farris & The Roseland Rhythm Revue