No heirloom instruments were harmed in the making of this article.
Well glory be! Get Jesus on the mainline and tell him what you want. Suwannee Spring Reunion returned to the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park for its 2026 chronicle at the beautiful Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida. Larkin Poe, Steep Canyon Rangers, Keller and the Keels, Sam Grisman Project, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Donna the Buffalo, Jim Lauderdale, Grass is Dead, Sunnyside Stringband, Tire Fire and more took to the treasured Suwannee stages along with a parade of food, merch, vendors, artists, pickers, grinners and all points in between. Welcome home to the banks of the Suwannee River. This is where music lives and the fire is burning all night. It’s Suwannee Spring Reunion “26: Time to clock in.
After the last set, take a ride with Kendall and Kendall and make the rounds. Stop by Sloppryland, Poohville and/or plunder some flags from the River Pirates, but don’t be gone all night. We will need you back at Hobo Kamp to help facilitate the night’s interactive activities. This is going to be lit and you are needed to keep the party from turning into a scene of dark absence. Be ready to clock in and work when you get back to the Milk Parlour. No need for ultra-violence, high vibration is the word and we need some action around the fire. No spoken word lest you petition for the sheperd’s crook.
The Hobo Kamp security team arrived Tuesday with a serious mandate to double down on Spring Reunion. Plan A was still in effect and with absolutely perfect Florida weather, all they needed to do was follow the Katie Waffle template. Like the Guv’nah said, “If you build it they will come.” This was to be no fraternity party looking to play quarters in the dark. Welcome to JamKamp. Typically loud and sloppy, littered with “train wrecks” and Chinese verses, this year’s offering also included glimpses of blinding brilliance and whispergrass.
“Love You Leonard” Oh the streets of Rome are filled with pork butt… Who doesn’t remember the children’s book about the sweet bear who got his paw stuck in the banjo? How could these greenhorns all end up around the fire without a single snark? Mawmaw always said there was nothing sloppier than a bevy of hippies trying to tune by ear. Pooh Bear had what appeared to be an enormous tapeworm dangling from his nether regions as he tried to shield hippies from stepping on the neck of the Martin while simultaneously slapping Baitbucket in the mouth for leaving the instrument in the dust. At one point Godsend found himself seated with a banjo in each ear. Interactive fun with surround sound stereo banjo.
While fishing for lamprey in the lake, Banjovi hooked and landed a submerged megaphone covered with snails and algae. How could such a thing end up at the bottom of the lumberyard? An enigma, wrapped in a mystery, burritoed by a riddle. On one of his many late-night visits, he was accompanied by Squatting Maura, Evil Mistress of the Night and Queen of Poohville who, in confidence, confessed that a night of forbidden pleasure with Jim Lauderdale had resulted in their love child, Justin Beiber. After years of broken treaties and soft coups, diplomatic relations between the neighboring camps had flourished and was producing a high yield.
The audacity! Thrice you have offended me.
Amber’s alert and the petri dish melodica mouthpiece. Amber the Shikori princess had fallen asleep in a hammock and was out like a trout. California law would be identified as “exhaustion” but here, when someone’s parachute fails to deploy, it’s called a disco nap. “Is she alive?” the children asked. They were unable to stir the sleeping spunion and Lucy suggested they try using the cattle prod she kept nearby for “emergencies”. Johnny Sixpack suggested they let her rest and to be fair, she’d been babysitting Tommy Thermometer and scream-laughing non-stop for two days. “Amber Alert” could be heard throughout the forest for the remainder of the event. All were reminded of a lesson from another time; Don’t put your mother down as your emergency contact. “Is she gonna make it Doc? She’s gotta play melodica tonight!” Naturally, by showtime she was ready to clock in and drop the boom and while it remained a pleasure to work with professionals, Godsend was sure to double-wrap the melodica mouthpiece before I touched his lips.
Third Eye Blind showed up late but managed not to get lost deep on the mud trails of the park during ingress. He’d recently tweaked his back performing advanced Shibaru and wrangled a team of day workers to help with his load-in. After being struck by lightning for the sixth time, he now possessed the mutant power to see five minutes into the past. He bruised his hand playing bluegrass cajon and dished out movie money to the street children who apparently tried to use ten thousand dollar bills to purchase jingle jangles at Wormtown. Baitbucket promised Tommy Thermometer he would help with his egress and as he lounged at the beach the man’s last, sad text simply read, “Need help.”
Mitocondria is known as the powerhouse of the cell because it generates most of the cell’s energy. Every camp needs one. Lucy noticed she was absent and had become increasingly selfish with her time and attention. Late late night she came in hot and Lucy looked at her watch. “You ready to clock in?” “We’re looking for some live music”. “Well, that’s all you had to say, home skillet.” Next thing up, Darling Corey arrived and things escalated quickly. All were treated to late night jams including Sam the Sham, Mongo Jerry and Jerry Band. Stop the presses! The funk even managed to slide in from time to time and sit a spell. Godsend squealed as he realized he was picking alongside dueling Dobros? One sees a lot of strange and unnatural things playing in the depths of the forest. You’ve chosen wisely, grasshopper.
JBfly and Lucy found themselves at the amphitheater stage for Sam Grisman Project with Peter Rowan. Panama Red, who’d they’d first seen perform at SOSMP in 2002, still boomed through the turkey oaksr. En route to Mi Kulture for crumpled velvet, they would stop at the shirt booth, stage left and get a VASSAR shirt for another unsuspecting victim. As far as Sunday uniforms, it really is the industry standard. Lucy used a pocket knife to unlock her ankle monitor so he was unteathered for their adventure. Maybe it was the Pink Floyd that resulted in her over stimulation during Keller and the Keels which resulted in her having to be managed with a heavy squirt of bear juice. Bolting from the amphitheater stage she fell while grabbing her leftover drink from behind the dumpster. Something else must have happened near the retention pond because by the time she got back to camp she smelled like bad buttermilk. Hunkering around the fire for the rest of the night, she sang John Prine songs in her best Bene Gesserit “voice”.
“Danny’s not here Mrs. Torrence”
The God Quartz and unwanted visions. Surrender yourself to the God Quartz and pray he has not soiled your linens. This will not due. As the prophesy predicted, He had returned and the Consigliere’s metal was being tested. During Larkin Poe, he began to lose purchase and slip toward shaky ground. Surrendering total control, what had previously been diagnosed as a learning deficiency possibly managed with small group instruction, had devolved to a situation requiring one-on-one remediation and/or electroshock therapy. After three days, he’d become “soapy” and his brain had turned to mush. David Attenborough nature documentary??? Nice work Don Juan. So romantic. Recent studies revealed that long term use of the ethanol punch slush known as Strawberita can result in bloating, night terrors, dementia, loss of libido and damage to the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. By Friday, his voice had rotted into a shattered husk, which was understandable. He’d stared directly into the face of the God Quartz which had been known to turn lesser men into ash. What you call a hog’s leg, he calls a dinosaur poop.
On the other hand, he’d finally lost the face and the music was beginning to come out a little smoother. Having done the work, he’d made consistent strides and found himself ahead of the ten year success goal. He’d found the sacred note. Practice is prologue and it was time to clock in. Godsend barked, “That squeezebox isn’t going to squeeze itself and you’re scheduled to work a graveyard shift double.” After all, he’d survived his third challenge and had been reborn chrome, only to see his reflection and feel fear. Perhaps for the last time.
Toddler pirates and the removal of Boca trash. Along with the saving grace and redemption power of gospel bluegrass, Sunday’s sunrise campfire jam included a birthday celebration for Boca trash and the sorriest pirate. He oozed into the party just in time to inaudibly request Jerry songs and blow spit bubbles. Par for the course. He’d come to reclaim the booty lifted from his camp at sunrise but Hobo Kamp had themselves, been pillaged earlier in an unexpected turn of deceit. While Lucienda had been drawn out to haggle trinkets with a group of hippy children, another strike team of underage street hoodlums slipped through the camp like velociraptors and silently relieved them of their standards. Perhaps they were the ones that ended up with the World War II saber. One had to admire the next generation of buccaneers seizing the moment and joining the engagement in progress. Having been outsmarted by toddler pirates, the crew settled back into the Manhattan’s classic, “Shining Star” for the sleepy swashbuckler, waiting for him to expire so they could rifle through his pockets for contraband. Through good grace and mercy, he somehow managed to escape the gauntlet with both his integrity and chastity intact.
Is this thing on? She heard crickets chirping again and was reminded of the words of Wilford Brimley, “They can’t all be home runs and three out of ten hits gets you into the Hall of Fame.” On more than one occasion, Lucienda wished she’d had a five-second delay, kill switch. When things came too fast or out of order she would embrace her personal meditation. Shhhhh. Quiet thyself. Silence the mind. Find your center. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Use your Wynn Hoff box breathing. Balance. Whenever she heard her own voice she could tell was talking too much. Just like the uncomfortable silence after one of her “jokes”, she was reminded to embrace the space between words. And heed the old gypsy woman’s warning; Never…trust…a…fast…talker.
Sunnie Rae comes home. Found wrapped in a swaddling cast net, floating down the Suwannee in a Natural Light box, Free Range child of flowers and Wrangler correspondent, Shanaynay brought her band of pocket shredders back to the cradle and proceeded to stomp on the home field terra. Down from the High Country of Smasheville, the Sunnyside Stringband put their stamp on the weekend with two electrifying sets and helped to close out Vassar Family Jam with Donna the Buffalo and Peter Rowan.
You’re welcome. While the kamp mission statement always included the inclusion of all pickers, regardless of skill level, Lucienda mercifully left her fiddle at home. She had recently returned to the beginner lessons and it continued to produce a sound similar to a stray cat giving birth the wrong way. In the words of Shane Turner, “You’re not too old, you just waited too long to start.” Bad fiddle opens the way to low camp vibration and that’s how things end up in the lake.
More Stories
Hulaween 2026 Lineup Is Here!
The Unsupervised at Whippersnap Festival “26
FloydFest Daydream Fourth Round. The Hits Keep Coming.