Swannee Rising ’22: The Melody Trucks Interview with Sunnie Rae

It’s just another spring weekend at Suwannee.

This is the third installment of Suwannee Rising and why the great jumpin’ Jahoosaphat not? The Florida spring festival season remains in full force and there’s nowhere better to be and no more fun to be had. April 7-9, 2022 brought St. Paul and the Broken Bones, George Porter Jr. and Dumptsaphunk, North Mississippi Allstars, Melody and Vaylor Trucks, Neal Francis, Maggie Rose, The Nth Power Ball and more to the forest. Guests included T-Bag, Janaenae, Lisa, JuJu the Jordanian, Fran Drescher, the Gulf Coast Swamp Hippies, Pound Town, the Buttscratchers, kamp happiness and the rest of the Rising faithful. Welcome to Swannee Rising ’22: The Melody Trucks Interview with Sunnie Rae and festival wrap-up. You’ve found your way back into the pocket.

The wook wranglers are proud to showcase newcomer correspondent Sunnie Rae a.k.a Shanaenae and her fantastic photographs and Melody Trucks live interview. It’s a long way from selling bath salt and candles under 275.

Friday Girl Power: From the kampground to the Amphitheater Stage the ladies ruled the roost. Bedazzled sunglasses and tight harmonies were the order of the day as blinking hula hoops flew through the night air.

Strange sounds seeped from the Gulf Coast Swamp Hippy camp, right in between kamp happiness and Pound Town. You must be this tall to ride this ride and don’t ask too many questions. Those were the special portobellos.

Who was that girl singing with Magnolia Blvd? She had eyes that stared right through Baitbucket’s soul. He could feel a tingling energy being shared between them that could only be true love.

Was that a rare Jason Sumpter sighting? Can we get a ride to Pound Town? Welcome to the Jason waterfall. After that, it would time for the daily eleven dollar walk to the store for American Spirits.

The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park is still one of the premier camping/music venues in the country for good reason. The forest, the river, the perfect weather and the twisted fun company all meld to create an environment conducive to the celebration of the ego death.

Lucy made it all the way to the Future Joy renegade set before she began to slip. Double vision and waves of sweat returned and she began to rant about being drugged against her will by a stranger with a jar full of expired narcotics. Truly stranger than fiction.

Free Palestine! She claimed to be Palestinian but her birth certificate showed she was from Jordan. Refugees unite!

Has Jeff Zbar teamed up with St. Paul and the Broken Bones down on the beach? It sounded just ludicrous enough to be true. Check the shadows on the photograph and make sure it hasn’t been tampered with.

Was that Penny Lane riding an emu down the street like Swiss Family Robinson? Believe what you want but that girl was riding bare back.

Lisa remained crouched down next to the fire and grilled fresh broccoli and coconut shrimp. Welcome to the good life.

Lucy found someone’s stepped on cocaine in the microwave and accidentally took a sniff. What she didn’t expect was the burning sensation that crawled up her face and planted itself behind her left eyeball. His eyes watered, he gagged, a little later it seemed better. Either the coke was getting better or his brain hole was acclimating.

Stop the presses! Like a spunnest wook, Gummy lost his bracelet sometime Friday and was stonewalled into purchasing a new ticket in order to get back in the park. How now brown cow? Shanaenae dragged the crowd to see Brothers and Sisters before jamming late into the night at the Bill Monroe pavilion.

Check out Brian’s butt.

(Ed. correction- In a recent article, the wrangler staff published that Shop of Fools and Mi Kulture were present and vending at Suwannee Spring Reunion which they most surely were not. They were present at Rising and with festivals bumping up against one another, who can really remember? Crushed velvet and Japanese kimonos of days! There were also no credible witnesses to Chase Holiday running through the woods naked. Probably just another hansom streaker skirting the forest. More hyperbole and conjecture from your number one source for festival rumors.)

Grab a partner. It’s the dance of the spit bubbles.

Thanks to Paul, Karla and the rest of the Rising team for letting the wranglers get behind the scene for another year. Visit the Suwannee Rising website and like their social media channels on Facebook and Instagram. Revisit some Rising memories from the vault with The Spring Road?” Suwannee Again Rises and Suwannee Rising Memories: Virtual Festival Scrapbook.

Why were there crying sounds coming from Ted’s school bus? Who was driving the golf cart? Kendal or Kendal? Either way it wasn’t safe.

Thanks to Holly for operating the camera during the Melody Trucks interview. Thank goodness for Mom’s Dance Weekend.

Lucy and Baitbucket had been in Florida since October and the Home Invasion Tour had taken some unexpected turns. In a few days they’d be heading to Chillicothe for a month gearing up for Summer Camp and the wookish insanity that would surely follow. Look for the kamp happiness Fallout Shelter near the intersection of Shakedown Street in the forest. Restricted Access.

After that the road would shoot back into the mountains for a few months of hillbilly fun 828 and Roanoke Mafia style. Who could possibly see what kind of foolishness lay ahead? Keep up with the wranglers as they set out in search of mediocre string music, colorful thugs and unbalanced adventure in the womb of the summer festival season.

Where is Mr. Beautiful?