The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park: A Pictorial History

Music Lives Here.

He’d been dancing to Willie Nelson all afternoon in the field with his sister and now he was crying with some stranger listening to Kris Kristopherson at the Amphitheater Stage. Soon he would head back to camp and join the pickin’ circle already in session but first he would grab an gyro and a cold beer. He’d slept about six hours in two days and his stomach was rumbling from whatever was in that mason jar. The kids were out on their bikes playing with new friends at the playground. His feet were dirty and cracked and from where he was sitting, the pocket was looking pretty good.

It’s the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida. Situated right at the crossing of I-75 and I-10, every year thousands of music lovers come from all over the world to sit under the turkey oaks and enjoy this 800 acre campground on the banks of the Suwannee River. Chilling at the amphitheater stage or taking a walk to the river, it’s easy to feel the timeless energy and understand the importance of this most special of places.

There are those who will say it’s their favorite place anywhere to enjoy live music. Welcome to The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park: A Pictorial History.

Along with classic venues such as Telluride Town Park – Telluride, Colo.; Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, Colo.; The Gorge Amphitheatre – George, Wash.; Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, Ill.; The Beacon Theater – New York, N.Y.; Cumberland Caverns – McMinnville, Tenn.; The Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, Calif.; Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, Tenn.; Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, N.Y.; The Tabernacle – Atlanta, Ga., King’s Theater – Brooklyn, N.Y. and more, The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park has earned a place among this country’s finest music venues.

History of the Spirit of Suwannee

Long before they purchased the park Bob and Jean Cornett founded the Festival of the Bluegrass in northern Fayette County Kentucky in June of 1974. Their first year was a rainy show with Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, JD Crowe, and Doc Watson with 150 to 200 people in attendance. Jean recalled that family and friends came to help with the festival wherever needed. They all worked together to sell tickets, pick up trash, build stages and attack all manner of unexpected duties. Sound familiar?

That festival had always been held on public property (both the Kentucky Horse Park and a city park in Lexington), and a large amount of infrastructure had to be built once a year for a festival. The Cornetts dreamed of finding a place where they could hold festivals year round.

The Fountain of Youth

A cousin who lived in Live Oak called the Spirit of the Suwannee to the attention of Charles Carrithers (Jean Carrithers Cornett’s brother), and soon they made the trip to Florida to check it out. The basic park had been built under a grant during the Carter administration, but there was no money to run it. It closed after only a few years, and quickly grew into disrepair. They arrived to find chest high weeds and didn’t even own a mower. They cut a deal with the authorities in charge and soon opened the doors.

Construction of the Amphitheater Stage, Fall of 1994 CB Poer, Bethel Hensley, Andy Walters

Jean and Bob moved to Florida and leased the park for 12 years before finally purchasing the 800-acre tract of pines nestled along the Suwannee River in 1997. Since then they have added a canoe and kayak post, numerous cabins, great tree houses, a store, a music hall, permanent bath houses, an equestrian area, and much more.

Amphitheater stage under construction winter of 1994-1995 at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park

Over the years the park struggled to succeed financially, and nearly closed on many occasions. Throughout, a large contingent of volunteers (some of which made the pilgrimage from KY with the Cornetts) found a way to keep the wheels on the bus. Somewhere around 1997 Uncle Charles came to the park with much needed capital to get the park ‘over the hump’. Not long after that, brother James Cornett left his successful commercial real estate business in Kentucky to come help with the park. The Cornetts were retired before they decided to bite off this project. In the same era, the park began to attract the attention of outside promoters and began to have festivals year round, just like their dream read.

Corner Cabin. L C.B. Poer, Jean Cornett rest unknown date unknown. This was to become the first cabin built at the SOSMP. It has served as a private cabin, a rental, and a beauty shop.

The first month’s business at the park was $62.00, which was 100% in $2 boat ramp fees.

The park started as a small campground offering bluegrass music, but a 1992 country festival featuring Willie Nelson and the Judds showed the opportunity for much more. It put the park on the map and since, it’s hosted big acts including the 1997 HORDE Festival headlined by Neil Young and Crazy Horse.
In 2005, when The Allman Brothers Band needed a place to host a festival of their own, the late Butch Trucks thought it should go at The Spirit Of The Suwannee Music Park. Thus, the Wanee Music Festival was born. Anyone that ever attended a Wanee Festival can attest to how undeniably righteous of an event that was.

The original Spirit of the Suwannee stage that was here when Bob and Jean arrived. This stage was rebuilt to make it serviceable and used until the amphitheater stage was completed late in 1994. Railroad cross tie seating, evidently in disrepair, is in the foreground, as well as some fallen logs.

Donna The Buffalo has logged more hours on the Suwannee stages than any other artists as the defacto host band of spring and fall Americana/bluegrass festivals for twenty-plus years. Just another Sunday night.

Corner Cabin nearing completion. No electric meter, so not quite done. Approx 1987

CB Poer, Jean Cornett, Bob Cornett breaking ground on the music hall

Original Office Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park

Original music hall at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park for a daytime event. Not the fireplace missing (left hand corner), and no ex-navy chandeliers. I remember the chairs being a VERY big deal to buy, and Mom (Jean Cornett) devising a system where the guests would fold them all up and and hang them as they left.

The Suwannee Roots Revival, in October is a Roots, Americana, Bluegrass oriented show, akin to the one Bob and Jean started in Kentucky. This is a place to come together to make great music, enjoy good times, and to build a great community. That’s what living is all about. That’s what the Cornetts envisioned and their legacy lives on.

Last year the park welcomed Billy Strings and Samantha Fish to the Amphitheater Stage for the first time. After that initial introduction, for both performers and spectators there’s usually no looking back. It’s just a matter of time, counting the days till the return to the music, friends and this amazing place.

This year the park will host festivals such as Hulaween, Roots Revival, River Jam, Brainquility, Spring Reunion, Suwannee Rising and many other smaller concerts and events. From $62 a month they now hosts 4-500,000 visitors a year. Standing in the middle of the field during the late-night Bassnectar set at Hulaween and witnessing all of the silliness that comes with it, t’s a wonder if the Cornetts could have ever imagined what’s come of the once-overgrown fields.

Friends are made here. Love is found. Souls are saved and kids are raised with a communal sense of sharing and fun. As the years pass the family grows and spreads in new wonderful directions. If these are your kind of people then be ready to be absolutely immersed in love and fellowship. Even the ghosts here wear feathers and beads.

But now it’s late. Most of the camp is asleep. The moonshine is gone. Sunshine is hoarse and the guitar has a broken string. It’s 5:30 in the morning and just maybe there’s enough time to find Shrimphead, snatch a golf cart and get to the river in time to catch sunrise. So begins another wonderful day at the Spirit of Suwannee.

Thanks to Charles Cornett for the photographs and park history.