WORLD'S LONGEST-RUNNING
CIGAR BOX GUITAR
MUSIC FESTIVAL
4 Days x 5 Venues...Celebrating 20 Years...May 30-June 2
The information below reflects the 2023 event. Sign up for our mailing list to get monthly updates on the cigar box guitar music scene in Huntsville, including updates on the 20th event coming in 2024! If you are looking to contact the Festival organizers, click here.
PERFORMER BIOS
Steve Trash
Saturday, June 3 at 11:30am
Steve Trash performs music and magic. He is the star of his own nationwide PBS kids science show, Steve Trash Science. He has performed his magic at the world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, California and has appeared on many TV shows including CBS This Morning, ESPN Outdoors and Levar Burtons’ Reading Rainbow. Always on the search to broaden his brand and teach the world to understand “green” just a little better, Steve and his professional musician friend Kelvin Holly (Amazing Rhythm Aces, Little Richard Band, Pegi Young and the Survivors) wrote, produced and recorded an entire album of green themed songs, called The Trash Tunes. Steve lives in an energy efficient, earth-birmed home, with a 21 panel solar PV array, in beautiful downtown Frog Pond, Alabama. This summer he will teach several magic camps, including one in Huntsville. Learn more at SteveTrash.com
The Breedloves
Saturday, June 3 at 1:30pm
The Breedloves consist of husband and wife duo William and Cecelia Breedlove, playing a wide variety of music from the blues to country. William is a slide guitarist who fell in love with the sound of cigar box guitars. Cecelia is a vocalist who has been singing for over 30 years.
Hymn for Her
Saturday, June 3 at 3:15pm
Hymn for Her have been busy touring across the country and abroad over the past few years, injecting juiced-up backwoods country blues with a dose of desert rock psychedelia that has been described as “Hell’s Angels meets the Amish,” and “Hillbillies with electronics opening Pandora’s Box” Their wild-eyed mash-up of country, blues and punk led U.K. music critic Steve Bennett to call H4H’s sound “a riotous, rocking roadkill stew,” while others have referenced such diverse bands as Captain Beefheart, Primus, X, R.L. Burnside, JS Blues Explosion and the Ramones. Impressively, they create their “ripsaw sounds” (Los Angeles Times’ Randy Lewis) with only a few instruments. Wayne (with the devilish voice), mainly playing the kick-drum, high-hat, acoustic guitar and harp, serves as the group’s rhythmic driving force. Lucy (of the fallen-angel voice) delivers a gritty squall on her “Lowebow” — a custom-made cigar-box guitar: “The Riff Monster," while daughter Diver daughter also provides vocals as well as keyboard. More at HymnForHer.com.
The Cigar Box Serenaders
Saturday, June 3 at 4:30pm
Sunday, June 4 at 11:00am for Jazz Brunch at BeeZr Gastropub
Crowd favorites The Cigar Box Serenaders will perform twice at this year's Festival with different music at each performance. An upcycled musical instrument band from New Orleans, Louisiana, the band plays an eclectic mix of funk and jazz, performing songs by The Meters, Thelonious Monk, as well as original compositions. Their instruments can’t be found in a music store: you’ll see and hear cigar box guitars, tin can banjos, dresser drawer basses, found sound trash kits, electrical pipe vibraphones, and more! Earlier this year, the band released their second album, "Spasm" and will perform originals from it as well as the earlier music. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and learn more at SoundsLikeGarbage.org.
Meg Williams & Travis Bowlin
Saturday, June 3 at 5:45pm
Nashville-based artists, Meg Williams and Travis Bowlin, join forces to bring an exciting and engaging blues-rock show. With Meg’s fiery guitar solos and Travis’ powerful vocals, many have told the pair that they are ‘the best music they have seen while visiting Nashville.’ In 2022, Travis won the Josie Music Award for Blues Artist of the Year, while Meg was the winner of the 2018 Kentucky Blues Challenge and was selected as the Women in Blues Showcase house band director & guitarist for 3 years during the International Blues Challenge on Memphis, TN. Meg also had her song ‘Live and Learn’ selected as a semi-finalist in the 2022 International Songwriting Competition Both Meg & Travis will have new music coming in 2023. Follow Meg on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and learn more at MegWilliamsMusic.com. Follow Travis on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and learn more at TravisBowlin.com.
Lukas Jam & The 106ers
Saturday, June 3 at 7:00pm
Lukas Jam & The 106ers met at The Cigar Box Guitar Store and had so much fun in their informal jam sessions that they formed a band. They have been performing a mix of classic rock, blues and originals in the Huntsville area for the past year, including at Rolo's Cafe, Mad Malts, Straight to Ale's Oktoberfest and 2022 Panoply. The band consists of Luke Johnston on lead vocals as well as a variety of homemade instruments including a shovel guitar, Chris Muller on three-string cigar box guitar and percussion, Wes Terrell on bass, Taylor Tribble on four-string cigar box guitar, and Sidonia Reyor on fiddle. A variety of other musicians and vocalists will be featured guests during their set. Follow them on Facebook and YouTube.