INAUGURAL FESTIVAL SET FOR THIS MONTH

mmInaugural festival set for this month

Angela Hacker

o16 songwriters will play 10 venues around the lake in the first ever Lake Martin Songwriters Festival STORY BY CLIFF WILLIAMS & BETSY ILER

mm Kristen Kelly Chad Wilson

The Lake Martin Songwriters Festival will feature 16 songwriters from across the Southeast, including Tallapoosa County native Chad Wilson, at 10 venues over five days with an appearance by super fan Dale Karl. Wilson also will debut his new song Viva Lake Martin during the festival, said Tallapoosa County Tourism Director Sandra Fuller. Fuller and Wilson brainstormed the idea of the Lake Martin Songwriters Festival after a songwriters’ retreat Wilson held at the lake earlier this year.

“I went to it and saw these guys and girls telling their stories behind their songs,” Fuller said.

She reached out to Wilson, and the rest is history. The pair pulled in Main Street Alexander City’s Stacey Jeffcoat, who helped Wilson last summer with the Wilson Brothers’ A Little Love concert on Main Street, and Vivian Autry with Mitchell House in Dadeville. The second annual A Little Love concert will close the inaugural songwriters’ festival in downtown Alexander City on Aug. 21.

“Our idea is for this to be lake wide,” Fuller said. “We have half of the events on the Dadeville

Tside of the lake, and the other half is on the Alexander City side of the lake.” Each member of the Lake Martin Songwriters Festival committee has an important part in organizing and launching the festival. “I help get the talent; I help with the schedule,” Wilson said. “They work on sponsorships, accommodations and food and all kinds of stuff. We all get to do something we all wanted to do together.” The committee includes members from around the lake – Stacey and Jeremy Jeffcoat, Vivian Autry, Andy Moore, Steven Pace, Marian and Brad Plata, Chad and Haley McKelvey and Danah Gilliland, in addition to Wilson and Fuller. The festival starts Tuesday, Aug. 17, with a VIP event honoring sponsors and businesses that are covering the expenses for the free festival. The music will begin on Aug. 18 when 13 of the featured artists will appear at four lake area venues. Lake Martin Pizza in Dadeville will host Eric Erdman, Kristen Kelly and Megan McMillan, and Niffer’s at Lake Martin will feature Kensie Coppin, Blue Foley, Cameron Havens and Emma Zinck.

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Chancie Neal Blue Foley

On the west side of the lake, The Square in downtown Alexander City will host Chancie Neal, Lee Tucker and Chad Wilson. Even Wind Creek State Park will be in on the tourism event that is expected to draw an audience from across the Southeast. Clay Barker, Lance Dubroc and Ella Langley will perform at the RV campground in the park.

On Thursday, the venues will include Lakeside Bay Pines, Russell Crossroads, The Social and Zazu’s Verandah. Coppin, Foley, Kelly and Tucker will appear on the lakeside stage at Bay Pines, and Russell Crossroads will host Dubroc, McMillan and Wilson. Havens, Langley and Neal will be the featured artists at The Social while Barker, Erdman and Zinck will entertain audiences on the courthouse square in Dadeville at Zazu’s Verandah.

At the Songwriter’s Round at Copper’s Grill at Stillwaters on Friday, Aug. 20, selected songwriters will perform one of their songs and tell the story behind the song; its inspiration or perhaps a humorous anecdote surrounding it.

The A Little Love concert in downtown Alexander City will feature Dixie Red, Charlie Argo and Wilson.

Argo’s In the Name of Love debuted at No. 1 on iTunes Blues Chart, and his Tennessee Will reached the No. 1 spot on the singles Blues Chart. Coppin performed on the Grand Ole Opry stage at ages 11 and 12 and has expanded her reach to Denmark, Ireland and Belgium. She will tour the United Kingdom later this year. Foley has more than 140 label cuts with artists across a spectrum of genres. He was nominated for a Grammy last year with the title track on Ashley McBryde’s 2020 Never Will album.

Muscle Shoals native Angela Hacker recently landed a recording contract with Warner Brothers after winning the Nashville Star competition. James LeBlanc has written songs recorded by Jason Aldean, Gary Allan, Martina McBride, Bryan White, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Thompson Square and others. Chancie Neal toured with Luke Bryan for seven years and wrote the song Ducks in a Row, which was featured on the Ducks Dynasty network television production.

Wilson, an Alexander City native, wrote the 2019 No. 1 hit Loving You Loving On Me on the Cranked Up Country Top 25 Weekly Countdown. Along with his brother, Kyle, he is a fourth generation professional musician.

Wilson spent a day last month filming a video for his new song, Viva Lake Martin, which will be released this month to help promote the festival. The video features scenes and activities surrounding Lake Martin and fictional Lake Martin Songwriters Festival super fan Dale Karl played by Kyle Smithson. Smithson was with Wilson as filming for the video wrapped up at Coppers Grill.

“Lake Martin is amazing,” Karl told fans who had gathered to play extras in the video. “I got to see people jump off a rock. I got some peanuts.”

The video is based on the song, freshly co-written by Wilson.

m“I started the Lake Martin song on my own,” Wilson said. “When I got back to Nashville I wrote with Tim Baker and Brittanee Kellogg.”

The festival was already in the works, and Fuller knew of Wilson’s Lake Martin song idea.

“When we finished the song, I called Sandra, sent her a quick copy,” Wilson said. “She called me right back and said let’s do it. Within 24 hours of the song being finished, we had plans to go into the studio to record and plans to shoot a video. All in 10 or so days.”

Fuller and Wilson hope the festival continues. “There are large, successful songwriters festivals all over the country from Key West to Austin,” Fuller explained. “We believe this festival can grow into one of those festivals that is a must-attend for music fans all over the South. The songwriters in this inaugural event have written hit songs for major artists, and we anticipate this event growing into something the entire Lake Martin area can be proud of. “We have already begun to plan next year’s event with more venues and songwriters but also songwriter events throughout the day. We want visitors to plan their vacations around this weeklong event.” For details about this year’s event and future events, visit tallapoosacountytourism.com and follow the Lake Martin Songwriters Festival Facebook page.

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