Get Your Southern Fried Vibe On!

Andy Shearer may have the illustrious title of “Festival Director” but when you start him talking about Southern Fried you know that his passion runs far deeper than co-ordinating artists and doing a job.  Now in its seventh year, Andy was the man behind the original Southern Fried back in 2008 and he tell us, “not much has changed really. We’ve just gotten bigger. Well, that and you don’t need to explain it anymore!”

This superb festival is now a firm favourite on Perth’s Event Calendar and pulls in visitors from up and down the country.  Celebrating the music that has fallen under the catch all of Americana, Southern Fried is a melting pot of Black American Soul, Blues, Country and Folk.  Here you will find big name acts such as Steve Earle and Roseanne Cash playing the same bill as lesser known artists such as Thrum and the Hot Brass Band and our own local talent, Red Pine Timber Co. What these acts all have in common though, is a genuine love of great songwriting and music, and the talent to bring it to life on the stage.

Andy’s original idea grew from his own love of the genre and his dream of holding an authentic, Americana Festival in the heart of Scotland, was one that would prove not only possible, but also hugely popular. The idea that you would have to have heard of an artist or band to buy tickets and go along to hear them live is all but lost on this most enigmatic of Festivals.  If you simply hand yourself over to the weekend – as I have done in years gone by - you will discover new music, favourite artists and a love of songs that you had never before heard.  It is mesmerising.

So why is it so popular?

Andy explained, “Perth has a history with the music. In the late 1970s Americana spread out of Texas and across to the UK. It was very much an underground circuit and picked up the kids that were too hip for country and too square for the Punk revolution of the time.  John and Barclay Thomson owned Goldrush Records in Kinnoull Street and he was a main mover on the scene. The shop became a mecca for fans and sold tickets for gigs and everything else that we wanted.”

“Of course, Perthshire was also a hotbed for traditional music and the songwriting and musicianship of our folk scene had strong ties with Americana.  People like Dougie McLean, Andy Stewart and Jim Malcolm; as Scots we gravitate towards this authentic, true talent.”    

 I ask Andy what his MUST-SEE tips are for 2014.

“All of it! Although, if you’re going to pin me down, I’d have to say Sturgill Simpson. He has gone stratospheric in the last three or four months; he has a real country sound that the mainstream acts have lost.  They’ve all picked up that soft rock, poppy vibe making it difficult for a more a traditional artists to get the airplay and gig space.  Sturgill Simpson has bucked this trend and is building real momentum. You should get along and see him now.”

“And for me, the gospel brunch on Sunday morning is always amazing. If you’ve never been you really do need to make a point of coming along. The music is sensational, the food is out of this world and the whole vibe is what a Sunday morning was made for. I’m always blown away by this event.”

Andy mentions the food, and of course, Southern Fried Festival is almost as famous for its Soul Food as it is for the music and artists it attracts. Andy’s wife, Peggy, is the woman behind this amazing array of culinary genius and together with the Horsecross Kitchen team, she has compiled a menu of authentic Soul Food, a BBQ outside by the stage grilling burgers and ribs and a list of cocktails and drinks that will keep you refreshed all day long!

For all you newbies that need convincing, take yourself down to the free stage at Horsecross and find out what all the fuss is about. This has an impressive line-up of Live Music both Saturday and Sunday and with the weather looking like it belongs to the long hot summers of the seventies, it may just be Perth’s only outdoor Festival that the sun shines on from start to finish!

Click through to our Southern Fried Event Listings page here on Small City, Big Personality. You can also find a list of Free Events and Peggy’s Soul Food Menu. 

If you’ve been intrigued by the Soul Food side of this amazing event then read Peggy’s Big Personality Blog – an epic tale that has everything from an archaeological dig in Caribbean Slave Plantations to a transatlantic love story!