The fourth annual Money Road Unity Festival is coming up Saturday, and this year’s gathering has been dubbed “The Pandemic Session.”
The event, which is free and open to the public, will start at noon on the grounds of WABG radio station.
“We will easily have our jam session go into early Sunday morning,” said James Poe, founder and organizer of the event and founder of the radio station.
Poe said precautions will be taken to protect people against the coronavirus, including requiring masks, providing special sanitation stations and screening people as they come in.
However, he said this should not be a big issue because of the station’s location — on farm land north of Greenwood on Money Road.
“We have 16 acres of flatland property surrounding our little shack, so we have plenty of space to social distance,” he said.
He said that the only major difference between this year’s festivals and previous ones is the absence of bounce houses.
Poe said that it was important to him to have the festival go on this year. It is dedicated to his friend Lingiam “Lee” Odems Jr., who died of cancer in February.
This year’s music lineup includes The New Gospel True Tones, Dorothy Mc-Clung, Mississippi Marshall, Terri Lynn & Thunder Blues, Groove Johnson, Ben Wiley Payton, Steve Kolbus, Randy Weeks, Burlap Rebellion, Amedee Frederick the Creole Blues Man and Red Meat Rhetoric, who will headline the “Open Jam Session.”
This year’s festival will also be emceed by Randy “Wild Man” Brown, the 2020 Jackson Music Awards DJ of the Year.
Poe said he encourages participants to “bring campers, tents, ice chests and enjoy the music provided by a variety of artists.”
The festival is sponsored by Visit Mississippi, Ben Sims, WABG Radio and Atsuko Shichiji, a blues fan from Tokyo.
Poe, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, started the station in 2007.
He said he has always been big on promotions since his exposure to WOKJ Radio in Jackson as a child, so it was only natural for him to do festivals on the grounds of his facility.
He said the purpose of the festival is quite simple: “When we saw the direction the country was going in 2016, we just wanted to do our small part to unite the world.”
• Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. Twitter: @AdamBakst_GWCW
