An Honest Tune -
Tishamingo, Donna Hopkins Steal Show at Dogwood Festival
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May 4, 2004

Each year, the city of Atlanta celebrates the arrival of spring with an annual Dogwood Festival, a weekend of arts and crafts in beautiful Piedmont Park, accompanied by musical entertainment that comes mostly from Georgia’s own thriving music scene.

This year’s festival featured a stellar performance by the Randall Bramblett Band, with a guest appearance by his old Sea Level bandmate Chuck Leavell, as well Michelle Malone, Ralph Roddenbury and the Yonrico Scott Band. National acts making an appearance this year included Ian Moore and founding Traffic member Dave Mason.

Judging from the crowd reaction, there was little doubt the band who truly stole the show this year was Athens’ Tishamingo, along with a mighty assist from Atlantan Donna Hopkins. When Tishamingo first took the stage, a crowd of several hundred festivalgoers sat at least 50 feet back, enjoying the gorgeous, sunny afternoon. Just a few minutes later, as Tishamingo’s Jess Franklin led the band through a stirring rendition of “Tradition,” Tishamingo was drawing attention to their stage, and the crowd began to expand.

The size of the crowd grew thicker, dancing all the more, when local blues great Hopkins took joined in for a pair of songs. Hopkins added a tremendous punch to an already powerful lineup, taking the music completely over the top, erupting in a monstrous, triple-guitar attack that was nothing short of lightning in a bottle.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this with Jess on stage,” she said, almost shyly. Then Hopkins ripped into a fiery blues solo, accompanied by stirring vocals, straight from the soul, that called to mind a female version of early era Eric Clapton. She left to a huge, and very well deserved, ovation, leaving Tishamingo to wrap up their set with several more jaw-dropping jams. “Turry and the Tellico Militia,” singing of “bluegrass starts to fill the air,” resonated well with the crowd, many of whom where obviously getting very first sample of the tasty Tish.

By this time, the space between the crowd and the stage had disappeared, as fans young and old, ages six to sixty, were up dancing to the friendly, familiar, rock-your-socks off sounds of Tishamingo. Keyboardist Jason Fuller was in fine form the entire show, proving throughout the afternoon that he is a world-class talent whose tinkling of the ivories has become such an integral part of the band’s sound. He was particularly stellar on “Long As I Can See the Light,” a Creedence Clearwater Revival hit that also saw Ben Thomas joining on saxophone.

Still, the main attraction of Tishamingo remains the superstar guitar playing of Jess Franklin and Cameron Williams. The two trade leads, on vocals and guitar, beautifully and seamlessly, and the band continues to push their performances to new heights seemingly every time they take the stage. As Tishamingo left the Dogwood crowd, going out with a most enjoyable version of the fun-lovin’ hit “Wastin’ Time,” they had obviously won over hundreds of new fans. As one newcomer in the crowd said, “They just seem so familiar… it’s like they took the best of Panic and the Allman Brothers, and made a whole new band…WOW!”

Wow, indeed. Tishamingo is red hot, and playing better than ever. Little wonder they’ve become known as one of the hottest, and best, young bands on the road today.

Festival Review of the Dogwood Festival held at Peidmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia.

By Fred Adams, AN HONEST TUNE

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