When considering the metrics by which a successful music festival is measured, longevity is arguably at the top of the list.
After all, even the most eclectic lineups with the biggest names coupled with an array of modern amenities and conveniences don’t mean squat if fans aren’t clamoring to relive the experience year after year. Fortunately for the Hot August Music Festival in Maryland’s northern Baltimore County, those concerns were alleviated decades ago.
From its humble beginnings as a small blues-oriented festival in 1993 with 150 or so patrons on a remote farm near the PA/MD border, Hot August has steadily grown into the Baltimore/D.C. area’s premier summer music festival, sporting a diverse lineup that spans two stages and covers the entire musical spectrum with over 6000 attendees, along with more than two dozen local food, drink and homemade crafts vendors.
Since changing venues to the sprawling and picturesque 1100-acre Oregon Ridge Park & Nature Center in 2003, Hot August now stands as a full-fledged music festival with national notoriety, having played host to renowned acts like Billy Strings and the Tedeschi Trucks Band in previous iterations.
However, any festival worth it’s salt realizes that integrating itself into the surrounding community is just as important as the music itself, a notion that is not lost on Hot August’s management. In addition to maintaining a close relationship with Baltimore County officials and businesses to ensure the annual influx of commerce is disseminated evenly amongst local restaurants, hotels, and merchants, Hot August also generously donates a sizable portion of alcohol sales to the Kirk Lee Foundation, a non-profit which provides much-needed basketball and other after-school recreational activities for disadvantaged youths in Baltimore City.
Celebrating their thirtieth anniversary, Hot August once again pulled no punches on August 19th with their typically varied lineup, offering up a diverse array of some of this generation’s hottest names, such as Daniel Donato and Karina Rykman, alongside bona fide classic rock legends like Little Feat and jam band stalwarts Oteil Burbridge & Steve Kimock.
Join us as Glide takes a closer look at the nine artists who graced the stage this past weekend (8/19) in Cockeysville, MD:
Natalie Brooke & The Infinity Tribe: Most festivals tend to pad their pre-noon time slots with mellow easy-going acts that allow the crowd to gently settle in as they prepare for the long day ahead. Thankfully, Hot August is not like most festivals. The Baltimore/DC-based quartet kicked the main stage festivities off at 11:30 am on a raucous note with an inspired set of their trademark jazz-fusion instrumentals that blended elements of Bruce Hornsby’s melodic right-hand piano runs with complex arrangements that evoked echoes of Frank Zappa and Chick Corea’s prog outfit Return to Forever. Switching between keytar and an intricate setup of keyboards and synthesizers, Brooke led the troupe, consisting of Ari Lesser (guitar), Artie Sadtler (bass), and Alex “Gator” Petropulos (drums), through a wildly impressive set that touched on original material from their 2022 debut album, If I Could Be Infinite, in addition to some unreleased material including, “Not It” and “Reality but Fast.”
Jonathan Sloane Trio: Continuing the festival’s theme of proudly showcasing some of the area’s finest regional talent, the Jonathan Sloane Trio, hailing from Rockville, MD just outside of Washington D.C., commenced the afternoon’s Meadow Stage proceedings with a bluesy set that allowed Sloane to regale the relatively sparse crowd with soulful vocals that belie the young guitarist’s age and searing guitar licks that would have made Stevie Ray Vaughn proud. Making his Hot August debut, Sloane, who has performed and recorded with the likes of Cris Jacobs and Anders Osborne, guided the trio through an impressive set that featured a healthy mix of originals from his 2018 debut album Alive and Well in addition to some well received covers such as Joe Walsh’s “Time Out” in addition to a fiery set closing rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Come On.”
Cris Jacobs: Making his third appearance at Hot August, and first since 2018, hometown hero Cris Jacobs brought his unique brand of blues and rock to the main stage for an early afternoon performance that counted as one of the more highly anticipated sets of the day. Buoyed by the presence of John Ginty (Robert Randolph) on the Hammond B-3 organ for the entirety of the set, Jacobs and his talented sextet tore through some of the guitarist’s most beloved originals, including “Buffalo Girl”, “The Devil Or Jesse James” and “Fire and Brimstone” before wrapping things up with an explosive reading of “Bone Digger”, from the Baltimore-based guitarist’s highly lauded 2016 album Dust to Gold.
Sunny War: On the completely opposite end of the geographical spectrum, Sunny War, who originally hails from Nashville, and now currently resides there again after spending several years recording in Los Angeles, opened things up with a stunning solo acoustic performance that showcased her uniquely impressive fingerpicking and vocal stylings on original material such as “Rain or Shine” that sounded akin to Ani DiFranco performing in a prohibition-era speakeasy. War was eventually joined by the remainder of her trio to round out her mid-afternoon set on the Meadow Stage with the jazzy lounge-music vibes of originals such as “Can I Sit With You?” and “Shell.”
Ripe: Originally formed in Boston in 2011, at the Berklee College of Music, Ripe has made a name for themselves nationwide thanks to their dynamic sound and live performances that seemingly always result in a massive dance party. Bolstered by a series of dramatic vocal performances from lead singer Robbie Wulfsohn, the horn-infused sextet’s afternoon set on the main stage was no exception as the group tore through a funky list of originals and some choice covers, including Phil Collins “Sussudio” and a few innovative melodies that resulted in random Steely Dan-centric audience shout outs along with a surprise rendition of Hall & Oates “Rich Girl.”
Karina Rykman: If you’re not familiar with the name Karina Rykman yet, odds are you will be very soon. After a decade of performing with a series of fledgling groups, the diminutive bassist, alongside bandmates Adam November (guitar/looper) and Chris Corsico (drums), has taken the live music scene by storm recently, garnering the attention of industry insiders and musicians alike, most notably Phish’s Trey Anastasio, who co-produced and performed on several tracks from Rykman’s debut album, Joyride, which was released less than twenty-four hours before her Hot August debut. With an infectious stage presence and a wildly unique sound that mixes a dash of “Born Under Punches” with a dose of Heart and a dollop of Primus along with some 80s pop grooves and a 90s grunge edge, Rykman and her musical cohorts promise to be a fixture at music festivals around the country for the foreseeable future.
Oteil & Friends: Fresh off Dead & Company’s final summer tour, former Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge brought an all-star cast of jam band mavens consisting of Steve Kimock (guitar), Duane Betts (guitar), Jason Crosby (keys), John Kimock (drums) and Lamar WIlliams Jr. (vocals) to Hot August for his debut performance at the festival. Camped under a blazing late-afternoon sun, Burbridge led the sextet through an improv-heavy set on the main stage that mixed a healthy dose of Oteil’s original material, including “Rooster” and “Too Many Times” alongside some of the most cherished entries from the Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia Band/Allman Brothers songbooks such as “Dreams” and “Cats Under the Stars” before concluding the performance on a high note with a explorative “Mountain Jam→ Dark Star” sequence.
Daniel Donato: Arguably the most anticipated performance of the evening, Daniel Donato managed to exceed expectations with a wildly impressive ninety-minute set that saw the young Nashville-based guitarist deliver an onslaught of his trademark psychedelic-infused country and western guitar licks. With the Meadow Stage field nearly at overflow capacity, Donato, along with his uber-talented ensemble consisting of Nathan Aronowitz (keys, rhythm guitar), Will McGee (bass) and Noah Winner (drums), led the quartet through a performance that primarily focused on his innovative original material that seemingly represents a musical crossroads where blues and psychedelia intersect, such as “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and “Sugar Shack”. A unique interpretation of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” stunned the massive crowd before Donato wrapped things up on a dramatic note with the disco-vibes of “Dance in the Desert” that concluded with an explosive jam littered with goosebump-inducing tension-and-release-fueled peaks.
Little Feat: Main stage headliners Little Feat brought their legendary catalog of material to Hot August for their debut performance, much to the delight of the group’s rabid fanbase, whose numbers visibly increased among the crowd as their 8pm set approached. One of the last remaining truly renowned American classic rock bands, the Los Angeles-based sextet, helmed by founding member Bill Payne (keys), alongside Kenny Gradney (bass), Sam Clayton (percussion and vocals), Fred Tackett (guitars and vocals), Scott Sharrard (guitars and vocals), and Tony Leone (drums), transformed the festival grounds into a massive sing-along with classics such as “Fat Man in the Bathtub”, “Dixie Chicken”, “Willin’”, “Time Loves a Hero” and “Skin it Back”.
