June 20 Blackberry Jam helps community, berries
By Kiri Lanice Walton, staff writer
kwalton@williamsonherald.com
Music helps the blackberries grow. Carol Warren of Boyd Mill Farm really believes that to be true.
And if it is, then the sixth annual Blackberry Jam will reap blackberries as far as the eye can see.
The Blackberry Jam is a family-friendly, daylong event featuring musical artists and benefiting local charities.
It will take place this year again at the Boyd Mill Farm on Boxley Valley Road near Leiper’s Fork on June 20 from 2-10 p.m.
Attendants are encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs and picnic gear. B.B.’s B-B-Q is available for people who do not bring their own food, and bottled water will be available for purchase as well.
The musical acts this year are diverse, ranging from bluegrass gospel to blues to pop to rock.
Paul Berger, Carol and Dale, Tray Eppes, Pat MacLaughlin, Paddy Dougherty, Buddy Greene, Colin Linden and Walter Egan & the Walternatives are the confirmed acts to perform.
Egan might be best known for “Magnet and Steel,” a 1978 hit that went gold. He had also collaborated with Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. He currently lives in Franklin and works as a substitute teacher at Centennial High School.
Linden is a Canadian blues musician who played with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, headliners two years ago, but is now solo.
Buddy Greene is an area favorite. He plays bluegrass/gospel, and Young said “many consider him to be the best harmonica player” around.
The purpose of the event, said Steve Young, a volunteer promoter for the event, is “just to remind us we live in a (really) special community.”
Boyd Mill Farm is a you-pick berry farm, specializing in blackberries. People call it “city pickin’” because the grass beneath the vines on trellises is mowed and there are no thorns to prick fingers while choosing berries.
“It’s like picking blackberries on a golf course,” said Young, who is also an administrator for Living Waters for the World.
The stage will be the porch of the farm’s 1821 farmhouse, still standing prominently.
Warren and her husband, Dale Whitehead, said the farm is a community gathering place and they began the music festival because they wanted to have some of their favorite musicians playing on their front porch.
Warren and Whitehead are musicians themselves and often have musicians over to their homes for jam sessions. They thought it was a good idea to open their farm for the public to enjoy the jam of both the music and the berries, which is how the Blackberry Jam got its start.
It is estimated that about 1,000 to 1,500 people will attend this year’s event. Because the event is laid-back and lasts most of the day, the majority of attendees come and go, enjoying the music, sun and fresh berries.
Tickets are $10 for adults. Children, 12 years old and under, are free. The tickets can be purchased in advance online at www.theblackberryjam.com and at Cadence Bank, Mercy Children’s Clinic and Hard Bargain Mt. Hope as well as at the gate on the day of the event.
American Profile magazine, found in every issue of the Williamson Herald, is sponsoring the event, along with Rock City Construction, Mr. Sandless and Signs by Tomorrow.
For the first 300 to visit their booth, American Profile will be giving away a three-CD classic country collection or a cookbook of some of its most popular featured hometown recipes of years past.
This year, the event will benefit four local charity organizations instead of one as it had in years past. The event will benefit Hard Bargain Mt. Hope Redevelopment, Mercy Children’s Clinic, Kids on Stage Scholarship Fund and Kid Pan Alley.
There will be a vast diversity of musical styles at this year’s jam.
“To me, it’s a win-win,” Young said. “to come and experience…such a beautiful setting” of blackberry vines, the flowing Harpeth River behind the historic 1821 farmhouse.”
Though right now, it’s raspberry season, Warren said, “There’s always blackberry jam.”
Posted on: 6/11/2009
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