Savannah Stopover announces 40 more bands for 2018 lineup

Earlier today, Savannah Stopover announced the final wave of bands for the 2018 festival, which is slated for March 8-10 in venues across downtown. This 8th edition of Stopover features a killer lineup that offers some bands you probably know — and dozens that you probably don’t. As we’ve been saying here at hissing lawns for several years, the packed 3-day indie music festival is all about discovery.

The bands announced for the first time today include Nikki Lane​, Cave Singers​, Kemba, Lilly Hiatt, Caroline Rose​, and Zeshan B. They join the dozens of acts from previous waves, including of Montreal, Wild Chile, Larkin Poe, The War and Treaty, and Gus Dapperton.

Today’s announcement also named the 10 Savannah-based acts that will play this year’s fest: CUSSES, Damon and the Shitkickers, Cory Chambers Jazz Band, Rude Dude and the Creek Freaks, Enen, Lakin Crawford, Nancy Druid, Twisty Cats, Payne Bridges, Bero Bero, and Ryan Jones.

The final lineup was first released by the Huffington Post in an article that included some wonderful reflections from Kevin Barnes of of Montreal:

“We had a great time at our last Savannah Stopover show [in 2013],” Barnes said in an email provided exclusively for this article. “We played outside in this beautiful park on a great bill, so we’re super-excited about this year’s concert. Being Georgians, it’s always cool to be a part of something in-state that’s exceptional and artistically dynamic and intersectional. Savannah is an aesthetically beautiful city with an interesting history so it’s great to have the chance to visit it again. Anytime we can bring our freak love vibes into an area that has a history of racial violence and oppression, it feels like a small victory for the gentle ones.”

In his coverage for Do Savannah in the Savannah Morning News, our regular contributor Josh Peacock details the promising label showcases for 2018:

The festival is expanding in different ways this year. Most notably, they will feature a huge label showcase from the major indie label New West Records, as well as its smaller imprint, the Athens-based Normaltown Records. There will also be a showcase for Sleep Well Records, a brand-new label founded by pronoun’s Alyse Vellturo, a Stopover alum. […]

This year is New West Record’s 20th anniversary, and so they jumped on a chance to celebrate at a festival with which they have history. New West artists Ron Gallo, All Them Witches and The Whigs are festival alumni.

The New West Records showcase on March 9 at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum will feature Cicada Rhythm, Caroline Rose, Lilly Hiatt and Nikki Lane. On March 10, the festival will feature five bands from Normaltown: White Violet, David Barbe & Inward Ebb Dream, DEGA, Wild Moccasins and The Nude Party.

Vellturo pitched Stopover two of her recent new label’s signees, Cape Francis and Charles Fauna. Lanahan wanted them both to play as well as pronoun, so a third showcase was set up to highlight the new label.

We’ll have a lot more coverage of Savannah Stopover 2018 in the coming weeks.