Every music lover had a unique experience in March, but just consider a few of the shows, performers, and events.

March started with Band of Horses’ acoustic performance at Trustees Theater — amazing. Click here for a short review and some photos. That link will take you, by the way, to the music blog hissing lawns, where I and some other contributors are routinely posting music news and photo galleries.

We also have a pretty active Facebook page for hissing lawns. Please go give it a like if you want regular updates about the local and regional music scene. Facebook continues to be a critical driver of traffic for small blogs like hissing lawns and Savannah Unplugged. (You can like Savannah Unplugged on Facebook by clicking on the box at the top of the sidebar on the right.)

After BOH’s great show, we went right into Savannah Stopover. We have tons of posts and galleries at hissing lawns about Stopover, but readers of this blog might especially be interested in some of the reviews from out-of-town critics, a few of which I excerpted in one post. Among the highlights of the festival: St. Paul and The Broken Bones, Those Darlins, The Weeks, Future Islands, Big Ups, Oberhofer, Small Black, and on and on.

The outdoor music planned for St. Patrick’s Day was significantly compromised by the weather and the timing of a Monday parade, but I have been generally critical of the whole notion that we need to charge downtown visitors for wristbands so that we can fund lots of stages. Still, there was certainly some good music to be found over that long weekend.

Anyway, moving on: the Savannah Music Festival — now in its 25th year (about half of those years as Savannah Onstage) — is having another stellar year.

I’ve seen five shows — all sellouts:

• The Avett Brothers
• Asif Ali Khan
• Punch Brothers
• Jason Isbell
• Preservation Hall Jazz Band

By the way, I bought two tickets each to Punch Brothers and the Avetts, and I use a press pass to get into some of the general admission shows.

All 5 of those shows were tremendous productions, although I don’t know if I’ll go see The Avett Brothers again unless they get some more great music out there. As I noted in my Unplugged column in Do a couple of days ago, I think the band’s best work is now a few years old. And now that they’re headed deep into their 30s, the Avetts won’t be able to rely quite as much on that young, sexy vibe that helped them get where they are.

Punch Brothers, on the other hand . . . it’s too bad in a way that the five members all seem to have other projects being juggled simultaneously. One wonders just how good they’d be if they devoted their full attention to such a rich project. Led by Chris Thile — who on stage has sort of a seductive slitheriness that seems like a combination of Jude Law and Frank Gorshin’s The Riddler — the band wowed the audience at Trustees last Saturday night from start to finish.

I wrote a short review of Jason Isbell’s show for hissing lawns, and I have a bit more to say about the wonderful, vibrant performance by Asif Ali Khan and his ensemble in my City Talk column tomorrow (Sunday).

And note that both Do and Connect are providing extensive and excellent SMF coverage on pretty much a daily basis.

So tonight I have tickets to Taj Mahal. A legend. John Simon is opening, in what promises to be an interesting and idiosyncratic walk through pop history.

And tomorrow I have tickets for an afternoon show with Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn. Yes.

Taj Mahal is sold out, as are the two shows today by Kristina Train and Pokey LaFarge that I plugged on hissing lawns, and Fleck/Washburn is close to sold out, but it can’t hurt to check the Savannah Box Office website or just show up at the venues.

So, anyway, what more could one want from a month of music in a city the size of Savannah? There have been some great club dates too — both by touring acts and by musicians based here.

In past years, I wrote a lot about Savannah Stopover here on Savannah Unplugged, but that activity is now at hissing lawns.

Click here to see all of our most recent posts about the 3-day indie music festival that has transformed the city’s national reputation as a music destination.

DoSavannah is also filled with Stopover coverage this week, and my Unplugged column — Hard to go wrong with Stopover choices — suggests a “sample itinerary” for the festival. Click here to see Connect Savannah’s previews of this year’s festival.

And click here to go straight to the Stopover website, where you can see the lineup, purchase passes and so forth.

In the wake of efforts by Savannah Rocks!, there has been considerable talk this winter about using rock and roll to unite various generations of musicians and music lovers. Well, here’s a chance for some of the older members of that movement to dive for three days into Savannah’s most vibrant venues, to hear some of Savannah’s young acts at local label showcases, and to catch some of the top up-and-coming indie acts from Brooklyn, Nashville, Baltimore, and other cities.

Hope to see a lot of my readers out this weekend at various venues. It’s a thrilling three days.

The Weeks will be headlining Saturday’s free evening concert in Ellis Square. Love “Brother in the Night”:

So there is already a post at hissing lawns, which is by the way named in honor of Joni Mitchell, about last night’s announcement of a few dozen bands that have been booked for the 2014 Savannah Stopover from March 6-8.

Stopover founder and CEO announced a few of the key names last night at The Jinx after an excellent set by Triathalon. The announcement was followed by more great music — from New Madrid and Futurebirds. I hope some of the sellout audience at The Jinx will support Stopover in the spring. The festival has brought a new edge to local music programming.

Here’s the list of bands, but you can find a little more info, plus some videos and photos, over at hissing lawns:

• Weekend
• Small Black
• Those Darlins
• Speedy Ortiz
• Public Service Broadcasting
• Matrimony
• The Weeks
• Tweens
• Ski Lodge
• Ex Hex
• Big UPS
• Starlight Girls
• Bear Hands
• Miniature Tigers
• St. Paul & The Broken Bones
• Caitlin Rose
• The Belle Game
• Hurray for the Riff Raff
• T Hardy Morris
• Pile
• You Won’t*
• Clear Plastic Masks
• Bleeding Rainbow
• ARP
• River Whyless*
• Los Colognes
• PitchBlak Brass Band
• Milagres*
• The Whiskey Gentry
• this mountain*
• Raccoon Fighter
• Weekender
• The Teen Age
• Easter Island
• Good Graeff
• Thomas Wynn & The Believers
• The Silver Palms

Bands marked with an *asterisk have played at previous Stopovers. Matrimony performed at Revival Fest at the Georgia State Railroad Museum a couple months ago.

Filligar is currently promoting their excellent new album Hexagon, which was glowingly reviewed by Connect Savannah editor Jim Morekis.

Even though I’m a fan of the album and even though I saw both of Filligar’s Stopover sets, I still wasn’t prepared for just how good Saturday night’s show was.

The opener Mikaela Davis was pretty awesome too. It was almost certainly the only time a lead singer on The Jinx stage has been playing a harp — and the only time I can even recall there being a harp on stage.

I love taking photos at The Jinx, but there are some spots where the lights are a little hot and others where they’re a little too dim and cool. It’s really hard to get good shots of drummers with my current setup, so, sorry, in advance, to all the drummers out there.

First up here are shots of Fillgar during their set, and then some shots of their encore number — “I Shall Be Released.” Mikaela Davis and her excellent musicians joined in, as did Tony Beasley (aka Whiskey Dick), who briefly abandoned his post at the bar. Then the last shots are of Mikaela Davis and company.

I’ll crosspost these photos in a day or two to my Savannah Unplugged Facebook page.

Click for larger versions. Enjoy.

My Unplugged column in the Savannah Morning News this week is about Filligar’s show at The Jinx. The Chicago-based foursome have been playing together since 2000 and are now touring in support of their brand new album Hexagon, which was released just over a week ago. The gig is being produced by MusicFile Productions, parent company of the Savannah Stopover — Filligar played two sets at the festival this past March.

In addition to my piece at SavannahNow, check out Bill DeYoung’s interview with keys player Casey Gibson in this week’s Connect Savannah and Jim Morekis’ great review of Hexagon in last week’s Connect.

Here’s the first track from Fillgar’s Hexagon, which can be purchased on iTunes:

Harpist and singer-songwriter Mikaela Davis will open Saturday’s show.

Here’s a taste:

I took a few photos of Filligar at Savannah Stopover. The first ones are during an afternoon set on the patio at B&D Burgers on Congress Street and the rest from Congress Street Social Club late the next night.

Lots of good news from MusicFile Productions earlier today about additional acts coming through Savannah. From the press release:

Chicago based quartet Filligar, a Savannah Stopover Music Festival alum, will headline The Jinx on Saturday, August 3rd. The bandâ€s new album, Hexagon, will be released on July 23rd and is already garnering advance critical praise from Paste, Spin, Indie Music Filter and others. Acclaimed indie harpist Mikaela Davis will open. Tickets for the concert are $8 and will be available at The Jinx and on Showclix.com.

Saturday, August 17th will feature Roadkill Ghost Choir and T. Hardy Morris at The Jinx. RKGC has continued to gain both press attention and fans since their Savannah appearance at Stopover in March. T Hardy Morris, best known for his role as the frontman of Dead Confederate and founder of collaborative group Diamond Rugs, will release his debut solo album Audition Tapes on Dangerbird Records July 30th. The album includes appearances by members of Delta Spirit, Black Lips and The Whigs. Videos for the albumâ€s tracks have been shot around Georgia focusing on “Places In Peril” and 10% of the album proceeds will benefit the Georgia Trust For Historic Preservation. MusicFile Productions and The Jinx will match that donation from net proceeds of the show. Tickets are $10 and will be available at The Jinx and on Showclix.com.

SCAD alum Helado Negro will return to Savannah on Wednesday night, September 4th for an artistic night of sultry, latin tinged, electronic music. Roberto Carlos Lange, aka Helado Negro, is Ecuadorian but grew up in Miami and first starting creating music when he lived and studied in Savannah. The concert will take place at Dollhouse Studios with additional details to be announced. Tickets will go on sale the week of July 22nd.

MusicFile Productions — the parent company of both Savannah Stopover and Revival Fest — had previously announced that classic rockers Modern English are playing on August 28 at Dollhouse Productions at 980 Industry Drive in West Savannah.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 the day of the show, space permitting. Tickets are currently on sale via Showclix.

I’ll post some clips of the bands in advance of these shows.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of gigs like these for the Savannah music scene.

From at least the time The Rolling Stones stayed in Savannah but didn’t play here in 1965, we have been getting passed over by touring acts who hit cities all around us in the Southeast.

But through the work of the MusicFile and Savannah Stopover, we’re increasingly on the circuit. Consider Filligar’s stops in the nights leading up to a Saturday show here: Knoxville, Raleigh, Charlotte, Charleston. And after Savannah, they’re off to Atlanta, Birmingham, New Orleans, Houston, Austin.

Here’s a great publicity photo of Helado Negro:

The lineup — featuring Americana, blues, bluegrass, country rock and roots music — includes two of Savannah’s best and hardest-working acts: The Train Wrecks and The Accomplices.

The lineup also boasts a few out-of-town acts that already have local followings, including Truth & Salvage Co. from Nashville, Field Report from Milwaukee, and Papa Moon and the Stargazers, which includes members of this mountain from Johnson City.

Other bands announced today include Whiskey Shivers from Austin, Bradford Lee Folk & the Bluegrass Playboys from Nashville, Matrimony from Charlotte, the Cedric Burnside Project from Holly Springs, MS, Treetop Flyers from London, Luella and the Sun from Nashville, and Wild Child from Austin.

Interestingly, not a Brooklyn band — or even a northeast band — in the bunch.

From today’s press release:

Austinâ€s Wild Child will headline the Bridge View Stage at 9pm and Nashvilleâ€s Truth & Salvage Co. will headline the Paint Shop Stage at 10pm. Wild Childâ€s 2nd album, The Runaround, produced by Ben Kweller, will be released late summer. Truth & Salvage Co., an LA based band first championed by Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes, have recently relocated to Nashville and will release their sophomore album Pick Me Up on Megaforce/Sony RED on 7/23/13.

Savannah upstart, the Sweet Thunder Strolling Band, will welcome festival goers at 12:30 pm with a special performance with additional surprises planned throughout the day. The local collaborative, spearheaded by percussionist Andrew Hartzell, grew out of a performance at the Flannery Oâ€Connor Birthday Celebration this spring and features Hartzell, Anna Chandler and Philip Reynolds Price and additional guest musicians to be announced. Local favorites The Accomplices and The Trainwrecks are also confirmed to perform.

Additional touring bands include Savannah Stopover Music Festival alums Field Report and this mountain; the latter of which will unveil a new project called Papa Moon & The Stargazers. Cedric Burnside, grandson of the legendary blues legend RL Burnside will bring his unique blend of Hill Country Blues to the Bridge View Stage followed by Nashvilleâ€s widely praised newcomers Luella and the Sun who revel in foot stomping blues, soul and gospel.

Treetop Shivers, from London England, won the 2011 Glastonbury Emerging Sound Competition and have been lauded by Paste, NPR and others for a sound that hearkens back to the 70â€s breezy California folk rock scene. The band recently recorded their debut album in Malibu.

Additional acts scheduled to perform are: Whiskey Shivers (Austin, TX), Bradford Lee Folk & The Bluegrass Playboys (Nashville, TN), and Matrimony (Charlotte, NC). Additional band information can be found at Revivalfest.org.

A Midnight Ramble jam session will follow the festival at a TBA space.

Local FarmBag will be coordinating the food for Revival Fest.

Tickets are now on sale at the Savannah Box Office. They’re $35 for just the music and $55 for music and food. Other vendors will be announced later this summer.

Here’s the schedule. I love that there’s no overlap and also that the music should be pretty much continuous:

Here’s a great sample of Cedric Burnside:

Field Report’s self-titled album has some of the most finely crafted songs I’ve heard all year:

Field Report had a tough time cutting through the crowd noise in the upstairs bar at B & D Burgers at the most recent Savannah Stopover, but I was lucky to see them perform several songs live in the studio at Dollhouse Productions. Wow. Just so good.

Truth & Salvage Co. at Live Wire in 2012

As noted above, Truth & Salvage Co. has a new album coming out on July 23rd. Here’s one of the band’s more popular songs:

Here’s Luella & the Sun:

I’ll have much more about the acts performing at Revival Fest as we get closer to the date. This looks like a great lineup.

From this morning’s press release (with emphasis added for the skimmers out there):

MusicFile Productions, LLC (the parent company of Savannah Stopover Music Festival) announced today the creation of a new fall festival celebrating the best in Southern tinged music, local and regional foods, crafts, beer and spirits.

Revival Fest will take place Saturday, September 14th at the Paint Shop and adjoining grove at the Georgia State Railroad Museum on Louisville Road. The day long festival will feature two stages, 12 bands, an authentic pig roast, and an oyster roast. Additional plans include a craft bourbon tasting tent, local and regional craft beers as well as select food and crafts vendors. Sandra Baxter, the Executive Director of The Coastal Heritage Society, added “we are very excited about hosting Revival Fest at the Georgia State Railroad Museum in an area that will be open to the public for the first time ever. This event is expected to be a fantastic fit with our site and mission and should prove to be a win-win for us, the Revival Fest producers, the audience, and our community as a whole”. A portion of the proceeds of the event will benefit the Savannah Childrenâ€s Museum, also located on the site.

Music for the festival will focus on Blues, Southern Rock, Americana, Bluegrass, Gospel, Folk and Soul with a combination of local, regional and national acts. A sneak peek is available at Revivalfest.org. According to MusicFile Productions CEO Kayne Lanahan “itâ€s an idea we’ve been kicking around for a year or two; to marry the Roots/Americana revival in music with our great local and regional food; sort of like a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for the Low Country. There are all these amazing people here brewing, growing, cooking and creating amazing things. We wanted to bring them together in one big celebration.”

The full lineup will be announced on July 2nd — just next week. That’s when tickets will go on sale too.

Click here to go to the Revival Fest website, where you can see this great YouTube clip of Luella & the Sun:

Click here for Revival Fest’s new Facebook page, which has been picking up “Likes” really quickly this morning.

Companies interested in sponsorship or other involvement should contact sponsors@revivalfest.org.

Sounds like a great day, and it’s especially exciting that Revival Fest will be inaugurating a key element of ongoing historic preservation in Savannah by using the old paint shop at the Georgia State Railroad Museum.

More good news for Savannah.