What a long strange trip it’s been since the last live music festivals were held in 2020. One fest that’s sailing into the summer 2021 scene is FloydFest Odyssey 21. Producers plan to bring it alive after sitting out its first season since its debut in 2002. FloydFest hadn’t missed a beat until coronavirus came along and wiped out it – along with hundreds of concerts and other festivals – from the 2020 docket.
Visit RoadtripMojo Facebook to enter to win a five-day pass to FloydFest 21 Odyssey in Floyd, Virginia
Producer Sam Calhoun was there when the wrenching decision was made to pull the plug on FloydFest 2020. We spoke with him two years ago about the fest’s journey to date. And when we spoke with him this month, he was eager and committed to bring it back, safely and magnificently.
Themed Odyssey 2021, the show slated for July 21-25, 2021, in bucolic Floyd, Virginia, will feature a stellar line-up across five-day fest promises to deliver big on Calhoun’s own vision of “looking ahead to a brighter day.” [BUY tickets here; ENTER to win a 5-day pass here!
Culture, Vision & Purpose
Calhoun credits his team, their patrons, and their shared vision.
“We’ve got a good team here. They’ve really bonded together during the pandemic year around our core product of FloydFest and what that means to so many people,” he said in an interview with RoadtripMojo. “That’s been inspirational to get down to the core of what we do with the brand and the culture of Floyd Festival.”
In a recent one-on-one convo, Calhoun discussed how they maintained the vision to keep the festival surging forward, even when the future was uncertain.
It boiled down to a culture, teamwork, and connections. No surprise that they served “the best patrons in the world” with a mission of customer service, he said. “There’s a good reason people hang on that mountain for five days each year. We all know what happened leading into March 2020, and our patrons supported us. They never failed to think that we had their best interest in mind.”
So the team made the tough call to cancel FloydFest. They contacted every ticket holder, thousands of people, to roll them over or give a refund. Around 80% of patrons chose to roll over their tickets from FloydFest 2020 Vision Quest to 21 Odyssey.
Calhoun called it “huge.” It energized the team as they moved to relaunch 2021 one month after cancelling 2020.
“It was a beautiful moment during that when we realized, ‘we know everybody,’” he said. “We’d see an email, we’d seen a name. We had a memory from one of the Floyd Fests from the past 20 years.”
That connection built a bridge.
“People just want to be communicated to about what’s going on. And so we tried to communicate consistently and directly and specifically,” he said. “That was special to know that we have this connection with so many thousands of people and they have a connection with us. That was one of the things about the pandemic. It was a beautiful, bright shining light.”
Setting the Stage for Stellar Sets
Then, the team went about building out their lineup, “one of the best,” Calhoun enthused. They landed headliners The Avett brothers, an act returning after performing as little-known performers in the fest’s early days. Sturgill Simpson, who put out two albums during the pandemic, promises to bring his “unpredictable” performance.
Whiskey Myers and “jam band heir apparents” Goose will join perennial fest favorites Old Crow Medicine Show, Leftover Salmon, Keller Williams, The Kiels, Acoustic Syndicate, Nicole Atkins, Molly Tuttle, Devin Gilfillion and 18-Wild.
The highlight for some no doubt will be Turkuaz, performing with Adrian Belew of King Crimson and Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads to bring alive the band’s album “Remain in Light,” which Calhoun called one of the seminal releases of his life. He thanks producer Kris Hodges for bringing them together to deliver what was promised for 2020.
“It’s unreal to have them on the mountain,” he said. “It’s going to be one of those moments in time.”
The on-stage performances promise to be epic. What will patrons find offstage? A new array of art installations, from “amazing” outsized work from Floyd’s own St. Pierre Woodworking, to work reminiscent of the “19 Voyage Home” pirate ship. Where many fests keep the same logo from year to year, FloydFest evolves on a theme.
“Every single year, we reinvent our theme, our logo, our website, our color scheme, our art, the list goes on and that energizes the team to reimagine what this can become,” he said. “As Kris Hodges always said, ‘It’s not who you bring. It’s how you bring it.’ And that’s something that’s very near and dear to us.
“It’s this purposeful programming. It’s how the Tetris blocks fit into all five days from Wednesday to Sunday. That’s very intentional. We make sure we don’t phone in anything, because then it’s just left to chance. We want to put the creative juices into creating something that’s indelible and memorable and above all. This is an experience for everyone who walks in.”
Next up: A look at festival camping at FloydFest. And stay tuned for RoadtripMojo’s look at creating a Covid-conscious festival for the future.
Looks like fun! I have never been but always wanted to come.