Common Ground Music Festival - July 7-13 2008

Sammy Hagar - July 8th
Capital City Airport West Main Stage

Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar, has a career that spans more than three decades. His accolades include the journey as singer and songwriter for Van Halen for 11 years in the mid-80s through mid-90s, a highly successful solo career both before and after his run with Van Halen and an early stint with Ronnie Montrose. Sammy's combined record sales exceed 60 Million records sold! Sammy Hagar is also a Grammy-Award winner for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal in 1991, for the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge with Van Halen. He's also a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2007). Known for Montrose hits like, “Bad Motor Scooter” and “Heavy Metal,” his solo successes include, “There’s Only One Way To Rock,” “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy,” “I Can’t Drive 55” and “Mas Tequila.” You may also know his Van Halen sogns like “Finish What You Started,” “Dreams,” “Right Now,” “Best of Both Worlds,” “Love Walks In” and “Why Can’t This Be Love.” He resumed his solo career in 1997, releasing the Marching to Mars album and following up with 1999's release of Red Voodoo.

Zappa Plays Zappa - July 8th
Pearle Vision East Main Stage

Performing his father’s hits, Dweezil Zappa and his seven-person ensemble have been touring since 2004 and are introducing his music to a completely new audience. With eighty albums, Zappa Plays Zappa, has a never-ending list of music to choose from. Be ready for your favorites from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Frank Zappa, they may include “Valley Girl,” “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow,” Mothers of Invention,” “The Brain Police,” “Any Way The Wind Blows,” as well as songs from the Jazz From Hell album which won the Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 1987 Grammy Awards. Zappa Plays Zappa will continue to evolve and memorialize Frank Zappa’s rare talent and unbelievable sound for many years to come.

Seether - July 11th
Capital City Airport West Main Stage

Known for hits like “Broken (with Amy Lee),” “Fine Again,” “Gasoline,” “Truth,” “The Gift” and “Remedy,” the 2007 release of Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces is evidence that Seether is not afraid to try new things. Remaining true to their original sound and hard rock is important. However, embracing pop music with the crossover, “Fake It,” has proved successful for the band.

Lyle Lovett - July 11th
Pearle Vision East Main Stage

It has been 17 years since Lyle Lovett arrived in Nashville with a demo tape hinting of the brilliantly eccentric career to come—a resume that now includes twelve albums, acclaim from the pickiest of critics, a fiercely loyal fan base, four million records sold, even a second calling as a successful film actor. But amid all the success, Lovett is modest and self-deprecating as ever: When asked to describe My Baby Don’t Tolerate, his anticipated new album and his first release via the Lost Highway label, Lovett deadpans: “It’s just more of my songs.”

The fourteen tracks comprising the new album feature his unmistakable, idiosyncratic writing and his signature musical mix, which draws on country, folk, jazz, blues and western swing among other styles. But here the durable singer songwriter is clearly at the height of his imagination and musicianship.

My Baby Don’t Tolerate has the definite feel of a band record and is propelled throughout by seamless instrumental interplay. Steel guitar runs permeate the rhythmic, upbeat trucker tune, “Nothing But a Good Ride,” as well as the lilting rural ode, “In My Own Mind.” With tongue planted firmly in cheek, the singer-songwriter sings of the joys of “Nashville” to the accompaniment of bouncing fiddle bows. The country rocker's “Cute as a Bug” and “The Truck Song” are both in praise of down-home vehicles.

Like everything Lovett does, My Baby Don’t Tolerate is thoroughly Texan. The Lone Star State is the birthplace of country’s jazzy cousin, western swing and “San Antonio Girl” serves that style straight up, while his plea to the police in “Election Day” and the sad ballad of loss, “You Were Always There” also nod in jazzy directions.

The album truly covers the whole spectrum of styles Lovett has navigated to date. He dips into the blues on songs like the loping “Big Dog” and the electrified title track, and the album closes with the gospel-inflected “I’m Gonna Wait” and “I’m Goin’ to the Place.”

Of all the artists who emerged in Nashville’s mid-1980s whirlwind of experimentation, Lovett is one of the few who have achieved an enduring, significant career while staying constantly fresh and original. After releasing three critically acclaimed albums under the direction of Curb/ MCA Nashville —Lyle Lovett (1986), the certified-gold Pontiac (1987), and the Grammy-winning Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (1989)—Lovett moved away from country to explore broader styles. The first of his Los Angeles-recorded albums, Joshua Judges Ruth (1992) is steeped in gospel and R&B. I Love Everybody (1994) features songs he had written as early as the 1970s, while 1996’s gold-certified and Grammy-winning The Road to Ensenada found him returning to a mix of western swing, honky tonk, country and folk. The 1998 two-disc Step Inside This House was a tribute to Lovett’s early Texas songwriting influences and was followed in 1999 by his first live album, Live in Texas. In 2000, Lovett released the film soundtrack to Robert Altman’s Dr. T. & The Women.

Los Bandits de Michigan - July 10th
Pearle Vision East Main Stage

Los Bandits Music reflects the richness of Tex-Mex music by combining Rhythm and Blues, Gospel, Country, Rock and Tejano Music. Los Bandits have an alternative world-beat sound that appeals to a very diverse audience.