LYNN HAVEN — For Lucky Mud’s Maggie and Michael McKinney, life is about the journey.
“If this ends tomorrow, it’s been a great ride,” Maggie said Monday morning inside Roberts Hall. “Folk I think of as music of the people -— stories, ballads and lyric stuff that reaches out and touches people. It makes somebody cry, laugh or think, makes a ripple in somebody’s life; the music expresses something for them. ... I want somebody who sings with heart, doesn’t have to be perfect.”
The singing/songwriting duo had returned home to Econfina Creek the night before after playing in another music festival. The couple tours throughout the U.S. and abroad, including annual performances of their original folk music in Ireland.
“We did our first concert together 43 years ago,” Michael said. “We just got back from Orlando.”
For the past couple of years, they have spent Sunday afternoons hosting the Americana Cafe Music Series at Roberts Hall, but this Sunday both floors of the historic building will come alive during the Roots & Wings Music Festival.
“We have an opportunity to get with a lot of great musicians. We wanted to bring them here, our home. We love lyric bands with acoustic original music,” Maggie said. “This is a culmination of two years of doing the Americana folk music series. We will have three groups besides us -— The New 76ers, a brother and sister and her husband; Brian Smalley, an incredible guitar player; and Paul Kamm and Eleanore MacDonald are flying in from California Wednesday night. They are all incredible songwriters, people we admire.”
The festival will begin at noon with a chance for guests to interact with the musicians during three one-hour workshops, from guitar to songwriting and vocal/harmony.
“We will have at least three incredible guitar players, things for more beginner to expert level. This is not a showcase show-off. We want them to bring their guitar, and we will have a couple of extras for people,” Maggie said. “We wanted to make it special and make it affordable. The workshops are all included in the price of the ticket. We will have workshops upstairs and concerts downstairs.”
On Monday, Maggie was calmly finalizing details of this weekend’s festival across the street at Victoria’s Last Bite, while owners Victoria “Vickie” Cook and Judy Tinder took a break on the bench outside.
Victoria’s Last Bite will be open during Sunday’s festival to give guests another option. Inside Roberts Hall, Chuck and Chantal Gandy will have homemade shrimp jambalaya, chicken jambalaya and crab soup for sale from noon to 4 p.m.
“It’s going to be a good kitchen,” added Michael, who is especially excited about “blueberry bread pudding and amaretto sauce.”
Sales from food and arts and crafts vendors, including jewelry from Pat Daly and crafts from Charlotte Warnberg Moreau, will all wrap up at 4 p.m.
“We won’t have any food during the concerts,” Maggie said. “This is a listening room. We have an incredible audience who wants to hear the words, the lyrics.”
Beer, wine, water, coffee and tea will be served throughout the event for a donation to Roberts Hall.
“A percentage of every ticket goes to building restoration,” Maggie added.
The building, built by L.J. Roberts in 1912, was bought by The Independent Order of Odd Fellows fraternity in 1922. They rented the first floor to Lloyd’s Country Store for more than 40 years, how most area residents remember the building. The Odd Fellows began doing much needed repairs and restoration of in May 2008.
Palm tree murals painted by a local artist in the 1940s still adorn the upstairs walls across from the stage where Hank Williams Sr. once played in the ’40s. But Maggie and Michael wanted to keep concerts downstairs for the festival, just like they do during the Sunday concerts.
“We don’t want the separation from the audience,” said Maggie, who is only selling 100 tickets for this weekend’s festival. “We hope to turn this into a bigger festival but wanted to start out small. ... I want to share this music with people, what we do and feel the community of it. We finally have an audience that listens.”
Musicians will play one-hour shows followed by 15-minute breaks, beginning with Lucky Mud at 4 p.m. Their CD, “Pride,” was released in September 2013, the latest of the duo’s 10 albums. Though Maggie and Michael have traveled throughout Florida to Texas, Nova Scotia and the British Isles, there is no place like home.
“We’ve sat on an island in the English channel and looked out at lights of France while we played old English ballads. ... Music has brought us the world,” Michael said. “If we come home and spent $5,000 and break even, we pop champagne.”
They have deep roots in Florida, where they find inspiration for their songs in the natural landscape.
“My family founded the area around Marianna in the 1820s,” said Maggie, who added, “The T.H. Stone Memorial Park, that’s my great great uncle.”
Michael’s family has been around the Tampa area for 150 years.
“We live in one of the second generation Gainer houses, which we think is from the 1880s,” Maggie said.
The couple and their son first moved to the home on 7.5 acres in 1985. Michael also writes novels in these woods, from “A Thousand Bridges” published in October 1992 to “The Foothills of Heaven” in July 2013.
Following Lucky Mud is Brian Smalley, a guitar player and songwriter from Apopka. He has released six albums during his 20-year career. His latest, “Key,” set in the Florida Keys, tells the fictional story of Painter Kellet and Compass Rose.
Brian will be followed by The New 76ers, who are “looking forward to sharing the stage and collaborating” with the other musicians.
“They are a hot young trio from Tallahassee, the whole package,” Maggie said.
The evening culminates with Paul Kamm and Eleanore MacDonald of Nevada City, Calif., who were scheduled to play Jan. 22 during Americana Under the Stars. The series, also hosted by Lucky Mud, is Thursday nights at Topsail Hill State Park in Santa Rosa Beach. Musicians often go the state park and play, then get a cabin and come to Roberts Hall and play Sundays.
“That’s how we’re able to get such high-quality acts,” said Maggie, adding, ”Every person who ever played here wants to come back.”
Kamm and MacDonald have been writing and performing their blend of original contemporary and traditional folk music for nearly 30 years. Their use of harmony, heartful songwriting and guitar has garnered them Kerrville, Telluride and Rocky Mountain New Folk awards.
“I think Kamm and MacDonald is the best in America. The first time I heard them was on satellite radio,” Michael said. “We made sure we bring people in who are really good lyrically.”
ROOTS & WINGS MUSIC FESTIVAL
- What: Lucky Mud presents a day of concerts featuring Americana musicians; three workshops: guitar, songwriting and vocal/harmony;arts and crafts vendors; Cajun food
- When: Noon to 10 p.m. Jan. 25; doors open at 11:30 a.m.; vendors and food from noon to 4 p.m.
- Where: Roberts Hall, 831 Florida Ave., Lynn Haven
- Tickets: $25 in advance/$30 at the door; limited seating; order at Squareup.com/market/lucky-mud
- Sponsors: Boondocks by Winn Dixie in Lynn Haven, Ace Hardware in Panama City Beach and in Springfield on U.S. 98, Target at Pier Park, Lisa Anderson Law Firm, Bill and Miki McFatter, Grady Thrasher and Kathy Prescott, Mayor Walt Kelly and Neil and Barbara Gudgel and Beach Property Management
- Details: LuckyMudMusic.com or (850) 722-4915
More Music at Roberts Hall
- ROBERTS HALL OPRY: 7 p.m. first Saturday of each month with Margo Anderson in Opry style show.
- UNPLUGGED ACOUSTIC JAM SESSION: 6:30 p.m. second and fourth Saturdays of each month; hosted by Charlotte Moreau with jam circle of mostly country, bluegrass and folk music.
- AMERICANA CAFE MUSIC SERIES: 3 p.m. Sundays; hosted by local folk duo Lucky Mud. Next concert on Feb. 1 features Cole Washburn. Admission is $5 at the door with drinks and snacks for a donation in the kitchen.