The Moses Auto Group Live on the Levee will return for its 14th year with three first-time guests to the free, 15-week Friday night summer music series. Acts include a couple of nationally known performers including 90s indie rock/college rock favorites 10,000 Maniacs, Americana sweetheart Nora Jane Struthers and the Party Line and country singer Ashton Shepherd.
The full line-up was announced Friday morning beneath the canopy of the Schoenbaum stage at Haddad Riverfront Park while the rain poured in Charleston.
Just before the announcements, Adam Harris, Live on the Levee music chairman and "Mountain Stage" executive producer, joked that announcing in the rain meant 15 weeks of good weather.
The series will kick off May 26, opening the FestivALL preview weekend, with DeRobert and the Halftruths and Huntington based funk rock band, The M.F.B. Other acts on the schedule:
n June 2 is the opening ceremony at the Special Olympics with Mother's Nature featuring Lola Spencer.
n June 9, Friday night during the Capitol City Biker Bash, it's the Joe Hunt Project Band with Jack Dunlap and the 2 Dollar Short Band.
n June 16, as part of the first weekend of FestivALLL, Charleston's The Company Stores headlines with Morgantown-based singer/songwriter William Matheny opening.
n June 23, FestivALL returns to Live on the Levee with Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. and Carpenter Ants.
n June 30 features Whiskey Daredevils with Of the Dell for a show sponsored by local low-power FM station, 88.1 WTSQ.
n July 7 is Veterans Night with Kentucky duo Sundy Best and Union Sound Treaty from Tennessee.
n July 14 brings Split Nixon with No Pretty Pictures to Haddad Riverfront Park.
n July 21, Live on the Levee will welcome 10,000 Maniacs with opening act Qiet. 10,000 Maniacs was a popular indie and college band in the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Four of the band's records were certified platinum, but they were probably best known for the songs "Like the Weather," "These Are Days" and "Candy Everybody Wants." The group was a favorite of then-first daughter Chelsea Clinton and performed at the MTV Inaugural Ball for President Bill Clinton.
Lead singer Natalie Merchant left 10,000 Maniacs in in August of 1993 to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Mary Ramsey, who had performed with the group off and on. Guitarist Rob Buck, who helped write several of the group's songs, died in 2000 of liver failure. The band has continued to tour and record since.
n July 28, Live on the Levee welcomes Nora Jane Struthers and the Party Line with Gypsy Rhythm for FOOTMAD Night.
n Aug. 4, Multifest returns to Haddad Riverfront Park with the Multifest All-Star Show Band and gospel singer Priscilla Price.
n Aug. 11 is the reunion of popular 1980s local band Stark Raven with The Band Wagon.
Founded in the early 1980s, Stark Raven included "Mountain Stage" bandmembers Ron Sowell, Ammed Solomon, Julie Adams, John Kessler, Deni Bonet, as well as cellist and traditional string player Bob Webb. The group disbanded amicably in the early 1990s with Kessler and Bonet leaving Charleston, followed later by Webb.
n Aug. 18, Sportsfest returns to Charleston with country singer Ashton Shepherd and Seth Bunting. Shepherd has had a couple of Top 40 country hits, including "Takin' Off This Pain," "Sounds So Good" and "Look It Up."
n Aug. 25, the Fleetwood Mac tribute band Tusk performs with Tim Browning & The Widowmakers.
n Sept. 1, the Live on the Levee season will close out with Southern Avenue.
Live on the Levee shows begin around 6:30 p.m. and usually go until about 10 p.m.
Once again, the Friday night concert series will partner with the Roark Sullivan Lifeway Center, YWCA's Sojourners Shelter, Covenant House, Manna Meal and the Religious Coalition for Community Renewal's Samaritan Inn to raise money for those groups.
Live on the Levee emcee Jim Strawn said, "We work through those charities to help people who need a roof over their head or need to get a bite to eat."
Over the years, he said, Live on the Levee has raised $75,000 through their 50-50 raffles, which they're proud of.
"It's our tag line," he said. "We're good fun for a good cause."
Reach Bill Lynch at lynch@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5195 or follow @LostHwys on Twitter.