Three great bands will entertain visitors at the first Albany Museum of Art ChalkFest, set for 10 am –  5 pm Saturday, Sept 22, 2018 in downtown Albany.
 
The Evergreen Family Band, the BANDages and the Grand Ville Band are scheduled to perform at AMA ChalkFest: Home Grown, which will feature a dozen professional chalk artists, craft beer tents and more in the 100 block of Pine Avenue.
 
“We’re happy to have these three bands for the festival,” Albany Museum of Art Executive Director Paula Williams said. “They’ll be a fantastic soundtrack for the event!”
 
The live music will crank up at 11:30 a.m. and continue throughout the afternoon. All three bands are based in Albany, fitting in perfectly with the festival’s Home Grown theme. Most of the professional chalk artists are from Georgia, and all are creating images related to the Albany area. The craft beer brands sold at the festival are from Georgia as well.
 
The Evergreen Family, originally known as BlueBilly HillGrass when it formed in 2002, is steeped in traditional bluegrass music, but plays Jamgrass as well. The band adopted the Evergreen Family name because, band members say, like a family it shifts and evolves. Current membership includes Jason Griffin (mandolin), Shane Brown (bass), Richie Duncan (guitar), Tyler Norton (dobro), and Chris Overman (harmonica).
 
The Evergreen Family’s experiences and local success were “born from a group of friends with a love of music, whose many travels, musicianship, versatility and tastes for music and life has led them through a journey,” band members say, “the reward, merely the fun of getting to play together.”
 
The BANDages, which includes four MDs among its members, will take stage at 1:30 pm. The rock cover band has become an increasingly popular in Albany.
 
The members of the BANDages are Giovanni Piovesana, Mike Coleman, Pablo Rengifo, Jim Eason, Chris Bass, Mel King and Jack Owens.
 
The Grand Ville Band, an up-and-coming classic rock cover band, takes stage at 3:30 pm. Band members say they “play all kinds of venues in the state of Georgia, from fraternity parties to weddings, and everything in between.”
 
The group, which also plays country and funk, comprises Jackson Tennyson, James Tennyson, Bo Edwards, Gunner Gerbert and Sam Yarborough. They say they are inspired by the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Eagles, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, R.E.M. and Stevie Ray Vaughn.
 
The groups will play while professional chalk artists create art in the street at AMA ChalkFest: Home Grown. Each artist will create an image 50 square feet or bigger on the street in the 100 block of Pine Avenue. Pine Avenue will be closed to traffic from The Albany Herald building at Washington Street to the Flint RiverQuarium at Front Street.
 
AMA ChalkFest also will feature craft beer tastings, live music, and food trucks and other vendors. The festival will include community involvement, with individuals and groups from schools and organizations creating smaller blocks of chalk art on the street.