Mackinac Island Music Festival

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich., July 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mackinac Island has been known as a gathering place for centuries and musicians from across the country will gather August 17-19, 2010 for the Mackinac Island Music Festival. Presented by the Grey Goose-the World's Best Tasting Vodka, Classic Rock THE BEAR and Great Turtle Festivals, performances abound around the car-less Island's quaint pubs, historic theatres and includes a tribute to the mega concert Festival Express.

Veteran blues musician/comedian DC Malone will headline on August 18, incorporating some incredible guitar work and a great blues voice. Malone relates "I love to perform; to form an instant rapport with a live audience is a great feeling." With his slightly warped take on life, relationships, drinking and with great music to back it up, DC Malone is very entertaining. Opening the show is Detroit Music Award Winner Audra Kubat, one of the Motor City's most well known voices. Incorporating folk, rock, alternative and indie styles, her instrumental ability is only overshadowed by her unique and unforgettable voice.

This season the festival will pay tribute to the 1970 mega concert/rockumentary "Festival Express" which was a multi-band, multi-day extravaganza that captured the spirit and imagination of a generation and a nation. Musicians included Janis Joplin, The Band, Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, Traffic, Sha Na Na and more. It is considered "one of the best performance films of all time" by Hollywood Reporter.

Detroit Music Award winning blues/folk singer extraordinaire Barbara Payton (Bob Seger/Kid Rock vocalist) will perform with guitarist Chris Brantley (Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels) and take on the tunes of Janis Joplin while Billy Brandt and his band of musicians will take on the Grateful Dead.  Island musician Mary McGuire and friends will interpret the music of Traffic while the Forbes Brothers, recipients of over 25 Detroit Music Awards, will revive the tunes of The Band.

Island musician and festival director Mary McGuire shares "performing with friends immersed in the beauty of Mackinac Island makes this festival something special. We all get to live together on a beautiful Island and jam before and after all the gigs." She adds "the Mission Point Theatre is charming, it was built with fifty foot trusses made of Norway Pine from nearby Bois Blanc Island and forty-five tons of native stone so not only is it beautiful, the sound quality is amazing."

About the Mackinac Island Music Festival:

Mackinac Island is a National Historic Landmark located between Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas and covers 2,200 acres of land.  The Island banned private motor vehicle use during the last century and today relies on the services of more than 600 horses to provide residents and visitors transportation around the Island.

For more information visit: www.mackinacislandmusicfestival.org

SOURCE Great Turtle Festivals