The time has come to release the band lineup for Gateway! We are very excited about the musical artists that will be performing this year, and each week until the festival we will introduce you to a couple of bands. We will again kick off our Gateway weekend with a band and food truck Friday night and welcome the crowd with an amazing religious quartet on Saturday morning.
Southern Groove Redemption will usher in the festival Friday night, Oct. 21, with their Southern rock and blues lineup of tunes. Front man, Zechariah Lloyd, was raised on cornbread and Jesus in the southern Mississippi delta by a church pianist and rock ’n’ roll drummer. He began playing drums at a young age on his father’s drum set – cutting his teeth on his Uncle’s Zeppelin and Skynyrd records.
Zechariah started making headway as an artist in 2015 when he won the Vicksburg Blues Society’s Blues Challenge and went on to represent Vicksburg in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, where he placed in the top five finalists for the solo/duo division.
His sound has deep roots in the blues, country and soul, around which he was brought up, evident in songs like, “Down to the River” – his 2020 single that won first place in Blues for both the Unsigned Only Competition and the International Songwriting Competition, beating out over 27,000 other contestants. It placed second in the 2021 International Songwriting Competition and won him the title of 2022 Mississippi Songwriter of the Year. It is included on his upcoming EP, “Heart in a Notebook,” released Aug. 17, 2022.
In 2017, Zech met up with local musicians to start a full band, Southern Groove Redemption, who were recently voted Oxford’s Favorite Local Band in the Oxford Townie Awards. Adam Davenport and Daniel Hodges make up the horn section, whose musical chemistry makes for amazing on-the-spot improv and tasty harmony horn parts. Acting as the glue that holds the mayhem together, Jesse Martin joined the band as bassist in 2019 along with Isaac Harrelson on drums. Dr. Jason Cain, the lead guitarist, is an original member of SGR and brings the bite on the electric guitar. The band frequents regional venues and festivals, but also does a fair share of private events and wedding receptions.
All in all, Southern Groove Redemption is a tasty, funky, southern rock/blues band with a bite. And you’re gonna love ’em!
A special thank you to the Ed & Becky Meek Foundation for sponsoring our Friday night festival kickoff.
Messiah’s Men will join us on Saturday morning to begin our day of music.
Messiah’s Men is a Southern gospel quartet from Flowood, Mississippi. The group formed at Flowood Baptist Church approximately 16 years ago and has had the privilege to sing at many churches and functions throughout the state of Mississippi, as well as recording three CDs at the Daywind Studios in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
The quartet is comprised of, from left in the picture above, Jerry Turner of Charleston, Danny Brock of Jackson, Les Neal of Pearl and Homer Myers of Pearl. They look forward to sharing Jesus in song on Saturday, Oct. 22, with the good folks of Charleston and surrounding communities.
We can’t wait to see you at this year’s Gateway to the Delta Festival!
