Feast on a huge platter of Buffalo-centric Americana music in the heart of an Olmsted Park this weekend! Dwane Hall of the Sportmen's has resurrected the annual Americanarama Music Festival. The Tom Hambridge Americana Music Festival is the Saturday June25 side of this two-day affair at Riverside Park, while Sunday, June 26 is Americanarama.

Americana is a blend of traditional and alternative country, blues, rockabilly, rock ’n’ roll and folk. The Saturday lineup features Tom Hambridge & the Rattlesnakes, Commander Cody Band, Bill Kirchen & Too Much Fun, the Willies, Ten Cent Howl.

Sunday is the return of Americanarama featuring the Steam Donkeys, Leroy Townes, McCarthyizm, Uncle Ben’s Remedy, Flatbed, the Kensingtons. All for $5. Really?!

"The festival takes its name from the multiple Grammy-winning, Buffalo-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Tom Hambridge, who will headline Saturday’s bill with his band the Rattlesnakes. Hambridge’s credits include work with Buddy Guy – as both producer and touring drummer – Van Morrison, ZZ Top, BB King, Susan Tedeschi and Johnny Winter, among many others. Though he is a living legend in Nashville, Hambridge, oddly enough, is not a household name here at home. Hall hopes the Hambridge Americana Music Festival, which he plans to make an annual occurrence, will help to change that." [Jeff Miers, The Buffalo News]

Hall has formed the Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation, a nonprofit launched last year to “foster, promote and expand community appreciation for Americana music from Buffalo and Western New York, through the production and sponsorship of performance and broadcast events and presentation of seminars and workshops on Americana music.”

“Live from Black Rock,” debuted on WBBZ-TV on June 21 and is hosted by Geno McManus and Chris Parker. The first episode featured performances by Leroy Townes and the Skiffle Minstrels. Future episodes will include segments on artists touring nationally. 

Sportsmen’s Foundation, concert seek to make Buffalo ‘Music City’. Again.

Tickets: Saturday is $25 advance (showclix.com, Sportsmen’s), $30 at the park; Sunday is $5; Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation members are admitted free.