The Schwag returns to headline Dam Jam next weekend

10-plus bands scheduled to perform at campground below Bagnell Dam

Dam Jam 2017 logo
Dam Jam 2017 logo

It has been 14 years since The Schwag has delivered its Grateful Dead tribute concert experience to audiences at the campground below Bagnell Dam in Lake Ozark. However, a new music festival next week will offer the band a proper homecoming.

Scheduled June 15-17 at Lake Ozark RV Park and Campground, Dam Jam will offer three nights and two days of live music, vendors and camping, with The Schwag performing each day.

Founded in 1991, The Schwag has performed more than 3,000 concerts throughout the United States, according to the event's website. The band averages approximately 150 shows a year and has a repertoire of more than 200 songs from the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band catalog. They hosted their own Schwagstock music festivals for many years, which drew approximately 5,000 people per event.

Much like the headliner's popular Schwagstock events from 2001-03 at the same campground, a slew of bands will perform as part of the festival.

Molly Adamson will jumpstart entertainment at 8 p.m. Thursday. Adamson is an Arkansas native studying at Stephens College in Columbia. She plays many instruments, including guitar and guitalele, and is a talented singer, according to the Dam Jam website.

Lake of the Ozarks-based Baub Eis Band will perform at 4 p.m. Friday. Frontman Baub Eis lights up the guitar fingerboard with a combination of blues, rock, space jams or whatever is thrown his way. He has opened for acts such as REO Speedwagon, Starship, Willie Nelson, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Marshall Tucker Band, Molly Hatchet, Uncle Kracker, Head East and Air Supply. John Marsi, world-traveling drummer and well-known studio musician, and bassist KP Hauge fill out the ensemble.

At 6 p.m. Friday, Stillshine Bluegrass Band will take the Dam Jam stage. Formed in 2014, Stillshine is a group of seasoned musicians blending acoustic roots and progressive bluegrass, according to the website. Mixing mandolin, harmonica, banjo, acoustic guitar, upright bass and tight harmonies, they quickly gained a following around the Midwest.

Animals, a Pink Floyd tribune band from Arkansas, will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, and St. Louis-based quartet Surco will rock out audiences well into the night, with their first set beginning at midnight. Surco delivers tightly composed songs to funky, exploratory improvisation with popular covers and some original tunes.

Adamson will return to the stage to begin Saturday's lineup at 3 p.m., followed by blues and rock musician Brody Buster at 4 p.m. A child prodigy featured on countless television shows, Buster has shared the stage with Quincy Jones, Keb Mo and Chaka Kahn, and was a regular performer at B.B. King's Blues Club.

NonStop Reggae Band, a St. Louis-based Bob Marley tribute, will perform at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, followed by Moonlight Drive, a Wichita-based Doors tribute ensemble, at 8 p.m. Aaron Kamm and the One Drops, another St. Louis group, will merge reggae and Mississippi River blues to close out the festival, beginning at midnight.

Guests will also see the visual performing arts of The Dancing Bear Tribe, that delivers hoop dance and many other styles, engaging audiences with its beautiful, entertaining dance movements.

Tickets are $60, which includes admission for one person Friday and Saturday, camping, parking and live music. One-day tickets are available Saturday for $30 per person, with early arrivals on Thursday costing an extra $10 per person. Children ages 10 and younger are admitted for free.

For more information, visit DamJam.net.

DAM JAM 2017 MUSIC SCHEDULE

Thursday, June 15

8 p.m. - Molly Adamson

9:30 p.m. - The Schwag (Grateful Dead tribute band) acoustic session

Friday, June 16

4 p.m. - Baub Eis Band

6 p.m. - Stillshine Bluegrass Band

8 p.m. - Animals (Pink Floyd tribute band)

10 p.m. - The Schwag

Midnight - Surco

Saturday, June 17

3 p.m. - Molly Adamson

4 p.m. - Brody Buster

5:30 p.m. - Nonstop Reggae (Bob Marley tribute band)

8 p.m. - Moonlight Drive (The Doors tribute band)

10 p.m. - The Schwag

Midnight - Aaron Kamm & The One Drops