See You at Shipyard: The music festival is back for its fifth year with 16 bands

Back for its fifth year, Shipyard Music Festival takes the stage Friday, Sept. 22, and Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, at Century Casino Cape Girardeau. This year, 16 regional and nationally-touring bands come to downtown Cape for two days of music, food and fun on the Main Stage and The Scout Session Stage.

Friday, gates open at 5 p.m., with the first performance at 6 p.m. Saturday, gates open at Noon, with the first act at 1:30 p.m. Come early to try food from local vendors who create special menus for Shipyard weekend. Get your tickets at www.shipyardfest.com.

Here, meet this year’s bands:

Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

__Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors:__ The award-winning songwriter dropped his ninth studio album in June; for the rest of the year, you’ll find the Nashville-based Americana band of troubadours on the road with Darius Rucker and lighting up festival stages at Bonnaroo, Moon River, and Bourbon & Beyond. There are no strangers at Drew Holcomb shows, which quickly turn into celebrations of community and collaboration from the first note. With tracks like “Dance with Everybody” and “Family,” it’s easy to see why. Find your people when Holcomb and Co. bring a whole lot of wholesome to CG to headline the Shipyard stage.

The Infamous Stringdusters

The Infamous Stringdusters

__The Infamous Stringdusters:__ This humble group of five friends are Grammy Award winners whose wild live shows bridge traditional and progressive bluegrass audiences while working rock, jazz and funk into the mix. After 16 years of playing sheds, clubs, late-night shows and festival stages, their instrumental game is a finely-tuned experience, whether they’re paying tribute to the legendary Flatt & Scruggs, covering Marvin Gaye or burning the place down with hand-clappers like “Rise Sun.”

Southern Avenue

Southern Avenue

__Southern Avenue:__ At Shipyard 2021, Southern Avenue ran away with the whole dang thing on Saturday night. Straight out of Memphis, the Grammy-nominated six-piece is a band so nice we asked them back twice, and they’re guaranteed to be your favorite soul-blues jam at Shipyard 2023. The group is no stranger to festival stages, bringing the heat to Bonnaroo, Firefly, Electric Forest, Beale Street Music Festival and Austin City Limits, to name a few.

Seratones

Seratones

__Seratones:__ This band urges you to move joyfully in the moment. To sit in a world of bliss and wholeness. To fight to protect what is worth saving and to love your community fiercely. That could be a heavy workload, but this Shreveport, Louisiana-based funk-soul-rock group is more than up to the challenge. Beating the drum of relentless self-nurturing and engagement, Seratones will get you on your feet and lead you on a cruise among the stars to a soundtrack layered with rock, R&B and electronic music. Get out there and make it a “Good Day.”

Willi Carlisle

Willi Carlisle

__Willi Carlisle:__ A poet and folk singer for the people, Midwestern-born-and-raised Willi Carlisle now makes his life on the road with guitar, fiddle, button-box, banjo, harmonicas and rhythm bones in tow. He’s a public park patron, library sleuth and thrift store grifter of Western suits with a belief in looking out for one another and breaking down divides. Looking for a raucous live show, booming baritone and big sing-alongs that will make you laugh and cry? Willi is your man.

The Local Honeys

The Local Honeys

__The Local Honeys:__ The Local Honeys come from a long line of storytellers, a lineage of strong Kentucky women who aren’t afraid to tell it like it is, and their self-titled “La Honda” debut is proof it’s in their bones. The duo have mastered the art of telling a good story. The narratives and landscapes they weave into song, the deep understanding and love they share for old-time traditions, and their blatant disregard to follow the rules make it clear the duo is poised to become not only the defining voices of their home state of Kentucky, but the defining voices of a new Appalachia.

Dawson Hollow

Dawson Hollow

__Dawson Hollow:__ We fell in love with them way back at Shipyard 2019 when brother sat on brother’s shoulders to play “Summer Snow,” and then we got to rendezvous with them again in 2021. From not too far away in the Missouri Ozarks, this band of four brothers and one sister fuses the cinematic colors of pop, nostalgic string elements of Americana and iconic five-part harmonies like only siblings can. And the best part? Their high-energy performances offer supporting lyrics that carry a hopeful undertone. Dawson Hollow is one of our favorite things about Missouri.

Ax and the Hatchetmen

Ax and the Hatchetmen

__Ax and the Hatchetmen:__ We love a band that genuinely looks like they are having a good time on each track. And we love a band that has a trumpet. Ax and the Hatchetmen do both so well. The Chicago-based band of brothers like to party, and they bring a three-guitar attack with blistering horns to each one they crash. After their set at Lollapalooza in August, they should be primed for a rager at Shipyard 2023.

Hembree

Hembree

__Hembree:__ From Kansas City, Mo., and now based in Los Angeles, indie rock band Hembree began releasing music in 2015, was named one of the 30 best artists at SXSW by Rolling Stone in 2018 and released their second studio album “It’s a Dream!” in 2022. Their upbeat, fun music that addresses heavier societal topics may just get stuck in your head. Also, we heart their merch.

National Park Radio

National Park Radio

__National Park Radio:__ Earlier this year, we were big lucky and experienced a music-filled afternoon with our Arkansas neighbors Stefan and Kerrie Szabo. The Scout Session is our treasured souvenir from that visit, and we are itching to collect a few more when National Park Radio makes the pilgrimage back to CG for Shipyard 2023. What to expect when the duo takes the Scout Sessions Stage: An outstanding blend of incisive songwriting and organic Americana charm alongside a heritage in genuine mountain music. Sign us up.

In the Pines

In the Pines

__In the Pines:__ Wide-eyed and longing, In the Pines creates its own sacred geometry of rock. A touring music collective based in Cincinnati, through unexpected collisions of psychedelia, prog rock, shoegaze and blues, the band decorates a sprawling sonic landscape with lyrics and melodies that walk a tightrope of restless, youthful exploration and mystical profundity.

FEEL

FEEL

__FEEL:__ St. Louis-based band FEEL incorporates St. Louis’ blues, jazz, and rock and roll roots into their music, through which they work to make the sounds of the past present once again. Taking inspiration from the experimental revolution of the 1960s and British hard rock and Laurel Canyon from the 1970s, FEEL has shared the stage with Cheap Trick, Rival Sons, 38 Special and John Waite. You’ll be glad they’re bringing sounds from the past here, incorporating those sounds into their contemporary style.

Shaun Munday

Shaun Munday

__Shaun Munday:__ A graduate of the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Springfield, Mo., native Shaun Munday is an act you do not want to miss. With his show-stopping vocals and bass guitar performances, his music is like listening to a soul. Munday has studied and performed with some of the greatest artists and educators in the industry, including John Mayer, and has shared the stage with Corinne Bailey Ray, Mary Wilson of The Supremes and Bob Marley’s band The Wailers.

Of Sea and Stone

Of Sea and Stone

__Of Sea and Stone:__ When Of Sea and Stone members Morgan and Luke matched on the dating app Tindr and discovered their vocal chemistry, they began writing songs and performing together across their home state of Missouri. Married in 2016, the couple has been recording and touring the U.S. since 2017, sharing the stage with Judah and the Lion, Tyler Hilton and Hush Kids. Known for their vocal harmonies and intimate song lyrics, this is one act you don’t want to miss.

Jessie Schupbach

Jessie Schupbach

__Jessie Schupbach:__ A rural Illinois native, Jessie Schupbach is one half of the sister duo Sam + Jess. With music rooted in the Americana tradition, Jessie’s harmonies are entrancing and melancholic. Currently recording her debut solo studio EP, Jessie’s voice can also be found on releases from musicians Jason Heeter and Logan Chapman.

The Jumper Cables

The Jumper Cables

__The Jumper Cables:__ An acoustic trio from Cape Girardeau, The Jumper Cables, comprised of Steve Schaffner, Ben Belanger and Kyle Clay, play an eclectic blend of the Great American Songbook: hot club jazz, country, Cajun, Western swing, blues and old-time fiddle tunes. They are proud to appeal, according to their bio, to a cross section of little fellers, mommas and daddies, grandpas and grandmas, cousins, aunts and uncles, and friends.