[Photos Provided by Emily Hingle]

The Inaugural Flambeau Fest Brings Country to Gonzales

18:57 October 09, 2017
By: Emily Hingle

Flambeau Fest brought together country superstars like Blackberry Smoke, Sam Hunt, Hank Williams, Jr., and Lynyrd Skynrd for a day of fun in the sun in the gorgeous fields of Gonzales just outside of Baton Rouge. The fest was set to span two days, but the possibility of a hurricane knocked it down to one. Still, Sam Hunt impressed me so much that I might buy some of his tunes soon. He's definitely representative of a new age of country; he espoused the fact that the younger people of the audience didn't care about genres of music or people, they listened to what made them feel good. His music was quite unique in that it certainly had country elements, but also used more contemporary sounds like ethereal keyboards. 

As hanggliders flew through the background of the main stage, the music played on. Of course, Bocephus was popular. He came out donning his ICON hat, but took it off to sing, "I'm not an icon/Most people call me Hank." I must say that he was looking good and very energetic for his age, and he touted his family legacy with his very traditional country tunes. Here's to Hank Sr.! By the time Skynrd rolled around, the audience was whipped into a frenzy; the air had cooled just enough to bring them out from under the tents so that they could party without fear of a sunburn. The long-running southern rock band rolled out their best tunes like "Gimme Back My Bullets," "Saturday Night Special," and who could live without "Sweet Home Alabama." I think the crowd sang it louder than the speakers played it!

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