The Ponderosa Stomp Returns with a Focus on Garage Bands in October

Roky Erickson's focus on The Thirteenth Floor Elevators tops this year's spotlight on the unsung heroes of rock 'n' roll, which moves this fall to The Orpheum.

The Ponderosa Stomp will return October 6 and 7, this year to The Orpheum, where headliners will include Archie Bell (“Tighten Up”) , Gary U.S. Bonds (“Quarter to Three”), and Roky Erickson, who’ll play songs by the garage band that launched his legend, Thirteenth Floor Elevators.

Every two years, The Ponderosa Stomp returns to “celebrate the unsung heroes of American music,” and this year’s lineup also includes Stomp regulars Barbara Lynn and Roy Head, as well as Doug Kershaw, Jerry Lee Lewis’ piano playing sister Linda Gail Lewis, R&B singer Winfield Parker, the soulful Evie Sands, a Texas Honky Tonk Revue with Frankie Miller, Darrell McCall, and James Hand, and more. Part of the success of the Stomp comes from pairing singers with better bands than they might get on their own—ones that love the artists’ classic sound and records and work to revisit them. This year’s Stomp will also feature garage rockers from the ’80s or later, The Gories, The Mummies, and masked Japanese garage band The Stompin’ Riffraffs. 

For a complete list of performers so far, visit PonderosaStomp.com.

Once again, the Ponderosa Stomp will also include its opening night record hop the Hip Drop, the record show, and the Ponderosa Stomp Conference, with writers, historians and musicians discussing the careers of the participating musicians as well as the issues raised by the music they made.

For tickets, visit PonderosaStomp.com.

Here's my interview with Archie Bell for Gambit from 2005.