This weekend, May 9-11, Alabama will play home to a new festival on sacred, historic ground.  The Cuko Rakko Music and Arts Festival will transcend upon Chandler Mountain in beautiful Steele, AL at the Horse Pens 40 Park.  While the festival is new, its namesake comes from legendary Creek Indian language meaning “ceremonial ground” or “dancing ground”.  With the proposed lineup, included amenities, and picturesque atmosphere, we’re sure to find a great time will be had at the inaugural offering of this soulful experience.

Let’s talk lineup first.  One of the greatest ways to get familiar with newer, smaller, regional acts is to keep your eyes and ears peeled at a festival.   Cuko Rakko falls short nowhere in this realm.  With acts from Birmingham, AL (Rescue Dogs, Stephen McCullough Band, Kathryn Delacruz, Alpha Groove, Festival Expressions,  Kepler’s SPACE, Kendra Sutton Band,  Pyrite Parachute, ); Gadsden, AL (Albert Simpson); Auburn, AL (Rodeo Trio);  Florence, AL (The Fiddleworms); Muscle Shoals, AL (Boombox, The Local Saints, Jay Burgess); and Nashville, TN (Grace and Tony, Mary Justice Lucas) the surrounding areas are definitely covered. But, Cuko Rakko is opening up the playing field to include artists from San Francisco, CA (Paige Clem); Muncie, IN (Glostik Willy); Yellow Springs, OH (Blue Moon Soup);  and Manchester, England (DJ Coco).  “There is something here for everyone” is a well oiled standard in terms of descriptive festival marketing but, we’re serious when we say it.  Folk, funk, jam, singer songwriter, blues, gospel, rock, and jamtronica will all show their happy faces this weekend amongst two full size stages and a smaller 3^rd stage.

Horse Pens 40 is no stranger to music.  The oldest bluegrass festivals in the state were held there and, in fact, its name graces the Alabama Constitution.   Some of the western hemisphere’s oldest rock formations (400 to 600 million years old) live there and have served the climbing/bouldering community for years.  Nestled in between some of the taller rocks and lush, green lawn is the main stage, “Rakko”.  This natural amphitheatre will accept 2,000 concert goers comfortably, leaving no one with a bad view.  The second stage, “Cuko”, is a covered, barn-style stage that may offer some much needed relief from the sun and rain.  Yes, folks, bring a poncho this weekend as the weather looks to possibly be a factor.  Onsite, the family vibe is alive and well with a large playground.  Food trucks and vendors will be set up for your nourishment and merchandise needs.  Primitive camping will be a little different than your average fest, sporting water and electrical outlets at numerous locations.

Amongst the awesomeness there will be blacksmith workshops by Sons of Vulcan, rock climbing, yoga by Christine Schupp-Avery, glass blowing, bike rides, and even a cornhole tourney.  The Horse Pens 40 park store will be open to provide many of your regular goods needed for camping but don’t forget the basics like extra water, towels (showers are available), snacks, and lights.  Heavy recycling is suggested as the park is a nature preserve on its own.  The idea with Horse Pens 40 is to leave it in better shape than you found it.

Jams Plus Media’s Clayton Roberts caught up with festival director, Greg Entrekin, to get a few pertinent answers to some relative questions.

  How did you come about to having a music festival?  CukoRakko came about while talking to Jamie Glass about music and music festivals.  We both have enjoyed attending music festivals and music venues in general and were in agreement about the value of the smaller festival.

 How did you choose the location?  The location, Horse Pens 40, was chosen because of several reasons.  The park is located in Steele, AL.  The proximity of Horse Pens 40 is convenient to other areas in the Southeast, such as Birmingham, Chattanooga, and Atlanta.  The parks history both socially and musically is unparalleled in the state of Alabama. The final reason was the Schultz family.  The Schultz family has owned the property since the late 90’s and saved it from residential development.  They have valued the parks historical significance and have kept it available to the public in such a way that allows for quality family experiences.

 The name Cuko Rakko, meaning ceremonial ground, how does that tie together with Horse Pens 40?  The name CukoRakko is derived from the Creek language dictionary. It means ceremonial ground, dance ground and big house.  The property where Horse Pens 40 exists was occupied by the Creek Nation of Native Americans.  This property is said to be the only place in history where the Creek and Cherokee signed a peace treaty.  There has been native chants and celebrations on this property for hundreds of years.  The CukoRakko Music and Arts Festival can only exist at Horse Pens 40.

 What was the driver behind doing the festival on Mother’s Day weekend?  The driver behind doing the festival on Mother’s Day came by accident.  When planning the festival, we crossed referenced the dates with other festivals and other events common to the Southeast.  Mother’s Day weekend was the obvious choice.  It was at that time we realized this could be a great thing and scheduled the music on that Sunday specifically with Mothers in mind.

 With a major focus on local acts, how did you pick your headliners?  This question in particular is enjoyable for me to answer.  It definitely deserves an explanation to the reader because it shows exactly what can happen when people are passionate about something.  Especially about something as subjective as the arts.  In short, we picked our headliners for personal reasons.  Our earliest conversation about who we would like to see as headliners came true and this includes Wildman Steve’s role as emcee.  This was before we had a name for the festival and before any contacts were made in relationship to band availability or cost.  There was a cast of possibilities along the way….and here we are!

 How do you see the spring and fall festivals?  Will they focus on different music?  I see the spring and fall festivals as always being intimate experiences and I hope that they will always feature a cross blend of influenced music and mixed media art.  We were fortunate this spring to feature local, regional, national and internationally recognized artists.  We want to continue offering something for everyone.  To accomplish this in a smaller venue is a welcomed challenge.

Will you be recording the performances?  The live performances will be recorded by DittyTV (dittytv.com).  Ditty is making it possible to for the artists to access and download their performances with the software from their website after the festival.  Participating artists can use the edited footage to promote themselves however they like.  This was important to us.

Will “Wildman Steve”  sit in with anyone?  Tana Collins was probably the only person in our group that could make an appointment with Wildman and actually leave with an agreement procuring his services!  We are so lucky.  Other than being the emcee for the festival, he is rumored to be sitting in with Paige Clem.

Flower delivery service is an extra special touch, who is the mastermind behind that?  I believe that I did.  It seemed like an easy way to begin planning for something out of the ordinary on Mother’s Day.

Be sure to check out www.cukorakko.com for any and all info.  The Facebook page is located at www.facebook.com/cukorakko .  They can be found on Twitter at @CukoRakko and on Instagram at @cukorakko.