Best Moments of Snaketoberfest XI: Somewhere Between Kegger and Concert

What’s the difference between a kegger and a concert? At Snaketoberfest XI, the answer was clear: not that much. And that’s a good thing.

The festival, born out of a double-booked gig and a keg in a warehouse, has grown into Garland’s annual all-day music blowout — part block party, part professional showcase. It’s friends watching friends, families setting lawn chairs in the square, raffles between sets and cold drinks passed around as the bands take the stage.

“It’s just about fellowship, hanging out, eating good food and watching your friends get up on stage,” said founder Chad Bennett of Slow Moving Snakes. “At this point, so many friends are behind it and embrace it … it brings a smile to my face. It brings a tear to my glass eye.”

Snaketoberfest started 11 years ago when the namesake band, the Slow Moving Snakes, had two shows with overlapping bookings, so Bennett’s band decided to throw their own party instead. “We bought a keg, invited some bands and had a hoot and a half,” Bennett recalled. People asked when the next warehouse show would be, but the landlord shut it down after learning about it.

The Snakes scrambled and found a home at Aqualab, a Deep Ellum studio. “It was packed again. Total strangers chipped in for more beer. We jumped on it. It was a good time.” By the third year, with help from Joshua Ray Walker and Nathan Wells (then performing as The Devil’s Sooty Brother), Snaketoberfest landed at Intrinsic Brewing in Garland, where owner Cary Hodson and the staff embraced the event. With lights from stage manager Patrick Traylor flown in from Los Angeles and all-day sound courtesy of Josh White from Aqualab, the party had turned into something bigger, and it hasn’t stopped growing.

Of the People, For the People

Snaketoberfest still sits somewhere between kegger and concert. Each year, part of the proceeds go to charity; this year’s beneficiary was Good Sam (Good Samaritans of Garland), a local food pantry serving families in need. Sponsors were all Garland-rooted: Intrinsic Brewing, Fortunate Son, Dead Wax Records, Zounds Sounds, Garland Cultural Arts and Whittling Wizard Tattoo.

Through the machinery of fate and Halloween costumes gone awry, Snaketoberfest developed its own visual trademark. “The first two were close to Halloween, and we tried to make it a costume party,” Bennett said. “I couldn’t get my band to commit, so we all just wore overalls. Now somehow other bands wear them too.” Not a gimmick, just happenstance.

This year’s festival ran from noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday. Each act was a chapter in Snaketoberfest’s progressively successful booking. Briefly summarized by your humble local music journalist.

The Fest: (Otherwise Titled) Nine Hours in Garland

12 p.m. – Jeff Hewitt, Dan Benjamin, Stephen Like
The festival opened gently with a song swap — Hewitt, Benjamin and Like trading tunes while Orion Pitts, fiddle player for closing act Justin Pickard, joined in. It was a slow, easy welcome to the day, the kind of musical conversation that fit the noontime sun.

1 p.m. – Meredith Crawford & The Mean Streak
Crawford’s voice has been praised before, and on this stage, it was clear why. Her husband, Chris Rasco, laid down guitar licks that Chet Atkins would have envied. As Rasco soloed, Crawford broke into two-stepping on stage, proving that honky-tonk is alive and well in Garland.

2 p.m. – Broke String Burnett
Burnett kept his honky-tonk rooted but laced it with a psychedelic twist. His song “Rattlesnake Moon” recently appeared in the film Harsh Treatment to some acclaim. Acclaim aside, the set stayed loose. When Burnett paused to say, “One sec, let me tune,” his band shot back, “We just played a tune.” 

Burnett nodded and the fest went on.

3 p.m. – Walker & The Texas Dangers

Walker & the Texas Dangers lived up to their name. Bonafide honky-tonk jams, led by a slapping double bassist. Their banjo player, an Oklahoman, paid penance for being from Oklahoma by leading the crowd in “Go Back to Oklahoma Where You Came From.”

4 p.m. – Jacob Price Zazz & The Loose Ends

With husband-and-wife Jacob and Alice Zazz at the core, the band delivered cohesion as hot as their energy. Barn burner after barn burner until you were sure the barn was burned. Energy enough that guitarist Richard Milton repeatedly leapt Jordan-style into the air, while the whole band fell into a two-step in step with their drummer’s fills. When they finished, Zazz told the crowd, “We’ll see you out there,” and stepped back into the audience instead of offstage.

That’s the thing about Snaketoberfest. It blurs the line between stage and picking porch. The same artist you see performing will be shoulder to shoulder with you after, each group giving each other their ears, eyes and applause.

5 p.m. – Good Co.

The lineup took a sharp turn with Good Co., who delivered driving blues reminiscent of the early Black Keys. It was an adrenaline shot in the middle of the honky-tonk stretch, resetting the crowd for the evening, almost saying, “We’re halfway through, but we ain’t done yet.”

6 p.m. – John Pedigo & Chad Stockslager

John Pedigo, who has played in Dallas for years and even has a mural next to Erykah Badu’s in Deep Ellum, has also worked behind the scenes producing some of the city’s most beloved recent records — from Joshua Ray Walker to the Ottoman Turks and beyond. Add in pianist Chad Stockslager, whose resume also runs long and beautiful, and what you get isn’t just a set, it’s a reminder to sit up straight and pay attention. When the two took the stage, they slowed things down with a simple guitar-and-piano duo. One highlight came when Stockslager sang “Girl in the Yellow Hat,” a song to be heard and then heard again. 

The night continued.

7 p.m. – Slow Moving Snakes

The hosts of the night stepped up with easy familiarity, almost like the host of a barbecue welcoming everyone who came. “Here we are. Here you are. Let’s go.” 

Bennett plays his open-tuned guitar with an old brass slide, putting metallic twang back into country where it belongs. This year’s lineup — Bennett (vocals, rhythm guitar, kazoo), Chris Huckabay (drums), Mike Jones (mandolin, accordion, backing vocals), Jonathan Marcus (bass, backing vocals) and Heath Brackett (lead guitar) felt at once effortless and inevitable, like only a band hosting and playing its eleventh homegrown festival could.

8 p.m. – Oblong Cassidy & His Space Horse

Oblong Cassidy & His Space Horse attacked the stage with a punk rock rawness, but their chord progressions were as tight as any British invasion band. They sounded like The Kinks, if instead of a Waterloo sunset they’d written about an Abilene sunset. Pedal steel guitar, washboard, accordion, a bit that was almost a Viking chant … whatever! Unexpected, but perfect.

9 p.m. – Justin Pickard & The Thunderbird Winos
Snaketoberfest’s eleventh go around and ninth hour in closed with Pickard and his beloved Thunderbird Winos, all clad in overalls. A true Dallas staple found in the hallowed halls of both the Meyerson and Adair’s Saloon. 

His set was roadhouse raw, stitched together by Pitts’ fiddle, tying the day’s first notes to its last. When he reached his final song, the crowd harmonized with him on the closing note, a beautiful synchronicity at the end of a long day that left us lusting for longer.

For an event put on and supported in an “of the people, by the people” way, Snaketoberfest has grown into a staple — a textbook of how to put on a showcase: keep it loose, keep it generous, keep it about the music. After all, if Ozzfest was good enough for Ozzy, then Snaketoberfest was good enough for the Snakes. And after 11 years, maybe Garland itself deserves a rebrand. Let’s call it Snakes-land.