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The Waybacks Return To MerleFest for Album Hour, What Classic Will It Be This Year? Three Clues Released

Hill Side Photo by Jacob Caudill
Photo by Jacob Caudill

By Jesse Wood

April 15, 2013. The Waybacks are coming back to MerleFest for another crowd pleasing Album Hour at the Hillside Stage.

The event has become a fan favorite, where The Waybacks perform a classic album in its entirety. Fans gather at the hillside hours before the show to snag a great seat, and the album in question is always a guarded secret until that first note is played. 

In past years, The Waybacks have performed the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, the Beatles’ Abbey Road, the Allman Brothers’ Eat a Peach and Are You Experienced by Jimi Hendrix.

The Waybacks
The Waybacks

“Selecting an album each year is always both a fun and challenging process,” Michael Nash, The Waybacks manager, said in a press release. “Once we do decide on something, we begin to drop hints in regular intervals leading up to the show. As the years have gone by, we’ve found that we’ve had to make those harder and harder, as there are a lot of pretty sharp Album Hour fans out there. Seeing the creativity of their responses based on some pretty cryptic clues is a blast. We love how people have taken to the adventure.”

To build up anticipation for the event, The Waybacks have released three clues, so far, as to what the album will be, spawning many comments on what will be performed at MerleFest on the Hillside Stage.

The clues have elicited responses such as Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominoes and Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, while others have noted that the time allotted for Album Hour at the Hillside Stage has expanded to 2 hours and 15 minutes. Album Hour takes place from 3:15 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 27. 

The three clues are:

  • This fabled recording studio is no stranger to the Album Hour;
  • Two lost orphans find their way home; and 
  • Check out our post in the Earth Sciences forum. 

What do you think the album will be? Comment below or join the discussion at the “2013 Hillside Album Hour Guess-A-Thon” Facebook page.