Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Del McCoury Band Create Official Bonnaroo Theme Song

It's Bonnaroo Time!  PHJB and The Del McCoury Band continue the "American Legacies" Tour, this time in Manchester, Tennessee for the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. While on tour together in Lawrence, Kansas the McCoury Bus broke down and Del's band hopped on the PHJB Bus. While on the bus, Clint Maedgen, Ronnie McCoury, and Alan Bartram jammed a bit and the result - "Bonnaroo (Feel The Magic)" - The Official Theme Song for Bonnaroo!!!

Here's the official word from Bonnaroo:

"Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment are excited to announce that Bonnaroo now has an official theme song. The song, titled "Bonnaroo (Feel the Magic)," was written by the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. This will hereby serve as the festival's National Anthem, its howl of joyous pride, its exclamation of exuberance, its own rally cry of sorts.

The video below was actually captured the third time this song was ever performed by the artists and was taken backstage at a gig on their "American Legacies Tour" that Del McCoury and Preservation Hall are currently in the midst of. The official studio version of the single is available for download at iTunes.





Legendary hip-hop producer Mannie Fresh (Lil' Wayne, Juvenile) is currently working on a hip-hop remix of the song.

This is the way the song was written as recounted by Preservation Hall Creative Director and Tuba Man Ben Jaffe:

"Del's bus broke down outside of Chicago at 3am following our 'American Legacies' gig. Pres Hall turned around, picked up the stranded McCoury's on the side of the highway in the snow. Once aboard the bus, Ronnie McCoury presented the idea that the two groups work together to create an original Bonnaroo theme song in celebration of the 10th year anniversary. The melody and lyrics came to Preservation Hall vocalist Clint Maedgen as if the song had already been written.  An hour later, the first version of it was recorded on an I-Phone and this video was recorded backstage the following night."

The festival is very proud of its new theme song, and considering that Del and the McCoury's performed on the very first Bonnaroo as well as the festival's close connections to New Orleans, this song could not be more appropriate."

Catch Preservation Hall Jazz Band & The Del McCoury Band at Bonnaroo on the "The Other Stage" on Friday, June 10 at 7:30pm!


- http://www.preservationhall.com/