Swamp Sounds: Local group among diverse music acts coming to Black Swamp Arts Festival

BOWLING GREEN — Carmen Cano loves Bowling Green and the coming of the Black Swamp Arts Festival is one of her favorite times of the year.

“Last year we started doing the interactive sculptures that people can help build and this year were doing that again,” said Cano, who is once again one of the 31-year-old festival’s marketing chairs. “A lot of our juried artists from last year will return this year, there will be a couple new food vendors out on the main strip.”

Cano is especially excited about the music lineup at this year’s festival, which begins Friday and includes both national and local acts.

“We have a couple really good bands this year,” said Cano. “I’ve heard really good things about Daniel Donato. I’m not really a big country music fan, but just listening to his stuff, I thought it was really cool. It kind of gives me that old school rock ‘n’ roll vibe.”

The lineup is diversifying, too.

“We’ve gotten a lot more female bands this year, Amy Helm is a really big name — I really like her stuff a lot,” Cano said. “Tom Gorman is coming back and he’s been at nearly ever single Black Swamp Arts Festival. And Kendall Street Company is coming; I’m a big fan of They Might Be Giants and Kendall Street Company does that tongue-in-cheek thing that They Might Be Giants does and I love that.”

Also playing the main stage this year at the Black Swamp Arts Festival is Toledo-based band Echo Record, a quintet comprised of Alex Lepiarz on vocals, guitarists Chris Rogge and John Bonamigo, bassist Elliot Phillips, and drummer James Gerhardt.

According to Rogge, Echo Record has been around for nearly six years and a majority of the band members used to play in a band called Human Juice Box, which got their start in 2008 when Phillips, Rogge, and Bonamigo all started playing music together while the three attended Maumee High School.

“I grew up listening to a lot of classic rock and everybody else kind of shared the same thing: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, the Doors, but we also listened to a lot of ’90s stuff and contemporary stuff like The Strokes and Jack White. Then we met Alex the vocalist and started writing new music with him, so we decided at that point it was a good idea to rebrand,” said Rogge.

Rogge said the band has released a self-titled EP that’s available on all the major streaming services and the band is currently recording new music.

“It’s definitely got an alt-rock sound to it, not as jam band or classic sounding. We’re recording some music right now that’s going to sound more surf-y and Fender-y,” said Rogge.

Rogge played the Black Swamp Arts Festival before during his time with Human Juice Box and said he’s excited to once more play the festival.

“I’m pretty excited about this year,” said Rogge. “It’s pretty cool to see Daniel Donato and share the stage with him. I’ve seen him play on a few occasions, like, once in Nashville. He’s incredible. I don’t know if we’ll be able to see him though, because we’re playing two sets (at the festival), we’re playing at the Village Idiot later that night, and we’re doing a show in Detroit the night before. So we’re doing four shows within 24 hours.”

Cano said in addition to a broad range of music, there will be plenty of activities and fun throughout the three-day event — the largest free arts festival in Ohio, that also houses several art shows, including a juried one with a top prize of $2,000.

The Black Swamp Arts Festival is also entirely run and operated by volunteers.

“We are 100 percent volunteer run, so none of the profits we make during festival weekend go towards salaries like other festivals would,” said Cano. “All of our volunteers love coming back each year. They love the experience, they love talking about the festival, so we utilize that word of mouth to continue to make the Black Swamp Arts Festival a free event.”

“Any money that we make goes towards scholarships within the community or goes right back into the festival — paying for these big acts, paying for marketing. We like to give back to our community. I’m really excited. We’re going to have a good time this year,” Cano said.