Williamsburg Live is gearing up for one of its biggest celebrations of live music yet.
The three-day music festival returns June 16 with a lineup that includes American roots band The Wood Brothers, legendary singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins and five-time Grammy Award winner Keb’ Mo’.
For Loggins, who turned 75 in January, the show is part of an extended final bow as he gets ready to retire from touring after a prolific, decadeslong career.
“It’s been quite a while since I (first) hit the road in 1971,” said Loggins in a phone interview. “It’s my last of the solo career tours, as far as I know. I may do a benefit here or there in the future, but right now I just want to close this segment and this part of my life out so I can move onto the next section.”
Loggins said he got his first taste of what a life of retirement might be like in 2020 when COVID closures put a halt to touring around the world.
“I actually got off the road for a year and started to have a home life like I haven’t had in a long time,” he said. “It was such a good time, just my gal and I together, hunkered in, and it felt so great. I thought, this is kind of what retirement will feel like. It kind of put the bug in my head.”
For Virginia Arts Festival Executive Director Rob Cross, having Loggins stop by on his final tour was a can’t-miss opportunity.
“We’re probably one of the smaller venues on this tour, which is kind of exciting that we were able to get a date for Williamsburg,” he said.
The event, which is presented by the Virginia Arts Festival along with the city of Williamsburg and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, will be held on the Lawn of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg June 16-18.
“We’ve got three really great headliners and they all bring something different to the table,” said Cross. “We try to program something that we think will reach a wide area of interest.”
Tickets are still available online at www.vafest.org/williamsburg-live/tickets, over the phone at 757-282-2822 or in-person at the Virginia Arts Festival box office on Bank Street.
On Friday, The Wood Brothers will perform with special guest Shovels & Rope, followed by Loggins and Yacht Rock Revue on Saturday. Wrapping up the weekend Sunday is Keb’ Mo’, whose real name is Kevin Moore, and Peter One.
Loggins is a two-time Grammy winner and earned an Academy Award nomination for his song “Footloose,” which appeared on the soundtrack for the 1984 movie of the same name. In addition to “Footloose,” Loggins has written a number of well-known songs for movies like “Top Gun” and “Caddyshack.” Before embarking on his storied solo career, he was one-half of rock-pop duo Loggins and Messina with Jim Messina.
Moore is an American blues musician who has garnered critical acclaim throughout his long career. He won his first Grammy award for Best Contemporary Blues Album with his 1996 output, “Just Like You.” In 2015, he performed at a special concert hosted by former President Barack Obama, “A Celebration of American Creativity: In Performance at the White House.”
The Wood Brothers are a three-piece band featuring brother Chris and Oliver Wood and Jano Rix. Before forming their band in the early 2000s, the two Wood brothers pursued music careers independently of each other. They released their first studio album as a group, “Ways Not To Lose,” in 2006.
Since then, they have released eight more albums, including 2023’s “Heart is the Hero,” which was recorded analog to 16-track tape, allowing the members to embrace “the chemistry of their acclaimed live shows by capturing their performances in real-time direct from the studio with nary a computer in sight,” their website reads.
“The live thing is definitely what we’re all about,” said Oliver Wood in a phone interview. “When it comes to recording the music, in most cases, we like to try to capture some of that live energy in the studio as well. … The idea for us when we make recorded music is to really capture a moment rather than construct something one piece at a time.”
Getting out and touring this latest album has been exciting, Wood said, not just because of the new music but also because touring has bounced back so well.
“Touring has been going strong now for a year and a half, with sort of a gradual build,” he said. “Last summer was a good touring summer but I think this one’s bound to be a little bit better … in terms of just being back to the level it was before (the pandemic).”
For Moore, getting back on the road is a chance to keep fine-tuning and growing his live show.
“It’s a two-week run and I’m really looking forward to getting out there,” he said during a phone interview. “We’re very much into the minutia of how things sound and how it comes together in the production: not too loud, not too soft, not too dense, not too empty.
“We want to create an atmosphere that’s pleasing and healing and you can hear the words of the songs and everything is all wrapped around the songs. Something that’s transformative, for us and especially for the audience.”
Beyond just the lineup, Cross said he’s thrilled that the festival’s attendance numbers seem to be getting back to normal after the long COVID lull.
“Ticket sales are going really well,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of good feedback and buzz from ticket buyers and sponsors, so we’re excited that this is probably the closest we’ll be back to normal with Williamsburg Live since before COVID in 2019.”
When Loggins’ tour ends in November, the longtime performer knows it’ll be a bittersweet moment.
“I’ve been looking at (what I’ll miss about touring) as I go, and I think the connection with the fans is the biggest one,” he said. “On a good night with a good audience, there’s a group flow that happens that doesn’t happen in other situations of my life. I’ll miss just the connection, that feeling that happens when everybody’s in the same place at the same time.”
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If you go
When: June 16, 17 and 18. Gates open at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Lawn of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, 301 S. Nassau St., Williamsburg
Tickets: Start at $35 for each concert for Friday and Sunday and at $49 for Saturday; $112 for three-day package. Free lawn seating for children 6 and younger.
Details: vafest.org; 757-282-2800
Free parking is available at the Visitor Center, and the shuttle bus service to the Historic Area will be available with or without CW admission tickets. Food and beverage vendors will be on site.
Sian Wilkerson, 757-342-6616, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com
