A magnetic feeling takes over the human mind at live music events, and it’s not just a sense of joy or excitement upon hearing an iconic band play your favorite song. It’s the electric connection of a shared experience, something that may change your life forever. It’s this charge that sparks The 912 Group, whose debut Dairy Daze Fall Music Festival celebrates music’s wide-spanning impact on humanity.
“Music is a language that carries an emotional response,” said sculptor Matt Toole, one of the group’s co-founders. “It’s life-affirming, life-altering, what music does for us as human beings.”
Toole along with Michael Edwards and Scott Saturday founded The 912 Group in April 2023 to promote and protect Savannah’s artists and creatives while supporting the broader community through philanthropic music and arts events. As the first of these events, Dairy Daze brings the community together for some family-friendly fun at the beautiful Old Roberds Dairy Farm.
But Dairy Daze is much more than just a day of great music. It’s also a way to support the community. Proceeds from the festival will benefit the Pegasus Riding Academy, a non-profit organization that provides equine-assisted activities and therapies for people with physical, mental or emotional disabilities. To deepen festivalgoers’ connection to this cause, the Dairy Daze stage will be set up in the same corral where Pegasus Riding Academy students complete their therapy, extending music’s electric connection beyond a few hours of jamming out.
Headliners include SOAP, Holy Scare, Ash Gray and Andrew Sovine Trio
And this connection isn’t just a fleeting memory. It’s a natural, casual way to start deeper conversations.
“A lot of the most important conversations you have in your life happen over a cup of coffee, over a beer with a friend, at the dinner table with your family, breakfast with your parents as you grow up—all kinds of things,” Saturday said. “This is one of the things that we want to create with this event and other events going forward, to be able to enhance the community and connect all of these people that might not know each other.”
To foster those connections, The 912 Group has created a stellar musical lineup that features artists from near and far. To start things off, the band Soap-Savannah brings a mix of rock, soul and funk to the stage. Next up in the lineup is Holy Scare, a prolific addition to Savannah’s music scene fronted by Ty Thompson of the Hypnotics and Rev. Bro Diddley and the Hips.
The Andrew Sovine Trio delivers another taste of local musical styling. Fronted by multi-instrumentalist Sovine, whose musical resume includes work with Grammy Award-winner Ashley McBride, the trio offers a rich and masterful sound built on a lifelong love for music.
Playing a mix of old and new tracks, these local bands provide a glimpse of Savannah’s modern music scene.
But what kind of Hostess City would Savannah be without welcoming broader music influences into its events?
To celebrate the wide-reaching community formed at events like Dairy Daze, Ash Gray will showcase a unique blend of international sounds. Blending influences from his roots in Austin, Texas, and his current home base in Sheffield, UK, Gray’s mix of traditional Americana and cosmic country promises to captivate audiences.
Using music to start conversations, create community, facilitate change
This span of sounds offers something for all crowds, encouraging the kind of electrifying connections sparked by the arts.
“Creativity covers a lot of territory, and I think it helps us create communities. It’s a way of being, a way of responding to our environment and our world,” Edwards said.
To help these conversations flourish, The 912 Group organized Dairy Daze with the mission of making sure everyone has a good time — even those who don’t typically seek out live music. Between sets, festivalgoers can enjoy comedians and other fun activities. When all this excitement works up an appetite, festivalgoers will have their choice of refreshments from Five Spot, Bowtie Barbecue Co. or Smashed Savannah. They’ve even planned for scheduling overlaps with football season, offering large-screen televisions featuring several games during the event.
There are also additional prizes for VIP ticket holders. These packages offer entrance to a special pre-party on Friday night on top of the festival on Saturday. VIPs will also be entered into a raffle for prizes from local breweries, Shindigs, Smithereens, Diamond Oaks Glam Camp and even Pegasus Riding Academy. When the spirit of gathering and giving takes hold, everyone does their part.
“Our community is showing up in support because they understand what Pegasus is doing for our citizens,” Edwards said. “I think they’re interested in seeing how our bustling and thriving music and arts scene is progressing, too. We’ve got some great support thus far, and we welcome more.”
This support is crucial for keeping the arts alive and strengthening the community as a whole. Art reveals part of the artist’s world and perspectives, and enjoying creative works together shines a light on the overlaps and divergences in our values and interests. Seeing others’ understandings can drastically change how we think about and exist in the world, a shift that has become increasingly important.
“There’s no time in the history of our country that I know of that it’s more important for people to recognize that they don’t all have to see things exactly the same way to be able to enjoy the company of each other,” Toole said.
When life gets rough, music is a source of relief. When life is bright and shining, music is a source of celebration. But no matter the emotions behind it, live music can quickly become a life-changing reminder that we’re all in this life together. So slip on your dancing shoes, tune in and get ready to rock out. We have lives to change.
If You Go >>
What: Dairy Daze Fall Music Festival
When: 3-10 p.m., Nov. 18
Where: Old Roberds Dairy Farm, 2500 Tennessee Ave.
Tickets: General admission, $40; VIP Pass, $65
Info: the912group.squarespace.com