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WEHM All Access - Sag Harbor American Music Festival - Kelly Dodds · WEHM All Access

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is WEHM All Access a chance to get to know the performers of the Stan Harbor American Music Festival here for 2026.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I also wanted to chat with the person that puts the whole thing together.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: And she is the president of the Stan Harbor American Music Festival, Kelly Dodds.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Kelly, how are you?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm good.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very good, and thank you for putting together such a cool festival.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is that your 16, I think?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: It is sweet sixteen this year.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Can you believe you've been doing it for that long?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then because it really I guess uh the reason I wanted to really chat is to to get to know kind of the the history a little bit of the music festival.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess the first thing I I should say or or ask is uh what was the kind of the the the start for this festival?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: What inspired you to begin uh the Sag Harbor American Music Festival?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, honestly, moving so I moved to Sag Harbor after, you know, living my life to the fullest, moved back to Sag Harbor about 20 years ago, and I um, you know, I've always worked in the music industry.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a musician myself, and I was hearing like some really incredible musicians playing.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like actually at Bay Burger, they were having the jazz jam, which has evolved now into the the jazz fest that they have, they have this jazz fest.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I was really just blown away by the musicianship and like the quality of musicians, but also how the community would come out.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: It was like in February on a random Thursday night, and it was jam-packed with people, you know, like really just loving it.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking, you know, I loved, I'd produced and did music festivals before, and I thought, like, wouldn't it be so cool to do something here in Sag Harbor?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and just get to know the local music community better and um do what I love in the community, in my chosen community.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: So um I started asking around and I quickly met like-minded people, and I think you know we're a not-for-profit.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we fundraise all the money that that first year I thought maybe we'll put on like five bands.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um maybe we'll raise enough money for five bands one day.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: And we raised enough money for 20 bands, and I was blown away.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then that generosity of spirit and of you know, of money has uh continued through the years.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think like 80% of our local business sponsors have are continued with us through all 16 years.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it speaks to just sort of people's level of enthusiasm, but also it works, you know, it works for them, it works for the musicians, obviously.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone's having a good time, and uh it's giving back to the community.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Where did you where do you originally grow up?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I actually grew up on Long Island, I'm from West Babylon, and um I think we have Syracuse in common, right?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's right, yes.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Syracuse University.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I went there for music and studied, and then I was in New York and Los Angeles and all around, and then I came back to Long Island.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So you've uh you've talked about Sag Harbor being such a special place that kind of shapes the identity of this festival.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: What does what does Sag Harbor mean to you personally?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Beyond the music, what does Sag Harbor mean to you?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Sag Harbor is like this just it's this nugget of community, you know.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know how other people experience it, but for me, it's walking down the street, making eye contact with people, you know, generally smiling at them, asking them how their day is going, and like knowing people, you know, whether you know them from you know, working at the gym or being at the supermarket or your kids are in school together, whatever.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's just this really friendly, welcoming community.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like I felt, um I said it's my chosen community.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm from Long Island, but I always worked out in the Hamptons in the summers and you know, to earn a living and to pay for school.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it's just such a beautiful place.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, well, maybe someday I'll retire there, right?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: But I ended up coming out here and you know, meeting my husband, having kids, and having a great life.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it's grown.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's grown so much through the years.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the festival now spans three stages, different restaurants and and shops, alleys.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: How do you think about curating music for each space?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do you go about um designing the lineup for each year?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, so I don't do it alone.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: I have a partner, my co-artistic director is Carrie Farrell, and we actually worked together in Los Angeles uh at the Henry Mancini Institute years ago.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a history together.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're also very good friends.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but basically we're always talking music, you know, sharing with each other uh like new music that we've heard or bands that we like, and um, you know, we've been keeping tabs obviously on the community, like some bands we've known since they were like 16, like what since they started performing early and have you know grown and developed.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we try to, you asked, like, how do we put it together?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's so there's this the like the legacy acts, if you will, of the East End, where everybody knows them, everybody loves them, and of course, like that's the obvious.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: But then we're always trying to infuse some new, like, you know, sort of stretch the boundaries of people's minds of like music that they experience.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Since it's free, um, you know, you're just kind of walking around enjoying Sag Harbor, and you might come across, you might hear some music that you've never heard before, but it really speaks to you for some reason, and then you you you know, you get interested and you check them out.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's our hope is that we're expanding people, broadening people's horizons in some way, um, especially for young people, like hearing live, like the live music experience is such um, it's so unique, it's so different from you know, sitting in your room and listening to music by yourself, which can be very fun.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: But when you're in a room full of people or you're in an alley full of people, um, that energy and interplay between the bands and the you know the festival goers themselves, it's like that's where the magic happens, you know.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's the the when you walk away from something with a good feeling and you think about it for years to come.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like those kinds of experiences we hopefully are curating.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: I I love the fact that it's it's not just about the music, it's about showcasing the village of Sag Harbor.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want visitors to understand about Sag Harbor after spending kind of some time at the festival?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Is there something you want them to walk away feeling?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I feel like Sag Harbor is what do we want them to walk away feeling?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I want them to feel like they've experienced the community, you know, like they really feel like a part of.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like they're not coming into it as an outsider, but like they're coming in for the day or the weekend and just sort of immersing themselves in our little village.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, people say, why don't you have more um like food trucks or this or that?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Sag Harbor has everything you need, you know, like so you can go and get your food at all the local shops and you can go shopping, and you can get your sweatshirts, you can get, you know, whatever you need right here in Sag Harbor.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so we're hopefully also extending the season for the businesses.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I don't, it's not any one thing.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's this unique community.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: The shape of it, it's kind of like a triangle, right?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: You're coming down in toward the water.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: We have these two waterfront parks where we have two stages you were talking about.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: We have this uh alley stage, which is our fan favorite, where um it's next to the American Hotel that the whole center of Main Street, like you can hear whatever band's playing in the alley, it basically like lights up the whole village.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then we have other little nooks and crannies.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of like you're just wandering around the village and people like, where should I park?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't really matter.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Just find a spot and you can walk it.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's like less than two avenues in the city.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's really small.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's years it's year 16.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: What was year one like for you?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, very exciting, but uh when you look back at the at that first and even the first couple years, what were what was that like to get through?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's really the biggest thing.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: You had to get through the first couple years to have a long-term festival.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: What what was that like for you?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: I would say the the most interesting parts of that was working with the community, like really being working with the current mayors or the trustees, and um, you know, getting like just the logistics of everything down.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like they didn't necessarily know who I was or know my background or why I wanted to do something like this.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: So it was, you know, building that level of trust, uh, going to the Chamber of Commerce, talking with the village, talking with the business owners, with the schools, like you know, anyone who would listen really, and explaining what the vision is and how I think it could benefit everybody.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and then everyone, I feel like really just jumped in uh feet first and really accepted it, like for the most part.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: I there was a few challenges here or there through the years, but um, for the most part, everyone was very excited about it, and um, it's for the people who live here year-round, it's it's like seeing one another again at the end of the summer, you know.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I haven't seen you in months, everyone's working, it's been crazy.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, we can take a nice breath and relax a little bit, enjoy some music.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get to actually enjoy the music?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've seen you running around.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what's yes?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: I am running around, but I'm also enjoying the music.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like, I'm uh so Carrie and I, as we hired the musicians throughout this time, you know, we develop relationships with them.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, we work very closely with them in pre-production and setting up with a sound and you know, just all the little aspects.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we're really excited about hearing everybody and we'll tag team.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, SAGH was kind of small.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we sort of tag team who's gonna introduce what bands and make sure that we get, you know, wherever we need to go.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it's easy enough to communicate just to make sure that we get to see everybody that we all want to see everything.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: It it doesn't always happen that way.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, there's times where there's troubleshooting that takes place, like we've lost whole sound teams due to COVID a few years back, where that was that was a fun year.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh, you know, we just kind of he and I can fill in anywhere we need to.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: So we do that, but if nothing goes wrong, then you know, we're just out there enjoying the music and saying hi to people.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: How do you uh how do you ensure that the festival kind of continues to evolve each year, but also stay close to its roots?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'd imagine each year you want to grow it.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's it's funny you say that because we started out just with that one day of 20 bands and one nighttime show that was, you know, the the ticketed show.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um and now it's three full days of free music.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I like to say that we're sag harbor sized, like we're very aware of being sag harbor sized.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're not trying to get Bruce Springsteen to perform a long wharf and shut down everything.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like we want people to come and enjoy their village, their town, and not just the people who are from here, but you know, the whole East End, come from up island, wherever you're coming from, like come and enjoy it.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's for everybody.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: How do people apply?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I know bands and artists, I know there's an application process.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: How does that work for them?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And is it I'd imagine it's difficult.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's sometimes you really want to feature people, but maybe it's not their time just yet.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it's um we used to just have people sending us stuff all the time, and it got to be overwhelming, as you can imagine, through the years.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we we created that system by necessity um where people apply online.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Usually we open it up like in October, sometimes November, through our website, so sagharbormusic.org.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or if you're following us on Instagram or whatever, you'll see uh we usually say applications are open and people will submit their stuff.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then so there's Carrie and I, and then we have our board is like eight people, um, some also in the music industry.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we kind of have a nice group of like four, sometimes five of us that will listen to everything, sort of give it its just do it's a lot, it takes a lot of time to listen to everything.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: We have like 150 applicants, and you know, um we respect everyone that submits, we're listening to.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it's really great actually to hear uh the development because people will reapply year after year.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And to your point, you know, sometimes people like we like to focus on original music, of course.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, there's some incredible music out there that people are writing, but we also need a level of performance, right?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes people's musicianship isn't quite at the level of the performance, or vice versa.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's not just that, it's we want to have a balanced program.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like we have, you know, jazz, pop, like we have uh electric viola player coming this year.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: We have like all sorts of things going on.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um not that we're doing it just to be wild, it's just there's so many, um, there's so many styles and blends and uh like fusion really that we represent at the festival.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I feel like I talked myself in a circle.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, but it's been fun because I've had a chance to to chat with a whole bunch of the performers, and they're all very different.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it's it's really interesting.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was I was speaking to a jazz uh guitarist, and then you have you know kind of a pop uh poppier sounding artist.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it's it's kind of interesting to see how it was all put together.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I love the fact too that there's such a great story behind a lot of uh musicians from Stag Harbor and from East Hampton and from the East End.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're a part of this, and you're doing a great job of supporting them and uh giving them a platform.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for everything you've done over these 16 years, and we're looking forward to the weekend.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Four days of free music all throughout the village of Stag Harbor, stagharbormusic.org.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Kelly Dodds wish you the best this weekend and can't wait to see it.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and thank you for doing the festival each year.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank your partner as well.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's really been it's it's a great thing for the community.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, and we appreciate your support.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: I love hearing all the artists that you've had on the show.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's been really great to hear them.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a lot of fun, and uh getting to know a whole bunch of new artists too has been a great part of it.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for what you do, and uh, we look forward to the weekend.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we'll see you out there.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: All right, I'll see you out there.