July 08--Myron Mixon -- a judge on Destination America's "BBQ Pitmasters" and three-time barbecue World Champion -- describes the atmosphere at Windy City Smokeout as "the barbecue lifestyle."
What exactly does that mean, besides, presumably, mouth-watering meat and a red stain or two on your shirt?
"You're outside enjoying friends and family, eating barbecue and, in the case of Windy City Smokeout, there's great entertainment," Mixon said over the phone Wednesday. "It's not a southern thing anymore. Barbecue lifestyle is sweeping the country."
Mixon is inviting everyone to take part in the craze when Windy City Smokeout returns to the lot located at 560 W. Grand Ave. He and a host of other pitmasters will be manning the grills at the festival -- which takes place Friday through Sunday -- while a mix of well-known and up-and-coming country acts perform on stage.
This is your guide to the third annual country music and barbecue festival, including who will do the cooking and who will do the singing.
Headliners
"Follow Your Arrow" singer Kacey Musgraves is scheduled to headline Friday, and two-time Grammy nominee Lee Brice -- whose song "I Don't Dance" won the Single of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards in April -- is expected to close out the festival Sunday. Chris Young is set to do the honors Saturday. The former "Nashville Star" winner plans to release his fifth studio album in the fall, which will include the single "I'm Comin' Over." Will he play any other new songs at Windy City Smokeout? Maybe.
"We're actually in the process of learning a couple (songs) as a band," Young said over the phone Tuesday. "When I first started, we would play everything and test it out on the crowd. Now it's hard to do that because the minute you play something, it'll be on YouTube by the time you get home. But it's Chicago and we want to have a great time, so we may play some."
Supporting acts
Pat Green was originally announced as the Friday headliner in February before Musgraves was added in April. Now he's scheduled to play a little earlier that evening. Also scheduled for Friday: A Thousand Horses (I recommend giving their song "Smoke" a listen). Dan + Shay and Will Hoge are set to take the stage Saturday, and Randy Rogers Band is expected to perform Sunday. Asked to recommend an under-the-radar act performing at Windy City Smokeout, festival co-organizer and Joe's Bar and Bub City co-owner Ed Warm -- named promoter of the year at the ACM Awards -- chose two artists on Sunday's lineup.
"Old Dominion is a true band where every member is a key element," Warm said by email Tuesday. "They are also incredible songwriters, having written eight No. 1 hits for other artists while building up a fan base of their own. Sundy Best looks and sounds so different than anyone else -- it's so cool. This duo really hits a chord with me and many others with songs like 'Home' and 'Until I Met You.'"
Food
I hope you're not planning on counting calories this weekend. The lineup includes Chicago's Bub City, Chicago q, Smoque BBQ, Lillie's Q, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Doughnut Vault and the West Loop-bound Gus's Fried Chicken. Coming in from out of state: Ubons (Yazoo, Miss.), The Salt Lick (Driftwood, Texas), Hogapalooza (Wynne, Ark.) and Pappy's Smokehouse (St. Louis). The latter restaurant will once again serve its baby back ribs, which was the best thing I ate at the festival last year.
The ticketed Sunday Brunch, which features dishes from the participating restaurants and Blood Marys and Mimosas from Bub City, also returns, this time hosted by "Man v. Food" star Adam Richman (you can also catch Richman Saturday at Taste of Chicago). Mixon returns for the third year and will serve up whole hog dinners Friday and Sunday and a rib dinner and Revolution Brewing pairing Saturday, all three of which are ticketed events.
"Whole hog barbecue is the best barbecue you'll ever put in your mouth," Mixon said. "When you cook the whole package, it all comes together and swaps individual flavors and makes it unique in ways you only get when you cook it as a whole hog. ... You might want to lay off breakfast and eat a light lunch. It's a 180-pound hog. You need to come hungry."
New this year
Besides Mixon's ticketed dinners, Windy City Smokeout will now offer a craft beer program and a second stage so that there are artists constantly playing throughout the day. More seating will be available in the new lounge and recreation area, which will include games of cornhole. Nightlife impresario R.J. Melman -- who is also behind the festival and a co-owner of Bub City -- said the festival space will be nearly twice as large as last year.
"We're hoping for 50 percent more people," Melman said over the phone Wednesday. "Every year we look at ways to improve the festival. Some of that was adding more space to do stuff. We really want people to get more out of it than just going to a concert. The goal is to become the premiere country and barbecue festival in the Midwest, if not the country."
Festival attire
There aren't many opportunities to break out a cowboy hat and cowboy boots in Chicago. Take full advantage at this festival, which in the past has looked like a scene out of a Florida Georgia Line music video with all the women in jean shorts and cowboy hats. Don't own a cowboy hat? There will be a shop on site where you can buy one. Keep in mind it might rain all three days, but it doesn't appear like it will be too hot. That's good news for Young, who, according to country music laws, must wear jeans and boots on stage even when it's scorching hot out.
"That is something we do," said Young, laughing. "I think we try to wear what we would normally wear. I actually recently did my first show in shorts. I gave up. It was in Key West, and I was like 'Hell no, I'm not wearing jeans.'"
Windy City Smokeout
When: 3 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday and Sunday
Where: 560 W. Grand Avenue
Admission: $40 for single day and $99.50 for three-day pass; windycitysmokeout.com
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