By Sam Bishop

With AthFest 2008 just around the corner - the 12th annual music event takes place downtown June 18-22 - Ghostmeat Records has once again released the official CD accompaniment. This year’s release was produced by Ghostmeat founder Russ Hallauer and features a varied offering of 19 Athens-based acts, 12 of which have never appeared on an AthFest CD. The CD also features 15 previously unreleased tracks by bands such as Five Eight, Titans of Filth, William Tonks, Hope for Agoldensummer, Dubconscious, Dead Confederate and Russian Spy Camera, among others.

Crafted with loving care, like a well-ordered mix tape, the AthFest 2008 CD features a number of highlights. The collection kicks off auspiciously with the driving and singable “Curious Markings” by Bicycles and Gravel, followed immediately by the warm and slightly melancholy “Lit Elephants” by Madeline. Titans of Filth’s jangly stomper “Our Impending Announcement” keeps the momentum going a third of the way in, with a guitar melody pleasantly reminiscent of Love Tractor, Athens’ own patron saints of jangle-pop. The injection of bluegrass courtesy The Packway Handle Band provides a refreshing change of pace at the halfway mark with “Gets Me Every Time.” And both Dead Confederate’s dark rocker “Guns” and Russian Spy Camera’s shout-along “This Town Has Placed a Curse on Me” provide the tail end some heft, rounding out an overall strong showcasing of Athens talent.

AthFest 2008 CD is available at AthFest.com, Ghostmeat.com, select record stores, AthFest merch booths and globally via iTunes or your favorite digital music store. CD proceeds benefit AthFest, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation created to educate citizens and visitors about the music and arts scene of Athens.

Listen to Dead Confederate’s “Guns”:

“We don’t really live anywhere,” says Winter Sounds (playing Saturday at Go Bar) frontman Patrick Keenan. Though his words hint at homelessness, the gypsy life of the band is as strong an identity as any claim to residency could be. Though The Winter Sounds list their hometown as Athens on their MySpace page, the band spent two out of three days in 2007 on the road, putting their citizenship in question - if not for fans of the atmospheric indie-pop group, then at least for the local voter registration office. Preparing to relocate for a month to Austin, Texas, to record a follow-up to 2007’s “Porcelain Empire,” the band will add another wrinkle to their complicated constituency. Keenan says the process is “going to be hard” for the band. Read the full story…

Travis Williams is about to have the most significant weekend of his young life. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native, who moved to Athens three years ago, will celebrate the release of “Trickle Down,” his first full-length CD, on Friday at Little Kings. Less than 12 hours later, he’ll graduate from Georgia Law School. The 25-year-old Williams, who came to Athens after earning his undergraduate degree at Florida A&M, says he’ll have to temporarily set his rhyming voice to the side this summer as he studies for the state bar exam, but he does plan on a string of shows (Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Washington) sometime in August and is scheduled to appear at Rye Bar during AthFest. Read the full story…

Stephen Marley believes in the bonds of family. “I come from a strong heritage,” said Marley, the second son of reggae legend Bob Marley. Marley, who will bring his music to the Georgia Theatre tonight, released his well-received debut album “Mind Control” last year at the ripe age of 34. Up until then, he’d been too busy to set aside time to focus on his solo career. “Just, you know, being part of the family in that sense,” he said. “Our movement as a family.” Read the full story…

The Chattanooga Pulse has a story about hope for agoldensummer with an interview with Claire Campbell. The band has a show there tonight.

And here’s another interview with Patterson Hood, this one in the Charleston Post and Courier, in advance of the Drive-By Truckers’ show there tonight.

Sarah Tollerson
8:30 p.m. today, Flicker Theatre and Bar
A recent graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Sarah Tollerson is playing a show in her hometown. Occasionally backed by a band, Tollerson’s songs range from soulful ballads to energetic rock songs. Jesse Aucel will also perform.
- Trisha Klein

Stephen Marley, Gully Bank Sound System
8 p.m., Georgia Theatre
Grammy Award-winning Stephen Marley will fill the Theatre with reggae rhythms that would make his father, Bob, proud. You can almost smell the herb wafting through the air already. Gully Bank Sound System, also from Kingston, Jamaica, like Marley, will bring more reggae to the stage. - David Bill

• Caledonia: CEX, Ecstatic Sunshine, Gift Horse.
• Farm 255: Romanenko, Elisa Victoria.
• Flicker: Jesse Aucel, Sarah Tollerson.
• Georgia Theatre: Stephen Marley, Gully Bank Sound.
• Little Kings: early - Ken Will Morton; late - Live Well.
• Melting Point: Tiny Jazz Arkestra.
• No Where Bar: Free Lunch.
• Rye Bar: Don Auber and Friends, Splinter Belly.
• Tasty World: Celerity, Karbomb, Wristbandits.
• Wild Wing Cafe: Kip Jones Duo.