Bands at the Beach

Sandy Wyatt knows his country and blue grass music. And for the nine remaining members of The Sawmill Band, next Tuesday night will be one to remember.

The band, which plays regularly at Chumuckla’s Farmer’s Opry House will be dipping their feet in the white sands of Pensacola Beach to play at the Bands on the Beach concert.

“This will be our first time on Pensacola Beach,” Wyatt said. “We were booked the day Hurricane Dennis hit a while back.”

Wyatt said the band would be incorporating some of their usual sounds into the Tuesday line-up, but will also try to appeal to the beach scene with some Jimmy Buffet toons.

The band signed up to play at the Bands on the Beach several months back according to Wyatt, who said he has several fans in the Gulf Breeze area.

“We also play at Seville Park and will be playing there on the 29 th ,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt said he expects all 10 members of the Sawmill Band to be in attendance including eight-year-old Chloe Channell.

“Usually we will have one or two people missing. Channell has school sometimes, but she will be with us at the beach,” Wyatt said.

The eight-year-old warmed the hearts of the crowd at the Frank Lay and Robert Freeman benefit concert last year at the Farmer’s Opry House.

But the young singer wasn’t the only groupie to get an early head start. Melissa Welch started with the band when she was 10 years old.

The band, which celebrated its tenth birthday this year, will also be playing at the Farmer’s Opry House Saturday night and plays every Friday and Saturday night at that location.

“We are excited to play out at the beach,” Wyatt said. “We will try to incorporate Jimmy Buffet music in for the crowd, but we will play a lot of our country hits.”