Mountain Holler, who plays The Ale & the Witch in St. Petersburg, Florida on Dec. 20, 2024. Credit: Michael M Sinclair

Friends, I’m here to tell you that there was a time when St. Petersburg’s 600 Block had multiple music venues on it. The spirit from that fruitful epoch of the Bay area music scene is revived in a Christmas miracle that sees expat cosmic-folk songwriter Mark Etherington come home to revive his Mountain Holler project.

To open the no-cover outdoor show, another revered songsmith, J.T. Brown—who plays in the Holler’s “New Dawn” configuration—once again finds himself fronting vaunted local Americana heavyweight The Groves.

There’s no cover to see Mountain Holler & the New Dawn play The Ale & the Witch in St. Petersburg on Friday, Dec. 20.