Gainesville, Florida, rock band Sister Hazel became a popular act in the late 1990s on Atlanta radio, its jaunty pop song “All For You” peaking at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In recent years, metro Atlanta cities who seek to book affordable but recognizable bands for free summer concert series have found Sister Hazel both amenable and affordable.
Mark Trojanowski, Sister Hazel’s drummer for three decades and the only band member who currently resides in Atlanta, said the Sister Hazel in recent years has played concerts in Chamblee, Peachtree Corners, Buford, Villa Rica and this past spring’s Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival. This Saturday, the band headlines the free Trilith Makers & Music Festival in Fayetteville at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s kind of a weird,” he said. “It’s a little frustrating for me because we end up playing so many city festivals and other kinds of shows like that we hardly ever get to play the Tabernacle or the Roxy or Variety Playhouse. You can’t really play a hard ticket show.”
On the bright side, Sister Hazel doesn’t have to worry about selling tickets or playing to empty seats as long as the weather is nice. “We sometimes draw 5,000 people or more to these city shows,” he said. “People have always known us to be really good live show entertainment. And the city fairs and festivals know they’re going to get a great show from us.”
Unlike most bands, Sister Hazel has managed to keep its original five members intact for three decades. They now do about 80 shows a year, down from 200 a year during the band’s heyday in the late 1990s.
“We all have families and kids now,” said Trojanowski, 54, who is married with a 12-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son. “We put family first. We never do more than 10 shows a month. We’ll just play Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Else, we feel disconnected from home.”
Trojanowski said the band’s ability to stay together has a lot to do with an early decision to give all band members equal financial and decision-making stakes.
“It’s kind of like a democracy,” he said. “Everybody gets paid the same and we know we’re a band, not a lead singer with a bunch of backing musicians. It’s just healthier. It’s going to cause difficulties at times trying to get five people to agree on something. In the early days, we’d fight over the set list but the way we deal with it now is we rotate every five concerts. Everyone has a shot at the set list.”
He is also proud of the sustainability of the annual Rock Boat, which began in 2001 as an early cruise-based music festival with Atlanta-based travel company Sixthman and Carnival Cruises. Sister Hazel over the years has brought in acts such as Young the Giant, Collective Soul and Zac Brown Band. The concept has been copied by dozens of other bands.
The next Rock Boat in early 2025 leaves out of Miami to multiple Caribbean spots featuring acts such as Walk the Moon, American Authors and Tonic, who are tight with Sister Hazel and have done the Rock Boat numerous times.
“It was originally a thank you to our fans after getting our first platinum record,” he said. “We brought 750 people aboard and then we decided to do a whole ship and it became this phenomenon.”
Three of the five members of Sister Hazel lived in Atlanta at some point including bassist Jett Beres and guitarist Ryan Newell, who was once married to Star 94 morning host Jenn Hobby when she was on the Bert Show. Beres has since moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, and Newell is now remarried in Virginia. Trojanowski has lived in the heart of Atlanta since 2001.
“I grew up in New York so I want the city experience,” he said. “And I want the diversity for my kids to be in town.”
The band continues to work on new music with its 11th studio album set to come out next month. He said it is a bit more Americana than other recent work but they never try to hem themselves into a specific genre.
“We don’t really say, ‘Hey, we want to make this song a pop song’ or ‘We want to make this an Americana song’,” Trojanowski said. “We just listen to a song and play it, the five of us together, and create that Sister Hazel sound.”
IF YOU GO
Trilith Makers & Music Festival
2-9 p.m. with Sister Hazel starting at 7:30 p.m. Free. 240 Trilith Parkway, Fayetteville, eventeny.com.
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