Indulgence in the Lowcountry: Exclusive Photots from the Southern Ground Music and Food Festival

Last weekend, Charleston, South Carolina became, if only for three days, the ultimate live music locale. The inaugural Southern Ground Music & Food Festival, curated by Zac Brown Band, descended on the Lowcountry for a weekend of sensory overload, from the southern six-piece’s own buttery harmonies to the melt-in-your-mouth pork tenderloin being sold from their mobile kitchen on-site.

ZBB reached a new level of super-serving here, over-delivering for the thousands lucky enough to be on-site.  Here are some shots I captured of ZBB, My Morning Jacket, and Sonia Leigh from the raucous scene at Blackbaud Stadium. Plans are already in place for next year’s festival – I think I’ll start fasting now.


Zac Brown’s Spicing Up My Lunch

Today for lunch is a packed salad…again, but unlike any other day today’s salad features left over pork tenderloin.  And it’s not just any pork tenderloin — it’s the second best I’ve ever had thanks to Zac Brown’s Southern Ground Grub Brown Sauce (more on the first below).  I’m an avid cook and what this sauce does to meat is something spectacular.  The subtle nuances of coconut milk, ginger and bourbon turn any meat into a melt-in-your-mouth delight.

Which reminded me of a post I started to write several months back after a visit and eat-and-greet with Zac Brown Band and Executive Chef Rusty Hamlin in Camden, NJ.

Here’s a general menu of what was served at my ZBB eat-and-greet.
- Pork Tenderloin – Zac’s Brown Sauce (often called love sauce)
- Beef Tenderloin – Georgia Clay Rub
- Pocket Knife Cole Slaw (featured in the cookbook)
- 3 Local Vegetable Dishes (As determined by Chef Rusty day of show)
- Fresh Salad
- Bread & Desserts from local bakers

Again, the pork is cooked in Zac’s sauce which is phenomenal and the meat itself is shipped in exclusively from White Marble Farms – and its exactly that, marbled to produce the most tender experience possible.  But back to the sauce, I really like the analogy Zac uses… he created his sauce like General Tso did for his soldiers — where it’s so delicious you could eat shoe leather — and believe me, I think I could eat shoe leather if it was smothered in this sauce.

The Georgia Clay Rub is equally impressive. The tenderloin was cooked to a perfect medium rare and the rub is all spice, no salt. Zac specifically designed it this way so that it wouldn’t draw moisture from the meat and it pays off. I’ve been personally searching for something like this because I find that all rubs out there are complete sodium bombs.

Vegetables when I visited were grilled brussel sprouts, a blend of fire grilled squash and cherry tomatoes peppers, and a delicious diced yam.

The salad was a spinach and goat cheese mix that was topped with White Balsamic Vinaigrette. Attached is a shot of the sample plate — it was PERFECTION.

But now the band has even taken one more step to super serve the fans — offering Front Porch Stage Boxes at select shows where you get an all-you-can-eat table with unobstructed views of the stage.  You gotta see it to believe it.

Chef Rusty Introduces Front Porch Stage Boxes