The Voodoo you could do

We can probably take one look at you and guess why you’re going to the festival this year (see our guide for customized picks). Still, as open-minded as you think you are, Voodoo offers a lot of bands you would never give a second glance. But why should that be? You’re already there. They already have your money. You need to experiment to pass the time. Here are some suggestions for adding new colors to your musical palette.

GROWN-FOLK guide

Admit it, you liked R.E.M. in college. If you think the Georgia band’s music is still for kids only, you’re wrong. Adult Contemporary is R.E.M.’s greatest asset right now, and recent set lists have included plenty of ’80s tunes like “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville,” “The One I Love” and “Driver 8.” R.E.M.inisce at the Le Ritual Stage.

You’ve never heard of him, but by now you should have. Clint Maedgen has been making joyful noise for those loveable Hipster/Funk Daddy hybrids with the likes of Liquidrone and The New Orleans Bingo! Show for years. But maybe you noticed him for the first time last January raising the Superdome roof with his soaring version of the national anthem before LSU waxed Ohio State. Catch his soulful act, Clint Maedgen +9, inside the Le Carnival tent.

FUNK DADDY docket

Don’t write them off because they’re lilywhite and the lead singer is a closeup-ready blonde. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals may not bring the funk like you’re used to, but this fresh quartet makes soulful slide guitar and organ-tipped Southern rock swing better than any Vermont band has a right to. If you never saw Janis back in the day, give Grace a shot at making it up to you. See the band at the Le Flambeau stage.

And if you want to know how they get funky in the former Eastern Bloc, check out the rhythms of many a Hipster’s favorite Slavic-sounding stompers, DeVotchKa, at the Le Ritual stage.

HIPSTER list

Breathing new life into the Grown Folk’s soul and having opened for everyone from Jurassic 5 to the late Isaac Hayes, DJ Soul Sister is a great way to pick up the trash disco and vintage hip-hop your parents discarded before you were born. You might even find your moneymaker. Soul Sister spins on the Le Flambeau stage.

When Deacon John Moore was your age, he fronted the house band at New Orleans’ Dew Drop Inn and regularly upstaged the touring stars he opened for. Can’t get more indie cred than that. Well, maybe you can by quietly guesting on the Irma Thomas megahit “Ruler of My Heart.” At the Le Flambeau stage you’ll hear Moore’s tribute to Big Easy R&B with another under-the-radar performer, Wardell Quezerque, the Lee Dorsey-loving former co-owner of Nola Records.

Click here for more Voodoo Fest recommendations.