Time To Kill Campout 2025: “Birth of the Possie Awards”
Written by Emily Clark, with some help from the Best Secret Keeper
EFFINGHAM, IL - We had an epic time kicking off the Festival season with the Time to Kill Campout on Sunday, May 25, 2025! This was the 5th year for the Poss Music Works crew to get together on a Memorial Day Sunday (or thereabouts) to dust off the grounds and christen the stage for another year at Reel Marina with our music community! Time To Kill Campout #5 did not disappoint.
Check out the video recap, including all the Possies, plus songs from each act!
We welcomed two outta town bands to The Stage at Lake Sara: Rory Book and the Volumes, and Nick Gusman and the Coyotes! Nick and the fellas will be back in September for Summer Sundown but it was fantastic to get a taste of the St Louis rockers. Rory Book comes from Champaign and they put on one heck of a show for us! Hopefully we will have more chances to link up with them!
This year saw the addition of The Possies - our very own Poss Music Works Award Show. Attendees were able to make a donation to PMW, make up their own award and have it presented to that person on stage!
The music kicked off at roughly 2pm in the perfect misty weather with a songwriter showcase featuring Ryan Noir (Charleston, IL), Taylor Steele (Watson, IL), and TJ Johnson (Paris, IL), each of the acts shared songs they'd written, some stories behind the music and also joined in with each other as the music hit. Special guest- Kenny Strangs (Kendell Scott) added some steel here and there.
Up next was the first round of The Possies! Doug and Christine Winters won “Newest Grandparents (and best hospitality staff)”, nominated by Garrett Burris and Amber Wakefield won “Thanks for Changing My Life”, nominated by Emily Clark.
After the showcase, Bill Poss and the Useful Tools (Featuring JJ Passalacqua) took the stage. Bill announced he would give out a Possie to the best chicken dancer, and all the kids took out their wings and chicken danced their feet off. Austin Stark (Drums) blatantly flaunted the “No Hand Percussion” rule. The band ripped through a set of Bill Poss originals, new cuts off the “Our Way” album by LoveSeat, and Larry Paul shined on the Fender Telecaster!
Following the Tools, we had another round of The Possies- Ryan Noir won for “Best Songwriter”, nominated by TJ Huddlestun (which Garrett ‘threatened’ to steal) and Austin Stark won for “Best Drum Teacher”, nominated by Victor Sehy and told us we should all play drums because it brings a lot of joy into people’s lives but that he had no interest in teaching the rest of us. Bummer.
Rory Book and the Volumes took the stage to teach us a thing or two. We learned that 1) They bring the heat. 2) Kids these days are still huge fans of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla”. Rory Book brings a ton of soul and fire into their special blend of blues and alt country. Don’t miss these guys if you see em out and about.
Holy Cow, it’s The Possie Awards! Three to hand out this time – The PMW Volunteer Extraordinaire Award went to Emily Clark (it means a lot, I love yall). Best Secret Keeper was awarded to Garrett Burris and no one will ever know why. Finally, the promised Best Chicken Wing Dancing Award went to Coco Debenham, who was simultaneously under and overwhelmed by the whole ordeal. And it was adorable.
Our good friends, Jacob Kuhns Experience were up next and WOW have these dudes carved out their own sound and done amazing things with it. They combine original tunes with a blend of new and old covers, all the while slapping their particular stanky blend of grungy, punky, bluesy funk all over it. This band is a don’t miss live act.
Round FOUR of the Possies awarded Kyndall Andrews with the “Best Bartender” award. Literally everyone nominated Kyndell, and if you’ve ever been blessed enough to be served by her, you know why. We love seeing Kyndall out at the Lake for our events and we know she loves us all too.
The penultimate act of the evening was future SSMF act, Nick Gusman and the Coyotes! This act got us ALL pumped to see them again in September. The nicest group of guys you could ever meet backstage and just absolute killer talent on stage, we couldn’t help but include two of their songs in this video. From their new album “Lifting Heavy Things”- “Slow Down Katie” flowed into the heavier “Shortcut The Mountain” like lava in a lamp, and we’ve been dancing to them both for the last two weeks.
We had one more Possie to award, but first we announced the engagement of The Queen of the Vibesquad and the King of Gods himself, Nichole Wright and Jacob Ingrum. PMW loves you both and we can’t wait to throw you a party where you don’t have to do a thang. The last Possie of the night was awarded to Garrett Burris’ pants and we’re just gonna leave it at that.
Garrett Burris himself took the stage with Time To Kill to close out the end of the night. The entire set was absolutely killer. They’ve added some new covers, some new arrangements and a new bassist (welcome to TTK, Corey!) but the star of the evening was Garrett’s newest song, “Georgia G”. Georgia knows this is her song, too. She’s a frequent guest on the stage, but this is the only song she’s ever sat through AND faced the band for its entirety. What a good girl.
Thanks to everyone who came out to support the show and Poss Music Works!
