Music has often been known to bring people together, a melodic tool in unifying the masses.

     In Brookhaven, it brings people back together.

     Saturday’s 13th annual Brookstock Music Festival did just that as a crowd of old friends and former students from the Brookhaven area reunited to reminisce to the sound of bands of their past.

     Members of The Brutes and the Rooks, two local high school bands from the 1960s, as well as others performed their nostalgic tunes for an audience of old and young alike in the Brookhaven Recreation Department Saturday night.

     The set lists were full of originals in addition to the bygone classics of the era such as the typical Bob Dylan covers.

     Brutes band member Don Jacobs started the event as a way to get his old band back together. After more people started attending and more musicians joined the Brutes members, Brookstock evolved into a small-scale music festival and an ideal venue for old friends from the area to reunite. 

     Tyler Bridge, owner of Brookhaven Music Co. and local session musician, has been playing at Brookstock since it started in 2000. The younger musician joined the stage with almost every seasoned performer Saturday.

     “It’s very special that we have been able to keep this going for so many years,” Bridge said. “Everyone here is extremely talented and for them to all be from Brookhaven makes it even more special.”

     The success of Brookstock performers such as Ed Safley Tree, who is now a successful musician in Los Angeles, prompted them to ensure their mark in local history is heard for generations to come.

     Jacobs, Tree and others donated a collection of their CDs to the Lincoln County Historical Society during a ceremony before Brookstock Saturday.

     Brookstock may be a great opportunity to catch some great local entertainment once a year. But most importantly, as the crowd explained Saturday, it’s about reuniting with old friends and catching up with those familiar faces of the past.

     “It’s always a great time and lots of fun,” said Cathie Smith. “The best part about it is connecting with old friends.”

     Cindy Tolbert is a former Brookhaven native who now lives in Laurel.

     “We all meet once a year right here,” Tolbert said. “But I haven’t seen some of these people in 40 years.”

     Next to Tolbert, a man who identified himself as Cornbread Wallace, a nickname he said was a product of his high school years, seemed to sum up the occasion.

     “You really feel that old camaraderie here,” he said. “Memories never get old.”