We know them all too well, these Southern summers, when the air is too thick to breathe and time stands cruelly still. There is something about the stasis of this season that melts brains into puddles of goopy nostalgia. Heat-drained and homesick, we Southerners conjure up echoes from our collective past, the sugary sounds of well-worn stringed acoustic instruments: fiddles, banjos, guitars. It’s the sort of music often referred to as “Americana.” You know, old-timey stuff.

In Athens, this music endures through generations. For the fourth year in a row, the Classic City American Music Festival sets up shop at the Melting Point for a long day of such classic musical stylings and family-friendly fun. Troy Aubrey, president of Foundry Entertainment, which is co-presenting the event with bluegrass institution Packway Handle Band, explains the reasoning behind the down-home focus.

"There is an amazing [number] of musicians in Athens that have been here for 20 [or] 30 years that still perform Americana music," Aubrey says. "Folks like [Curley Maple fiddler] David Blackmon and Tommy Jordan of String Theory have been performing this type of music for decades."

But for some, “Americana” is a loaded term. “‘Americana’ [is] a difficult one,” says Packway Handle Band fiddler Andrew Heaton. “Many people consider all American roots music to be ‘Americana,’ while [others] consider it a form of alt-country.” It’s one reason why, unlike the Athens Americana Festival, which takes place each spring at Little Kings, CCAMF organizers choose to forgo the term in its official description.

Regardless of semantics, the laid-back environs of Athens provide a perfect incubator for this music. And recently, a not-so-distant stylistic relative has infiltrated the mainstream and inspired a whole new generation of folks to put down the gadgets (at least temporarily) and pick up the guitars. As Aubrey notes, "I can’t think of [another] time when there were all these amazing acoustic acts... that appealed to such a large demographic."

The commercial success of groups like The Avett Brothers ensures that like-minded acts on the rise can more readily receive the attention they deserve. But, like the music itself, this process is still highly organic; for instance, first-time CCAMF performers The Four Thieves joined the bill after festival organizers discovered the group busking on a downtown Athens street.

The inclusive lineup for this year's CCAMF should provide the basis for a bevy of captivating tunes. Alongside headliners like Mountain Heart are names like Jim White, the vagabond songwriter of a softly twisted and wildly captivating brand of Southern Gothic folk. White has resided in Athens for several years but performs here infrequently. For artists like him, CCAMF provides a welcoming home. For all of us, it is both a loving ode to and a brief respite from this sweet, sweltering season.