Residents of the Classic City will have at least one important event to look forward to in the sleepy summer heat this year – the 12th annual AthFest, scheduled for June 18-22.

In anticipation of the festival, Tasty World will host a free concert this Friday to promote the brand new AthFest 2008 compilation CD.

The disc is slated for official release four days later in stores and online.

“You can get a taste of AthFest this Friday,” said Russ Hallauer, manager of local label Ghostmeat Records and vice president of AthFest, Inc. “It is a free show, and it’s your first chance to pick up a copy of the new CD, which will be available for the special price of $10.”

The new 2008 edition features a full 19 songs and new cover art “drawn by a local artist named Catherine Stinson,” Hallauer said. “It was actually painted on stage during one of Dubconscious’s live performances.”

The release party boasts three of the bands featured on this year’s compilation. Indie-rock group Titans of Filth are expected to headline, preceded by folk band Timber, and Bluegrass favorites the Packway Handle Band.

Tom Baker, Packway Handle Band’s banjo player and singer, promises a performance seldom seen in the Athens environment.

“When we play live, our only means of amplification is two condenser mics placed right next to one another, which me and the three other singers in the band all kind of crowd around when we sing,” he said. “For Athens, it’s very unusual to see a band perform in such an old-timey manner.”

But Baker, who says his influences include diverse artists like Béla Fleck and Hot Rize, is quick to caution that this old-fashioned set up doesn’t reflect their musical style in the least.

“A lot of times, people think that since we feature straight bluegrass instrumentation, we’re playing in a very traditional way,” he said. “But I don’t think of our band as a very traditional bluegrass band at all – a lot of the songs that we write are actually very progressive and unusual.”

Hallauer showed additional enthusiasm about the entire lineup of the AthFest CD release party.

“I saw Timber for the first time a few weeks ago at Little Kings and thought they would be perfect for the show,” Hallauer said. “And the song [that] Titans of Filth gave us for this year’s CD is exceptional, so I can’t wait to see them live.”

The Packway Handle Band is no stranger to the AthFest compilation discs.

“We were on the AthFest CD two or three years ago for the first time,” said Tom Baker. “It turned out Ghostmeat Records was gathering songs for 2008′s compilation right when we had finished our newest album, so we sent it over to them for consideration.”

The group’s song “Gets Me Every Time,” affectionately referred to as “Whiskey” by its members, has been selected for this year’s compilation.

Titans of Filth’s “Our Impending Announcement” and Timber’s “Don’t Fail Me Now” also are included. Other local artists such as Five Eight, Dubconscious, Perpetual Groove, Dead Confederate and Hope for Agoldensummer contribute additional tracks.

“This year’s CDs flows really nicely,” said Hallauer. “It also includes 15 previously unreleased tracks.”

According to Hallauer, he and AthFest founder Jared Bailey first conceived the idea to release an annual compilation disc “to help promote the festival.” Finding their idea a success, Hallauer and Ghostmeat Records have released an AthFest compilation installment every year since.

“This is the twelfth annual AthFest, but the eleventh annual AthFest CD,” said Hallauer. “Every year, we try to balance the CD to show the diversity and quality of music here in Athens.”

“If you look at any AthFest compilation CD, it’s unbelievably diverse and eclectic,” said Baker. “There’s so many good things on there that are also extremely dissimilar, from all different kinds of genres. But it’s all really good and interesting. And that is what’s so awesome about Athens in general – there’s just so much eclectic music to be heard.”