Nash Bash returned to the Kerrytown neighborhood for its third straight year on Thursday, drawing a relaxed crowd out to enjoy an evening of country music, barbecue and chatting with friends.

Stormy weather earlier in the day eventually gave way to clear skies, and AnnArbor.com photographer Lon Horwedel captured some images from the party:

The Bash expanded this year with satellite events earlier in the day, but the core formula remained the same: Ann Arbor gets a taste of Nashville style at the Farmers Market site, with rising country music performers and delicious food from the aut Bar.

Opening acts were Anna Ash & the Family Tree, Matt Boylan with Jim Weiman, and Jennie Knaggs & the Sure Shots. Singer-songwriter-guitarists Angaleena Pressley and Sean Locke were the Nashville contingent this year. A married couple, each performed their own set for an appreciative crowd before the night wrapped up with a return engagement by Whit Hill and the Postcards.

Once again, the Music City talent was scouted out by Ann Arbor-to-Nashville transplant Hill, well remembered in Ann Arbor as a dancer, musician and more. She and her husband, Al, also a well-known local musician, moved south a couple of years ago, but the Nash Bash is one way they've kept in touch.

In its third year, Nash Bash has already become something of a local tradition, and Hill promised the event would be back next year,