As soon as the snow melts off the ground, the Appalachian region begins gearing up for festival season. Early music festivals roll out Memorial Day weekend with the Vandalia Gathering in Charleston, WV, and Delfest in Cumberland, MD, and they don’t taper off until after the kids are back in school and high school football season is well underway.
On the East Coast, you don’t get much bigger than the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, TN. The festival in mid-June boasts a virtual army of musical talent playing amongst a sea of people. It’s a lot to take in and a bucket list experience for people who love music festivals, but there are other great events beyond Bonnaroo, each with their own particular flair. Here is a modest list of a few to explore.
The Early Jam Band/Adult Summer Camp Festival Experience
Mountain Music Festival, June 6-7
ACE Adventure Resort, New River Gorge, WV
Headliners include Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, Tropidelic and Big Something.
Notes: If you’re looking for an early helping of jam in Appalachia, you can hardly go wrong with the Mountain Music Festival, which has lots of extras. Hosted on the property of ACE Adventure Resort, you’ve got all the usual accoutrements of every music festival — wall to wall music all day, plus late-night jams, but the festival also offers access to a water park and adventure activities like whitewater rafting and mountain biking.
Single day tickets start at $99. Weekend passes start at $175. Camping and water park passes are available.
mountainmusicfestwv.com
The Big, But Still Sort of Small Music Festival
Nelsonville Music Festival, June 20-22
Snow Fork Event Center, Nelsonville, OH
Headliners include Charley Crockett, Watchhouse, Taj Mahal, The War and Treaty and Waxahatchee.
Notes: No two Nelsonville Music Festivals are really the same. The festival books very different headlining acts from year to year. One year, you have country legend Willie Nelson; another year, you have songwriter Randy Newman or the Avett Brothers or Ween.
The flavor changes a little, but it never strays too far from its core. It’s a big festival with a small festival feel because, alongside those big name acts, you also get a wide range of talented regional performers.
Single day tickets start at $100. Weekend passes start at $170. Camping is available.
Nelsonvillefest.org
The Music Festival For People Who Like Country Music…in Moderation
Buckeye Country Superfest, June 21
Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OH
Headliners include Jelly Roll, Kane Brown, Megan Moroney, Treaty Oak Revival, Dasha and Conner Smith.
Notes: Country music festivals often skew a little bit to the top 40 flavors. The Buckeye Country Superfest mixes it up, and Columbus has a lot to offer. So, while you’ve only got one day of music, there are plenty of other things to get into before you have to head home.
Tickets start at $89.74.
Buckeyecountrysuperfest.com
The Hometown Festival That’s Not In Your Hometown
Back Home Festival, June 27-29
New Martinsville, WV
Headliners include the Allman Betts Band, Here Come The Mummies, Dark Side of the Moonshine and Saxsquatch.
Notes: This is a gem of a festival. Located in a park in the river town of New Martinsville, expect a fun festival environment that you can take your kids to, really decent music (who doesn’t love Here Come the Mummies?) and the price is amazing — 10 bucks a day or $25 for the duration.
Spend your money at local shops and restaurants, buy some local art or just get a bunch of cool t-shirts.
Tickets start at $10. Some camping is available.
Backhomefestival.com
The Bed and Boogie Festival In The Mountains
4848 Festival, July 17-19
Snowshoe Mountain Resort, WV
Headliners include Lake Street Dive, Greensky Bluegrass and Dark Star Orchestra.
Notes: The 4848 festival (referring to its geographic location on a map) is for those who maybe want to treat their getaway weekend as a vacation and not like they’re preparing to storm Middle Earth. Along with great music, including double sets by Greensky Bluegrass, you can book accommodations on the premises that include a comfortable bed, a little kitchen and your own shower.
Sure, it’s great to fly your freak flag, but it’s also great to not sleep on a rock and only have to walk ten feet to find a bathroom.
But yes, they also have tent and RV camping for those who want that, too.
Weekend passes start at $345. Accommodations extra.
4848festival.com
The Festival To Alarm Your Kids Or Your Parents (Maybe Both)
Inkcarceration, July 18-20
Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield, OH.
Headliners include Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Falling In Reverse and Five Finger Death Punch.
Notes: This is the loud rock‘n’roll that might’ve scared your parents or members of Congress. This is the music and art for the counterculture that exists just outside the gleaming halls of pop radio.
Sure, lots of people have tattoos these days, but this festival celebrates the art put to human flesh and the community that adores it.
The volume is legit. This is a wall of sound coming at you. Bring your earplugs and strap in for three days of anthems ranging from angry to suggestive to heartfelt to not-at-all-serious.
Dancing is neither encouraged or discouraged, but shouting along and pumping your fist is just fine, too.
Passes start at $289.99. Camping available.
The Festival To Meet Up With Your Friends Or Make New Ones
Floydfest (Aurora), July 23-27
Check, VA
Headliners include: The Black Crowes, Mt. Joy, Gov’t Mule and J.J. Grey & Mofro.
Floyd, VA, is a charming town nestled among the mountains. Life leans toward quiet and slow-moving, except when Floydfest kicks into gear (almost) every summer.
This little, out-of-the-way festival brings in a kitchen sink of indie, alternative, pop, southern rock and Americana with some jam and string bands thrown in for the hell of it. There are a lot of big names on stage, but also plenty of rising stars, and the vibe of the whole festival is friendly.
Single ticket prices start at $180.20. Festival passes start at $392.08.
Floydfest.com
The Festival For Music Fans Who Also Play Music
Appalachian String Band Festival, July 30-August 3
Camp Washington Carver, Clifftop, WV
Notes: The Appalachian String Band Festival is not your typical music experience. It’s one of a handful of regional festivals that attracts almost as many musicians as it does music fans. People toting banjos, fiddles or guitars around the camp property is common, as are the jams that spin out endlessly.
Some come to learn old tunes. Others to teach. Many come just to play.
There are concerts and contests on the main stage and square dancing in the lodge, but the action goes on all day and all night among the campers in the woods.
Pro tip: If you come to camp and plan to sleep, bring earplugs.
This isn’t the sort of festival where big-name performers are advertised, but a few of them drift in with the crowds from time to time. You never know who might show up.
Day passes start at $15. Camping packages available.
Wvculture.org
Best Blues Festival In A Town Not Really Known For The Blues
Heritage Music BluesFest, August 8-10
Heritage Port Amphitheater, Wheeling, WV
Headliners include John Primer, Shemekia Copeland, Popa Chubby and Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band.
Notes: Fun fact: Wheeling doesn’t actually have a blues scene, but that doesn’t stop them from putting on a three-day blues festival. The weekend has grown steadily over the years and regularly features award-winning artists representing different shades of American blues music.
Tickets start at $125.
Heritagemusicfest.com
The Road Trip To Bourbon Country Festival
Bourbon & Beyond, September 11-14
Highlands Festival Grounds at Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville, KY
Headliners include The Lumineers, Phish, Sturgill Simpson and Noah Kahan.
Notes: If Bonnaroo is the champion of music festivals in the region, Bourbon & Beyond is maybe the chief competition. Every year, the festival attracts top acts to the main stage, but also some extremely talented performers on the smaller stages. It’s a real opportunity to see up-and-coming players in spaces about the size of your local dive bar but with better sound.
And because it’s in the name, there’s a lot of booze for sale at the festival. You can get it there, or explore the local area if you’re interested in taking a bourbon distillery tour.
Single day passes start at $154.99. Weekend passes begin at $359.99. Some camping is available.
Bourbonandbeyond.com
A Punk Is Still Not Dead Festival
The Four Chord Music Fest, September 13-14
EQT Park, Pittsburgh/Washington, PA
Headliners include Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World, AFI and Jawbreaker
Notes: Loud, anthemic pop punk music that’s a perfect excuse to go to Pittsburgh. This festival has been chugging along for over a decade. So, they have to be doing something right. Kids under five get in without a ticket, but that’s only if they arrive and depart with a parent.
Single tickets start at $154.12. Weekend passes begin at $293.81.
Fourchordmusicfestival.com
The Music With A Message Festival –and also, Tyler Childers
Healing Appalachia, September 19 & 20
Boyd County Fairgrounds, Ashland, KY
Headliners include Tyler Childers and Chris Stapleton, with more artists to be announced.
Notes: Healing Appalachia has been a festival to watch. Built around a message of hope concerning substance abuse recovery and the talent of Kentucky native and country music phenom Tyler Childers, the festival has grown steadily.
This year, Healing Appalachia tries on a new festival site for size with the Boyd County Fairgrounds in Ashland, Kentucky.
Weekend tickets start at $199. Camping available.
Healingappalachia.org
The Festival For People Who Like Country Music And Anything Related To Country Music
Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, September 19-21
Downtown Bristol, TN
Headliners include The Teskey Brothers, Lukas Nelson, Joy Oladokun and Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.
Notes: This festival celebrates the birth of country music and also some of the branches that evolved from it. You get a good mix of country, bluegrass, Americana, folk and some stuff that sounds suspiciously like rock ‘n’ roll.
Tickets start at $169.99. Camping available.
Downtown Bristol, TN
Birthplaceofcountrymusic.org
