One of the region’s largest music festivals announced its lineup of folk-leaning artists this week.
The ninth annual Blue Ox Music Festival kicks off June 22–24 in 2023, at The Pines Music Park in Eau Claire (the music capital of Wisconsin), featuring three days of “genre-weaving, electrifying” tunes from the best in bluegrass and Americana music—including Twin Cities-based Pert Near Sandstone, Charlie Parr, The Last Revel, Buffalo Galaxy, The Foxgloves, and the Wild Goose Chase Cloggers.
“The festival welcomes back the annual summer pilgrimage of bluegrass, Americana roots, and folk artists, and their devoted music festival fans,” a media release says, “returning to the tall trees and rolling hills of northern Wisconsin.”
Check out first-time headliner The Avett Brothers—a folk-rock band based in Concord, North Carolina with years of Billboard chart success and a devoted local following—and notable Mike Gordon—founding member of fusion rock band Phish. Dance along to the sound of regional musicians Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, Them Coulee Boys, Feed the Dog, Jason Dea West, Black River Revue, and a number of other groups including Sam Bush Band, Charley Crockett, The Infamous Stringdusters, Sierra Hull, Kitchen Dwellers, Daniel Donato, The Lowest Pair, Yasmin Williams, Joshua Ray Walker, Kyle Tuttle, Rainbow Girls, Henhouse Prowlers, Big Richard Band, Pixie and The Partygrass Boys, Barbaro, Sicard Hollow, Stillhouse Junkies, Mama Said String Band, and more announced soon.
There’s more than just music at this small-town get-together, though. Check out The Soul Sanctuary, where there’s yoga, sonic ceremony, sound healing, meditation, breathwork, and reiki. Or try an instrument and songwriting workshop, where you can learn more about bluegrass, Americana, roots, and string genres from instructors who are musicians themselves. BYO instruments for the Potluck Pickin Area, where you can meet up with fellow musicians for a campground jam session hosted by the Potluck String Band. There’s art installations, drinks, food trucks, craft vendors, a nine-hole disc golf course, and children’s activities courtesy of Boats and Bluegrass.
Gear up for the festival with Pert Near Sandstone’s Nate Sipe and Justin Bruhn’s The Road to Blue Ox podcast series, where they interview Blue Ox artists and play music from this year’s lineup.
Attendance will be limited to 5,000 tickets to “preserve the intimacy and magic that the festival was built upon.”
For more information, including camping accommodations, check out blueoxmusicfestival.com.
December 9, 2022
12:00 AM