This year’s edition of the Nelsonville Music Festival seemed to embrace more genres than in years past. At its conception, it was identified as a Folk Festival of sorts. Still, the sound has grown in recent years while maintaining its grassroots hometown ethics.
With main stage acts like Courtney Barnett, Killer Mike, Amyl and the Sniffers, and Thee Sacred Souls, the vibe still remains Local, community-based, and dedicated to sustainability. They’ve hit the mark with size-appropriate stages for acoustic sets, up-and-coming indie acts, and more established artists spread throughout the property. If you ask around, you’ll get stories from vendors and volunteers about how they show up year after year, all to support the small but mighty music communities of Athens and Nelsonville, Ohio. They’re thankful for the opportunity to see prominent artists right in their hometown each summer.
Snowfork stage is the largest of them all. It holds headlining acts all weekend and has some solid openers. One of the most memorable is The Nude Party, a pack of childhood friends in matching Wrangler kits. You may recognize their song “Chevrolet Van,” which goes on about the woes of unsolicited life advice from Boomer types. I’d strongly encourage you to check out “Ride On,” their first self-released album since cutting ties with a label they were previously signed to.
Looking back at this year’s lineup, a few more indie performances stand out to me. With their strong and slightly haunting acoustic sound, Kara Jackson was voted the most essential act not to miss by everyone in the press tent, for what its worth. As I’m partial to psych and pub punk genres, respectively, Friday gave an epic kickstart to the weekend featuring shows by Psych-Rock act Spoon Benders and Aussies Amyl and The Sniffers properly blessing Snow Fork and Porch Stages.
A Saturday Night Banger. Although the festival is officially 3 days long and full of incredible performances overall, the Saturday night late show at the Porch Stage feels special; this party always erupts in camaraderie and headbangers. Imagine this, the main stage acts are packing up, and the massive crowd shuffles across the grounds to face one last effort for the night.
Frankie and The Witch Fingers began this year after headliner Courtney Barnett. And maybe it’s something about the smaller setup that gives local club or the fact that it’s the end of the night, so there’s nothing to lose. Still, I get the overwhelming sensation when you’re thrashing with your best pals. Maybe it’s a carefully orchestrated plan; this is likely true, but as in 2023, when Altın Gün hit the 10:30 slot at the Porch Stage, the light show flashed, illuminating the incoming dew suspended mid-air and making the leaves flicker on trees overhead. At last, everyone danced.
Sustainability on the trail of the unsustainable.
Nelsonville is a prime example of large event sustainability efforts. It has a solid commitment to zero waste through Reuse, Compost, Recycling, and a Culture of Awareness. This dedication is the slogan and a way of life for volunteers and attendees. Throughout the weekend, you can notice glass or metal pints in hand-sold by the local beer vendor(personally, one of my favorite NVMF keepsakes); no disposable cups are used. This is a choice that, since taking effect in 2011, has been estimated to save 458 lbs of plastic from going into the waste stream. On-site, they’ve also provided free water stations(omg) so attendees can stay hydrated during their days in the Ohio sun... At the same time, everyone utilizes reusable bottles; this effort is estimated to have saved another 270 lbs of plastic waste.
Along with a massive team of volunteers assigned to sort through all on-site waste throughout the weekend, NVMF also has an ongoing effort to include zero waste on the campground side of things; although this remains in development, they have made progress. The effort assigned to provider Zero Waste Event Productions is visible to all, with sorted bags stacked as a trophy of achievement. Messaging about sustainability and NVMF waste reduction is a regular reminder of our responsibility for proper disposal throughout any festival, and it’s working.
At its core, Nelsonville Music Fest is family-friendly, but not overwhelmingly so; all three days include a large, fully equipped area that keeps kids engaged while still involving them in the music, like this daily piñata lineup and performances by the local Stuart’s Opera House’s Afterschool Music Program.
As Sunday came along, there was no winding down in sight, with main stage acts like Thee Sacred Souls and The Heavy Heavy, Porch stage acts like John Vincent III and Kara Jackson, and The Local Honeys taking on the hammock-lined home of NVMF’s video recorded sycamore sessions at Creek Stage. Sunday felt like the most crowded day of all. It possibly brought more of an ode to the original days of Nelsonville, bringing the more easy-listening crowd.
As you can see, there’s something for everyone here. Somehow, the curators have avoided the folly of having too much of too many things with intentional planning and by providing pockets all over the property where you can explore your favorite types of music. Since moving to the Snow Fork Event Center grounds, the festival has gone from a niche local event to something people travel from around the country to see.
Seemingly, Nelsonville appears to be the festival everyone I know is interested in attending, especially those who are emerging in the folk and country side of things. It’s still smaller, and that’s to its benefit. But from here, in the world where you hear about the challenges facing artists and the costly woes of attending more well known large festivals, it’s easy to picture Nelsonville forging new standards for multi-genre events as an established production run by locals who mainly want to do good for their community and have a good time.
Writing, Film, and Digital Photography by Syd Fuller. More at https://www.sydfullerphoto.com/