20th Anniversary of Nelsonville Music Festival

If you’re not feeling the 250th anniversary of the United States of AmeriKKKa – I hear ya! I’d like to suggest a few other anniversaries to celebrate in 2026:

• 100th anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh 

• 70th anniversary of Play-Doh and Yahtzee

• 40th wedding anniversary for my parents

• 20th anniversary of Cars and Nelsonville Music Festival

See, lots to celebrate in 2026. So keep your party hats on. 

I was wearing an array of party hats (mostly in the shape of a sunhat) last weekend. I got to be right in the middle of the mix of Nelsonville Music Festival, June 18-20, 2026.

On July 23, 2005, Stuart’s Opera House produced its first music festival. (Though it’s existed for 21 years, there have been 20 festivals because there was not one in 2020.) It all started with a dream, six bands, and a crowd of 750. This year, the dream remained, but there were over fifty bands and thousands of people in attendance, with the weekend tickets selling out. 

I’d like to take you through (alphabetically) some of the folks I got to see this year. 

Anna Tivel

Based in Portland, OR, Tivel’s songwriting plucks your heart cords more strongly than her nimble fingers strum her guitar. Her sweet voice covers the words of her piercing lyrics. Her focus on ordinary, quiet life makes you feel like she’s seen you grow up. And, she’s married to Jeffery Martin, who made me sob in my seat at the Culture Center Theater during a June 2024 Mountain Stage performance. Speaking of Mountain Stage, Tivel is no stranger. Her performances graced the Mountain Stage airwaves in 2019, 2020, 2023, and 2026.

Anna Tivel: Tiny Desk Concert

Jeffrey Martin & Anna Tivel - There is a treasure - Live at the Cock N' Bull Restaurant

Elizabeth Moen

I sat across from her very Midwestern parents under the meal tent. It felt like I was having a chat with a bald Paul Bunyon as I ate my veggie vermicelli. “Yeah she’s played for a few people. Uh, Hozier. You heard of him?” She has shared the stage with quite the lineup of WTSQ favorites; Brittany Howard, Kevin Morby, Lucy Dacus, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Violent Femmes, and Squirrel Flower. During her performance she did two covers: “Nobody Wants a Lonely Heart” by Arthur Russell and “Can’t Hardly Wait” by The Replacements. Um, did she know I was in the crowd? 

Elizabeth Moen | Studio 3 LIVE

Elizabeth Moen - Can’t Hardly Wait (The Replacements) - Live at Timber Lanes - Chicago - 11/22/25

Emily Hines

This self-described chronically-sincere farm girl had a witty demeanor that snagged me the moment I saw her (I even saw her in the crowd the day before and thought, Who is that?). On stage with her was a jack-of-all-trades keyboardist, a bassist, and a percussionist, who had a self-made spiral cymbal and would rub rocks together into a microphone. As she announced her band she said what animals they would all be, herself being a horse. I thought that was apt since she had gorgeous hair and was wearing clogs.   

All of our Friends - Emily Hines (official video)

Emily Hines Live at WNXP's Sonic Cathedral (Full Performance)

Folk Bitch Trio

“Darkly ironic in the manner of writers like Mary Gaitskill and Otessa Moshfegh,” says their bio. I’ve never been fully sold on Otessa Moshfegh. This isn’t about her though. It’s about the Australian trio who is signed to the record label Jagjaguwar. I didn’t stay for their entire set because it butted against another show I wanted to catch, but what I did hear from their woven harmonies was, in fact, ironic. 

Folk Bitch Trio - God's A Different Sword (Official Video)

 Folk Bitch Trio - The Actor

Fruit Bats

This wasn’t the first time I saw Eric. D. Johnson on stage. I’ve seen him perform with his group Bonny Light Horseman in 2022. Formed in 1997 and signed onto Sub Pop in 2002, these megabat loving men have been on the scene for nearly thirty years. This was the last band I saw at NMF ‘26 and felt a joy hearing that Humbug song of theirs which made me tap my tired toes.

Fruit Bats - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

'He's Cranky': Rescued Bat Enjoys Banana

Geese

I feel like some corners of the internet cannot breathe without Geese now that they know a world with Geese. The Brooklyn based band’s 2025 album Getting Killed got a tremendous amount of buzz from NPR, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork. The Thursday day-passes for NMF sold out, we assume, for Geese (Wednesday was playing the same day). There’s a lot written about this band and I won’t argue against them. I like them a lot. I left their concert with these questions; How can a man born in 2002 from Brooklyn, NY have the voice of Jimmy Stewart trapped inside of him? Will other 20-something year old men with chunky pants and sunglasses revive the Stewart Drawl?

Geese: Tiny Desk Concert

Geese - Trinidad (Live on SNL) (Teyanna Taylor announcing Geese on SNL is really cool)

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

What can I say about Gillian Welch that hasn’t already been said. What a vision, what a voice. She used her body as a percussion instrument. She sang “Look at Miss. Ohio.” On stage, it was her and her music partner David Rawlings. Nothing fancy, no frills. And my lord, is she pretty.

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings: Tiny Desk Concert

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings on World Cafe (Full Interview & Performance)

Gwenifer Raymond

When I spoke to NMF co-founder Tim Peacock on the phone, he said he tries to book people he gets really excited about. This year, his prize booking was Welsh guitarist Gwenifer Raymond. What she’s got is a profound talent. I first heard of her when I was digging around for songs I could put on a New Music Monday playlist. What I did not expect to find was a mousey girl from Wales that has perfected a style of finger-picking like that of a master player from the Mississippi Delta. 

Gwenifer Raymond: Tiny Desk Concert

After Hours Sessions | Gwenifer Raymond – @GweniferRaymond

Los Mirlos

If you could put joy in a bottle you’d have to fit a group of Peruvian musicians in one big bottle. This group are pioneers in the niche genre of  psychedelic Amazonian cumbia. They’ve spent more than 50 years performing worldwide, making people of all ages and backgrounds shake a tailfeather. Everyone was dancing however they could to this group. Some toe-tapping, some skillfully twirling their partner in a cross-body lead. Put on Los Mirlos when you need to boogy.

 Los Mirlos - "El Sonido de los Mirlos" Live at the Miami Beach Bandshell (En Vivo 2025)

Los Mirlos - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band

Kentuckiana-based multihyphenate musician Ryan Davis cannot write a song less than six minutes to save his life. No, really. He admitted this to me. For a song, six minutes is a long time. For a story, it’s not. What Ryan Davis is is a storyteller. Being able to fit so much life into the span of six minutes is wildly impressive. To fit twelve people on a tiny stage is even more so.

You might recognize some of the friendly faces in this first video.

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band - "Better If You Make Me" (Official Video)

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band - New Threats from the Soul (Live in Cambridge)

S.G. Goodman

This woman. I feel wordless when I think of the power she holds in her pen. I only hope for a morsel of the sardonic stage presence she has. This lady OPENED HER SET with “Space and Time.” Swept the whole event.

S.G. Goodman “Solitaire” (Live at The Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Brooklyn, New York)

S.G. Goodman | Snapping Turtle | Western AF

Victoria Lekson

When you see that there is a harp performance, you go to that harp performance, especially if that harpist is Victoria Lekson. Her sincere love for the world, awe for what unfolds, and cute-as-a-button nature will break your heart and mend it at the same time. It’s been a while since a live show has taken me to a realm where my heart expands towards something ethereal. I hope that the afterlife has a soundtrack filled with Lekson’s work. I know I’d feel at peace with my wrongdoings. 

"Archean" - Victoria Lekson Original Harp Trio Song - Live at Radio Artifact in Cincinnati Ohio

Circles - Mac Miller Harp Cover | Victoria Lekson

Wednesday 

If you a real one, I ain’t gotta put nothing here. But I will still put some links. Wednesday 4 lyfe. 

Wednesday - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

Wednesday | Shaped by Sound | Full Episode | PBS North Carolina