The Ninth Annual Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 25-27 2015 at the beautiful Stephens Lake Park in Columbia, Missouri.
First Launched in 2007, the festival features over thirty artists representing the genres of roots, blues, gospel, country, folk and soul. The line-up includes international, national, regional and local artists. The event is the weekend after the Americana Festival in Nashville. Last year three of us Aussies decided to combine both events, given their relative proximity (sort of).
We were attracted to Columbia by the top-shelf line-up in 2014 – a veritable who’s who of the very best roots and blues performers around – let’s see, there was Jason Isbell, Rosanne Cash, Lake Street Dive (see Rachael Price in photo), John Prine, JJ Grey & Mofro, Trampled By Turtles, The Avett Brothers, Paul Thorn and Amos Lee, to name but a few. And what fun we had. The music was terrific, the BBQ from local and national vendors delicious (we took up the VIP pass option which is highly recommended), we met some very nice people (hi Julie and Rod!) and even managed to get on the front page of the local The Columbia Daily Tribune (must have been a slow news day!).
You can read my 2014 experiences on day one, day two and day three here.
Anyway, I am revisiting Americanafest in Nashville in September 2015, but, as I need to be back in Australia for a wedding, I won’t be able to go back to Columbia MO for the 2015 event.
The first line-up for 2015 has been announced and look another high-quality bill – see poster below.
It’s a fabulous event and very easy to get around and see everyone you want to see. The stages are close without any sound bleed and they are at the bottom of gentle slopes so visibility is good from many vantage points. The festival is a fun, true, and unique celebration of music, food and culture. For more festival information visit rootsnbluesnbbq.com.
