This is my beloved yearly trek down to the Cookeville Tennessee area for the most bestest festival of my entire life, and that would be Muddy Roots Music Festival. I missed it last year because of the intense heat and other medical issues. I have indeed attended each and every other one that has transpired so far. It changed my life in 2010 and helped me to overcome social anxiety and other issues, with the welcoming ambiance and a wide array of bands to see in the field, you’ll soon see why I love it so much.
I did not get pictures of every band because of a camera issue, but I did get notes from many of the sets of this weekend. I arrived a little bit late on Friday for the opening day of music right around 2. I was bummed I missed Joe’s Truck Stop. I do want to back up here and talk about the vendor part of the festivities here…. let’s talk about the music later on with one warning up front: i could not possibly cover EVERY band and Everything transpiring, because we have made it into such a grand spectacle that I cannot do it alone. It does not mean your band sucks.
In the last few years, they opened up the right side of the area before the wood stage (basically the main stage) has been turned into a vendor type flea market with any type of trinket or oddities you desire! It really is close enough to many stages and you won’t miss the other bands that are transpiring as you shop. Whisky Kittieeeeee was one of them and there was in addition a long list of others, like my dear friend Krysti Butler who owns Rhinestoned Chaos and many, many more.
One thing I often realize about Muddy Roots is how much it means to me in my own life. I basically have known many OG attendees that have since passed away in the years past. I have watched many of my friends’ children grow up, and some of them have their own children now! I have been to weddings and memorials of ashes, and man…I could go on and on.
Decayed Doll was another I met in my travels, along with Copper Dropper Finery, who makes “unordinary jewelry for unordinary people” and I also met Pine Howl who makes handcrafted bone jewelry. Another very important vendor that has been attending for a few years is Punks Care 2 This is a group of my friends who provide meals for folks in need.
From their website:
Punks Care 2 is a partnership between Hüsker Foöd Zine and The Peterson Compound with the mission of fighting food insecurity one punk fest at a time.
With the support of their friends, fam, and Muddy Buddies, Punks Care 2 has provided nearly 15,000 meals via the Freestore Foodbank, directly benefiting those in need throughout Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.
For more info check out punkscare2
Scarlett Storm Clussy Emporium was there again, and the last one I wanted to touch on was Disorderly Conduct who sold western wear and other goods. Then we had the other vendor row going all weekend as well. Here are a bunch of pictures on that aspect of the festival. The overall layout is the same with each year, and that helps maintain a sense of comfort for all of us that come every year.
I have an exclusive professional relationship with some of the vendors like Ellie Monster and Stoned Beautiful for many years, and just like many of these bands this weekend, those gals are OGs. These people mean the absolute world to me, and we all take care of one another in every way. Even many of the food vendors are the same as we all enjoy those turkey legs from G’z Barbeque.
And actually a few of the food vendors like Home Slice Pizza were at Suwanee in Florida this spring that I wrote a big article about. My Main Cheese was another really amazing food vendor that I have had at several festivals in my years now.
Next door about a quarter mile down Waterloo Road, we have another beautiful venue called Waterloo Falls that was purchased by friends of ours who turned the property into an impressive venue that can be rented out for private events. They close their services to the public for the entire week of Muddy Roots, and they run shuttles all weekend to both events.
They also run a spring and fall event that features the same kind of bands that Muddy Roots does, however sadly the fall one happened right on the same weekend as my last festival called North Springs Music Festival and the spring one, I had planned to attend and was sick and I plan to attend in 2026. I recently got to spend time with the Davies last weekend at the Heart in Hands animal shelter yearly fundraiser.
When Muddy Roots first began back in the 2010’s I did not go over there, because I am not really into the swimming thing I have always been more into fishing and other outdoor activities. I am not even sure who owned it until a few years ago when Jason started doing the real estate sales, and he helped our friends Nathan Davies purchase the property.
Recently they purchased a larger portion of the adjacent property, which I included in an earlier article on the spring festival this year. Then I went back down to the campground area so that I could show some of you that have not yet attended what the festival looks like, and how to best enjoy this one. I wanted to start out by raving about one new thing this year (at least for me). The new way they organized the ticket booth upon entry! WOW!
Many things were organized this year beyond expectations, and the weather was absolutely perfect all weekend. A lot of things went well this year for me as far as Muddy went. And I am super thankful to each and every staff member for their work…it does NOT go unnoticed or unappreciated.
So, here are some random pictures of the area around the wood stage or stage 1. You can pretty much go check in at the ticket booth AKA Scooter’s bar and then go have fun until Sunday night. But I wanted some of you that are (or have been) considering going for the first time to use this as a guide. Go. We WILL take care of you. And that is a staple for MOST festivals. they WILL take care of you.
I hope with all my heart that this article finds you wanting to come even more if you are on the verge of it. You may honestly seek out any one of us at the festival and we will assist you in anything you need or just hang out with you and talk music. To be honest, most festivals are like this in many ways, you just show up and you’re family, and you found likeminded people.
The rest of the article here will be the bands and the food vendors. This is the hard part of the job because (well….like most of you that know me)….I have TONS of notes and papers from all of the sets. I did not roll up into the festival until Friday right after Joe’s Truck Stop. however, I have researched TONS of videos from many different channels to write this. So basically, what I strive to do is create the feeling of being there to you, the reader.
Now then. What I want to do is just cover everything to the best of my ability according to the schedule and I will just throw in what I saw myself. I oftentimes include many videos from my good friend Mr. Scott Mithun over at Hellbilly And Outlaw Radio in many of my past Muddy Roots articles and others also. I hope that those combined help you enjoy this event that means so much to me.
The pre party happened on Thursday and as I previously stated, I did not attend the first two days of this one for logistic reasons and health issues. I am still ironing out all of my health issues, and I plan to have that under control soon. So then if you like many of these bands on this article, I implore you to delve into some of my other articles on many other avenues of music.
From over in New Orleans area, we had songwriter and street banger Matt Rivers bring his brand of songs to us, and I have heard his name mentioned before (it might have been Jimi Palacios at an Ameripolitan Awards show?), I have never had the opportunity to see him until now. Folks, if you buy any albums off this article, please go pick up this one called “May Day” from 2024.
And you know, part of the fun for me at Muddy Roots is getting to spend time with all of the different types of people and viewpoints, and I usually leave my viewpoints at the gate. BUT when the artists wish to use their songs to implement their ideologies to me, I often enjoy it and appreciate their stance. Even when I do and do not agree. I think it is an outstanding thing for an artist to be able to freely stand and say “This is me”…he does that quite well.
Muddy Roots is about variety and providing a home for traveling misfits like him and lately many of these Folk Punk guys are. Much like the four-band tie in story that is going to be coming up later on in this article, this man is a seasoned well-worn traveler.
One of the many bands from this community I have indeed covered before is this band called the The Pentagram String Band spearheaded by none other than Johnny Lawhorn. There were so many different festivals like Muddy Roots that turned me onto this band, like Moonrunners and others. Their latest “offering” (see even I can put in a Satanic joke) is the 2023 album “Blood Blood Blood”.
Dustin Johnson, Nailz and Nichole Bax make up the rest of the lineup for the band. This is another slamming hard working road dog band that plays a lot of dates all over the nation, and they also played Muddy Roots in 2023. They had a huge fire pit and mosh pit for the song called “My Sweer Satan”.
One of the bands that really impressed me a lot was called Family Dog from my home area of Nashville, Tennessee. Go listen to their Bandcamp album and the song called “City Of Lost Things”. That song maintains a true old school style while maintaining a fresh approach with the song structure toward the end there. I found them to be quite entertaining and true to form. This from one of their sales websites.
The Gas Station Boner Pills formed in late 2021 in order to play a show as part of an elaborate joke for Misha Tot’s birthday in February 2022. After playing a 30 minute set and barely getting through it on account of alcohol and limited playing ability, GSBP played more shows in the subsequent months, and developed a local following. One show turned into the next, and after a few more shows and some releases (including a cover of “Milkshake”), the band embarked on their first tour in late 2022.”
This band consists of Misha Tot, Sam Wilson on guitars and Sean Marcos on drums. Their song called “Hold My Beer” and others were on vivid display today, and they filmed a funny video about their visit to Muddy Roots. Now I want to warn you that this video contains adult themed “items” (nothing illegal), but this really made me a fan. These guys take the soul of Punk and bring humor to it, with a LOT of energy.
The last band on the pre party that I gathered info on was Tropa Magica. When I tell you that Muddy Roots is the greatest juxtaposition type festival ever, I mean it. You just never know what genre to throw half of these bands into anymore. This pretty much makes up much of the information I have about the pre party, and I will just up and delve into day 1 here, which was Friday which I also did not make this year, I work third shift, and I come Friday right after work at 6am.
When I say that 2025 brought out many of the OG’s, I meant it. I saw so many old friends out here this past year that I am so so glad I did not miss it this year even though I didn’t see get to all of it. Also please forgive me if my photos and writing do not completely match up, many times there is so much going on that I get lost in the timing of it all.
In all of my years of doing this and covering bands I have had the opportunity to meet many insanely talented people and Joe Macheret is one of them. Together with Dave Hathaway, Daniel Peterson on drums, and on guitar they made up Joe’s Truck Stop. You might remember this band from some of my Kickin It On The Creek articles, and other places.
This video right here displays some DAMN FINE talent on all fronts, and I am lifelong fan of this man and his projects. I am proud to say that I am a friend of people like this. From the 2018 “American Dream” album this video below is “Banjo Pickin Tobacco Spittin Gal”.
Folks, this day here has reminded me of the days of old where there were bands that I wanted to see playing all of the stages at one time, and I could not get to them all 3. There were bands at every stage playing that I wanted to see all day long on Friday and Saturday both. And right now, as I write about Joe’s Truck Stop, the small tent has Gipsy Rufina.
He has indeed been doing this kind of music for over two decades and has a long list of music available to purchase. Another artist that I have not heard of in a while was Katacombs who played a really well written song called “In the Water” and if you watch this video here, it is an amazing version of it.
The Resonant Rogues are a hardworking band that is headed by Sparrow and Keith Josiah Smith, and I am to include some of their videos on this one here. This band is tied for one of the top bands I have found recently that is new at Muddy Roots and now it is my onus to bring them to your laptop or phone or wherever you read. (If they have played previously, I don’t recall it.)
From the 2023 album that is self-named they played the song called “Sand into Pearls”, which is a really nice waltz song. It brings forth the heartfelt passion that they have for tradition and the ambiance of an old time from long ago, and I enjoyed every moment of it.
This past august they released a single called “Carolina Mountains”, and they played that along with a few more songs and you can get their music on that band link above. Now then, let’s get into a long bunch of Muddy Roots alumni that I have covered before, and I barely need to show many of you these bands as nothing new. One of my favorite bands in this realm here is none other than Moonshine Wagon. Goiatz Dutto, Joel Bruna, Lander Lourido and Victor Martin make up this band, and they always bring it. Lightning Luke did get up to play some fiddle and they did play “First World Problems”
Possessed By Paul James is a hero to me. First off (much like Laid Back Country Picker) he is a teacher, and he works a ton of hours working with special education needs while maintains his music by releasing five albums now. Three of his albums are on my integral list of must haves in any collection.
He played “Four Men from the Row” from the 2010 album “Feed the Family”, and he did his classic “There Will Be Nights When I’m Lonely” from 2013. Now that album my friends, is indeed 100% a classic. And with Joe Macharete on fiddle with him, it is an even better song.
Watching all of these videos and going through all of my notes is making me relive this event all over again and I think it just fit so well, because maybe YOU need to relive this all over again? Are you having a shitty day, and need some memories? Well then….let’s go back to the field shall we?
“Hurricane” has always been a staple part of his set each year that I get to see him as well as “Color of my Bloody Nose” once again from the “Feed the Family” album and is often played. Then right after that set, up came Carrie Nation and the Speakeasy, and MORE! I cannot begin to tell all of you how Possessed By Paul James music has affected my life along with so much other music.
I am going to include the video from my favorite song that Carrie Nation does which is “Consume”, because it is fast and full of those horns and trumpets that make their music so unique, fill your cup boy! It basically points out how insane it is to drink the kool aid of society’s shit!
From the self-titled album, they played “Mamma’s Little Baby” and others that I noticed were not on albums and might have been new. It has truly been nice to see them again, and I am glad there were the songs that have that epic build up in the middle before the deep plunge into madness!
I also got to see Hans Condor play “Teenage Danger”. Overall, there were two sets I did not get to see and they really bothered me, but life happens, right?
The only trouble I have with any of these festivals is that 45 minutes sometimes isn’t enough time to fit all of the go to songs into every setlist, you know? In 2013, I got to see the Monsters for the first time, and thusly I got to see Reverend Beat Man with them. However, this year he played solo playing his one-man band type Biram stuff. He played “Get on Your Knees” from his “Reverend Beatman and the Unbelievers” album from Voodoo Rhythm Records
The video that I am going to embed below will end in his performance of “Jesus Christ Twist” from his “It’s a matter of time” The complete PALP Session album. But many of his songs are on several albums, and his library of albums is so vast, and that is because the Reverend Beat Man is a Legend. Period.
So, let me tell you about another one I consider to be an OG Legend along with many others on here this weekend Jayke Orvis. Those classic songs that he brought us many years ago (Christ, has it really been over 10 years?) anyways, Yeah, those songs we all love like “Pick Up the Steam” from the “Bless This Mess” album were enjoyed tonight.
How many times have I told you this story? Man, way back when I first moved here from Milwaukee, I missed these guys. I am just a little bit older, and I came to Nashville to learn from Shooter, and he taught me all kinds of stuff, and he has been a good friend. These guys I discovered right around MySpace. And yeah, Jayke has always been a top spin in my constant rotation for many many years. I do not and have never delved into the politics of things and I never questioned any form of any band’s lineup, or at least I do not try to do so. I have always been a fan of Jayke Orvis, not just because of Milwaukee but the music overall. HELL, I remember GOING BACK to Wisconsin to see a band….357 String blew me away. Now a days, hell yes, I will travel to K.C. to see Dusty Rust or Jack Grelle.
I have a lot of love for his music, and many of the folks that are still keeping the roads hot while doing shows all these years later. I am a lot like Jayke Orvis, in the sense that he plays “Kaw Liga” with his signature mandolin tone he helped usher into Roots Music with absolute confidence while donning a Slayer shirt and Biker chains. he is Rap, Punk and Country all in one in anything he does.
This is where I figured out my camera issue and I started getting more pictures and I want to add as many as I can about the artists I didn’t know as much about like the next Aurielia Cohen she played an absolutely splendid set on the wood stage this morning. I found a lot of terrific artists this weekend and she was certainly no exception here. Part of the onus of this website was to bring forth new bands to some of you.
Many of you may have heard of some of these bands and are enjoying reading about them and I hope in the end some of you go buy some of their music. I certainly did buy her new album on vinyl as well, which I will elaborate on here. See, many of these websites just write about whatever they are assigned to, they got to research it…I LIVE THIS MUSIC folks. I go to these mostly out of my own pocket, and I buy the merchandise with my own money. I KNOW this music, not like those big-name media yahoos.
So, this video here is from her new album called “Chrysalis” and it was called “Everyone’s Got Their Story”. That song quickly garnered my attention as a music fan, and my good friend Sara Brown brought up her name as highly suggested, so she was indeed on my radar, and if she is reading this, I am the guy that bought the vinyl in her merch booth from you.
Another from the album she played was called “Lonesome”, the first title on her album. Though she did play one called “Pretend Song” that is a single more or less. I honestly enjoyed her old-time sound, and her style of songwriting overall just grabbed my attention.
One of the crown jewel acts of this weekend (and to be honest, for me, this year) were none other than The Calamity Cubes! Not long ago Joey Henry, Brooke Blanche and Kody Oh make up this trio of whatever you want to classify the music as. From the Muddy Roots lore of Jason Galaz, they were the first band he booked for the first festival. I was there and I think if memory serves me correctly, there were about 300 of us there?
This festival was one of the three that shaped me into becoming who I am as a journalist in the music world, and as a person, and as a fan overall. Much like ROMP in Owensboro Kentucky, Muddy Roots gave all of these off the beaten path bands a home, where they previously did not fit in any certain niche. Right around the 90’s when it was more traditional mainstream and the 90’s pop, you had a resurgence of what was being billed as alt- country. I suppose it could’ve been called that…it was just good music!
Back in 2014 a really good compilation album came out called “Strange and Dangerous Times” had this first song on it called “Anchor’s The Way” from the 2012 Old World’s Ocean album. Many of these Roots albums are out of print and highly sought after by collectors like me, and those compilation albums are on the list.
But the 2008 self-titled album (Sometimes called red/blue skull album) is where “Bottoms the Limit” came from along with “Daisy” and “Daughter of the Devil”. Some of the other ones on the set were of course “Delia Rose” and “Skateboard Hips”. It was just amazing to see three of our favorite guys up there doing our favorite thing, music.
I did see the Koffin Kats a few times in the past, and this is the second time I have seen them at Muddy Roots. Like I was talking about earlier, those great compilation albums have songs like a Hall and Oates cover called “Maneater” from them. They also played “Splatterhouse” from the 2006 “Straying From The Pack”.
Vic Victor, Tommy Koffins, and Eric “E Ball” Wall make up this band that brands itself as Gothbilly and in fact on January 28th, they will play the Cobra in Nashville. This band is unique in their own way because they can be paired on a bill with such a wide variety of other bands like Those Poor Bastards and bands that aren’t exactly Rockabilly.
Another terrific band I wanted to cover here was Blossomin’ Bone from (as far as I have studied them Florida) that consists of Miss Ayron Moeen and her husband Joshua “Bobby”Tyson and Amanda Syrinek on the washboard. Also, there is Holly Bassett on upright bass. They began their set with a song I found on an album called “Where’s Buskin” and it was called “Up All Night”, and they did another called “Spinnin'”.
You can find the song “Free” on a small two song EP called “Two Flowers”, and most of their music is quite easy to obtain because most of it is relatively new. This band began around 2021 or so and they really make their living busking like many others do, and why not? I made sure I got some merchandise from as many as I could. In an article I recently read about them in preparation for this, it says they named one of their albums “State Line Schemers” because of their innate ability to busk anywhere.
This was really a fun day of music this year, and even though I only have a few more to write about for Saturday, so I will include more videos for your courtesy of Hillbilly and Outlaw Radio. I hope that you enjoy watching them as much as I did.
Up above there on the videos you will see >a href=”https://howlinggiant.bandcamp.com/”>Howling Giant from right here in Nashville, as they visit Muddy Roots to promote their new album called “Crucible & Ruin”. Adrian Lee Zambrano, Sebastian Baltes, Tom Polzine and Zach Wheeler make up this band which was quite tight. I will have to research them further soon.
So, let’s talk about Jason Dea West, who has been on my radar for about a year now. The first song he played was called “California Way “from the Magnolia Sessions album. He is from the Oregon area and had five people with him today as they played “I am not True”, and it is on his album called “Never Go Home”.
He used to be in a band called Barefoot Surrender with Benjamin Tod and Ashley Mae (who we all know as Lost Dog Street Band) and Keith and Sparrow Smith who became the Resonant Rogues, whom I linked up above.. I found them right around 2014 from word of mouth at Muddy Roots, so yeah.
I do not believe that there is one person at Muddy Roots that does not appreciate and love Ol’ Mr. Danny AKA Amigo The Devil. He started his set with a song called “It’s All Gone” from his 2024 album called “Yours Until the War Is Over”, before he went into one the greatest song he plays called “Hell and You”.
From the same album Volume 1 in 2018, before “Hell and You” he did “Dahmer Does Hollywood”. Now, let me tell you a fun fact about me just in case you did not read the Jayke Orvis portion up there. I am from Milwaukee, and I knew Dahmer. Like, some of my friends and I have had beers with him. As I previously stated, I left for Nashville before .357 String Band formed.
Through the years, Amigo has indeed been a solid go to for me with all these bands this weekend that do not really have a proper musical home. I mean, how many mainstream genres can handle our beloved songs like “Murder at the Gaming Hall” and another one he plays a lot that I love is called “My Body is a Dive Bar”.
I was pretty much into fanboy mode here right now as he played “I Hope your Husband Dies” and he played “Hungover In Jonestown”, along with quite a few more that I remember. I have another article in the works that concerns Amigo the Devil, and you will learn more about that later.
So yeah, allow me to elaborate on why I did indeed remain in fanboy mode for the rest of the weekend because so many of these people heavily influenced me in so many ways. Slim Jim Phantom was here, and he played some Stray Cats stuff right before they were supposed to go on tour, however due to illness with Brian Setzer, that tour was cancelled.
Recently, I was enjoying his work on a 2025 EP called “Livin’ Ain’t Easy” with Danny B. Harvey and I like some of his cover songs he does live like the song called “C’mon Everybody” by Eddie Cochran.
However, it sure was enjoyable to see Slim Jim Phantom play so many of those Stray Cats hits like “Rumble in Brighton” and “Stray Cat Strut” from that classic 90’s albums like “Built for Speed” that have all of these hits on them. Like I said earlier, I am 56 and I grew up with these albums, and this was like a ride back in time.
Slim Cessna and Maria De Cessna visited us this weekend playing their favorite songs, like their cover of ‘Ramblin’ Man”. He plays these songs with a 12 string, and it sounds wicked trust me, on songs like his version of “Hold On”. That is an old timey Gospel tune, that many have recorded.
Much like Slim Jim Phantom up above, it doesn’t matter to me what form of music they bring to Muddy Roots, I will usually enjoy it for sure. He is another one of my heroes that frequently play this festival and is a sure bet for a good set. In fact, the remainder of tonight was absolute bliss before I had to leave that night for the real-world problems that I leave at the gate on Waterloo Road.
They also played their version of “Uncle John’s Boat” .
Legends. Right out of high school in 1990 I found The Casualties from N.Y. when they came to Milwaukee with some Thrash Metal bands, I think it was 1991 or so. Well, in 2017 most of you know that Jorge Herrera retired from touring and David Rodriguez took over. This band has (like most bands) a lot of lineup changes; however, Jake Kolatis has been with them since 1993, and Marc Eggers has been around since 1995.
The Casualties are also one of those Legendary Punk bands that have been around with me for many years, and a handful of their albums have been a staple of my own life. Many of the Muddy Roots in the very beginning have featured the Country Music Legends that I grew up with, it has also featured some of the Legendary Punk bands that also raised me.
They played “Punk Rock Love” from one of their classic anthems from their 2001 album “For the Punx”, which for me was and still is a staple go to Punk album in every fashion. At least for my own music tastes. So, the set also included “Riot” which drove the entire area into a frenzy. Also, they played “Written in Blood” off the album with the same name.
I am sure that many of those bands have also influenced James Hunnicutt as well who finished the entire festival out Sunday evening. Many of his songs have been staple Muddy anthems since 2012 if I am not mistaken, if not 2011. With songs like “My Pain” and others, if you haven’t checked out his music yet, you’re missing out on a good one.
I have been a huge fan of Pokey LaFarge for many years, and his albums have spanned many changes throughout those years. Whatever you want to classify his music as, here at Muddy Roots, it’s just GOOD MUSIC! He played “So Long Chicago” From his 2024 Rhumba boogie album, and this was fun because I haven’t had a chance to see him in many years.
He also played several more but another one he does is called “Don’t let it Go”, and sometimes he juxtaposes that with “Central Time”, but whatever he does, Pokey just jams. He is absolutely mind blowing to see live. Whether his set contains Ragtime, Dixieland or Bluegrass or the eight million other genres that can or are involved with his set.
See you in the field.
