NELSONVILLE, Ohio – The Nelsonville Music Festival has a knack for landing artists that have just emerged, or soon will.
They’re usually a rock or folk act that has labored in anonymity for years until finally breaking through. Even if the artist goes on to great fame, they’ll never be as cool as they were the summer they played Nelsonville.
Last year, it was snarling Aussie punkers Amyl and the Sniffers. The year before, it was Big Thief, Alex G and Geese. Japanese Breakfast was the captivating star of 2022.
The list goes back to 2014, when the Avett Brothers headlined, and 2015, when avant garde performance rock artist St. Vincent graced the stage.
This year, Nelsonville will add two more names to that list.
Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman are an ideal one-two punch for any festival of this size and style, but the Nelsonville Music Festival is the only one that has them both.
The festival will take place June 20-22 at Snow Fork Event Center, about 10 miles west of Athens in the rolling hills and forests of southeastern Ohio.
As folk-country Americana artists, Waxahatchee and Lenderman are kindred spirits and, not surprisingly, they’ve collaborated in the recording studio. Lenderman played on Waxahatchee’s excellent 2024 album, “Tigers Blood,” playing guitar and providing vocals.
The album has a lot of depth but is still perfect for a Sunday morning.
Waxahatchee is Katie Crutchfield, who embraced her country roots a few years ago instead of denying them, as she did for the first part of her career. The result was brilliant.
The Alabama native grew up listening to country radio, but her head was turned in her teen years by bands like The Strokes and R.E.M.
It wasn’t until years later, when she started listening to the likes of Lucinda Williams, that she realized that she, too, was country at heart. Crutchfield’s Southern roots flavor “Tiger’s Blood” – her sixth album – and cemented her status. But the going wasn’t always smooth.
Crutchfield, her producer, Brad Cook, Lenderman and the rest of the band returned to the studio in 2023 to put the finishing touches on the album. The band was in the zone and the songs were great, but Crutchfield felt some of them hadn’t reached their full potential.
She needed to play the songs to an audience to know how to tweak them, and a gig was booked for that purpose.
“I wanted ‘Tigers Blood’ to [sound like] an elevated, more feminine, bar band,” she told Creem magazine in an interview last year. “But I knew I wasn’t going to understand the energy until I could hear myself sing it, reacting to the band and audience.”
The album was completed a couple months later.
“Tigers Blood” illuminates an artist who has finally stepped into her own skin. It earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Americana Album, losing out to “Trail of Flowers” by Sierra Ferrell (who played the Nelsonville Music Festival in 2023).
“As artists, we sometimes try to have too much control,” the now-enlightened Crutchfield explained to Creem. “It’s important to have some actual awareness about your skill set, what you’re bringing to the table.”
Lenderman, who is a singer-songwriter and also a touring member of indie rock band Wednesday, played a late afternoon set at Nelsonville last year. But his appearance this year should garner more attention.
At times, the 26-year-old North Carolina native seems like the second coming of Neil Young. His latest album, “Manning Fireworks,” has spawned the oddly cheerful acoustic ballad “She’s Leaving You.”
In addition to Waxahatchee, the other two headliners of this year’s Nelsonville Music Festival are Charley Crocket and Taj Mahal.
Crockett’s 2023 effort “$10 Cowboy” was also nominated for the Best Americana Album Grammy award. He released his latest album, “Lonesome Drifter,” in March.
Blues great Taj Mahal this year took home the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album for “Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa.”
The rest of the 2025 NMF lineup includes Watchhouse, The War and Treaty, Dehd, The Bug Club, Low Cut Connie and at least 30 more acts.
Three-day passes start at $170 and are available now at NelsonvilleFest.org. Most attendees from outside the immediate area stay overnight in the Snow Fork campground, which is adjacent to the festival grounds. Campsites start at $150, and each camper must purchase a wristband for $30.
Snow Fork Event Center is at 5685 Happy Hollow Road. The site is actually in the village of Buchtel, which is a few miles north of Nelsonville. From U.S. Route 33, take the state Route 78 exit.
Snow Fork is 200 miles from Youngstown, with a drive time of about three and a half hours.
Pictured at top: Katie Crutchfield, who performs as Waxahatchee, will be a headliner at this year’s Nelsonville Music Festival. (Photo by Molly Matalon)