After a brief hiatus in 2014, All Good Music Festival is back in a big way. Moving from Legend Valley in Thornville, Ohio to Summit Point, West Virginia’s Berry Hill Farm, there’s a great deal of anticipation leading up to this year’s festival. As per usual, the festival boasts an exceptionally strong lineup with headliners Primus, CAKE, and moe. Looking down the road toward the festival, which takes place from July 9-11, here are 5 of the biggest reasons why you need to attend All Good this year.

The Funk & Jamtronica
The resurgence, or the emergence of funk in the jam band scene, depending on which way you look at it, will certainly be on display at All Good this year. With the likes of Lettuce and The Motet, who are both coming off of an electrifying performance at Red Rocks earlier this June, Brooklyn heavyweight Turkuaz and the up and ‘funkers’ Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, there’s going to be no shortage of high energy moments down on the farm with this bunch. Throw in a band like TAUK, who can morph between meditating and wonderfully ambient guitar rifts to deep funk grooves, and you get to the great crop of live jamtronica bands All Good has this year.

Spearheaded by genre giants STS9 and Lotus and followed by the likes of Zoogma, Balkan Beat Box, and Boombox, these jamtronica bands know more than most how a band can build up their reputation at the festival and work it’s way to the top of the bill. Lotus’ Jesse Miller says, “All Good has played a big part in Lotus’s history – from playing the side stage, and Thursday pre-party stage to eventually headlining late night to a ever bigger crowds. The side-by-side stage set-up is great, you never have to choose between acts and the line-up always places an emphasis on musicianship and no flash-in-the-pan trends. We look forward to returning to All Good this summer.”

The Grass
What would a music festival nestled into the heart of the Appalachians be without some quality bluegrass? I’m not sure, and I don’t care to find out, but All Good has bluegrass fans covered with an excellent ensemble of pickers. Beginning with Pennsylvania based Cabinet on Thursday evening (7:00-7:30 PM) and Greensky Bluegrass’ late night set (12:00 AM – 1:15 AM), the tenacious plucking of strings will last all weekend. Other not to be missed sets include Friday’s Railroad Earth (6:15 PM – 7:30 PM) performance, as well as Elephant Revival (2:00 PM – 3:00 PM) and long-time All Good Festival staple Yonder Mountain String Band (6:15 PM – 7:40 PM) on Saturday.

The Americana
A conversation about American music and/or Americana should not go on very long without recognizing the significant achievements of The Grateful Dead. Their unique sound and voice was one that truly tapped into the American spirit and created something so special that it lasts these 50 years later. Always focused on giving the music it’s proper respect, there are two dynamic bands at All Good this year who honor the music of the Dead in different but equally awesome ways –  Dark Star Orchestra, who takes on the traditional approach of recreating a different show from the Dead’s catalog each night and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, who take a bit of a heavier, new-age approach to the material. Both are sure to breath a great deal of life into the festival.

Alongside DSO, JRAD and the aforementioned bluegrass bands, there are a number of other bands that speak to different cross sections of the American music tradition, including The Word – Robert Randolph, John Medeski, Luther & Cody Dickinson. Their southern stew is an awesome blend of funk, blues, gospel, soul and southern rock. This is a set that is capable of  setting something on fire. Also, JJ Grey & Mofro will be putting their brand of rock and swamp blues on display on Saturday, and definitely don’t sleep on The Chris Robinson Brotherhood‘s (5:00 PM – 6:15 PM) set on Friday. Both are bound to be heaters.

Lastly, but not certainly least, what could be more Americana than a project that welcomes all and serves as a great melting pot of music? The Everyone Orchestra is great at doing that. Conducted by Matt Butler, the EO rarely ever has the same musicians involved for more than one show, and is hands down one of the most creative and enjoyable projects to listen to for fans of improvisational music.

The Veterans
There’s nothing else like returning to your old stomping grounds and seeing your old friends and family, and while the new West Virginia digs may be foreign to All Good attendees, the musicians are certainly not. Among the bands on the bill, there are several who have made more than a couple of stops to All Good before. For example, moe. is making their 7th trip to All Good, reggae giant and Arlington, Virginia natives SOJA are making their 7th appearance at the festival, Dark Star Orchestra their 11th, and Yonder Mountain String Band their 9th. However, no one has been as prolific of a performer at All Good as Keller Williams. The one man band has been very impressive. This will be Williams’ 12th All Good Festival and what may be most impressive is the number of different formats he has played in and with throughout the years -The McCourys, The Keels, The WMD’s, The Added Bonus, and solo. It will be a joy to see what he has in store for All Good 2015.

The Rookies
Despite being rookies to the All Good Music Festival, this year’s group of newcomers enjoys a rather strong pedigree. Sacramento outlaw rockers CAKE (10:15 PM – 11:30 PM) will look to make their mark Saturday night at their All Good debut, while Vermont quartet Twiddle will continue their onslaught of the summer festival circuit. Can’t knock the hustle.

Brooklyn 12-piece Antibalas, considered to have introduced Afrobeat to a much wider, global audience will also play on Saturday. Thievery Corporation, a stalwart in the electronic music scene is also looking forward to playing this year’s festival. Says Rob Garza, “Myself and the band are very much looking forward to playing ALL GOOD Festival this summer. I have heard only great things and I’m happy the event has returned to the DC region. We’ve had many friends attend as both musicians and fans and we’re ready to experience the show ourselves in Jul.” The feeling is certainly mutual, Rob!

Tickets for the All Good Music Festival, July 9-11 at Berry Hill Farm in Summit Point, WV are on sale now and can be purchased here. Addtionally, single-day tickets for Saturday can be found here. Get them now while they’re still available.

NOTE: All artist quotes were obtained from the All Good Music Festival website and can be found here.