Nelsonville Music Festival has announced it will go digital this year with Virtual Nelsonville Music Festival. The online rendition of the popular grassroots Southeast Ohio festival held annually in Nelsonville, OH will host a lineup featuring Caamp, Mandolin Orange, Hot Tuna, and many more on August 21st—22nd.
This year would have marked the 16th annual edition of Nelsonville Music Festival, held each year at Hocking College in Nelsonville, OH, just miles from Ohio University in Athens, OH. The global pandemic, however, cancelled the festival and forced the event sponsor, Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, to close its doors as the shutdown of live music rages on.
The lineup for the first-ever Virtual Nelsonville Music Festival also features Shovels & Rope, Todd Snider, Haley Heynderickx, Bedouine, Joan Shelley, Tré Burt, Vieux Farka Touré, Cedric Burnside, Lydia Loveless, Snarls, Counterfeit Madison, Steve Poltz, Leggy, Hubby Jenkins, Angela Perley, Lisa Bella Donna, Ernie Johnson From Detroit, Water Witches, The D-Rays, Caitlin Kraus, and The Stuart’s Opera House Afterschool Music Program.
Beginning at 8 p.m. on August 21st, VNMF will premiere new performance videos pre-recorded by the artists at their homes and studios. Additionally, a team of OU students, graduates, and faculty will work with regional artists on remote shoots, as several of the lower-billed artists are based in Ohio, some even in nearby Athens.
“I feel we all need something positive to look forward to right now,” Tim Peacock, executive director of Stuart’s Opera House and Nelsonville Music Festival told local PBS affiliate WOUB. “We all recognize that art and music is critical to our collective mental well-being and 2020, so far, has been hard on everyone. Having an event like this allows us to be creative during a pandemic and is a way of gathering the NMF community, even if it’s just digitally.”
Tune into the Virtual Nelsonville Music Festival below
Virtual Nelsonville Music Festival
[Video: stuartsoperahouse]
[H/T WOUB]