Music, Mud & Memories: Blue Ox 2025 Review

In a word, the 2025 Blue Ox Music Festival was saturated. Heavy storms leading up to the three-day event saturated The Pines Music Park in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, with swampy mud and ubiquitous puddles.

Talented musicians saturated the stages with one authentically memorable performance after another. Attentive festivalgoers saturated the soggy grounds with a sense of community and common appreciation for the value of live music. Organizers saturated the weekend with responsiveness and respect for all involved in pulling off another successful fest.

A rainy first day on Thursday gave way to a cloudy Friday with additional isolated storms. The much-welcomed sun and heat arrived on Saturday, which thankfully remained mostly rain-free. Overhead, loud speeding jets from a nearby air show dotted the sky with the famous Blue Angels buzzing past Blue Ox. There was also a seemingly endless stream of bubbles of all sizes floating around, delighting children and their adult companions.

Blue Ox is about as family-friendly a festival can be, without making the grown-ups feel like they’re supervising a school field trip. A couple even started a new family by getting married during the festival.

One of the first bands to play on the Main Stage was fittingly Rising Appalachia. The group led by sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith fit perfectly with the family-friendly atmosphere Blue Ox fosters.

Settling in on Thursday night to headlining set, it occurred to me it had been over 25 years since I first saw mandolinist/fiddler Sam Bush play on a humid summer night under the stars in the Midwest. Everyone should get to experience that fulfilling combination at least once, and Blue Ox has afforded the opportunity over the past several years.

At age 73, Bush – a progenitor of the newgrass movement – is a veteran of the format but still performs with the same energetic spirit he brought to the scene over 50 years ago. Bush’s signature mandolin and potent vocals remain sharp with favorites like “Same Ol’ River” and “Howlin’ at the Moon” and John Hartford’s “Up on the Hill Where They Do the Boogie.” Bush layered in New Grass Revival songs and covers of J.D. Crowe and others.

Organizers delayed opening the gates on Friday and routed attendees through the park, using the Fields Gate for entrances and the Pines Gate only for exiting to avoid cars getting stuck in the increasingly muddy ground.

Charlie Parr conducted a workshop in the campground at the Potluck Pickin Place in the morning and then opened the day on the Main Stage. Accompanied by Tony Polecastro on dobro, Parr captivated the early-arriving crowd with his unmistakable voice ringing out across the field.

The Minnesota native and Blue Ox staple embodies a Midwestern spirit that permeates his soulful, blues-folk narratives through songs like “817 Oakland Ave,” “Over the Red Cedar,” “Cheap Wine,” and “Boombox.” Parr delivered his take on The Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon” and paid homage to fellow Minnesotan “Spider” John Koerner’s via “Last Lonesome Blues.” An emphatic “Ain’t Dead Yet” capped the start of day’s the Main Stage performers.

When Big Richard took the Main Stage – mandolinist Bonnie Sims, fiddler Eve Panning, bassist Hazel Royer and cellist Joy Adams – were wearing matching fan-made vests. The Colorado-based quartet caught the attention of attendees with songs from their recently issued debut album, Girl Dinner, including “Beards Brushing in the Night,” “Darlin Honey,” “So Long My Friend” and “The Missing Stair.” The foursome’s bluegrass-arranged takes on Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” and Pink Floyd’s “Time” into “Breathe” also kept the crowd interested.

Guitarist Molly Tuttle returned to Blue Ox with a completely different backing band from the group who shared the same stage with her at last year’s fest. Joined by multi-instrumentalist Ellen Angelico, guitarist-mandolinist Mary “Mair” Mulroney, bassist Vanessa McGowan and drummer Megan Jane, Tuttle proved the need for the new outfit with “That’s Gonna Leave A Mark” and other songs from her upcoming album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine, bridging her bluegrass roots with an electrified, drums-driven approach.

My first time seeing St. Paul and The Broken Bones in concert did not disappoint. Vibrant frontman Paul Janeway has a powerful voice that blanketed the festival grounds. The soulful, R&B-infused band was a welcome detour from the more acoustic-based programming.

Sharing $2 bags of popcorn sold by the local fire department, my family and I danced along to the eight-person outfit’s energetic set. Janeway donned a colorful robe and climbed to the top of a ladder in the middle of the audience, providing an interactive and visually compelling finale.

Greensky Bluegrass, who played the inaugural Blue Ox in 2015 and returned in 2016, 2017 and 2018, had not been back prior to this year’s appearance. GSBG brought out Molly Tuttle for a cover of Shawn Camp’s “My Love Will Not Change.”

The jamgrass group leaned into the “jam” with expansive takes on “Leap Year,” “Living Over,” “Take Cover,” “Can’t Stop Now,” “Grow Together” and “Kerosene,” while lighting designer Andrew Lincoln lit up the cloud-covered sky. Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” was the last song of GSBG’s headlining set.

Saturday’s Main Stage action got underway with a well-placed Hurray for the Riff Raff set. The project helmed by talented singer-songwriter Alynda Segarra effortlessly eased into their performance, delivering a breezy, inviting entrance, musically welcoming a growing cloud of listeners to the front of the stage. Segarra extensively showcased songs from the excellent 2024 Hurray For The Riff Raff album, The Past Is Still Alive and earworm-inducing 2025 single, “Pyramid Scheme.”

Legendary musician Peter Rowan’s appearance with the Sam Grisman Project was an unforgettable performance that was among the most memorable of the weekend. The set largely focused on the music of Old & In The Way, the bluegrass supergroup that featured Rowan, Grisman’s father David Grisman on mandolin, and the late Jerry Garcia on banjo, John Kahn on bass and Vassar Clements on fiddle.

Rowan shared stories about his talented former bandmates, balancing a sense of nostalgia with the thrill of keeping the music alive. Hearing Rowan and Sam Grisman, along with Kyle Tuttle on banjo, Dominick Leslie on mandolin, Sam Leslie on guitar, and Wisconsin-native Shad Cobb on fiddle, playing the parts originated by Garcia, Clements, Kahn, Grisman and Rowan on songs like “Panama Red,” “Kissimmee Kid,” “Old And In The Way” and others, was emotionally rewarding and musically satisfying.

Margo Price came out early ahead of her set to join Rowan and Grisman for a two-song collaboration. Sporting a Grateful Dead tie-dye, Price accompanied the ensemble on Rowan’s “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy” and The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses.”

Like Molly Tuttle, Margo Price is touring with a new band and showing off new material from a forthcoming album, Hard Headed Woman. Price bookended her set with “Hands Of Time” and “Hurtin’ (on the Bottle)” from her 2016 debut album Midwest Farmer’s Daughter.

The bulk of the performance centered on Hard Headed Woman songs, rolling through several new originals like “Close to You,” “Losing Streak,” “Love Me Like You Used To Do,” “Wild at Heart” and the single, “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down.”

Host band Pert Near Sandstone held another celebratory penultimate Main Stage set of the weekend. With over a decade of presenting successful Blue Ox festivals, the joyous output coming from the stage felt like an annual holiday gathering of friends and family alike.

Pert Near Sandstone bassist Justin Bruhn deserves a special note for his excellent job acting as emcee and introducing bands all weekend long.

Guitarist Warren Haynes led the final Main Stage show on Saturday night with a Warren Haynes Band lineup composed of his Gov’t Mule bandmate Kevin Scott on bass, along with drummer Terence Higgins, keyboardist Matt Slocum and saxophonist Greg Osby. The tour-tested outfit sounded tight and at ease with the material selected for the set.

Haynes pulled from his solo output, like the opening “Man In Motion” and closing “Invisible,” along with Gov’t Mule staples “Banks of the Deep End” and “Thorazine Shuffle.” Covers included Gregg Allman’s “Just Another Rider” and Tower Of Power’s “What Is Hip?” encapsulating Van Morrison’s “I’ve Been Working.” Haynes’ potent Allman Brothers Band standout “Soulshine” capped the final Main Stage set.

All three days of Blue Ox also provided outstanding performances on the smaller Saloon Stage and Backwoods Stage. Without any shade toward previous lineups, this year’s Saloon Stage slate of performers was particularly impressive and loaded with “I gotta make sure I remember who this is” moments.

Sam Bush sat in with Mountain Grass Unit during their highly anticipated post-Main Stage performances set on Thursday. Bush added mandolin to two Dred Clampitt songs, including “Redneck Coozie.”

The Cody Sisters – a Colorado-based trio consisting of sisters Megan Cody (mandolin/guitar) and Maddie Cody (guitar/banjo) with bassist Will Pavilonis – demonstrated blood harmony vocals and equally intertwined musicianship. The pair of talented pickers caught my attention with the title track off their new album, All The Quiet People, and an outstanding arrangement of Bob Dylan’s “The Man In Me.”

Minneapolis-based The Last Revel drew a large and enthusiastic audience to the Saloon Stage on Friday evening. The crowd was singing along to the group’s original songs, participating in call-and-response with the band and cheering them on loudly. As with many of the Saloon Stage bands, a noteworthy cover – in this case Modest Mouse’s “Float On” – put a new twist on a familiar favorite.

While “metalgrass” might not be an official genre, Dig Deep brought a metal attitude to their Saloon Stage set Friday. One of the most memorable covers played at the Saloon Stage was delivered by guitarist Alex Dalnodar, mandolinist Bob Weigandt, banjo player Oscar Noetzel and bassist Aaron Von Barron. The quartet previewed the song by saying it was written by Woody Guthrie. While I expected a metal-folk version of “This Land Is Your Land,” a pleasant surprise came in the form of a vicious “All You Fascists” that drew a smattering of cheers and fist pumps from the crowd.

Another fabulous cover played on the Saloon Stage came during set on Saturday. Siblings Elisha Wildman and Aila Wildman leaned into a loping, bluesy take on Allen Toussaint’s “On Your Way Down” that Little Feat helped popularize.

With so much action on the Main Stage and Saloon Stage, getting back to the smaller Backwoods Stage was hard to keep on the daily agenda. 2023 Blue Ox Music Festival Virtual Band Competition winners, The Spine Stealers, were back on the Backwoods stage again this year. Co-leaders Kate Ruland and Emma O’Shea were backed by members of The Last Revel for their eerily cozy set amongst the decorated trees.

I overheard people talking about a memorable Amigo the Devil appearance on the Saloon Stage and 2025 Virtual Band Competition winners Ladybird caught a buzz around the park from the Backwoods Stage.

There was also children-friendly programming on the Kids Stage, endless bubbles floating overhead, daily yoga sessions, a disc golf course, and reasonably priced and varied food and beverage options. Organizers pulled off this year’s Blue Ox despite torrential rains threatening to flood the grounds, pivoted to address weather-related issues where needed, and with a show-must-go-on attitude provided outstanding musical moments amongst all the mud.

This was my third straight year attending Blue Ox and something occurred that epitomizes what the festival is all about. I ran into an old friend from college who was with his family attending Blue Ox for the first time. At one point during the day on Saturday, he turned to me and said, “this is amazing, we’re coming back next year, regardless of the lineup!” Knowing the fest’s track record for building excellent lineups every year, he will not be disappointed with his early commitment.

After my first Blue Ox, I said it seemed like crashing a family reunion where I didn’t know anyone but felt welcomed anyway. We left The Pines Music Park this year feeling fully part of the community of folks committed to the joy that comes from getting to go see live music together.