WMOT’s Americanafest Day Stage has a new home for 2025. We’ve just announced that our largest-ever slate of artists will perform live on the air from the stage of Riverside Revival, WMOT’s home-away-from-home in East Nashville, at 1600 Riverside Drive. It’s a change provoked by an earlier-than-usual Americanafest, but our time-tested approach remains - some of the most notable names in roots music performing live on the air between noon and six, Wednesday to Friday, Sept. 10-12 in the serene old church sanctuary.
We’ll have more to say about the artists on our lineup and their set times soon, but a quick glance is enough to get a fan excited. Day one includes I’m With Her, the folk supergroup of our times, with Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins. Tift Merrit is back on the scene, and she’ll play a set. Clay Street Unit is a new hot property. Thursday features three of Americana’s charming eccentrics in Boy Golden, Chuck Prophet, and Willi Carlisle, plus the hot Memphis soul of Southern Avenue. Friday’s highlights include Texas country maestro Joshua Ray Walker and breakout Rounder Records artist Ken Pomeroy. As usual, you can set up and spend the day without making hard decisions or moving your vehicle.
“I’m excited to welcome our Americana community to WMOT’s East Nashville home base for AmericanaFest 2025,” says Executive Director Val Hoeppner. “The venue at Riverside Revival sounds better than ever and feels intimate in the best of ways. Our lineup is packed with amazing artists that make the Official AmericanaFest Day Stage a can’t miss “
The Day Stage is a Nashville tradition and one of the tentpole events of our year in broadcasting. In a Music City built on live broadcasting, our Roots Radio team has, year in and year out since 2017, put great artists on stage and on the air from a variety of cool venues. We’ve been under a literal tent in the heart of downtown. We’ve thrown our party at the Local, a stone’s throw from the Nashville Parthenon. We broadcast from the War Memorial Auditorium, former home of the Grand Ole Opry. And we’ve set up in recent years at the East Side Bowl, symbol of the renaissance of historic country music enclave Madison, TN.
When the Americana Music Association announced an especially early Americanafest for 2025, running Sept. 9 to Sept. 13, a lot of things got shaken up. But of course Riverside Revival is nothing new to us or our fans and members. For going on three years, the neighborhood church turned non-profit campus and music venue has been home to our monthly Wired In shows. We’ve also made it the base for Public Radio Music Day. Last summer, we inaugurated our backstage full-service radio studio, and you’ve heard us broadcast from there many times. So you could say we’re properly ‘wired in’ to this well-located and truly picturesque facility. We look forward to welcoming the Americana music community.