The dust has settled from a busy September in and beyond Nashville, so we thought it was a good time to revisit Americanafest through the lens of photographer John Partipilo. He’s one of the greatest photojournalists in the South, and when he’s not putting himself in harm’s way to get shots of high-pressure events, he sometimes joins our production family to make memories for the artists and the fans - on stage and backstage, as you’ll see. We’ll bite off a day at a time as we cover the great artists who graced the stage of Riverside Revival between Sept. 10-12.
I'm With Her - Why start the week with just one Americana star when we can present three of them, working together in a Grammy-winning band that’s greater than their sum? Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins, and Aoife O’Donovan did us the honor of performing songs from their album-of-the-year contender Wild And Clear And Blue. Lots of artists can come up with succulent three-part harmony in the studio. IWH nails it whenever and wherever they are.
Vicki Peterson & John Cowsill - On the surface, they’re a lovely couple writing and performing music together after more than 20 years of marriage. To the astute music fan, Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill bring together two brilliant histories of artistry spanning country, rock, folk and pop. Vicki was a fan of The Cowsills, John’s family band, as she grew up to become lead guitarist with The Bangles and a member of the amazing Continental Drifters in the 90s. John followed up the family band with a varied career including touring with the Beach Boys. Together, they brought roots pop joy and thoughtful harmonies.
Tift Merritt - Tift Merritt’s smile ignites a room the way her first two albums on Lost Highway Records ignited the passion of listeners and music critics in the early 2000s. She’s revisited one of those with a 20th anniversary reissue of Tambourine and a separate collection of demo recordings that led to the album. She was charming and grateful and lush performing at the keyboard with support from Texas songwriter Robert Ellis.
Robert Randolph emerged as the first new era star of the sacred pedal steel guitar tradition in the early 2000s, and on Wednesday of Americanafest, he consecrated our (former) churchhouse venue with a set of predictably incendiary, gospel-influenced soul/funk. The songs from his 2025 album Preacher Kids sounded holy with that steel guitar masterfully cutting through. Two friends showed me their goosebumps.
Clay Street Unit - Coming on strong on the country-rock-grass frontier is Clay Street Unit out of Denver, CO. The six-piece band, one that mixes banjo with pedal steel with mandolin, rocked us gently with songs from an upcoming album that’s produced by Infamous Stringduster Chris Pandolfi. They even played Chris’s wedding, so that’s all the endorsement we needed.
Seth Walker - Smooth and bluesy Seth Walker made for the perfect happy-hour closer for Day One of the Day Stage. He opened with “Rewind” as part of a slate of older tunes, but he of course dipped into his new album Why The Worry. The three-piece band, including what Jessie Scott called Seth’s “gentlemanly guitar” laid down the sweetest grooves in the business.
