The 2025 Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival has come to a close, but attendees can relive all the fun by listening to music by their favorite artists.
Videos by American Songwriter
The festival was stacked with talent. Headliners Kings of Leon and John Mayer took the Midnight Sun stage, while other artists performed at the Americana Music Triangle and Gold Record Road Stage.
While those present packed all three areas throughout the music-field weekend, there was a fourth secret stage that lucky attendees happened upon.
The Dickel Bourbon booth housed the Dive Bar Stage, where American Songwriter hosted five artists throughout the weekend for incredible sets.
As attendees hung out in the wood and whiskey-themed tent and sipped on Dickel cocktails, they took in the musical stylings of Anna Bates, Beachmont, Harper O’Neill, and Tolan Shaw.
Maggie Rose, who played a set on the festival’s main stage, even turned up for a surprise performance in the tent.
What Happened at Pilgrimage’s Dive Bar Stage
Bates kicked things off, captivating the crowd with her folky tone. She performed originals including “Sedona” and “Gun Fight,” got the audience thinking with her currently unnamed tune in which she asks God for a break from “the horrendous state of the world,” and closed things out with the epic “Holy Smokes.”
Then, just minutes after she played the Midnight Sun stage, Rose hopped over to the Dive Bar stage to perform four songs for the intimate crowd. From “Poison in My Well” to “It’s Only You,” Rose wowed with powerful vocals and magnetic stage presence.
Beachmont closed out day one with a high-energy set. The duo showed off their musicality by playing guitar, keyboards, harmonica, and saxophone during their time onstage. Their quirky lyrics and danceable beats kept the audience watching, as they played original tracks including “Bowling Shoes” and “American Spirit.”
Harper O’Neill got things going on day two, impressing with her soulful, textured voice and emotion-filled lyrics. Her originals like “Manufactured Feelings” and “Yesterday Again” were unforgettable, as was her cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason.”
The fun came to a close with Tolan Shaw, a Nashville-based writer and producer who performs from time to time. The personal stories that accompanied Shaw’s songs gave attendees a peak into his life. He shared “Golden State of Mind” was an ode to his hometown state, that “Before I Do” came to be after a conversation with his grandmother, and that he penned “Meet You” leading up to the arrival of his first child.
Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival
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