For nearly a decade, each Labor Day Weekend, just over the western horizon of Washington, DC, a small city blooms each year in Front Royal, Virginia. Tucked between the rolling foothills of Fauquier County and the Blue Ridge Mountain of Warren County and just a stone's throw away from the North entrance to the Shenandoah Valley, you will behold the Appaloosa Festival. This hometown festival has steadily grown each year since its inception and is home to the sounds of Celtic and traditional roots music, where the fields are fluttering with fans dancing Irish Jigs and where you will always find the next big thing in music.

 Appaloosa is just a scant hour's drive from Washington, DC, and is the most joyful way to spend time away from the hustle and bustle of city life, where you, your friends, and your family can take in fresh air, picturesque scenery, and spend two days listening to some of the best national and international music one could ever hope for. Spend your early mornings watching gliders and biplanes circling overhead, and spend the rest of your day enjoying all that Appaloosa has to offer. The festival is well known for its intimate, family-friendly atmosphere and workshops. Artists are not held at bay backstage waiting to perform; instead, they walk freely about the fairgrounds, watching others perform and lovingly teach workshops. Many years ago, one such workshop was held by a relatively unknown Billy Strings, and this year, you might have rubbed shoulders with other performers as they mixed in among the crowd. In a time when many music festivals are struggling, we found that in Appaloosa's ninth edition, a record number of attendees, nearing nine thousand, found their way to Skyline Ranch Resort.

The creative forces behind Appaloosa are none other than Front Royal residence and hometown heroes Scythian. This high-energy folk-rock band blends the sounds of traditional Celtic, Eastern European, and Americana music and regularly delivers explosive live performances. Members take that same amount of energy into growing their festival into what it has become and constantly improving the festival experience. In 2023, the festival grew so much in attendance and acts that they added a second stage opposite the main stage. This year, they expanded the satellite stage and found a way to have emcees from each stage talk to one another over the speaker system. These emcees, genuine friends off stage, provided hours of jovial banter back and forth between one another and ensured the fun and music never ended. It is through the creative energy and hometown love that this festival continues to expand and improve the festival each year.

 
This year, we, along with so many others, took the journey to the Appaloosa Festival to celebrate Labor Day Weekend. Over the weekend, we shared the campground and festival grounds with thousands of incredible people; we looked out at beautiful landscapes, witnessed spectacular sunsets, listened to legendary music artists, danced a festive Irish jig, and discovered undoubtedly emerging and who in time will become the next big things in music.

Upon entering the festival grounds, you could not help but have peace and tranquility wash up upon you. In a bold move, the first band of the festival, Catfish In The Sky, found their way to sing several murder ballads - albeit loving and beautifully written murder ballads - but murder ballads nonetheless. Such is the dark beauty that sometimes lies beneath some of the best songs in the roots genre. The band would not be the only one who leaned into the macabre undercurrents of roots music, as Smoke & The Poet would later cover Molly Tuttle's "Dooley's Farm." Both Catfish In The Sky and Smoke & The Poet should be on your radar. They may not be big now, but we are sure they will one day be the next big thing.

Much like an Irish jig, Appaloosa is an extension of the beloved Celtic dance - a lively folk dance involving hopping, kicking, and shuffling. For two incredible days, attendees would leap from one stage to another with that lively energy and celebration of music and the best that life had to offer. Festival goers could spend a day lounging in a lawn chair but within a minute could find themselves at a workshop, an enormous children zone, take a quick break at a new mothers zone, imbibe in a drink, or shop at the expanded vendor and food truck selections.   A testament to a good festival is when you must decide which artist you want to see perform. Appaloosa adds to the complexity of the decision-making by adding so many delightful options—the kid's zone, moon bounce, children's performances, and workshops. These are the difficult decisions that must be made during a leisurely day at the Appaloosa Festival— and one that is appreciated by all!

When we look back on the Appaloosa Festival, one thing that resonates with us is a lyric from "The End" by The Beatles: "🎶And in the end / The love you take / Is equal to the love you make.🎶" To attend Appaloosa is to understand the heartfelt love that Scythian and the festival creatives put into the festival, the community, and the performers. This festival is not just about music and a festival experience - it is about a profound love of their hometown for Front Royal, its music community, and the artists they've chosen to perform. This is the love that Scythian and Appaloosa bestow on their festival.

In return, Front Royal, the community, and artists give back just as much love, if not more, to Appaloosa. How many festivals have had artists have travel problems and find themselves unable to perform? This year, one band's flight got canceled, and instead of having to cancel their appearance, the band flat out refused to miss this festival and packed themselves into a car and drove through the night only to arrive at the festival just in time to perform on stage. This is the story of JigJam, who drove through the night from St. Louis, Missouri, to arrive bleary-eyed right before their scheduled appearance and then provided a magical set on the main stage, and joined Scythian to close out Night 1 on the main stage. JigJam cheekily maintains themselves as the best Irish bluegrass, or iGrass, band in the world, and based on their reception and performances at both Appaloosa and DelFest this year, they have proven that they are.

Leaning into the festival's motto, "Where You Find The Next Big Thing," the festival continues to invest in upcoming artists by inviting them back year after year. In 2023, they invited Kat Higgins to the festival, and in 2024, we saw this brilliant performer and writer not only perform on stage with Arbo but also teach a songwriting workshop. In this workshop, Higgins taught the audience some songwriting tips and tricks, which is priceless considering Higgins has written so many chart-topping songs, including the #1 songs, including "Knowing You" by Kenny Chesney and "The Painter" by Cody Johnson. Not only can you find the next big thing at Appaloosa, but you can also learn from them in small, intimate workshops.

By day, Scythian performed each morning as Cake For Dinner in the Workshop Stage, entertaining the festival's children with great delight. In the evening, the band removed their foam cowboy hats and poured out their love onto the stage in some of their most powerful performances of the year. Scythian made sure that the crowd would "Dance All Night," and the audience gave their love right back to their beloved hometown heroes.

In 2022, Scythian invited a relatively unknown Smoke & The Poet to be a part of the festival. Smoke & The Poet performed yet again in 2023, and this year, they performed two sets at the festival - a stupendous daytime set and an absolute over-the-top barn burner of a performance at the Saloon Stage. Make no mistake, Smoke & The Poet's newest song, "One Trick Pony," flies in the face of the band, who themselves are anything but a one-trick pony. Appaloosa Festival invests in their artists, and in return, these artists give that love right back with magical performances.

The last two artists added to this year's lineup further proved that this festival knows who will be the next big thing - Ashes & Arrows and Shadowgrass!

Ashes & Arrows is a dynamic country/rock band born from the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina, and the alps of Arrowtown, New Zealand. With looming storm clouds they took to the main stage only to have their performance cut short after their second song. When the rain passed, Ashes & Arrows proved that they are a force to be reckoned with and rightfully deserve to be on the biggest stages in America and capture our hearts with their powerful performances on America's Got Talent. Fans danced with delight on the rainy field and under the shelter of the Saloon Stage. Sometimes, you can wait for the rain to pass, and other times, you dance gleefully under a festival tent. Make no mistake about Ashes & Arrows is filled with incredibly kind and genuine human beings with an enormous stage presence that one day will make them the next big thing.

Shadowgrass is an up-and-coming and formidable force in the bluegrass and jamgrass music scene. This quintet, composed of the next generation of talent, embodies a ferocious, passionate, and prodigious traditional bluegrass energy. If you want a heaping serving of genuine bluegrass music set on top of explosive energy - Shadowgrass is the band for you! Albeit, it did take a song or two for dancers in the audience to adjust their irish jig to the top speed of Kyser George's guitar and Clay Russell's banjo. Make no mistake - Shadowgrass is the next big thing and regularly performs at a festival of another Appaloosa alumni - Billy Strings.  Be on the lookout for Shadowgrass's forthcoming album, All That Will, coming out on October 4th.

Let us not forget about the biggest investment that Appaloosa puts into the community: the festival's own charity, the Appaloosa Blue Ridge Arts Foundation (ABRAF), which was founded to reignite interest in roots music in the Shenandoah Valley. Emma, one of the ABAF's students, took to the stage with Scythian to perform alongside her heroes and benefactors this year. We talked with Emma right before taking the stage as she beamed with pride and excitement. Alongside ABRAF, she spent the better part of the last year practicing with her ukulele for this performance. Emma's beautiful spirit and determination left everyone at Appaloosa bursting with pride and joy as she captured our hearts with a performance that many will not soon forget. These few minutes of Appaloosa alone will feed our souls with joy for many months to come.

As the festival came to its climatic conclusion, Alex and Danylo Fedoryka of Scythian talked about how 2025 would mark the tenth edition of Appaloosa and how excited they were looking forward to once again build a city in the fields of Skyline Ranch Resort. With the love that this band puts into their beloved festival and constantly looks to improve, count us in for Appaloosa 2025, taking place on August 30th and 31st next year!  (Ticket link can be found below)

There were literally thousands of precious moments throughout these two glorious days of camping throughout the festival - too many to list and place in this article.   Simply stated - if you are looking for great music, precious moments, and memories that will last a lifetime by you, your friends, and your family, then you should make sure to come out to Appaloosa each Labor Day Weekend.

See You At Appaloosa 2025 in