Mountain Shadow Music Festival

10/27/2025

ATTENTION!
All of the photos from brother Bill of the 2025 Mountain Shadow Music Festival are now available for viewing on our website!
mountainshadowmusicfestival.com

09/01/2025

MUSICIANS!!
Musicians/bands interested in playing at our 2026 festival can go to the “performers” page on our website and contact us through there with the information requested.

Established 2015 By Invitation Only - This is a private not-for-profit event This website last updated 7 August 2025

08/25/2025

Brother Bill has displayed his 2025 festival photographs on his photography website. He got some great shots! Check them out at

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08/05/2025

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
The 2026 Mountain Shadow Music Festival is thrilled to announce the addition of His & Hers to their Sunday lineup!!
“His & Hers is a folk Americanagrass band from North Carolina lead by spouse duo, Caleb and Sara Davis. Featuring Drew Willardson on bass and Bucky Keener on drums, His & Hers has played their original blend of folk, bluegrass, country and jamming blues at venues and festivals across the southeast region. They have multiple studio releases and are currently working on their next full length project.”
Besides playing at MerleFest, His & Hers has performed locally at Carolina in the Fall, Reeves Theater, the Daniel Boone Festival and at our very own Piedmont Folkways.
We look forward to hearing them at 2pm on Sunday, August 9th, 2026.
More info can be found at their website, www.hisandhersnc.com

08/04/2025

I promised that I was done posting but that was about the 2025 festival…
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON for the 2026 Mountain Shadow Music Festival!
Stay tuned…

08/04/2025

Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Last post

This will be our last post except to inform you when we post 2025 pictures and videos on our website. We had two people filming the shows and are expected to put together some cool synopsis videos. Brother Bill Barber took lots of pictures and he has provided us with lots of great photography over the past couple of years.
If anyone would like to volunteer to help us with next year’s festival we could sure use some help! Grounds maintenance for making the place look nice and food planning are just two areas where we could use some help.
Thanks! May God/Allah/Yahweh keep you all safe and secure until this time next year for the 2026 Mountain Shadow Music Festival! We love you all so much!
❤️ ☮️ 🎶

08/04/2025

Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Thoughts?

While we try very hard to do everything right there is always stuff we miss! We have had a few suggestions for next year already so tell us what you think! What can we do better? What should we do differently.
NOTE : Please don’t ask us to change the weather. Regardless of what MAGA says, we do not have control…
❤️ ☮️ 🎶

08/04/2025

Mountain Shadow Music Festival
ATTENDANCE

We think we broke all of the records this year, even with the drizzly rain all weekend. We had a good crowd all three days with 30-40 Friday and Sunday and even more on Saturday.
. All weekend attendees - 41
Folks that came for one day only - 49
Helpers and invited guests - 10
Musicians - 50
Total people that came through the 2025 Mountain Shadow Music Festival
150 !!!
❤️ ☮️ 🎶

08/04/2025

Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Financials

This year we have been open about the expense for putting on our festival. We are not bragging, looking for sympathy or complaining. We love doing the festival each year and no matter what the cost, we will continue to have it as long as we are physically and financially able to. Other reasons for being open about the financial end is for tax purposes, keeping away “performing rights organizations” and licensing requirements. What we present is a private party for our friends and family and is totally not for profit.
That said, here is how it broke down this year:
Musicians pay, paid help & Port-A-Jons- $13,150.00. This figure does not include food and supplies such as plates, cups, plastic ware and such. That is why, at the festival, we reported this year’s expenses at right around $14,000.00.
We took in $3750.00 in ticket sales (receipts are all on PayPal) and we deposited $2150.00 in donation money today given to us at the festival for a total income of $5900.00. Actually, that is a record and we are eternally grateful to those that were able to contribute.
We’re not sure how next year’s festival will go as far as tickets, etc but we are going to try to cut back some on our expenses.
All of our financial information is available upon request.
As long as we are on the top side of the grass we will continue to have this event every year. We love our friends and family so much and this is the entertainment epitome of the year for us.
God Bless you all!
❤️ ☮️ 🎶

08/04/2025

Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Miraculous!

We already thanked Bryan M. Olson for his hard work at our festival but we need to add a bit more…
Even though he’s part of our paid staff it is unusual to find someone that is not only good at what he does but is a good friend and consultant as well. Bryan, who runs Grass Roots Entertainment Group, does a phenomenal job of running the sound and managing the stage. I have been to many festivals and rarely does the stage crew get one band (sometimes 5 or more) off and the next one back on in under 30 minutes. Bryan has done it consistently for three years now! Besides that, he assists me with suggestions for performers and how the festival is run. Most of you also don’t know that he guided me in my purchase of what is a really good sound system for our amphitheater.
He does so much more too with GREG! He can do both sound and video recording and sound production for events. If you are in need of any of this or anything that requires sound production, please consider Bryan. He is a consummate professional!
❤️ ☮️ 🎶

08/04/2025

Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Other THANKS!
A great big THANKS to Lexis Kurley with UnitedYogi Lexi for the Saturday morning yoga session. The participants LOVED it!
Thanks to Dani Kerr for setting up her vendor tent Shakedown Street Vinyl and More!
Thanks to Chad Andrew Harris, Tom Kuhn, Dani Kerr, Clare Martin and Carolina Detour for the wonderful unplanned festival side show of “Jamming on the Porch”. We’re going to include more of that for next year!
And we always have to thank the “Dancing Girls” ❤️

08/04/2025

Mountain Shadow Music Festival
THANKS to the helpers!
Some were paid and others volunteered. They include:
Bryan M. Olson - Sound and stage manager
Emily Lauren - Food coordinator
Kiley Gaither - Food coordinator
Josh Loftis and John - Parking
Bill Barber - MUSHROOMS, ice runs & help
Chris Sickle - lots of help and ice runs
Brie Savy Groomer - Food, lots of help
Miranda Tolliver & Bryn Starnes - meat smokers supreme plus food
Andrew Barber - grounds keeping and setup (and hopefully tear down)
Maltese Dixon - Grounds keeping
Tom Kuhn & Penny - Food
Peter Fritsch & Eva Fritsch - Food
Darlene Monroe - Food
Andora Lippard Nicholson - Food
Betty Vanstory Dobson - Food
Pamela Navey (Federal) - Food
Lucas Campbell - Grounds keeping
Jamie Miller & Holly Miller - Food
Roy Neal Grose & Louise - food and special medicinal support 😂
Martha Hall Brouwer - Food and table & chairs
Mary Jane Draper - Cheesecakes (OMG they were good - and the SW cheesecake rocked!)
Others that brought food behind our backs!
We hope we didn’t miss anyone!
❤️ ☮️ 🎶