The 2025 Black Mountain Blues Festival: Where Song Meets Resilience
- Lindsay Nichols
- Aug 13
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 14
Some music festivals are loud. This one is layered.
Held in the heart of a mountain town still healing, the 2025 Black Mountain Blues Festival returns this fall with something rare: soul, story, and substance.
From September 26–28, this three-day gathering invites you to roam between stages, settle into the rhythm, and take part in a deeper kind of weekend — one that honors the past while leaning gently into the future.
Because here, the blues is more than a genre. It’s a way of remembering. A way of rebuilding. A way of returning home.
At Blue Mont Stays, we’re proud to sponsor this year’s festival as part of our ongoing commitment to “a stay for good.” We’re housing visiting performers, coordinating volunteer efforts, and supporting the people and stories that give this town its rhythm — on and off the stage.
Good Music for a Good Cause
The final weekend of September carries new weight in the Swannanoa Valley.
In 2024, Hurricane Helene brought record-breaking rainfall and devastating loss to Western North Carolina. Entire neighborhoods were displaced. Roads, homes, and small businesses were swept away. And in the silence that followed, something essential remained: the impulse to rebuild — structures, yes, but more importantly, spirit.
Rather than move past that memory, festival organizers are grounding this year’s event in it. The Black Mountain Blues® Society, a nonprofit rooted in place-based music, culture, and care, has made healing, perseverance, and joy the theme for 2025.
Half of the festival’s net proceeds will directly support Hurricane Helene recovery efforts, from housing assistance to long-term community rebuilding. This is music that meets the moment.
And in 2025, the experience extends beyond the stage. Attendees can take part in hands-on workshops, documentary screenings, and conversations that invite a deeper connection to the culture and legacy of the blues, a genre that has always carried more than just sound.
Why Black Mountain, and Why the Blues?
Black Mountain has long been a meeting ground for sound, where mountain ballads, gospel harmonies, and blues rhythms came together in front yards, church halls, and makeshift stages. But some of the most powerful chapters in this region’s musical history remain lesser known.
Just beyond downtown, in the early 20th century, a Cherokee and African American entrepreneur named Horace Chamber Rutherford saw a gap, and then he filled it. During segregation, Black residents and visitors were denied entry to most restaurants, music halls, and theaters.
So Rutherford built his own: Roseland Gardens, a dance hall and cultural center in the Brookside neighborhood.
It quickly became a hub for music, food, and celebration. Weekly concerts, outdoor grills, church picnics, movies, and barbecues gave the Black community a place to gather, exhale, and connect.
Local tradition holds that Bessie Smith may have performed here — a story often linked to her 1930 recording of Black Mountain Blues, later reinterpreted by artists like Janis Joplin and Nick Drake. The song continues to reflect the creative spirit of this town.
For more than 50 years, Roseland Gardens welcomed guests from near and far and stood as one of the region’s first truly integrated gathering spaces. Though it closed in 1976, its influence can still be felt in Black Mountain’s culture and stories.
Today, that history still resonates in the Brookside neighborhood, just around the corner from our Modern Mountain Townhome, where guests can stay within walking distance of one of the most meaningful sites in local music history.
Three Stages, A Full-Spectrum Blues Experience
This year’s festival continues that legacy. It invites both longtime residents and first-time visitors to experience the sound of this valley in spaces that are intimate, historic, and fully walkable.
This isn’t your typical big-ticket music event. It’s curated with care, woven into the very fabric of Black Mountain — with stages tucked into three beloved local spaces:
Old Town District (Old Town Stage) | Sway under string lights and mountain skies
The Grange at Foothills (Cherry Pit Stage) | Open-air and high-energy
White Horse Black Mountain (Roseland Gardens Stage) | Reverent, intimate, award-winning
Each venue offers its own texture — from porch-light casual to cathedral-like acoustics — creating a weekend experience that feels both grounded and expansive.
An Unforgettable Lineup: The 2025 Black Mountain Blues Festival
Expect more than 40 performances across the weekend, featuring nationally recognized acts alongside rising regional artists. This year’s performers reflect the genre’s wide embrace and more performer announcements are on the way.
From delta grit and gospel-funk to virtuosic soul and pure electric fire, the headliners alone are worth the journey:
Friday, September 26
Nik West | Old Town Stage: Bass goddess, former Prince collaborator, and pure showstopper
Ra’Shad the Blues Kid | Cherry Pit Stage: Modern Delta blues with Southern swagger
Annika Chambers-DesLauriers & Paul DesLauriers | Cherry Pit Stage: A powerhouse duo blending soul, blues, and rock
Saturday, September 27
Robert Randolph | Old Town Stage: Six-time Grammy nominee with gospel-funk pedal steel mastery
Ra’Shad the Blues Kid | Old Town Stage
Annika Chambers & Paul DesLauriers | Roseland Gardens Stage at White Horse
Sunday, September 28
Eric Gales | Cherry Pit Stage: A modern legend, hailed as one of the best blues guitarists alive
Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’ Blues | Roseland Gardens Stage at White Horse: A true icon bringing groove, grit, and generational depth
Community Gathering & Candlelight Event | Town Square Stage, after 3 PM: Join us in honoring the town’s resilience and shared healing after Hurricane Helene, with a quiet candlelight moment open to the public.
Between sets, you'll find art galleries, mountain views, and places to linger over a glass of wine or a well-balanced cocktail. Many of Black Mountain’s most thoughtful shops, cafés, and gathering spaces are just a short walk from the music.
Follow Black Mountain Blues Festival on social media to stay up-to-date: Black Mountain Blues Festival Instagram
Tickets & Info
Three-day passes are available now, with VIP experiences coming soon. Get your tickets here.
General admission includes access to all performances and venues. Stay tuned for VIP announcements — these shows will sell out quickly. Discounts are available for members of White Horse Black Mountain and the Black Mountain Blues Society.
Make It a Weekend to Remember
Something all visitors should know: A visit to Black Mountain rarely begins or ends with just one plan.
On Sunday, September 28, the weekend closes with the return of the Carolina Mountain Cheese Fest — a regional celebration of artisan cheesemaking with handpicked tastings, small-batch pairings, and maker-led workshops. Like the Blues Festival, it’s a gathering rooted in craft and connection.
Together, the two events offer something rare: a weekend that’s both full and slow. Textured and open. Intentionally designed to make you feel a part of our culture and community.
Come As You Are
The 2025 Black Mountain Blues Festival is about music, yes — but also about memory, momentum, and belonging. Join us this September for three days of sound, stillness, and celebration in the mountains!
We’ll be here. Holding space. Playing our part. Saving you a seat.
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