Over the weekend, thousands of music lovers gathered at the Park at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville, for the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival. Originally launched in 2015, Pilgrimage quickly ascended to become one of the state’s essential music festivals, thanks to a stacked lineup of premier performers, dozens of food trucks offering delectable local fare and libations, and a wide array of family-friendly activities.
This year’s music lineup, crossing three stages, was spearheaded by headliners Zach Bryan and the Lumineers, but also offered an eclectic range of music from the country sounds of Ashley McBryde and Hailey Whitters to the The Black Crowes’ high-octane rock. All of it is staged on this 250-year-old, historic horse farm, giving a southern bent to a traditional, relaxed festival atmosphere.
On Sept. 23-24, the weather was mostly idyllic, and the vibe chill as music flowed from multiple stages throughout the day and into the evening, as the crowds oscillated between various areas of the festival grounds. Many packed in tightly at the front of the different stages, while others relaxed on blankets and chairs, taking in waves of music from top-selling artists and talented newcomers. Notably, given the location of the festival, it’s no surprise that the lineup drew heavily from talented Nashville-based artists, furthering highlighting the depth and breadth of Music City’s performers.
From Bryan’s collaboration-filled set to Yola’s electrifying show and Better Than Ezra’s tribute to the late Jimmy Buffett, here are the 10 best things we saw Pilgrimage 2023.
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Bluegrass Brings Hot Moments
The Americana Music Triangle Stage is one of the smaller stages during Pilgrimage, but when the temps soar into the 80s, its covered stage is a prime performance spot. On Sunday, the Owensboro Bluegrass Band — made of employees of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky — performed before a packed audience, regaling them with mighty bluegrass classics from Bill Monroe, including “Cry, Cry Darling” and “Dark Hollow.” There was no crying from this crowd, though: The temps were hot, but the fleet-fingered pickin’ was hotter, as the group’s lively, emotive performance proved a welcome representation of the lasting influence of the bluegrass genre.
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Better Than Ezra Honors Jimmy Buffett
Better Than Ezra’s frontman Kevin Griffin is one of the co-founders of the Pilgrimage Festival, making him a key influence on the festival’s eclectic lineup of performers. On Saturday afternoon, the group offered up their own hour-plus set at the Midnight Sun stage, offering up a range of hits, including “In the Blood,” from their 1993 breakthrough album Deluxe.
Perhaps the most affecting moment was when the group took time to honor the late Jimmy Buffett. Griffin noted that more than three decades have elapsed since the group started out, playing small-town clubs and bars. Griffin stated that the Buffett classic “Margaritaville” was a set staple in those days, before setting the crowd to singing about salt shakers and booze in the blender.
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Luke Grimes Makes Evocative Pilgrimage Debut
Grimes may be known for his acting credits on shows like Yellowstone, but he made his Pilgrimage debut performance as a country singer-songwriter as he gears up for the release of his upcoming, Dave Cobb-produced EP Pain Pills or Pews, out Oct. 20.
His performance oozed laid-back cool, as he casually chatted with the crowd and roared through songs from the album — his gritty voice a superb vessel for songs including “Oh Ohio” and his debut single “No Horse to Ride.” Though Grimes may only have a few performances under his belt, he’s already proving his immense promise to become a creative force in the music realm as well.
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Hailey Whitters Returns to Pilgrimage
Current CMA Awards new artist of the year nominee Hailey Whitters made her debut performance at Pilgrimage in 2021; two years later, she took a turn on the Midnight Sun stage on Saturday, her charming retro aesthetic, razor-sharp lyrics and engaging personality all full-throttle as she performed her catchy, hooky songs like “Fillin’ My Cup” and breakthrough hit “Everything She Ain’t.”
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The Black Crowes' Electrifying Rock Set
“It’s f–kin’ Saturday night and we came to rock n’ roll,” said The Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson told the Pilgrimage Fest crowd. Clad in an eye-catching red suit, Robinson and company brought full-throttle music, energizing showmanship and a plethora of hits, ranging from “Twice as Hard” to “My Morning Song.” The night-time crowd was on its feet, especially as Robinson praised music icon Otis Redding for his role in writing and originally recording “Hard to Handle,” which later became a signature song for the group. Though the music sometimes sounded muffled — especially in comparison to Yola’s crystalline sound on the same stage earlier in the day — the plethora of rock hits had the crowd dancing and cheering.
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The War and Treaty Pay Homage to Classics
Married duo The War and Treaty’s Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter brought their peerless vocals and onstage chemistry to the Midnight Sun stage on Sunday afternoon, highlighting Trotter Jr.’s rafter-scaling vocals on “Mr. Fun,” and the slow-burn soul of “No Harmin’ Me.”
They also took a moment to honor the late singer-songwriter Mike Henderson, known for his work with Chris Stapleton and The SteelDrivers. “We’ve lost Mike and a lot of good-hearted people along the way,” Trotter Jr. told the crowd.
He later discussed his struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts after his service in the military. “Many of us are smiling and laughing, but we know we have to go home, and sometimes home is not happy… we are each other’s keeper. That’s how we fight depression, loneliness, together.”
From there, The War and Treaty offered renditions of several classics, from a soul-stirring rendering of “Amazing Grace,” surging into the soul-rock of “Down to the River,” and sailing through a plethora of classics including Stapleton’s rendition of “Tennessee Whiskey” and Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” demonstrating the ties binding gospel, country and soul.
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Ashley McBryde Offers Bold Songcraft
Ashley McBryde has forged a reputation as one of Nashville’s boldest, most keen-eyed songcrafters, but her set on Sunday afternoon at Pilgrimage was a potent reminder that those visceral lyrics are embedded into the kinds of contemporary, rock-tinged country sounds that set the stage for star-making performances.
McBryde launched into her set by nodding to road life in the majestic “Made For This,” as well as “Whiskey and Country Music” — both from her stellar latest set, The Devil I Know — as well as “El Dorado” and “A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega,” both from her 2018 debut album Girl Going Nowhere. Brandishing a bra and dangling it from her finger, McBryde stalked the front of the stage during “Brenda Get Your Bra On,” a hilarious song about a small-town catfight, before flinging said brassiere into the crowd. She stopped the show briefly, when a fan in the front of the crowd fell down, seemingly from heat exhaustion in the 80-degree afternoon temps. As the fan was aided by festival staffers, McBryde urged fans to stay hydrated and to take care of each other.
Grammy-winner McBryde offered up not only her own songs, but delved into country music’s overall canon of hits, performing the Pam Tillis ’90s classic “Maybe It Was Memphis.” Overall, the performance was also a powerful statement of McBryde’s position as heir-apparent to country music’s lineage of strong, artistically determined female artists carving out music of their own agency and perspectives.
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Charlie Worsham's Set Features Dierks Bentley, Songs Celebrating Drag Queens and Stoners
Triple-threat singer-songwriter-guitarist Charlie Worsham has steadily become a star in Nashville’s music community — an ace songwriter and vocalist, a first-call studio musician, and currently a member of Dierks Bentley’s road band. But since his debut 2013 album Rubberband, Worsham has also proven himself a stellar artist with his own perspective. His Sunday afternoon set at the Americana Music Triangle stage was packed; Worsham’s laid-back charisma and top-shelf musical chops were apparent as he rolled through songs such as the Nashville music industry kiss-off “Fist Through This Town.”
He then welcomed Bentley to the stage for a rendition of “Things I Can’t Control,” from Worsham’s upcoming album Compadres. He also called out the album’s producer, The Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston, to the stage, bringing the audience to their feet for the toe-tapping “Kiss Like You Dance.” He even wrapped in a few cover songs, first dedicating a cover of Aerosmith’s “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” to “all those Tennessee drag queens out there trying to make a living,” then bringing out singer-songwriter Ian Munsick for “How I Learned to Pray” and a stripped-down, still-churning version of the Garth Brooks classic “Baton Rouge.” Another highlight was his self-proclaimed “stoner-gospel” song, “I Hope I’m Stoned When Jesus Takes Me Home.”
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Yola Weaves Together Rock, Soul & Disco for Entertainment Excellence
On the Golden Record Road stage, the extraordinary British-born singer-songwriter Yola dominated the stage with a heady mix of quick-witted charm, astute guitar prowess and of course, peerless vocals.
“You feeling good? You drunk enough booze yet? Good, I’m proud of you,” Yola laughed, after surging into the disco-tinged “Dancing Away in Tears,” but also evoking the grooves, power and rugged soul of Tina or Aretha.
She performed “Be My Friend,” a potent folk-rock song about allyship, and announced to the crowd, “If you are going to stand for something, don’t expect a high-five for it — just be a good person,” eliciting cheers for the sentiment. From there, Yola offered up “Diamond-Studded Shoes,” which earned her a Grammy nomination for best American roots song in 2022.
The evening turned into a moment of quiet-storm romance, as Yola performed a stunning, soul-lifting rendition of Anita Baker’s 1986 hit “Sweet Love.” Yola called it a “song I used to sing in the shower… I think a lot of people do that, dreaming that one day they will be singing it in front of people.”
Elements of disco, funk and soul were meshed throughout the performance, as Yola finished with the proud, defiant “Stand For Myself,” before offering the classic “Don’t Stop the Music,” further proving why Yola is one of today’s most engaging entertainers.
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Zach Bryan Holds Ultra-Collaborative, Soul-Heartening 'Revival'
Undoubtedly, the most-buzzed-about performance at this year’s Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival was Sunday night festival closer Zach Bryan, who in the past couple of years has surged into the spotlight, following his breakthrough hit “Something in the Orange.” His self-titled album debuted atop the Billboard 200 this summer and he earned his first Billboard Hot 100-topper with the Kacey Musgraves collaboration “I Remember Everything.”
Bolstered by an ace band with guitar, banjo, horns, drums and fiddle, Bryan’s music seemed to encapsulate the festival’s far-reaching expanse of styles, as his music seamlessly flowed between rock, country, folk, grunge and more — all spearheaded by a versatile voice that can instantly turn from reflective tender to full-shouted growls. It was indicative of this generation’s disinterest in the concept of genres, and their hunger for music that speaks to them, in all its forms.
Thousands of music lovers packed the expansive farmland while Bryan and company sailed through “Godspeed,” “Highway Boys,” “Quittin’ Time,” “Dawns,” “Burn, Burn, Burn,” “Something in the Orange” and “Oklahoma Smokeshow,” though Bryan teased the audience by singing “Tennessee Smokeshow.”
Bryan’s onstage patter was minimal (and somewhat repetitive), as he often thanked the crowd for attending, and repeatedly declared his love “for each and every single one of you.”
Bryan’s music is as prolific as it is poetic, as he followed his just-released self-titled project with the new EP, Boys of Faith. Both projects feature a plethora of collabs, and Bryan surprised the crowd by welcoming some of his musical buddies for the debut performances for a few of those. He introduced Noah Kahan to help perform “Sarah’s Place,” while The War and Treaty (who had performed on the same stage earlier in the day) returned to the stage to perform a blistering rendition of “Hey, Driver” alongside Bryan. After a brief interlude, Bryan was joined by Saturday evening’s headliners The Lumineers, to cap off the evening with a heart-tugging rendition of “Spotless.”
By the time he rolled into songs such as “Heading South” and “Revival,” with the audience (a sturdy mix of guys and gals) all dancing, raising up their drinks and singing whole-heartedly, it was clear that was just what he was doing — holding a musical, soul-heartening revival that surely would have gone on all night long, given the opportunity.