Moon River Music Festival 2022

Despite my wanting to attend Moon River Music Festival since it first moved to Chattanooga, due to conflicts or tickets selling out I’d not yet had the pleasure to attend the festival that had captured Chattanooga’s music heart. So I was incredibly grateful to be able to attend and photograph this year’s festival.

Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors live at Moon River Festival 2022

Starting off I knew I was, as I’ve been every year, incredibly impressed with the lineup. This was both a festival’s festival lineup, filled with artists who’ve become favorites on the circuit such as Hiss Golden Messenger, Keb’ Mo’, and Moon River founder Drew Holcomb, as well as a festival for broader music lovers, with the inclusion of Local Natives, Lucius, and Leon Bridges for example.

Saturday

I started the day by acclimating myself to the festival environment. As a Chattanoogan for 30 years it was incredible to see Coolidge Park, a beloved community park, transformed for the festival. Of note there were two key stages the smaller Iris stage and the larger Poplar stage, a couple areas for food and drink, a kids play area, a sports viewing space, and plenty of places all around to relax and watch the bands play.

I started my day off by catching Daniel Nunnelee’s set at the Iris stage. I wasn’t familiar with his music prior, but for such an early set I was impressed by the crowd he’d already gathered for his set. He mentioned last year he came as a fan and hoped to one day play here himself, so that was a dream quickly realized. I enjoyed his set and definitely will keep an eye on him as a rising star.

Next I headed over to catch the Wild Rivers a band I’d become acquainted with prior and had already become quite a fan! Musically they fit into the new folk scene quite well, and hailing from Toronto I think it’s fair to say they had one of the longest trips down. I loved their energy and getting to hear bands I’d fallen in love with so recently really made the experience for me!

Following that I explored my food options, and as a vegan I was excited to find a quality selection of options. Despite the weather too, which had already with its routine drizzles had turned the field more to mid, I was able to eat my food while catching the music from the halfway point between the stages underneath the walking bridge.

I then had the absolute pleasure to connect with Drew Holcomb, and instead of reiterating what we discussed I’d instead just like to direct you to the full interview here. Needless to say this was an absolute highlight of my festival!

Following that interlude from the pit I went back in to catch Lucius at the Iris stage. Lucius is a band I first fell in love with in 2014 when they opened for Tegan and Sara in Chattanooga, and I’ve been blown away by their music with each successive album. Lucius had recently taken a turn towards disco and dance with their latest album, and so I was especially curious to see how this would be conveyed in person. Instead of a real pivot though I felt like I was seeing Lucius again, as always in full command of their music and the audience, but in their Americana prime and not as the now disco queens some might argue them to have become. Though they did play more off the new album as the set went on, I think there was a healthy mix of their music classic and new, to show fans of old and new the full range of their skills.

Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors took to the Poplar stage right after where a crowd had already gathered. Drew’s band is really the anchor of each festival, and the only artist to play each year, so the crowd knew what they were in for. Though this was my first time seeing Drew live in person, my parents had introduced him to me year’s thanks to their trip on a Cayamo, a singer songwriter themed cruise ship where he played. I’d been a fan ever since and knew his show would be quite excellent. Drew was joined for a couple songs by Elle, his wife and musical partner for many years. Drew’s young son also had a birthday so there was a delightful moment where they came together kids, Elle, and Drew together, and sang a song. These are the sort of special moments one encounters at a music festival, and there were many to come yet!

Zach Bryan took to the Iris stage following Drew’s set. Drew in his interview with me specifically mentioned Zach as the kind of breakout star who even from the time between booking him to his performance became a greater musical presence and would soon be a main headliner! He clearly had the chops as his set was strong and he had some fans already singing along to all his songs. I was quite impressed and look forward to catching Zach at future festivals.

Last show of the evening Saturday was The National who headlined that day’s events on the Poplar stage. I’ve honestly never been a huge fan myself, only knowing their music in passing; however, I was impressed by the stage energy of the band and in particular their vocalist Matt Berninger. The audience ate up his dramatic and often tumultuous movements on stage, as he’d dramatically go from stage right to left like a man possessed. While I still cannot say for sure what I feel musically, I know they put on quite a live show few are destined to forget.

Sunday

Perhaps by now anyone familiar with Moon River 2022 knows that Sunday was unfortunately cancelled quite early on due to the threatening weather and the flooding that followed, which to be fair was in part building up on Saturday.

While that was truly upsetting to many fans, even though they were to be reimbursed for the day, it seems Moon River, Drew Holcomb and fellow artists, the City of Chattanooga, and the Soldier & Sailors Memorial Auditorium team came together to put on an evening concert the likes of which I’ve not seen!

Crowd gathered at Soldiers & Sailor Memorial Auditorium

Despite the last minute assemblage of it all, and thus the chaotic mess fans encountered trying to queue for the event, nearly 3,000 fans crossed into the Memorial Auditorium for what was essentially a very special revue of what might have been.

Drew and Elle Holcomb kicked off the night thanking everyone for their understanding and celebrating the hard work of so many who came together for the special evening show. After playing a couple of Elle’s songs, and more, they then welcomed to the stage Abraham Alexander.

Abraham’s played briefly before the festival was cancelled, but in a twist of fate no doubt thanks to this evening’s performance he was able to play to a significantly larger crowd. He said nightlike these make legends, and his incredible performance sure was legendary indeed.

Sammy Rae and the Friends came out and played a barn burner of a set. Sammy’s vocals were absolutely incredible and reminded me of the power of Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries fame. Their set was cancelled after a song or two earlier and again this was a chance to not just play some songs to make up for that but she may have reached an even broader audience. Likewise they like most of the artists played a more acoustic set, due to the last minute nature of the make-up concert, but that made for an even more special set as it’s one unlikely to be heard anywhere else.

Local Natives came on after, a particular favorite of mine, and rocked their set. I’ve always been impressed by their harmonies but seeing them live was even more amazing.

We were starting to get into the mid-waypoint of the lineup and anticipation kept building to see who’d follow.

JP Saxe came on next, another artist on the line-up having a moment, and he delivered a beautiful set. Though I imagine as a singer songwriter he likely keeps his instrumentation pretty minimalist, I think it was perhaps even more so that evening, which led to a pure demonstration of his vocal artistry. He performed his breakout single “If the World Was Ending” and then reprised it in his last song, and I think the audience wouldn’t have minded if he’d played it yet again.

After JP’s performance Drew came out once again and said “now we only announced the guests we could confirm at that time, but we have some more” and the crowd went absolutely wild. I couldn't gauge who they were most hoping still remained, but I just know they were hyped.

First up Charley Crockett came out looking at the very definition of old school country. Crockett also wore his Texas origins on his sleeves and leaned into them with his songs.

Last but certainly not least to an uproarious applause Leon Bridges, the biggest surprise and original Sunday headliner, took the stage. Though each artist was playing fewer songs than a full set, he still delighted with his performance, and in a truly special moment brought both Charley Crockett and Abraham Alexander back on stage for a song. Truly a legendary moment.

Drew and Elle came back at the end to thank everyone once again and, an ode to a past Moon River tradition, played Moon River to close out the night. Despite the chaos this all felt like how it was meant to be, and despite the rain Moon River ended with a beautiful rainbow to tie it off.