Adventures to Music on the Mountaintop

By Ashley Goodman | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Photos and Video By Phil Sunkel

Situated in Grandfather Mountain Campground in Boone, North Carolina, Music On The Mountaintop brought on the funk for three days of nonstop jamming. The festival initially started as a class project by a group of students at Appalachian State College, and has grown to be one of the largest music festivals the town has ever seen.

MOTM was the first festival I’ve been to and was everything I thought it was going to be. The first thing I noticed when I got there was that it actually felt like fall. It wasn’t very crowded, all the festival-goers were low key and collected. Many festival goers brought their children. It was quite the family affair.

Rain was projected for the entire weekend but festival-goers lucked out as it only rained for a few hours on Friday, interrupting Greensky Bluegrass’s set.

River Whyless

Some highlights of the festival included River Whyless, a folk-rock band local to Boone. The members met in the parking lot of Mellow Mushroom in Asheville and decided to start a band while they attended Appalachian State College.

JJ Grey & Mofro

JJ Grey & Mofro, hailing from the swamps of Jacksonville, Florida, kept the funk alive and had the crowd dancing for their entire set.

Dr. Dog

Dr. Dog, an internationally known indie rock band from West Grove, Pennsylvania, attracted more people than any other band Friday evening. They played songs from their new album, Be The Void. They ended their set with “Lonesome” one of their most well known songs.

The last highlight of the weekend was Holy Ghost Tent Revival. I was swept away when they played their first song. They play a lot of bluegrass festivals but they aren’t necessarily a bluegrass band. Their sound is like alt-rock meets folk.

When all is said and done, MOTM was a delightful jam sesh. The festival brought upon good music, good people and an overall good time was had there.