The Momentary Announces FreshGrass | Bentonville 2025 Lineup
Artists include Lukas Nelson, Shakey Graves, Rosanne Cash with john leventhal, Béla Fleck, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Willi Carlisle, La Doña, and more
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BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Today, the Momentary announced the lineup for FreshGrass | Bentonville 2025, a two-day, all-ages festival with the best in American and global roots music and folk traditions taking place on Friday, May 16th and Saturday, May 17th. The 2025 festival will feature an illustrious lineup of artists, including GRAMMY Award winner Lukas Nelson, Americana Music Awards winner Shakey Graves, Afrobeat royalty Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, rising star La Doña, 18x GRAMMY Award winner Béla Fleck with his brand new trio featuring Antonio Sanchez and Edmar Castañeda, as well as GRAMMY Award winner and American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame member Alison Brown, Jesse Welles, Sister Sadie, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Jesse Welles, Lost Bayou Ramblers, The Langan Band, and more. The diverse and exciting lineup combines with unique-to-FreshGrass elements like world premiers of special commissions, artist talks, instrument workshops, band competitions, and square dances to create a festival experience unlike any other.
Also joining the festival as an artist-at-large will be Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal. Cash’s appearance at the Momentary holds special significance, as it coincides with the The Prison Concerts: Folsom and San Quentin (Jim Marshall’s Photographs of Johnny Cash) exhibition on display at the venue. Organized by the GRAMMY Museum, the exhibition features iconic photographs of her father from his historic Folsom and San Quentin prison concerts in 1968 and 1969.
Arkansas native folk singer Willi Carlisle returns to FreshGrass, this year as the 2025 recipient of the FreshGrass Composition Commission, performing new music written for this commission for the first time in public. Previous FreshGrass Composing Commission recipients include Rhiannon Giddens, Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz, Kronos Quartet, and Bill Frisell.
The FreshGrass Awards will also make their debut at FreshGrass | Bentonville 2025, with five finalists performing in front of an esteemed panel of judges during the festival. The FreshGrass Awards celebrate and reward emerging artists who offer innovative interpretations of bluegrass and roots music traditions. Prizes total more than $30,000 and the winner receives studio time at Compass Records. For Bentonville 2025, Band finalists will be selected internally from the esteemed Awards Council. Previous FreshGrass Awards Band Competition winners include this year’s lineup highlight AJ Lee and Blue Summit.
Set among the beauty of the Ozarks, FreshGrass | Bentonville has welcomed over 20,000 attendees to the Momentary since its inception. Presented by the Momentary, past artists have included phenomenal talents from Billy Strings to Sierra Ferrell, Trombone Shorty, Jason Isbell, Mavis Staples, Del McCoury, Cimafunk, Caamp, Tank and the Bangas the GRAMMY Award winning Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, and a myriad of other national and local stars, Grammy-nominated artists, and internationally and nationally acclaimed musicians taking the stage over the weekend.
For more information and tickets, please visit themomentary.org/FreshGrass.
FreshGrass | Bentonville is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, Cox Communications, iHeart Media, and AMP Sign & Banner.
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About FreshGrass Foundation
FreshGrass Foundation, a 501(c)(3), is an award-winning, nonprofit organization focused on sustainable solutions for the music industry. We partner with world-class institutions such as The Office Performing Arts + Film, MASS MoCA, the Momentary, Berklee College of Music, Silkroad, and many others to bring world class performing arts experiences to life.
Our main projects include: FreshGrass Festivals in North Adams, MA and Bentonville, AR, which have welcomed artists such as Brandi Carlile, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Gary Clark Jr., and many others. Renowned grants, commissions, and awards to musicians and writers for new works. Production and publication of No Depression, the quarterly journal of roots music as well Folk Alley, the 24-hour online listening for roots music. Founding partners of Artists At Work, a program that provides living wages for living artists. Administer the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, a prestigious award founded by Steve Martin (actor/comedian) that recognizes an individual or group for outstanding accomplishment in banjo. Operate and manage Studio 9 in North Adams, MA, a state-of-the-art recording studio and venue. Through a cutting-edge, multidisciplinary and collaborative approach, FreshGrass continually strives to help promote new artists and create new art through each of its entities.
FreshGrass is committed to making our organization completely sustainable and carbon neutral. Learn more about our green pledge by reading our FreshGrass Sustainability Manifesto.
About the Momentary
Opened in February of 2020 in Downtown Bentonville, the Momentary is a venue for the music, art, and food of our time; and a catalyst for creativity and economic vitality. An extension to Crystal Bridges, the Momentary is ‘a living room’ where community gathers to be inspired, connected, and joyful. The Momentary was founded by the Walton family, based on the vision of Tom, Olivia, and Steuart Walton. Its commitment to cultivating arts and cultural experiences provides more opportunities for education, engagement, and enjoyment in our region. The Momentary is an extension of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, founded by Alice Walton. The Momentary welcomes all with free general admission. Additional offerings include live music, visual and performing arts, an artist-in-residence program, culinary experiences such as Onyx Coffee Lab and the sky-high Tower Bar, indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, an outdoor festival space, and a retail shop. For more information, visit theMomentary.org. The Momentary is located at 507 SE E Street, Bentonville, Arkansas 72712. The Momentary’s Founding Funders are Walton Family Foundation, Walmart, RØDE Microphones, The Coca-Cola Company, Tyson Family Foundation, and Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation.