There are many things to love about Chattanooga. The city is inarguably picturesque and is an outdoor adventure lover’s paradise. For those in the know though, early June brings another beloved Chattanooga jewel to the city; Riverbend Festival | Chattanooga's Original Music Festival. Over the years the festival has evolved since its inception all of the way back in 1982. In more recent years, the festival has diversified its lineup and included musical acts from a wide arrange of artists. The historical lineups have included the likes of Rascal Flatts, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Styx, LL Cool J, Commodores, Sheryl Crow, Heart, and Widespread Panic to name a few. This year serves as no exception to the festival’s diverse concept. With all of this diversity, it’s possible that some of the acts at the festival might be unknown; that was certainly the case for myself. With this in mind, we’d like to set aside five acts that we feel are absolutely must-sees. And of course, some acts transcend genres like Big Boi of Outkast and Phantogram fame. We’ll try to focus on acts that, for many, may have hovered just below the radar.

Blackberry Smoke

Blackberry Smoke has been lauded with praise since their formation in 2000. Hailing from nearby Atlanta, Georgia; the hometown fellas have even been credited by Rolling Stone as “reviving Southern Rock.” A bold claim perhaps but, it is not without its merits. The band, despite their sorcerous ability to revive Southern Rock, is not so neatly bound within simple genre labels. In fact, the band has found itself as the first independent artist to hit number one on the country charts. They’ve also found their albums reigning at number one on the rock and country charts simultaneously and at number one on the Americana/Folks charts. Their ability to glide amongst genres has treated them well and allowed them to tour with massive names like Gov’t Mule, Peter Frampton, Guns n’ Roses, Zac Brown Band, and Riverbend alumni, Lynyrd Skynyrd.

49 Winchester

49 Winchester is self-described as “Appalachian Country Soul Music.” The group, hailing from Castlewood, Virginia has seen high praise. Rolling Stone described them as country music’s “hot new buzz band.” The metrics seem to reflect the public’s affection for the band, their song Russel County Line has over 15.5 million listens on Spotify and overall they sport over 1.25 million monthly listeners. Their songs cover a range of topics from the ache of missing a lover in “Russel County Line” which uses brilliant wordplay like “reunited in this tomb, where our pride died and is buried from above. And in that dir was planted seeds of hope and from them grew the flowers of our lives.” From these deep and philosophical reminiscing all of the way to the likes of songs like “Hillbilly Daydream” which outlines the time-honored Appalachian tradition of moonshining, bemoaning the state of the world today where earning $12 an hour is worthless Coke costs $2.10.

Lucius

Lucius is a four-piece indie pop band that was founded in 2007. The band, like others we’ve discussed in this article; has received extremely high praise from critics in the media. Paste Magazine even went as far as naming them one of the best live acts of 2015. There’s been a six-year gap for the band between albums and four years since any genuine touring has happened. In spite of this, the band has maintained traction with multiple tracks that are purely their own or that they are featured on hovering at or above 20 million Spotify plays and “Two of Us On the Run” sitting above 55 million listens. With all of this in play, Lucius has absolutely got to be a “can’t miss artist” and perhaps might steal the entire festival.

Amanda Shires

Amanda Shires is a Texas-born vocalist and fiddler who has had success as both a solo artist and as part of bans like The Highwomen (featuring the likes of Brandi Carlisle and fellow Riverbend artist Maren Morris) and Thrift Store Cowboys as well as with her husband Jason Isbell in The 400 Unit. Shires boasts a massive amount of accolades including performing with the legendary Willie Nelson on her latest single, “Summertime”, performing on Jimmy Fallon, appearing on a major motion picture soundtrack The Kitchen, and performing on Metallica’s cross-genre The Metallica Blacklist to name a few. Oh! She also features a country artist some people might have heard of on a song that boasts over 60 million Spotify plays; Luke Combs.

Doom Flamingo

One of my personal favorites finds to have lifted their way off of the Riverbend poster and into my ears has been Doom Flamingo. The band also sports bassist Ryan Stasik, who is also known for his other band; Umphree’s McGee. A hypnotic merging of genres including synth wave, soul and pop to name a few. They’re self-described as a “six-headed synth-wave beast” and as having “top gun guitar riffs and Miami Beach poolside lounge vibes.” The Charleston, South Carolina natives make haunting and beautiful songs where blistering guitar riffs and pumping bass collides into the beautiful, soulful voice of vocalist Kanika Moore. Plus, they have a kick-ass name, and kick-ass artwork (such as the wicked flamingo on their YouTube channel) and they’ve even been known to crowd-surf mid-set which always warms the heart of this aging metalhead.

So there you have it, the five bands that I can’t find myself missing at this year’s Riverbend which, by the way, with the gap year created by the global pandemic of COVID-19, is celebrated as the festival’s 40th. We hope to see you out on the banks of the Tennessee River jamming along with us to these incredible acts. If you still need your tickets to the festival or if you just want to look for more information about the event, you can do so at https://www.riverbendfestival.com .

As always, please feel free to browse around ConcertHopper’s website further and check out our articles covering a wide variety of topics. Please also check us out on social media on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Life is a beautiful thing and music only adds to that beauty, take some time to get out and celebrate beauty and life with a community of like-minded individuals at a concert soon, it’s always worth the price of admission.

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