Much Ado About Bonnaroo

While a good portion of Nashville’s music industry will spend this weekend downtown for the CMA Music Festival, it’s a safe bet that another group will make the hour drive out to Manchester for Bonnaroo 2011.
The massive outdoor, multi-stage summer festival is now in its 10th year of existence and continues to grow more eclectic with every iteration. The 4-day lineup represents the farthest corners of musical diversity and is guaranteed to please crowds.
Headliners include Eminem, Arcade Fire, Widespread Panic, The Black Keys, Buffalo Springfield (feat. Richie Furay, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Rick Rosas, and Joe Vitale), My Morning Jacket, Lil Wayne, Robert Plant & Band of Joy, Mumford & Sons, The Strokes, The Decemberists, Ray Lamontagne, Iron & Wine, Girl Talk, Dr. John with the Original Meters and Allen Toussaint, Alison Krauss & Union Station feat. Jerry Douglas and many, many more.
To help provide a little guidance for newbies, the nice folks over at emusic.com have put together a list of 40 must-see artists at Bonnaroo 2011. Check it out and play clips from the artists here. Similarly, Spin has a mixtape of 20 Bonnaroo artists for download from its Facebook page. Get it here and read about Spin’s 25 must-hear Bonnaroo artists here.