Roots N Blues Festival Honors Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Celebrates Attendance Record

Pictured (L-R): Tracy Lane, Shay Jasper, Jeff Tweedy. Photo: LG Patterson

The 15th annual Roots N Blues festival, the only entirely women-owned major music festival in the U.S., wrapped up another successful year. The attendance for this year’s event, hosted Oct. 7-9, nearly doubled from last year, and Saturday marked the largest attendance day in the event’s history with over 10,000 attendees.

Held at Stephens Lake Park in Columbia, Missouri, the three-day festival took over two stages and featured headlining sets from Wilco, Jon Batiste, Bleachers, Chaka Khan, Tanya Tucker, and Old Crow Medicine Show.

On the first night of Roots N Blues, Grammy award-winning vocalist and guitarist of Wilco, Jeff Tweedy, was presented with the 2021 Missouri Roots Songbook honor before his band took the stage. The honor was presented by festival co-owners and co-producers, Tracy Lane and Shay Jasper, who founded the Missouri Roots Songbook in 2018 to encourage the people of Missouri to take pride in the musical heritage of their home state. Previous honorees have included Chuck Berry (2018), John “Blind” Boone (2019), and Sheryl Crow (2021).

Tanya Tucker. Photo: LG Patterson

“The Missouri Roots Songbook tradition, now in its fourth year, is a celebration of musicians with Missouri roots who have altered music history and culture on a global scale,” says Lane. “Jeff Tweedy is a midwesterner whose childhood was spent just across the river from St. Louis, listening to a broad array of musical influences spanning from The Carter Family to The Replacements, and some of us stood alongside him in our teenage years, seeing heavy metal bands on The Landing in the summer. Jeff Tweedy’s compelling and communal storytelling combined with his songwriting genius has resulted in more than 30 years of songs that sound and feel like us.”

“Over 10,000 people participated in a collective celebration of American Roots Music and wholeheartedly supported live music in mid-Missouri throughout the weekend,” adds Jasper. “In hearing the accounts of our patrons and looking at the data collected, we are providing a more inclusive, safe and positive experience for the community and its visitors. Tracy, myself and our incredible team are looking forward to further expanding our featured genres in 2023 while continuing an evolution into the best version of ourselves.”

Next year’s festival will take place Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2023.

Brittney Spencer. Photo: LG Patterson