There is simply too much going on in the roots music world. This week, the column goes from Texas to Australia. In the former, Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion (Spicewood, Texas, March 13, 2025) showed the world how to put on a one-day festival, with some surprise guests. The latter, Blue Mountains Music Festival (March 14-16, 2025, Katoomba, Australia) demonstrated roots music is universal.
With a newly renovated and restored Chapel Stage, Luck has become so big that fans enter a lottery to see who gets in every year. This year, one-time pop star Jessica Simpson was one of the surprise guests. Now doing country, Simpson gave credence to the adage: if your last record bombs you go back to your roots, if your career is on the rocks you go back to someone else’s roots. Quite a few publications noticeably, and nauseatingly, swooned over her appearance. Justin St. Clair was there for the column, and was sparred the Simpson experience, thankfully, but did catch some excellent shots.
