Rooster Walk Music and Arts Festival Celebrates 15 Years With Over 45 Bands on Six Stages

Rooster Walk 15 took place May 22 – 25, 2025, at Pop’s Farm in Martinsville, VA.  This year’s lineup featured Trampled by Turtles, Lettuce, Keller Williams, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, Andy Frasco and the U.N., Little Stranger, and more.

Article and Photos by Jason Robey (Facebook • Instagram)

The Story of Rooster Walk

The Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival celebrated its 15th anniversary this year, which is impressive enough, but its story goes much deeper. The festival is a memorial for two young men of the community who passed separately in their 20s in 2007 and 2008. Friends of the men knew the most appropriate way to pay tribute to them was through a charitable music festival, benefiting local charities, including the Penn Shank Memorial Scholarship, established in their memory. 

Throughout the four-day festival, there were several visible opportunities to contribute to the fundraising efforts, including QR codes for tips and a special brunch with proceeds benefiting the Rooster Walk Music Instrument Program. This program collects, repairs, and refurbishes old instruments to donate to local schools. The charitable nature of Rooster Walk undoubtedly plays a role in the happy and welcoming demeanor of the staff and volunteers, which was evident all weekend.

The Sights of Rooster Walk

Rooster Walk takes place on beautiful Pop’s Farm in Martinsville, VA. Expansive forest areas make for great camping, with plenty of shade. Shuttles run constantly from the camping areas to the festival gates, and campgrounds are split up into “quiet,” “not-so-quiet,” and “not-quiet-at-all” areas, based on their proximity to the stages. 

Having chosen the “not-quiet-at-all” option myself, it was possible to hear the music at my campsite when taking a break to go back and eat. Conveniences like bathrooms and charging stations (cleverly disguised as birdhouses) were aplenty and marked well on the map that was in the booklet given out when entering. There was also a small stage on the side of the road, known as the Eye-Level Stage, which would have several sets each day, including a happy hour at 4 pm each day (except Thursday) with $4 pours.

Inside the festival grounds, the main entrance leads into a path in the tall trees lined with an eclectic selection of vendors, including the usual hippie crafts and clothing, in addition to wellness-related tents, beer, and snacks. 

At the end of the path was the Pine Grove Stage, set in the trees with a couple dozen hammocks tied in them for anyone to kick back and relax. A short walk out of the forest led to a hill with several food vendors and the festival merch tent at the top and the Lawn Stage at the bottom, the most typical scene for a music festival. This stage would also be the setting for fire dancers during the headline act on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

Another short walk to the left would lead past another line of vendors to the top of the hill with the Lake Stage at the bottom. A beautiful view of the stage against the lake, which was lit up during nighttime sets, greeted guests as they made their way past a shaded beer garden and the Kids’ Coop. 

Rooster Walk is very family-friendly, with special programming for kids, including a stage with open mic times, a playground, and a massive Slip n’ Slide. There was also a VIP stage, hidden down another short path, also against the lake, for those who bought the upgraded VIP tickets.

The Sounds of Rooster Walk

The lineup featured more than three dozen bands, plus artists-at-large and a handful of special sets, making it a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. Musically, the focus was on roots rock and Americana, with a few tangents to round it out, and most sets lasting an hour and a half to two hours. 

The music started at 2:30 pm on Thursday with a bluesy rock set on the Pine Grove stage by Griffin, who would also appear Friday and Sunday on other stages. Though there were fewer sets for the first day, there were still some must-see events. One tradition of Rooster Walk is to have a house band, made up of members of other bands on the lineup, who would play a unique show each day. This year’s house band included Florencia Rusinol, Isaac Hadden, Jeff Sipe, and others. For their Thursday set, they paid tribute to the late, great Jerry Garcia with 90 minutes of music from the Grateful Dead and other Garcia projects. The night also featured the popular country band Yarn, who will also be headlining the Yarnival Festival at Pop’s Farm in October. 

The remaining three days would each begin with a yoga session at the Pine Grove stage and a public jam at the Eye-Level stage to start the days off on the right note. Friday featured a high energy set by the genre-defying nine-piece band The Shoaldiggers, that had a crowd dancing hard at the Pine Grove stage, as well as sets from Striking Copper, Hustle Souls, Caitlin Krisko & the Broadcast, Ashes & Arrows, Ramona & the Holy Smokes, Arts Fishing Club, The Wilson Springs Hotel, and others. 

As the sun was setting, repeat Rooster Walk performer Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country brought their blend of country and jam band music to the grounds to guide the festival into nighttime. A raucous performance by festival favorite Andy Frasco & the U.N. drew a lively crowd to the lake stage, while others gathered for the Rooster Walk House Band’s annual “Jimmy Jam” at Pine Grove. Late-night sets from jazz fusion group Ghost Note and Mountain Walrus were a treat for the nocturnal attendees, taking the music until nearly dawn.

Saturday morning got rolling with Brunch, Ballads, & Beer – a songwriter’s roundtable performance featuring Keller Williams, Ali Thibodeau of Deau Eyes, and Caleb Caudle. The Pickle & Ash food truck served a farm-to-table brunch while the three artists took turns telling stories and playing solo versions of their songs. 

Light hearted rock from Underground Springhouse, reggae by Mighty Joshua, and bluegrass from Shadowgrass provided something for fans of different tastes to satisfy their musical craving. A full-band set from Deau Eyes showed a different side of Ali Thibodeau’s stage presence, with a performance more reminiscent of Joan Jett than her quiet solo set a couple hours earlier.

Funk band Sneezy returned to Rooster Walk with their lively and quirky stage show, pulling a sizable crowd, while the equally quirky Keller Williams played his set with the Rooster Walk House Band backing him up at the Lake Stage. Trampled By Turtles’ dinner time set was the perfect cool down before Little Stranger heated it back up with their rap/rock/reggae/funk hybrid, leading into a psychedelic funk performance from Lettuce, and closing the late night with the duo of Future Joy jamming their live instrument/DJ mash up.

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The final day of the festival reminded us all why the saying goes “never miss a Sunday show,” with easy going sets by Jules & the Agreeables, Erin & the Wildfire, and Woody Woodworth & the Piners providing the perfect daytime soundtrack as people made their final trips around the vendors and merch tent for their souvenirs of the weekend. The eclectic Kendall Street Company filled the hill at the Lake Stage with fans singing and dancing along to their oddball humor and infectious jams, while the crowd was flanked by people hula-hooping and playing with various LED toys. 

The homestretch began at dusk with a set labeled as “Guitarmaggedon: Isaac & Kyser Destroy the World,” showcasing virtuoso performances from Isaac Hadden (who seemed to find a guest spot with most of the bands of the weekend) and Kyser George, of well-known tunes. Yarn closed the weekend out with a Neil Young tribute set, billed as Neil Yarng, which delighted fans so much that it went well past the scheduled end time.

Rooster Walk is not just a music festival.

It’s a celebration of music, art, and life.

The entire weekend was fun and light-hearted with a strong sense of community. Pop’s Farm was overflowing with beautiful sounds, good vibes, and great people for four days, with organizers taking every step to ensure a safe and family-friendly environment. Food and beverages on-site were fairly priced, though it should be noted that in order to reduce garbage for the weekend, you must have your own cup for beer and wine (you can purchase a reusable one from any of the vendors or bring your own). 

Blind Faith pre-sale tickets for Rooster Walk 16 are available until June 4th at a discounted price (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rooster-walk-16-music-arts-festival-tickets-1335792012869).