Culture

Stuart’s Opera House has announced the fifth round of lineup announcements for this year’s Nelsonville Music Festival, including legendary soul singer Mavis Staples on Friday, May 29 and afrobeat/soul instrumental group The Budos Band on Saturday, May 30.

Other acts announced today include Howard, Samantha Crain, Todd Burge, Connections, The D-Rays, Ryan Jewell, Chris Biester, Scott Hedrick, Weedghost, Ethan Bartman and the Stuart’s Opera House Afterschool Bands, plus a campground Square Dance with T. Claw and the Honey for the Heart puppets.

These performers will join headliners The Flaming Lips (Friday), Merle Haggard (Sunday), St. Vincent (Saturday) and Trampled By Turtles (Thursday). More acts are still to be announced, according to a Stuart’s press release.

Attendees of the 2013 Nelsonville Music Festival will remember the strong thunderstorms and heavy winds which temporarily knocked out the on-site power. Because of that year’s storm, Mavis Staples’ set was cut to four songs.

Festival organizers are “extremely happy” to announce the return of the legendary soul and gospel singer, whose new EP, Your Good Fortune, was released on April 21. Best known for her work in the 1970s with The Staple Singers (“I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself”), Staples returned to the public eye with a Grammy win for 2013’s You Are Not Alone, a collaboration with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.

Staten Island’s The Budos Band, part of the Daptone Records stable of artists, will perform songs from their new album, Burnt Offering, on May 30. The band Howard, which plays a mix of folk and electronic music, also hails from the New York City area.

Oklahoma singer-songwriter Samantha Crain, an NMF favorite, returns to the No-Fi Cabin, while Parkersburg native Todd Burge will lead a songwriting workshop for kids in the Creative Kids Tent and perform an “adult” set, also in the No-Fi Cabin.

Columbus band Connections will make their first NMF appearance, joined by several other Ohio acts: Athens band The D-Rays (who will provide music for O’Betty’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on the Porch Stage), Chris Biester (Athens), Ryan Jewell (Columbus), Skeletonwitch guitarist Scott Hedrick (Athens), Ethan Bartman (Athens) and Weedghost (Athens/Fairborn). Plus, four bands from the Stuart’s Opera House Afterschool Music Program have spent the past eight months practicing and perfecting their sound for this year’s festival.

The 2015 Nelsonville Music Festival is scheduled for May 28-31 at Robbins Crossing, located on the campus of Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio. More than 50 acts are slated to perform on four stages, plus attendees can enjoy camping, local food and art vendors, kids’ activities and much more. Visit www.nelsonvillefest.org for details.