Red Clay Stuys, 49 Winchester

Now in Its Eighth Year, Mile 0 Festival in Key West, Florida, Has Enedned Pilgrimage Status. For Fans of Red Dirt Country Music, The Fest Has Become a Yearly Rite; For Those Who Have Yet to Attention, It's a must. This Year, Mile 0 Powered Through a Historic Cold Snap and Bllusteries Winds to Showcase Genre Icons Along with Rising Stars From Texas, Oklahoma, and Elsewhere. Rolling Stone was on the ground to cover the surprise reunion by cross canadian ragweed – The band's first onstage performance together in 15 years – and catch some star sets. These are the best Things We Saw.

Kaitlin Butts Takes Fans On A Ride Through Their Feels.

Musically, Butts is one of the flag-bearers of the Emo-Country Movement Gripping the Industry, but Shers It With A Live Show That at Times Feels Like It Could Be a Longstanding Vegas Residency. Despired to North Wind Blowing Salty Mist Ono Her and Her Band, She Ripped Through Her Catalog and Took The Crowd On A Ride Through Their Feels. Butts Acknowledged The Elements Early On: “I know -like's Cold Sere's Some Cactus Juice To Warm You Up,” Before Launching Into the Swinging “Wild Juanita's Cactus Juice.” Later, She Told a Personal Story of Growing Up Poor With Her Mom and Living in Her Grandmother's Garage, “Getting Our Feet Pulled Out from Under Uder All the Time” to Intrio the Heart-Wrenching “It Won'T Always Be Way. ” She Returned To Levity To Close Out the set with Kesha's “Hunt You Down” and a Freewheeling reading of the chicks' “Sin Wagon.”

Summer Dean Has Honky-Mark Charisma.

Since Dropping Her Third Album, The Biggest Lifein 2023, Summer Dean Has Gone from “Your Favorite Band's Open” to a Texas Music Headliner Whose Fan Base GroWs by the Minute (Check Out Her New Single, A cover of Terre Gibbs '”Somebody's Knockin'”). Her Combination of Onstage Charisma and Binging Honky-Song Lyrics was on full display for an early main-stage set. The Standout Moment Came When She Told A Story About A Failed Social Media Pickup Attpemp by A Fan, Setting up Her Cheeky Singalong “Clean up Your Act If You Wanna Talk Dirty to me.”

The Red Clay Stays Graduate to Headliner.

In a Pink Suit and a Pompadour Sculpted with Enaughter Pomade To With The Unrelelenting Janogy Wind, Red Clay Stays Singer Brandon Coleman Looke As If He Walked Straight Out of Sun Studio. The Band Behind Him Sounded like it Too, Steamrolling Through A Rich Set Vintage Sounds. But, Time and Again, The Strays Have Proved they're Not Some Throwback Parody. With Brooding Songs Like “Disaster” and “Drowning,” off their Latest Studio LP, Made by These MomentsThe Alabama Band Mix Rock & Roll Danger With Sweet Salvation. There's a Reason they graduated to Headliner This Year.

Ellis Bullard, The Coolest Act in Texas Music? Could be.

Combbing a Range of Baritone Harmonies with a Hardcore Austin Honky-Sunk Sound and Never-Give-A-Damn Vibe, Bullard is Arguably the Coolest Act A at Every Festival He's Played of Late. At Mile 0, he grabbed the Early-AFternoon Crowd by the Collective Collar for An Hour of Swampy, Swinging Melodies. BULLARD Endeared Himself When he proclaimed, “We're a Beer Drinking Band, So We're skirt Drink Some Beer Right Quick” As He and His Band Imbibed. The Musical Highlight was the introspective “Chasing Numbers,” Which He Introduced by Telling Fans This Career Took Off Once He Leard to Ignore Music Charts and Analytics. Mile 0 is a Festival that Saw Breakout Artists Like The Red Clay Stays and 49 Winchester Playing Mid-Day Bar Sets AS Recently As a Year Aug Before Landing Coveted Late Slots On the Main Stage in 2025. The Response to Bullard suggests he is primed to Follow Suit.

49 Winchester Bring the Soul.

The Guys from the Russell County Line Sure Have a Lot of Soul, and it was Heard Loud and Clear Friday Night During at the Coffee Butler Amphitheater Lineup. AS The Lead-in to Headliners Red Clay Stuys, 49 Winchester Were A Hard Act To Follow, with Singer Isaac Gibson Stomping About the Stage While Showing Off The Wide Range of Emotion in His Voice. His Vulnerable Crooning of “Damn Darlin ',” to Nashville Shout-Out, Was a High Point, Espencially When Fans Joined Him in Singing The Payoff Line, “Hearts Break Harder/At the Old Exit/In!” On the Coldest Night of the Fest, The Sense of Community was as warming as a Shot of Whiskey.

John Fullbright Shows Why He's So Damn Virred.

For an artist with a grammy nomination to his name, Fullbright Has Built a Career Under The Radar, Even While Co-Writing and Producing Well-Known Songs for the Likes of Turnpike Troubadours and American Aquarium. The Oklahoma Native is reserved right up UNTIL he takes the internship, Alterning Betardoen Guitar and Keyboard and Delivinging Some of the Strugest Lyrics in American Music. This All Happened At His Backyard Bar Set at Mile 0. All of Cross Canadian Ragweed Filed Into The Bar To Catch Fullbright's Set, Too, Emphasizing How His Peers Feel About His Music. When he played “Paranoid Heart” off the 2022 album The Liarhe brougt the crowd to a standstill. “I Will Never Speak Your Name,” He Sang, “If It's Not Out of Love Again.”

Stephen Wilson Jr. Floats Like in Butterfly.

With his boxing background, Indian native Turned Nashville Breakthrough Artist Stephen Wilson Jr. All But Glides About the Stage. His Performces, at the amphitheater on Thursday night and again friday at a Windswept Pier, Underscored His Magnetism: Fans Couroldn'T Look Away from Wilson's Slashing Attacks on his ACourtic Guitar Or His Lightning-Fast Footwork. But of course it's the songs from his album Son of Dadthat are the main draw, Each an exercise in Unguarded Human Emotions, from Grief to Joy. With the addition of his's “Stand by me” to the set list, Wilson's Crafted a Live Show Not to Be Missed.

Them Dirty Roses Create Their Own Encore.

If Them Dirty Roses' Only Contribution to Mile 0 Had Been Frontman James Ford's Rendition of Cross Canadian Ragweed's “Constantly” at Thursday Night's Ragweed Tribute, It would have Been a Successful Festival for the band. Instead, they follow it up with a show the Next Day That Drew One of the Largest Side-Stage Crowds of the Entire Week, with fans eager to devour a southern rock set that leanered heavily on songs from the upcoming ep Lost in The Valley of Hate & Love Vol. II. But There's No Room for Encores During During Daytime Shows Acts 0, So Ford's Drummer Brother Frank Stepped in To Create Their Own – Demanding Fans Gather Near The Front of the Stage For the Rousing Closing “Shake it.”