It’s touted as the Coolest Classic Rock and Heavy Metal Festival in America!
Pretty bold claim even by rock and roll standards, right?
Well, after witnessing the event last weekend, you’ll get no argument from me.
The folks who put Mountain Music Festival together, turning the usually quiet mountains of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, into a rock-and-roll playground for three days, absolutely nailed it.
There wasn’t just great (and extraordinarily loud) rock and roll.
The people-watching? I mean…it doesn’t get much better than this!
And that’s saying something coming from me.
After a couple of years at the Texas Renaissance Festival, I thought I’d pretty much seen it all. Exhibits A & B below.
What I like most, though, about both events is how comfortable these people are in their own skin.
My kinda people.
The colorful and raucous music fans who attended the three-day event came in droves and they epitomized what rock and roll is all about.
They were loud.
Fun.
All ages.
Carefree.
And didn’t give “AF” what anyone else thought.
I loved that part of it.
A lot.
Some even brought props along for the ride and made sure those props pre-gamed like the rest of us!
We had a chance to see several bands.
Sebastian Bach?
The voice—and his off-the-charts energy—is still all there.
Lita Ford?
Good lord. Phenomenal.
Night Ranger?
There are a few more miles on the faces (yep, same here), but their sound?
Still pure ’80s rock and roll.
And by all accounts, John Waite, Rick Springfield, and on and on and on, all crushed it.
The best part?
No one seemed too worried about who they weren’t seeing on any given night.
They were having a blast with pretty much whoever was on stage.
I also loved checking out all the rock memorabilia on display and wandering through the swag and merch vendors scattered throughout the convention center.
But one of my favorite parts was all the various swag & other merch vendors and watching the “So You Think You Can Shred” contest.
The people who had the guts to step up and play in front of legit rock stars (Chet Roberts among them), comedian Don Jamieson, and the rest of the panel really let it all hang out.
Some more than others.
But you’ve got to give every one of them credit.
It takes some serious cojones to grab a guitar and put your chops on the line in front of that crew—and then face the music, literally, as the panel weighs in on your shredding skills, occasionally with absolutely no mercy!
To their credit, they took the hits, kept smiling, and rocked on.
Then another activity caught our attention:
Painting with the rock stars.
We watched Chet Roberts, a 3 Doors Down veteran of more than a dozen years, sit shoulder-to-shoulder with fans—painting, swapping stories, laughing, and just hanging out.
A few early-morning mimosas loosened up the paintbrushes and the nerves.
A little whiskey later loosened up pretty much everything else.
The whole crew took a group picture, grabbed a few autographs, and went on with their day.
I didn’t really know what to expect from my first Mountain Music Festival.
But I know what I didn’t expect—to leave already wanting to come back.
The folks behind this festival have figured out how to make some pretty big rock stars feel accessible, make the fans feel like they’re part of something, and keep the whole thing from taking itself too seriously.
That’s not easy to pull off.
Well done, Mountain Music folks.
Well done.
Got a question? Any thought about rereleasing 3DD songs that are awesome but never made it into the spotlight? Example “I don’t want to know” from Us and the Night album? There are others too that are so good. Chris H could make in memoriam tshirts. We found carry on Brads message “I am the one that Jesus loves”…there’s just so many songs that are amazing that never really got heard. I had this idea this morning when I was listening to some of these songs that are so good yet were never really discovered. Just wonder what you think about that. What does Chet think about doing that. I want to keep Brad’s memory and the legend of 3DD alive 😊