Ashland, KY - Healing Appalachia - 2025
September 20th, 2025
Ashland, KY - Boyd County Fairgrounds
Healing Appalachia
Preface: This festival has been our favorite festival to go to each year and this year brought on new experiences; a new location, a further drive, a larger crowd, a bigger lineup.
James Bloodbath Barker
Show Notes: Healing Appalachia didn’t fail! While the new grounds could use some tweaking before their next 3 years at this location (an agreement that was just signed) everything was pretty nice! The show itself was an amazing time as always.
This was the first time the guys had really been able to flex the new visuals for the songs off the new album. The new album started instantly as the setlist was topped with Eatin’ Big Time to get the crowd into the groove early. Littered in throughout the remaining 24 songs were Getting to the Bottom, Cuttin’ Teeth, Watch Out, Snipe Hunt, Bitin’ List, Down Under, Tirtha Yatra and Dirty Ought Trill. Nose on the Grindstone was played but not the new album version - it was done solo toward the end of the show.
Also, for the majority of the show Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn were on the stage doing backing vocals and adding in some funky changes. Meath is credited on the Snipe Hunter as doing backing vocals and Sanborn did mixing on the album. These two collectively make up the band “Sylvan Esso.” Sylvan Esso opened for Tyler at Madison Square Garden on the Mule Pule Tour and Tyler cites them as a band he and his wife love and danced to at their wedding. The addition of Meath and Sanborn to the live show was amazing!
Besides the new album the setlist had the staples you’d expect on almost all setlists: All Your’n, Old Country Church, Way of the Triune God, House Fire, Lady May, and Follow You to Virgie. And of course it had some lesser played songs like Tulsa Turnaround and Jersey Giant (which is actually becoming a mainstay in the setlist it seems).
All things considered, this was in the top handful of times we’d ever seen the guys. The show was longer than usual by about 10 minutes and ended with Tyler acoustic to put the cherry on top.
Venue Notes: The new location is a great location. It’s settled in what was an easily accessible area for us. Parking was a breeze and amazingly quick for the amount of people who were there. We were parked approx. 3/4th’s of a mile from the entrance to the festival.
Once inside the only real notable negative thing about the grounds were the rocks that were there. Nearly all the grounds were grassy areas or areas of gravel but there were areas where the gravel was lined with bigger rocks and as time went past these bigger rocks ended up in the grass and gravel. It was certainly a trip hazard if you weren’t paying attention to where you were going. Aside from that tidbit the grounds were amazing.
Everything was well spaced out so that food lines didn’t mingle with vendor lines or merch lines. The layout near the stage was also great. Off to the left of the main stage was a smaller stage where they’d do things while the mainstage was being set up for bigger acts.
As usual for Healing Appalachia they used this stage to train people on how to use Narcan if needed, how to help those in need, give away prizes, etc. In our opinion this is something other festivals should take note of and implement into their setups.
To be honest we were a little disheartened that the festival had moved out of its original home in West Virginia but after seeing and experiencing the new location we can certainly say we’re pleased with the choice now. From parking to the actual entrance of the venue was much further at the new location which should be expected given the increase in crowd size. We parked in a field which had a cut-through to the VIP parking area which sat at the entrance of the festival. The grounds to and from the venue were not the best we’d ever seen, it went from grass to mulch to gravel to dirt and back to gravel, but for all intents and purposes the walk to and from parking was a casual walk that could be improved but could have been much worse.
There was also the option to be shuttled to the entrance by people on bicycles but we didn’t opt for this. We’ve done this previously at another show and if you’ve got some extra cash on you it’s certainly worth it.
Healing Appalachia 2025
Parking Notes: Parking at the venue was super easy; though we did get there early in the afternoon. We waited around 15 minutes in traffic on the main road before turning down the road parking was on but this was simply because there were people directing traffic (something that is seemingly rare these days).
Parking was well laid out, super easy to access, great signage, great directing, etc. Parking here was easily one of the best on the entire tour thus far.
Travel Notes: This trip was a much shorter trip than most for us, right at 4 hours. This trip takes you right over the Big Sandy River and it’s always a fun time for us due to our love for “Her and the Banks.” And, on our way home we literally traveled from Catlettsburg to Bluefield, boys.
As always this trip is amazing, swinging through the hills and mountains of West Virginia before getting on the well maintained roads in Kentucky is always a great time.
Make sure if you’re going through West Virginia to consider getting a ‘WV EZ-Pass’; it nearly pays for itself after one visit. It cost $4.50 per toll and to buy the pass for an entire year is only $27.50.
Also, make sure to check out the Tamarack Marketplace if you’re going through Beckley! You’ll find an amazing variety of local arts and crafts and great food!