When we started planning Jam Room Music Fest ‘25 we originally planned to be back on our beloved block of Main Street. The date was booked, planning was underway, and we started putting feelers out to artists to book the festival. Around that time, we heard through the grapevine that our festival was the same date as the planned opening weekend of Finlay Park. That’s when the wheels started turning.
In June, several of us went on a tour of the park. We saw the vision, but thought there’s no way the park would be done in time. It was all dirt and dust as we toured the park in our closed-toed shoes, hard hats, and safety vests and dreamed up a plan. We reminisced with fond memories of concerts and festivals we’d seen in the park in the 90s and 2000s and decided it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Our DIY indie music festival of alternative bands would be cemented in Columbia history as Finlay Park launches a new era of concerts in the park. Now we had to book it and build it.
The Jam Room Foundation is behind the festival and is made up of a working board of locals who love music and the arts community. We’ve all been a part of it for years, decades even, and our goal is to put that passion into this festival and create a free event for our community.
This year’s lineup was curated with care. Our headliner DIIV takes the festival into the rock subgenre of shoegaze for the first time in the festival’s history. It’s been a big year for the genre, and for the past decade, they’ve proven one of the finest bands to be associated with shoegaze. White Denim, who are headlining the Greenway Stage, hail from Austin, TX and hit our radar because of this KXRP session. We’d heard them from time to time on WXRY, they’re highly skilled musicians, and they touch every area of rock, from psych and garage rock to funk and jazz. After seeing that live session though, we knew they’d be a crowd favorite even for people who didn’t know them.
For our local headliner, one of our first asks was Steve Ray Ladson. He’s been a part of our local music community for years now, but was just breaking out on the national stage as he made it all the way to the finals of America’s Got Talent, seeing his songs rise to the top of the charts after each performance. Hopkins’ own was introducing the nation to his real Southern soul and self-proclaimed genre of “Blackgrass Brothercana,” and we wanted to offer him the main stage to celebrate that in Columbia, at a free event, in front of his home crowd.
The second band we booked for the festival was Silkworm, a quintessential Jam Room Music Festival style booking. A cult favorite act that most say “Who?” and others say “Oh my God, no way.” The documentary about them, Couldn’t You Wait? The Story of Silkworm, features Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus, and legendary producer and frequent collaborator Steve Albini all talking about the band’s importance in the pantheon of indie rock.
In the same vein is the local act The Ectomorphs. After the festival, at Art Bar on Saturday night, there will be a celebration of Steven Crane’s book Staring at the Ceiling, a coming-of-age story set in the Columbia music scene in the 90s. The Ectomorphs are featured on the musical companion to the novel and have a new record out, recorded at Jam Room Studio, and perform at both our festival and that event. A huge goal of Jam Room Music Festival is to not only highlight new and up-and-coming artists, but to honor and celebrate the bands that set the scene.
MJ Lenderman from Asheville has been one of the South’s most celebrated songwriters in some time, and in that sphere is Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band. This summer when his name came up in booking emails as a possibility, it was a quick yes. Pitchfork had recently given his new album an 8.7 and tagged it “Best New Music,” and music critic Steven Hyden raved about him. Not only that, but the late David Berman, frontman of the Silver Jews, once said Davis was “the best lyricist who’s not a rapper going.” When the band announced they’d be performing at the festival, they said the last time they played South Carolina was “17 years ago and the stage was someone’s bed.” We’re excited to have them on the bill and hope Columbians hear what David Berman heard in him.
Sunny War is one artist we’re incredibly excited to have and one we came to via another festival we admire, Albino Skunk Fest. She was headlining Friday night of their bluegrass-based festival, so we tuned in and were blown away. It wasn’t long after that that we were able to land her to perform and bring another incredible artist to Columbia who thrives in the fringes of roots, punk, and Americana songwriting.
The locals were some of the last acts we booked, but also some of the most discussed. We have a long list of locals on our list, and this year we were able to land some we’ve been eyeing for years. Slow Funeral, the rising alt rock project of Mary Norris, was an act that several members of the board had on their list. Slow Funeral is top of the crop when it comes to South Carolina’s current alt rock bands, and her music has found its niche online with nearly 70K followers on Instagram. Paisley Marie is a staple of the Columbia music scene and earlier this year she performed a new song under the new band name Sweetheart City in front of Hunter Gatherer. That session’s unreleased and coming soon, but it blew everyone away who was filming and in attendance. She’s coming into her own as a songwriter and this project was one we are excited to showcase at the festival.
Leading off the day is Darion McCloud with his project The Magic Purple Circle. Darion is someone we look up to in the arts community in Columbia as a leading voice, especially when it comes to connecting with youth and teaching them about the wonderful world of art. He does it through storytelling, theater, and music and is an all-around amazing performer and significant voice in our community. He’s the perfect artist to open Jam Room Music Festival and to help usher in this new era of concerts and community events at Finlay Park.