Mile 0 Fest 2025: Ground Zero for Big Moments

What happens at Mile 0 Fest in Key West doesn’t stay in Key West. It resonates throughout the Texas/ Red Dirt world, into Americana, and throughout independent country for the rest of the year. This is due to Mile 0 Fest being one of the first major events every year. This is also due to the artists and bands who perform, who attends the festival, and what ultimately unfolds. There are bigger festivals. The are older, more legendary festivals. But Mile 0 Fest is where major things happen.
This has been true for all eight installments of Mile 0 Fest since 2017. But this point has been underscored over the last couple of years. In 2024, it was Mike and the Moonpies shocking the world by announcing their name change to Silverada at Mile 0 Fest. This year it was legendary Red Dirt band Cross Canadian Ragweed taking the stage for the first time in 15 years.
These are the kind of big, headline-grabbing moments that seem to transpire at Mile 0 Fest each year. But there are plenty of other moments that make Mile 0 Fest important to performers. Texas songwriter Courtney Patton chose to release her new album Carry You With Me during this year’s festival, including doing a signing and meet-and-greet with fans. Surging up-and-comer Ty Myers also appeared the same day of his debut album release, The Select.

Why do artist choose to use Mile 0 Fest as a forum for these major events in their career? Because to get to Key West and stay there is not easy. The people who attend Mile 0 Fest are superfans. These are the folks who see music as their primary passion in life. They don’t just listen to music, they support it in any and every capacity. They buy the vinyl copies of albums, and a T-shirt. They go to the local show whenever performers come through town. The proselytize online to their friends and family about their favorite artists.
Mile 0 Fest puts these superfans all in one place. The results of this are seen in the meteoric rise of some of the performers who come to the festival. It can act like a springboard for careers. Tyler Childers, Whiskey Myers, the Turnpike Troubadours, Cody Jinks, and more all have performed at Mile 0 Fest previously, even if they’ve now outgrown the roughly 3,000-capacity event.
The first place people started buzzing about The Red Clay Strays was at Mile 0 Fest. The Red Clay Strays are carrying forward the dreams of every roots band that doesn’t really fit anywhere intuitively, and they’re carrying those dreams all the way to the top of popular music. And they’re also doing it their way, with integrity, while being unapologetically themselves.

In truth, The Red Clay Strays had no business playing Mile 0 Fest in 2025. They’ve grown multipliers bigger than that at this point. They might be playing arenas by the end of the year. But Mile 0 Fest took a chance on them when nobody else did. And now that Red Clay is coming out on top, they returned the favor by headlining Friday night in Key West.
That’s how independent, grassroots music works. Promoters look to develop talent from the ground floor, and then when that talent gets big, the favor is reciprocated. Maybe this is the last time The Red Clay Strays play Mile 0 Fest. Maybe they play Mile 0 Fest every year. After all, it’s a good excuse to be in Key West. But make no mistake, no matter where The Red Clay Strays go, they won’t forget where they’re from, or who they are. You hear that in their music, and feel it in their performances.
The Red Clay Strays are a big Mile 0 success story, but there are others. Songwriter Ken Pomeroy started performing at Mile 0 Fest when she was 13. She returned in 2025 now signed to Rounder Records. Zane Williams was one of Mile 0 Fest’s early artists. Now along with his supergroup The Wilder Blue, they’ve been out opening shows for Luke Combs in stadiums.

Mile 0 Fest focuses mostly on Red Dirt and Texas country music, but 2025 had a heavy Alabama component as well, crowned by the marquee performance by The Red Clay Strays, but also represented by Them Dirty Roses, Adam Hood, and Taylor Hunnicutt. With Taylor Hunnicutt, the question is not “if” but “when.” When will she be selling out venues coast to coast? When will the world wake up to her talent, and realize she this generation’s Wynonna or Janis Joplin? When will the people seeing her now be able to brag they saw her when she was coming up?
Hunnicutt killed even more than normal when she made her debut on the main stage of Mile 0 Fest Friday evening. When she takes the stage, it’s like she communes with all the souls of deceased country, blues, and soul artists from the South, bringing all of their power, and prowess, and passion into the present tense.

Along with Cross Canadian Ragweed’s big return, the 2025 Mile 0 Fest will also be remembered for being the coldest one on record. Though the temps were downright balmy compared to the rest of the United States—which suffered a deep freeze for much of the third week of January—the temps in the upper 50’s felt much colder with the gale force breezes coming off the ocean. There have been cold days in Key West before, but it wasn’t until Saturday that Mile 0 Fest 2025 experienced a mostly warm and sunny one.
The festival also debuted a new stage at Truman Waterfront Park as sort of a second major stage. They were also forced to move from the fan favorite Smokin’ Tuna to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville for some of the day shows due to the Smokin’ Tuna’s current limbo status. Tanner Usrey drew a line two blocks down of people trying to get into Buffett’s place.
Another feature of 2025 were the supergroups and landmark collaborations that took place. Steve Earle performed backed by Reckless Kelly. The aforementioned The Wilder Blue were a big part of the fest playing two big shows. And Hayes Carll and The Band of Heathens combined to reprise songs from their new Hayes and the Heathens album.
Just as much as Mile 0 Fest is a festival to see big names and re-connect with fan favorites, it’s like a songwriting festival as well, and gives patrons plenty of opportunities at discovery. From legends like James McMurtry, to up-and-comers like Blaine Bailey, intimate acoustic sets in cool venues make for memorable experiences. Or, you can take in a full band show on Key West’s legendary Sunset Pier where the cruise ships come in, or on the beach near the southernmost point of the United States.

What will be the next eye-popping revelation, legendary reunification, career launching, or generally badass moment Mile 0 Fest will facilitate in 2026? We’ll just have to see. It has some mighty shoes to fill. But what we know for sure is something important and impactful will happen. And whether you’re there in person or not, it will likely affect the music you love, and in a positive manner.
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All photos by Kyle “Trigger” Coroneos. For more photos and coverage from Mile 0 Fest and other live events, follow Saving Country Music on Instagram. Apologies to all artists not mentioned or pictured. So many great artists, so little time.


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January 27, 2025 @ 11:05 am
Finally got a chance to go see Low Water Bridge Band in Atlanta last Saturday before the festival. Its was criminal how few people showed up for how good they are but they still put on a stellar show for all 40 of us ticketholders lol.
I’m happy to see they got to play at a big festival like Mile 0 and I hope they have a similar trajectory to their Virginia brethren 49 Winchester.
January 27, 2025 @ 12:45 pm
Hopefully female performers were adequately represented at the festival. After all, that is the #1 problem in country music now. Matter of fact, all genres of music.
January 27, 2025 @ 1:13 pm
Or maybe they’re just not good enough in the trade?
Considering the skills of the most successful acts today, it shouldn’t take much to compete.
January 27, 2025 @ 4:25 pm
I was being facetious, but you are correct.
January 27, 2025 @ 5:33 pm
Women were adequately represented at this festival, that is why this issue was not brought up whatsoever in this article. I actually respect that people don’t want to be hectored to constantly about this issue. That is why it is only brought up in isolated circumstances, and if people don’t want to read about it, they can choose not to. YOU brought it up here because YOU wanted to talk about. You’re the one veering the conversation in that direction. You’re the one who won’t shut up about it and making the issue bleed into other topics, especially after you have now done this twice in comment sections.
January 27, 2025 @ 7:39 pm
The ladies that performed were all at the top of my list to see down there. They were all great. It was also pretty cool to see Taylor Hunnicutt just pop out of the crowd beside me when Jason Eady was performing at Hanks. He mentioned a song he did with her. She yelled, put her hands up, and ran towards the stage to perform with him. It was a cool moment I’ll remember.
January 29, 2025 @ 1:03 pm
Some of the best sets I saw all week were by the women, and they are always represented well at Mile 0. Taylor Hunnicutt, Summer Dean, Kaitlin Butts, Ken Pomeroy, Maggie Antone, and Kat Hasty. You could also catch Marcedes Carroll at Heroes Bar each night and above Blue Heaven Sunday night for an intimate listening room style show.
January 27, 2025 @ 12:48 pm
Really cool article made me wish I was there.
January 27, 2025 @ 5:19 pm
i’m from the northeast. had never heard of “red dirt” or turnpike or jason boland and on and on and on.
in 2018 my wife and i said, “what’s this mile 0 fest thing?” and decided to go.
we were immediately hooked & have attended every year since.
and more importantly back up in the northeast we have spread the gospel over and over, and more and more people get psyched about shane smith or ray wylie or brent cobb or american aquarium or robert earl or whomever.
and that points to the huge huge importance of mile 0 fest:
people from the entire country, the entire world flow through key west.
which means people from everywhere go home and “spread the gospel”.
which means that mile 0 fest very well might be the most important festival there is for promoting this wonderful music.
January 28, 2025 @ 8:48 am
That’s quite the coincidence, I was going to ask if Ty Myers had come across your radar.
I knew nothing about him until I listened to his album for the first time yesterday.
I can’t believe the dude is only 17, what a talent! We may be witnessing the early stages of something really special.
January 29, 2025 @ 7:39 am
Ellis Bullard rules!
January 29, 2025 @ 7:47 am
Where was Mike and the Moonpies this year?
January 29, 2025 @ 8:29 am
I only know what others have told me. But Silverada might have felt like they had earned a headliner slot at this festival, but there wasn’t one for them. I do hope Silverada returns to this festival, because they fit it well, and have a deep history with it. I also think Silverada has earned headliner slots. But your headliners also have to draw significantly enough to earn that distinction, so it’s tough.
February 2, 2025 @ 1:44 pm
This year’s show was well-organized and included great performers.
To the credit of the Mile 0 organizers, they didn’t over-sell tickets and the crowds were substantial but manageable.
I’m glad I caught this year’s production and look forward to next year.
I would also add that Django Walker was great this year.
Steve Earle had Django on stage and told the story of how Jerry Jeff drove Jimmy Buffett from Nashville, to Coconut Grove, and then on to Key West back in 1973 or 1974 and then had Djnango join him singing Mr. Bojangles.
Great coverage, Trig.