Organizers of Mile of Music are revealing their plans for the sixth festival in downtown Appleton.
Co-founder Dave Willems says this year’s focus will be more on the music and the quality of the venues. He says the first five years were about the numbers. He says in this next stage, they want to make it more about the experiences people have.
Willems says they plan to have about 200 artists with around 900 performances over the four days. He says the number of performances will be down from about 930 last year.
Organizers also unveiled the first 50 artists. They’re from 24 states, Washington D.C. and Canada. 30 of them will be making their festival debut.
Mile of Music will be from August 2-5.
List of the First 50 artists
New Artists
Michigander (Midland, Mich.)
The Sea The Sea (Troy, NY)
Luke Winslow-King (New Orleans)
Lilly Hiatt (Nashville)
Melodime (Washington, D.C.)
Wilderado (Los Angeles)
Sara Potenza (Nashville)
The National Parks (Provo, Utah)
Pert Near Sandstone (Minneapolis)
The Hooten Hallers (Columbia, Mo.)
Zane Carney (Los Angeles)
Vesperteen (Columbus, Ohio)
McKinley Dixon (Richmond, Va.)
Carson McHone (Austin, Texas)
Pierce Edens (Mashall, NC)
Fox Grin (Nashville)
Girl Blue (Albany, NY)
The Brothers Footman (Indianapolis)
Sam Burchfield (Atlanta)
Abby Jeanne (Milwaukee)
Small Houses (Flint, Mich.)
Heather Maloney (Northampton, Mass.)
AJ Ghent (Atlanta)
The Talbott Brothers (Portland, Ore.)
The Right Now (Chicago)
Skyway Man (Nashville)
India Ramey (Nashville)
Jesse Ray and the Carolina Catfish (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Jubal (Knoxville, Tenn.)
C2 & The Brothers Reed (Lexington, Ky.)
Returning Artists
Terra Lightfoot (Hamilton, Ontario)
The High Divers (Charleston, SC)
JC Brooks Band (Chicago)
Frederick the Younger (Louisville, Ky.)
Caleb Hawley (New York)
The Crane Wives (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Smooth Hound Smith (Nashville)
Captain Ivory (Nashville)
SZLACHETKA (Nashville)
Dan Rodriguez (Minneapolis)
The Suitcase Junket (Leverett, Mass.)
Cory Chisel (Appleton)
Adriel Denae (Appleton)
Maybe April (Nashville)
Caleb Caudle (Winston-Salem, NC)
Christopher the Conquered (Denver)
Bishop Gunn (Natchez, Miss.)
Mo Lowda & The Humble (Philadelphia)
Amasa Hines (Little Rock, Ark.)
Fort Frances (Chicago)
More artists will be released throughout the next few months leading up to Mile 6 in August. Festival organizers say artists are subject to change.