A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas

Bentonville's Live Music Scene with Local Artist Performing at FreshGrass Festival

• Visit Bentonville • Season 9 • Episode 15

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Natalie sat down with Northwest Arkansas native and folk singer Jude Brothers to dive into what we can look forward to this year at FreshGrass and how this area has shaped her as a musician. 


Set in the beautiful Ozark Mountains of Northwest Arkansas, FreshGrass at The Momentary is a two-day, all-ages festival that brings in the best in American and global roots music and folk traditions—right in the heart of Bentonville. Packed with award-winning artists, world premieres of special commissions, artist talks, instrument workshops, band competitions, square dancing, and more across three stages. 


Together, they explore what makes FreshGrass unique, how Bentonville's hospitality welcomes artists from around the country, and a look ahead at what you can expect when you visit.

A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.

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Natalie Stika:

Welcome to New American Town. I'm Natalie with Visit Bentonville. Today's guest is someone who doesn't just perform music, she invokes it. Jude Brothers is a folk artist originally from right here in the Ozarks. She's carrying the spirit of this region everywhere she goes. In this episode we talk about the power of presence and live performance, from the absolute stillness of her roadhouse set here at the Momentary, where you could have heard a pin drop, to the collaborative, creative energy she's going to be sharing on the Fresh Grass Review Tour and leading up to her appearance at the Fresh Grass Festival. Whether you're a fan of folk music, a festival traveler or just someone who lives for those rare goosebump-inducing shows, jude's story is a reminder of why live music still matters, especially when it's rooted in place and purpose. Thank you for joining us, jude. Purpose.

Jude Brothers:

Thank you for joining us, jude. Thanks, that was a great intro.

Natalie Stika:

I'm glad. I'm glad so you're from here. I would love to know about your experience with being raised in the Ozarks and your connection to music and kind of how that sparked yeah.

Jude Brothers:

Okay, so I grew up between like back and forth in between Springdale and Fayetteville like not a good thing to say on the podcast, but like I, yeah, it was not a fun place to grow up as a like socialized feminine person. It wasn't a super fun place to grow up as a like closeted queer person. It wasn't a fun place to grow up as a weird person who didn't go to the right church and didn't do the right things and present the right way. You know, to my speech, uh, being a little freak and being um sort of feeling an outlier, um I think really shaped my relationship to music, because it was my solace and it was like my place to tell the truth, because when you're like a weird little girl in the south, like no one really cares what you think, do they? Um, at least that's you know, that was my experience.

Jude Brothers:

Um, so that was where, yeah, that's how I developed a sense of self and a sense of belonging and a sense of identity, and I think that my time spent in the woods and in the dirt and in the river, like you know, I think that any person from this region can say, like, how shaped we are by this beautiful land that we um grown up on and been a part of that. We've sang in the bird songs, the peeper frogs, like all that stuff you know shapes you. And then, um, you know, on a more like practical and um simple note, yeah, like I got to be in choirs that were at my elementary schools and had amazing teachers who could see that, like choir is a haven for weird kids and I'm also one of those kids, so I get it.

Jude Brothers:

choir was like such a important part of my musical life because I think that, like, I think that like singing always sort of felt as like reflexive and natural as breathing to me is, you know, like much to anyone's chagrin who had to hear me while I was learning. But, yeah, choir, and then my folks, my grandparents, were both musicians. My grandmother was an operatic soprano and my grandfather was a choir director at the U of A and they were total early music nerds. They like loved plain chant sequence and you know ancient religious music, which, yeah, I have a tattoo of Hildegard von Bingens because I share that nerdship with them. And then, yeah, of course, like like the regional music of the ozarks, um, those sounds are as much a part of the place as anything else. Right, like it's like those melodies are old and have wide, expanding root systems um, I mean your music.

Natalie Stika:

That's exactly what it sounds like like the dirt the bird songs, the rivers, everything that you're talking about.

Jude Brothers:

You can really tell that you have that rich, those deep roots in your music and it's, it's beautiful yeah, I think that the I think that the probably the most profound impact on me stylistically on a traditional music level from our region is the ballads of the Ozarks, and I am by no means an expert, but I'm working really, really, really hard to become an expert um and doing ballad study and song collection both um here and abroad.

Natalie Stika:

And uh, I forgot what I was gonna say about the rest of that but anyhow, yeah, yeah, that's awesome well that's all some ozark stuff I love that and, like you know how you originally started, the sentence was that you didn't, you know, love growing up here, but now you're back in fate, though. So, like, tell me more about that and how are you loving it now? Hopefully you are, um, and what made you come back?

Jude Brothers:

Um well, yeah, when I was 17, I was blessed with the opportunity of a scholarship that took me to a um, tiny art school in New Mexico where I lived for, like, yeah, after school. I had built this whole, you know, arts and music community for myself and had been invited into these other communities that were existing there and was having an awesome time and I sort of I felt this magnetic pull on my heart at some point that it was time to go home. I just was like man, I really just kind of like left all my old stuff there and I didn't really like because I never intended to come back, to be so honest with you Like I didn't, I didn't feel, yeah, I didn't feel, yeah, I didn't feel it. And then one day I did and it helped that like where I was living had gotten untenably expensive.

Jude Brothers:

I moved back in 2019 with the intention of like just kind of getting my bearings reconnecting to my root system, and then, as we all know, like the pandemic happened and I was like, okay, I guess I'm staying here for more than a year, totally fell in love, fell back in love with my home place and like felt that that it was time to stay and, of course, you, the longer you stay, the more, like, your connections deepen with people, the more you like, yeah, or like I have to stick around because I'm taking these lessons with this person, or I have to stick around because, like I'm helping this person out in their kitchen, or like what you know.

Jude Brothers:

It's like, oh, I'm like my friend's birthday's next month, oh, and that other friend's birthday is this month, and then there's a wedding, and then, oh god, and then it's like you live somewhere and you're a part of it, yeah, part of you, and I feel I feel like 25 different types of ways about where I live at all times, because I think that, like being a person from any place is a complicated thing, and like being especially part of a region. That's like growing and really struggling to make sure there's room for the people who make that region what it is, and making sure there's there's room for people who are of like varying class backgrounds and like varying cultural backgrounds and varying like identity backgrounds.

Natalie Stika:

We could talk more about your appearance at Fresh Grass and all the amazing things you're doing with your music. I would love to talk more about how you got connected with Fresh Grass and, yeah, how that relationship has spurred on.

Jude Brothers:

Yeah, definitely I got. I've been aware of Fresh Grass for some time and I've done a few like House of Songs things over the years, which was always really fun, really great people involved in that, but I've never actually been to a Fresh Grass involved in that and um, but I've never actually been to a Fresh Grass. And, uh, robert Bishop, who is sort of the mastermind behind this Fresh Grass review tour and and this sort of thing, it's like, as I understand it, he's been really wanting to get more like small-time, independent, local artists involved in the festival to sort of like give it that sense of place and identity that you were speaking to in your introduction.

Natalie Stika:

Um, and so, yeah, he and I had a coffee meeting and we gabbed a bunch about a bunch of stuff and uh, yeah, so this all came together, sort of you know, like any spontaneously like any good things do was like good friends gabbing about fun music stuff to do so the review tour is coming up really soon, um may 6th, 7th and 8th I think, and uh, you're gonna be in fayetteville, springfield and tulsa. Um are you looking forward to one of those cities more than the other, or are you just excited for the experience?

Jude Brothers:

Oh, I think both of those places are so cool and I think it's like really fun to explore different parts of our regional like there are regional panels right. Tulsa is like what two hours, springfield's like an hour and some change. And like both of those towns, I feel so kindred with people who live there and like we always have fun stuff to talk about. And there's a few musicians that I like I'm a huge fan of, and and especially in Tulsa, but like I've only become like sort of acquainted with it, more and more acquainted through the Springfield scene, through musicians like guinevere and then, um, my friend grady philip drug is also a really amazing musician based up there.

Jude Brothers:

The drive to springfield, if you take the long way which I have an old car, I always take the long way um, the slow way where I don't have to go over 45 um is uh, spectacularly beautiful. I mean, like this southern missouri is like yeah, yeah, you've got all the, all the rivers, all the trees, all the stuff, like can't beat it. And then, uh, yeah, tulsa I'm a really big fan of. Um, kaylin faye is a really active musician in the tulsa scene who also was once based in northwest arkansas, and she is just a an absolutely brilliant songwriter, beautiful voice, um, yeah and uh. I just love that scene. I think the Tulsa scene is incredible. I think it's a cool town and they're good neighbors.

Natalie Stika:

Yeah, we've got great neighbors and we have a whole goofy bunch of people bringing our own thing their way yeah, well, I don't know if you know, but there is a little incentive if people go to one of the review tours, they can get 20% off their tickets to fresh grass if they visit the merch table. So if anyone goes and sees dude brothers at the review tour, make sure you stop by the merch table to get a discount. Kind of pivoting back to Freshgrass, is there one thing that you're most excited about?

Jude Brothers:

The crowd, the setting, other artists oh yeah, I mean I've been a fan of Jamie Wyatt for a minute. I really like Jamie Wyatt. I'm also really excited to see Bella Fleck. That's never someone I thought I'd get to see play. I'm really excited to reunite with old friends that are going to be around and there's a lot of. I'm really, really stoked at the amount of local representation we have, both with the Fresh Grass Review crowd and then on the like. I forget all the names that were on the songwriter stage thing, but I know Dana Louise is playing. That's going to be really cool. I know Willie Carlisle is going to be around. He's a friend and so I think it'll. I think it'll feel really cozy and and friendly, like yeah.

Natalie Stika:

I love that. That's so good to know that the community is so connected. You definitely get the sense of that when you go to Fresh Grass, so I'm hoping that you have that experience, since it'll be your first time. Now I would love to talk about your experience at Roadhouse, because I had a friend go to your show and she was just like jaw to the floor, you could hear a pin drop. It was astonishing. You did so good and I heard all about it.

Natalie Stika:

Um, did you have a similar experience? Did you know that the audience was so engaged and did you enjoy being there?

Jude Brothers:

they really like had the Arkansas hospitality dialed into a fine art. I felt so welcome the minute I like pulled up to the door to load in. It was really awesome. That was like one of. I think one of the highlights actually was just the staff, like Andrew and Misha, like um I'm struggling with some of the other names right now, but I remember like there were just like so many lovely people I felt really looked after, which, like being a solo artist is is so valuable. When I show up at a venue and I feel like people are checking in on me and making sure I have what I need, I'm like, oh my god really. And then I was elated to be asked to open for the Wonder Women of Country because, I mean, they're shredders. They're just so good at what they do. They're undeniably yeah, they're undeniably I'm trying to find a word that is not a cuss word to say how cool they are um, they're undeniably bad to the bone fabulous. You know that's bad to the bone.

Jude Brothers:

Fabulous all of it the bees knees, the cat's pajamas, the whole that and a cherry on top, but uh I love yeah, and here sorry I love to hear how good your experiences.

Natalie Stika:

Experience was at Roadhouse with the crew, the welcome team, because I think we really pride ourselves in, like the Bentonville hospitality, so that's so good to know from an artist's perspective too, not just from a tourist perspective oh yeah it.

Jude Brothers:

The hospitality was aces. I had such a nice time and felt so cared for. And then I would say, as far as my set went, I've never performed and not been nervous. I've been doing this for like 13 years and I still feel like a little kid every time I get up on stage and so, like I have no idea what's happening in the audience's head while I'm there, because I'm just like it's like every. I think it's the only time I actually experience true focus as a person, because I'm kind of squirrely.

Jude Brothers:

You've probably noticed in the nature of this conversation that I'm thinking about 25 different things at the same time. But like um, I you know it's like focusing on what my fingers are doing, focusing on what my throat's doing and what my back is doing and what my stomach is. Like I'm very I'm always like really in my body, trying to make sure that I'm, uh, communicating the music optimally for it to be received. You know, it's like that's my, it's like my. I take my job very seriously, which is that, like I'm there to I'm, I'm there to bring people in inward if they need to be inward, or bring them into outward if they need to be outward like I'm. I'm there as a conduit for spirit, because that's what I think music is kind of. So I don't know how anyone experienced it until I got off stage and they say something to me and I'm like, oh really, you like that crazy. I'm glad yeah.

Jude Brothers:

I still can't believe sometimes yeah, oh, that's great.

Natalie Stika:

I I feel like I'm the same way when I get on stage, so I can totally understand. Because you're from the Northwest Arkansas region, I have to ask if you have a core Bentonville memory that you like to share.

Jude Brothers:

Core Bentonville memory I mean I have a couple One from early on is just on, is just that like it's grown so quickly. So I think that maybe it's not a very exciting memory but it is like I remember. Yeah, there's like venue, there's venues and fancy cool restaurants and dance parties and stuff happening in Bentonville which is just like, as a person who grew up here is just so like whoa, there's like a cool party in Bentonville and that that's wild. Um, yeah, and then, uh, a more recent memory that I have, I would say, is like is like sometime after I moved back, I was just kind of driving around getting lost and I stopped at that little. There's like a little nature park that's connected to where the like biking trails are.

Natalie Stika:

Yeah.

Jude Brothers:

Yeah, I think so, and there was a beautiful heron in a hat. Um, that was. Maybe I imagined the hat. No, I think it was wearing a hat. Anyway, I had this really beautiful moment in that nature park, recording the creek, looking at the cows and looking at a little blue heron in a hat. So if anyone has any information about the heron and why it's wearing a hat, please reach out to me. I have a contact form in my email.

Natalie Stika:

That's awesome. Thank you so much for being on the podcast, Jude.

Jude Brothers:

Thank you for having me, Natalie.

Natalie Stika:

Don't forget, visit Bentonville is here to help you navigate things to do, where to eat and stay and what's going on in our new American town. Check out the show notes to follow us on social, sign up for our newsletter and check our website at visitventonvillecom. Thanks for listening.