Maggie Rose
Maggie Rose, Kings of Leon, John Mayer, Higher Than Ezra
Pilgrimage Music Competition 2025, Franklin, Tennessee, US, September 27-28, 2025,
Oct 09, 2025
Pictures by Taylor Technique
Net Unique
Since its 2015 inception, Pilgrimage Music Competition has offered a a lot wanted refuge from a sea of different comparable occasions that usually prioritize revenue over expertise. Happening at The Park at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin, Tennessee, this 12 months’s lineup boasted immense expertise like hometown heroes Kings of Leon, John Mayer, Grace Potter, Father John Misty, Sam Fender, Higher Than Ezra and Maggie Rose.
Native artisans and restaurateurs arrange store all all through the pageant grounds to offer attendees with a completely immersive expertise. Sponsors like Gibson, ASCAP and Nashville Scene have been onsite to teach music followers and provides extra details about methods to assist native music scenes.
Whereas different alcohol manufacturers like Corona, White Claw and Desnuda Tequila had a presence at Pilgrimage, all of them paled compared to George Dickel Whisky’s modern activation. Dickel Dive Bar, which was current for each days of the pageant, had all of the fixings of your favourite watering gap.
Full with a dartboard, jukebox, stay stage and basic bourbon cocktails, Dickel Dive Bar was the right place to chill down in between performances and to catch extra intimate ones. One of many stage’s shock company was Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Maggie Rose, who has labored with the model for years. She additionally carried out on the Pilgrimage major stage.
Her most up-to-date album, No One Will get Out Alive, was lauded for its harrowing musicality and lyrical fearlessness. Together with her new EP, Cocoon, being launched on October 10, the star informed Underneath The Radar Journal that following her path wasn’t at all times a simple factor to do.
“Generally it was survival mode. However I feel on the finish of the day, I do know that that is form of a calling, it’s a vocation,” Rose defined. “I feel loads of musicians would say that as a result of there’s a lot madness that goes into doing what we do and touring and making an attempt to juggle private life and inventive life. However I feel it’s such a privilege that I get to do that. So figuring out that…I don’t let the infrastructure round me validate what I’m doing.”
The star shared that partnering with George Dickel Whisky made sense as a result of each endeavors are about constructing neighborhood. “I do know that what I’m doing connects with folks now, and I do know I’ve a base of listeners who maintain displaying up and that’s genuine and that received’t go away,” she stated.
“That’s what I additionally like about Dickel–I’ve spent half my life right here in Tennessee and I feel they’re good folks. I’ve gotten to work with them for the final couple years. It’s not about slamming photographs–it’s about neighborhood and communing over some actually well-made bourbon. It’s additionally the official bourbon of the pageant and that is the primary time I’ve ever performed right here. Dickel is about celebrating and exchanging concepts and this world undoubtedly wants extra of that proper now.”
Nicole Austin, who serves as Dickel’s “Director, American Whiskey Liquid Growth and Capabilities,” echoed this sentiment in a broader type of manner. In line with her, there are ranges to crafting a powerful whiskey–particularly in a singular setting like Pilgrimage.
“American whiskey is supposed to be inviting and social, but in addition it’s an artwork. Like making whiskey is an artwork and it deserves to be appreciated,” Austin passionately acknowledged. “It deserves the entire trappings of the best issues that scotch, whiskey and each different type of artwork making deserves. So I wish to do each and nothing made me extra decided to do each than the implication that possibly American whiskey didn’t deserve that.”
On the pageant, attendees sipped on Dickel’s “Peach Lemonade,” “Pecan Bitter” and “Tullahoma Breeze” on the namesake bar. Austin understands that the savory attract is what attracts folks to the model however she desires to ensure it stays round for followers to get pleasure from.
“In the end, I wish to make it possible for the trade is secure. Just like the factor I wish to obtain is to make it possible for craft distillers have a spot and that they will–that we can–all make this artwork and nonetheless pay our mortgage. That’s what I need,” she stated.
Whiskey making is a large endeavor, particularly on the subject of satisfying shoppers at a large-scale musical pageant. Nevertheless, Austin believes it’s definitely worth the funding.
[“Making whiskey] is some huge cash. It’s loads of time. It’s dangerous, prefer it ages for a very very long time. It’s simply…there’s a giant barrier to entry and that makes it exhausting. It’s labor intensive and it’s closely taxed. I spend loads of time working within the legislative enviornment. I prefer to attempt to make just a little extra of a stage enjoying area for small producers. That’s actually essential to me.”
Pilgrimage reiterated that whereas music is enjoyable, stay efficiency is inherently celebratory–and nothing goes higher with it than a well-crafted and refreshing cocktail. Dickel effortlessly held up its finish of the cut price–it’ll be a pleasure to see what they do for subsequent 12 months’s installment.
