BOONE, N.C. — The Siren Mountain Jam slated for this weekend will make its debut as one of the newest women’s music festival held in the Southeast, according to founder Beth Carroll.
Carroll and her partner say they were inspired to create the North Carolina festival after touring other similar events.
“We’ve been music fans forever and to festivals ourselves,” Carroll said. “We’re fans of all sorts of music and we kept wondering why we didn’t see many women’s and other festivals here.”
Carroll set out to correct the absence. On Friday and Saturday, she’ll welcome music fans to the High Country Fairgrounds for two days of music, healing arts and fellowship.
Among the performers are Joan Osborne, Meshell Ndegeocello and Rising Appalachia.
“I love our entire line-up,” Carroll said. “We picked people that we know are terrific performers. I’m excited about all of them.”
The line-up, Carroll notes, was intentionally inclusive.
“We have a vision of inclusivity for this festival,” she said. “We were trying to highlight that on our materials, that this is a music and art festival for women and by women, but it is for everyone. We purposefully also put together a diverse line-up, racially, sexual identification, all of the ways we could think to communicate that message that we embrace diversity and want to be inclusive.”
Several of the performers, Carroll said, openly identify as lesbian or bisexual.
“We figured that people within the LGBT community would pretty clearly see that this is a festival that welcomes them,” she said.
Though the festival is decidedly one that celebrates women, women’s art and women’s music, Carroll notes that it is open to all, including men who want to join in on the celebration.
She’s looking forward to the opportunities folks can find at the festival and in Boone.
“We figured it would be a nice place they might want to come,” she said. “People like to come to the high country in the summer anyway. We thought it would be a nice thing to do for people who like to come up to the mountains for the weekend.”
info: Tickets to the event range from $40 for an advance one-day Friday pass ($50 at the gate) to $85 for an advance two-day pass ($100 at the gate). For more information and ticket purchases, visit sirenmountainjam.com.