Enough is everything: songs that made Mile of Music 12 shine

by TDP Staff

Updated August 20, 2025

By Scott Peeples

“The truest place I’ve ever been/Is a tiny room inside my chest/Most of the time the doors are locked/But when I make it there, I don’t get lost”

Enough is Everything - Hayley Reardon

By Scott Peeples

Through all the excitement of the Mile of Music, what matters most to me are songs that become embedded in my memory. As expected, Mile of Music 12 was a monumental success in this regard, starting with an incredible young singer-songwriter from Massachusetts named Hayley Reardon. I saw her twice – on day one, Thursday, in the Evergreen Room in the Hilton Paper Valley Hotel and to start the day on Sunday at Copper Rock. That first day, I was so spellbound I hardly moved as the words to “Enough Is Everything” leaked into my consciousness. On “The Little Sadness,” everyone I love is asleep out there. And I forgot I have a life of my own somewhere still floats around in my head. Her poetry was more beautiful with the accent of her unique voice and guitar as I held my breath to hear her quiet voice.

Edgy folk singer Jordan Smart opened his Friday noon set in the Empire Room at the Hilton Paper Valley Hotel with “The Pickle Song” and closed with “Who Would Jesus Bomb,” eviscerating President Trump without mentioning his name. Song by song, it was the bravest, most cutting performance I’ve ever seen at the Mile of Music. Most encouraging was the monstrous applause he received. Maybe we will become a country that cares about people again.

Andy Kahn’s first performance on Thursday at the 513 with his dad, Danny Kahn, on guitar and Katelyn Simmons on backing vocals was a tearjerker from start to finish. “Lily Rose,” with the gently delivered words and I kissed, her, cheek was the quintessential song of the set but each tune was packed with familial love and humor. Kahn’s toddler nephew, Hayes, shared the stage, with him wearing a tiny cowboy hat and miming the words and guitar playing throughout without diminishing the professionalism and musical purity of the performance.

Soaring folk rockers Virginia Man’s performance of “Whistling Trees” at the Fox River House late Friday afternoon was accentuated by the 20-something year old fans standing behind me, dancing and singing after falling in love with the songs when Virginia Man played the Mile in 2022. This was one of my favorite performances of the Mile from a band that clicked on all cylinders.

Collaborations of musicians from the Lawrence Chamber Music Festival and Mile of Music always highlight my Mile of Music experience. On “Essence,” the first song in their collaboration with the Green Bay band PEGASIS at the Friday morning performance in the Ballroom of Hilton Paper Valley Hotel, set a new standard for excellence. Guitarist Matt Hillman and Rissel and Yaina Peguero Almonte coalesced seamlessly with the talented chamber musicians to create an epic original that will never be captured at the Mile of Music again.

The Lawrence University Chamber collaborated with Green Bay band PEGASIS

The Kind Hearted Strangers were on my list of 35 artists I planned to see but scheduling allowed me to catch only a few songs in two different sets. What I harnessed was the most electrifying instrumental guitar riff of the festival. “Eukaryote” was the last song of their Saturday Houdini Plaza set and the first song in their set a few hours later at Gibson Music Hall. Usually it’s lyrics that get stuck in my head. The hard driving guitar mastery of “Eukaryote” will be with me for years.

'A cautious lament for the nation'

For Mile of Music 12, I heard 30 50-minute music sets and a total of 48 different artists, several of whom played just a few songs at the First Songs performance Wednesday night, the Song Before We Go round on Sunday night or when I scurried to get a taste of an artist I wanted see in between full sets. While I realized years ago that hearing full sets from an artist is the best way to enjoy the Mile, I was pleased that my race walking to the Lawrence Lawn stage paid off when I heard King Margo launch into their slow message ballad, “Monsters,” just as I landed 10 feet from the stage. It was played in the same key and with the same cadence and conviction as Admiral Radio’s song “Look Back and Learn.” Since the Mile ended, the two songs have become one in my head, one song's phrase ending with the words from the other. Not a bad problem to contend with, I must say.

As expected, Admiral Radio proved to be one of my favorites of the festival and, with Reardon, the only artists for whom I heard two full sets. “Cotton Candy Sky,” a song I had held up before I ever saw them, came to life in their 513 and Evergreen Lounge performances on Saturday. And I was deeply touched when they prefaced the 513 performance by dedicating the song to me with glowing praise for my appreciation for their art. Coty Hoover and Becca Smith epitomize the kind soul ethic of performers that saturated the Mile this year.

In one of the final original songs performed at the Mile, Kristin Andreassen and Chris Eldridge’s performance of “Never Give Up (The Border Song)” brought the packed Lawrence Chapel “Song Before We Go” crowd to a hushed whisper. Andreassen had just written the song, a cautious lament for the nation as our country struggles to live up to the ethic of kindness for the most vulnerable among us. Andreassen's sweet mention of their being away from their three-year old child, giving them the opportunity to write together, didn’t prepare the crowd for the somberness to follow. I had heard the couple debut the song a day earlier in an equally emotional performance at the 513. A truly great country is an ideal, not a place. Amen.

While I’ve only mentioned a few here (13, to be exact), there were other great songs and performances from Lara Supan, Yonder, Kaia Kater, Andrew Leahey, Katie Boeck, Hillary Reynolds, The Heligoats, Claire Kelley and a dozen others. I could write forever and never express how deeply these four days of music warmed my heart and energized my soul.

Another memorable performance was from Spencer LaJoye, an artist I did not see. My friend Paul Nulton introduced me to their song, “Plowshare Prayer,” after the festival. It's a thought provoking note to end with:

I pray that your burden gets lighter each day/I pray the mean voice in your head goes away/I pray that you honor the grief as it comes/I pray you can feel all the life in your lungs.