Looking ahead to Mile 13 while looking back fondly at Mile 12

By Scott Peeples

Scott is the Lester Bangs of the Fox Cities and the unofficial music reviewer and overall chronicler of the annual Mile of Music Festival

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

The quote by 19th century German poet Berthold Auerbach epitomizes those joyous four days every summer that I look forward to all year.  The Mile of Music festival that has put Appleton on the musical map continues to be the highlight of the year for music lovers throughout the state.    

The lineup for Mile of Music 13, just a few months away, is still being announced, with 145 of approximately 200 artists that will appear at the four-day festival having already been revealed. Many of us are knee-deep in our joyful research, listening to bands to determine which performances to attend when the lengthy locomotive pulls back into Appleton, July 30 to Aug. 2. 

Bands already on my “will see” list include first-time Mile performers Strawberry Launch, Stillhouse Junkies, Frail Talk, Jordie Lane, Jessica Willis Fisher and Rachel Maxann, and returning artists Admiral Radio, Beth Bombara, Tommy Prine, South for Winter, Claire Kelly and the Talbott Brothers. (My erstwhile friend Berthold has no idea how difficult it is to whittle this down.) 

But even as we listen, research and anticipate the 2026 festival, it’s abundantly rewarding to reflect on the music we experienced last summer at Mile of Music 12. Here are a dozen magical moments from Mile 12: 

1. PICTURE PERFECT   Wednesday night, even before the First Songs concert kicked off at the Performing Arts Center, I was watching Madison favorite Bascom Hill perform in the Hilton Paper Valley Courtyard when I spotted Megan and Meghan, aka Me(a)g(h)an, aka Megan Slankard and Meghan Farrell. I’d catch their set a couple days later, but the selfie I got with them was picture-perfect.   
2. WARM HEARTS   Wherever the music is, that’s where you’ll find me. At 10:30 Thursday morning, it was the lobby of the Hilton Paper Valley, where the On a Positive Note chorus, composed of older folks with dementia, memory and cognitive challenges, was performing. An inherently heartwarming moment was magnified when the first person I spotted enjoying the show was Mile musician Andy Kahn’s toddler nephew, Hayes, wearing a cowboy hat and strapped on toy guitar. 
3. WOO-HOO!   Night one of Mile 12 ended with late-night friends Mark, Joanne, Jim and good-mood, smooth-rhythm, 1954-Stratocaster-wielding McKinley James leading a rock n’ roll dance party at the Appleton Beer Factory. On my pocket note cards, I wrote just two words the whole night: woo-hoo. Sums it up nicely. 
4. FRONT ROW  Never one to be satisfied with a seat in the back, my Thursday afternoon luck found me landing an open spot next to my friend, Andy, at the Minor Gold show. The lovely harmonies of Dan Parsons and Tracy McNeil peaked on “Lonesome is just a lighter shade of blue.”  
5. MUSIC CLUB  Post-performance conversation with Canadian troubadour Kaia Kater at the Lawrence Memorial Chapel wound its way into me telling her about my online Music Club and the time we took a deep dive into her most recent album, “Strange Medicine.” Then she asked if she could “steal” our online music club idea.   
6. JOY  Lisset (Lizzy) Diaz’s aura of sheer joy during the Sweet Lizzy Project’s performance at Rookies on Friday night will stick with me forever.   
7. KINDRED SPIRITS   Breakfast with Mile of Music veteran Andrew Leahey on Saturday morning at Copper Rock felt like a meeting of kindred spirits, a Mile fanatic connecting with a talented musician who embodies the humble spirit of so many of the artists that come to Appleton.     
8. SHALL WE DANCE?   An invitation for people to dance to the music by Kristen Andreassen at her 513 set with husband Chris Eldridge was accepted by Coty and Becca (Admiral Radio), Adrian and Meridith (Adrian + Meridith) and Greg and Janet (Mile fans Greg and Janet Kautz). It was a poignant slow dance finale to another beautiful concert. 
9.  ANY REQUESTS?   Then there was that time when singer songwriter Mike Miz, performing at the Mile of Music for the first time, went out on a limb and asked if anyone had a request. I yelled out “Only Human,” and he launched into the tune a few seconds later.   
10. THE HAIRLESS CAT SONG   Nashville sweetheart Claire Kelly has played her quirky tune, ”Jeffery Jones,” many times in Appleton but her full-band rendition, with a room full of singalong fans, at Gibson Community Music Hall, on Saturday night, was the “I can see all of your bones, and I don’t like it” best ever. 
11. WIDE AWAKE   On Sunday afternoon, the perfect antidote to 40-hours-of-music-in-four-days-grogginess was The Heligoats’ (aka Chris Otempka) captivatingly bizarre tale about a bandmate who solved his rabid shyness by making himself small and crawling into a heating duct at a house concert several years ago. Indeed, “Heat Vents,” is a real song. 
12. THEY KNEW WE WERE COMING   Several of us started our Mile days at the Music Maker Lounge, the second-floor refuge set up for Music Makers to eat hearty snacks, talk music and just relax at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. On the second or third day, the incredible volunteers had several tables put together when we arrived at 10 a.m. They knew we were coming and nothing mattered more to them than making us happy, washing away the dust of everyday life.