How this annual music festival will help Somerset heal after deadly tornadoes

Among the many appeals of the Master Musicians Festival to surface during a three decade-plus history has been its sense of community. Sure, the event’s title highlights something altogether different — namely, a means of honoring an artistic elder whose influence has richly inspired successive generations. But the festival has also served as a reflection of pride for the Somerset and Pulaski County communities that organize it, sponsor it and ultimately stage it. In doing do, the event has become a welcome mat for the rest of the state (and beyond) to experience a festival removed from big city settings and stadium sized crowds. It has become an invitation from one community to another — actually, to all others.

But what happens when, in the intervening months between its annual July gatherings, when that community takes a hit — a very literal, physical and devastating hit? In the case of this year’s Master Musicians Festival — which convenes this weekend in Somerset with veteran country music maverick Jamey Johnson as headliner and the Grammy winning Metcalfe County rock, country and blues brigade The Kentucky Headhunters as its spotlighted Masters artist — that means heightening an already hearty sense of community.

The weekend-long event will be one of Somerset’s most visible signs of regained strength since an EF4 tornado ripped through the Southern half of the city and into neighboring Laurel County in late May. While the storm caused no specific damage to the Somerset Community College grounds where the Master Musicians Festival is held every summer, it destroyed homes and businesses through Somerset and London, eventually claiming the lives of 19 people.

“We were blessed that it wasn’t worse than it was here in Somerset, although it was terrible,” said Julie Harris, president of the board of directors for the Master Musicians Festival. “Absolutely terrible. It’s a really hard thing to see and know what to do.

“The tornado hit on the south end of town. You wouldn’t have known about the damage until you got to the Parkers Mill Road and (South Highway) 27 intersection. Then all of a sudden, it’s like everything was turned upside down. Tornadoes are incredibly creepy that way. Billboards were torn apart, power lines were down everywhere, trees were all over the mall parking lot with no ideas of where they came from. It was devastating.”

When the tornado hit, plans for this year’s Masters Musicians Festival had long been set. The immediate concern for the festival board was trying to find a way to offer quick assistance to the community. What transpired, from initial idea to final completion, took only a week. The festival teamed with The Virginia, a newly restored theatre now serving as downtown Somerset’s prime performance venue, and a team of regional acts and artists led by the popular Prestonsburg-rooted country/folk duo Sundy Best, to present a benefit concert. The performance took Master Musicians Festival executive director Tiffany Finley two days to book. It raised over $10,000 for storm relief efforts.

“MMF has been around for 32 years, so it’s a brand and organization that our community trusts with their time and money,” Finley said. “They know we would have good intentions, so I immediately thought about how wonderful it would be to have a benefit at The Virginia. But I also knew we would need to have a band that means a lot to Kentucky, so that’s when I reached out to Nick Jamerson of Sundy Best. To me, he embodies everything that is great about the Kentucky music community. I knew he had to be involved. We pretty much had it all planned within two days of us deciding to do it and announced the show. It happened a week later.”

“Everyone was very willing to give their time and effort to put it on — especially the artists. In booking that lineup, I was able send just one text and within a couple of hours, I had everyone confirmed.”

One significant change had to made to this year’s Master Musicians Festival, but, curiously, it had nothing to do with the tornado. Headliner and 10-time Grammy nominee Johnson, now touring behind first album of new music in 14 years (“Midnight Gasoline”), had long been on the festival’s wish list for booking. Confirming him for this year, though, came with a catch. It meant moving the event dates, which had already been announced, to a week earlier in order to secure an opening in Johnson’s tour schedule. That adjustment was made last December.

“A change like that is always risky” Harris said. “But we really wanted to have Jamey here. A lot of our fans over the years have been asking for him. We’ve tried to get him multiple times, but it’s just never worked out. When his team responded this year and said, ‘Well, he’s not available that weekend, but he is the weekend before,’ it was early enough, thankfully, that we were able to go, ‘Okay, let’s pivot and make this happen.’ It turned out to be a great decision.”

Honoring the Kentucky Headhunters as Masters this year might seem unexpected. After all, it wasn’t that long ago “Dumas Walker,” perhaps the band’s most recognized hit, was all over country radio, was it? Turns out, it was. The single and the Grammy-winning album it came from, “Pickin’ on Nashville,” were released in 1989. The band has maintained a steady performance and recording career ever since.

“The very first time the Kentucky Headhunters came to Somerset (for a co-billed show with Exile at an event called SomerBlast), I asked to volunteer,” Finley recalled. “I was actually their runner. This was before I had anything to do with MMF. I had so much fun that I turned around the next week and asked if could volunteer at MMF, so this is kind of a full circle moment for me, going from being their runner to being able to honor them this year.”

While Johnson and the Headhunters will help signal this weekend that all is well with the Master Musicians Festival, expect a little added appreciation in the wake of the May tornado for being able gather again to celebrate art and community.

“I think we’re all going to be a little more appreciative to be able to do things like watching the kids run around and being able to hug each other,” Finley said. “It reminds me of after COVID in 2021 when we had Blues Traveler as headliner. That was one of our biggest years. People were ready to get out of the house, be happy and just live life. I think we’ll see a little of that this year, too — just people being more appreciative of the fact we get to do this in our hometown, where our community gets to shine.”

Masters Musicians Festival schedule

When: July 11 (gates open at 3:30 p.m.) and July 12 (gates open at 11:30 a.m.)

Where: Festival Field at Somerset Community College, 808 Monticello St. in Somerset

Tickets: $60-$135 at mastermusiciansfestival.org. Children 12 and under will be admitted free.

July 11

Main Stage: Logan Smith (5 p.m.); MMF “OG” Songwriters (6:40 p.m.); Cody Lee Meece (8:20 p.m.); Buffalo Wabs cq and the Price Hill Hustle (10 p.m.).

Second Stage: Todd Clayton (4:20 p.m.); Jadan Trammell (6 p.m.); Hollerhead (7:40 p.m.); The Creekers (9:20 p.m).

July 12

Main Stage: Young Songwriters Panel (1 p.m.); Emily Jamerson (2:40 p.m.); Kindred Valley (4:20 p.m.); Hunter Flynn (6 p.m.); The Kentucky Headhunters (7:40 p.m.); Jamey Johnson (9:30 p.m.).

Second Stage: Sanchez Family (12:20 p.m.); Paint Creek (2 p.m.); Girl Scruggs (3:40 p.m.); Sonido Lazer (5:20 p.m.); Kels (7 p.m.); The Jins (8:50 p.m.); Nat Myers (11 p.m.).