Eggy, photo by Bahram Foroughi
Music on the Mountain returned for its third-annual special benefit festival over the weekend. Presented by The Phoenix and supporting Trey Anastasio’s Divided Sky Foundation, the musical centerpiece of Divided Sky’s new BIG Weekend brought sets from some of the jam world’s foremost acts to the Jackson Gore Village of Ludlow, Vt.’s Okemo Mountain on May 16.
Music on the Mountain 2026 commenced at noon with a movement-based wellness activity, then the Trombone Shorty Foundation Band set off the main stage programming with a showcase of brass and funk from the New Orleans-based youth ensemble. Anders Osborne returned for his third annual appearance at the festival, performing in a duo with Jackie Greene, then made way for the genre-bending 2ŁØT and ace bassist Karina Rykman, who delivered a set of originals swirled into a high-energy psych-trance floor-filler.
In the late afternoon, attendees were treated to a performance from LaMP, the celebrated Burlington, Vt.-based trio of drummer Russ Lawton, guitarist Scott Metzger and keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, whose set built on an appearance from Lawton and Paczkowski’s avant-funk duo Soule Monde last year. After a brief second-line intermission led by the Trombone Shorty Foundation Band, Eggy stepped into the spotlight just as golden hour swept over the mountain for a radiant engagement featuring live staples like “Woah There,” “Trixieville,” “Burritos El Chavo 2” and “Agatha.” For their set closer of fan-favorite “Laurel,” the indie-jam quartet welcomed a special guest horn section of trumpeterJennifer Hartswick and trombonist Natalie Cressman.
Thrilling as Eggy’s outro was, the substance-free family event’s festivities didn’t end on the main stage. On top of an intimate campfire jam from Osborne, Greene and Daniel Donato, viewers migrated to the BIG Weekend All-Stars After Party, which celebrated community and recovery with a supergroup of the day’s performers, including Rykman, Donato, Metzger, Packowski, Lawton, Hartswick and Cressman, plus bassist Dezron Douglas, drummer Joe Dyson and Dogs in a Pile’s guitarists Brian Murray and Jimmy Law. The stacked ensemble capped off the evening with a fistful of covers, trading the microphone for the Grateful Dead’s “Loose Lucy,” Traffic’s “Feelin’ Alright?,” The Meters’ “Fire on the Bayou,” Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody,” Talking Heads’ “Crosseyed and Painless” and “Psycho Killer.”
To learn more about the missions of the Divided Sky Foundation and The Phoenix, visit dividedskyfoundation.com and thephoenix.org.
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