Joshua Tree Music Festival lineups are full of surprises. Festival founder Barnett English recalls a surprise addition to the very first JTMF in spring 2003:

“A few weeks before the festival, I got a call from guitar legend Dick Dale’s manager, who lived in 29 Palms.  He asked if Dick Dale could perform at the festival. I was honored and thrilled and so surprised that I half jokingly responded, ‘You mean Dick Dale, Dick Dale?  I let him know that of course, we’d love for him to play, but we’ve not a dime to offer up. He said, no worries. He’d love the opportunity to come out and play a set with his (then 11-year-old) son, Jimmy. This all happened close to the event, so Dick Dale had not been listed on the posters. So folks at the fest were thinking, ‘Really? the Dick Dale is playing?’ No one really believed it ’til he stepped up on stage and delighted us all. I was already a big fan, but even more so after that.”

One of the things that really stands about about JTMF is the intimacy that you can really only get at a smaller event. Seeing incredible acts (Ghost-Note, North Mississippi Allstars, Elle King, Fatoumata Diawara, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, John Butler Trio, to name a few) on the stage just feet away with a few thousand people (vs 80,000+) is really something unique and special. The artists and attendees feed off the energy creating a truly magical experience.