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Barefoot Country Music Fest is coming back to the Jersey Shore for its 15th year

Dan DeLuca, The Philadelphia Inquirer on

Published in Entertainment News

PHILADELPHIA — The biggest music bash on the South Jersey beach this summer is Barefoot Country Music Fest, happening between the two Morey’s Piers on the Wildwood beach from June 19 to 22.

Now in its fifth iteration, the BCMF drew 35,000 people a day to the doo-wop seaside resort last year, and it continues to grow. The 2025 lineup features several of the biggest acts in mainstream country, plus a number of recommendable rising stars on the undercard, along with one name-brand Philly fave you wouldn’t expect to see at a country festival.

The festival kicks off the evening of Thursday, June 19, with country-pop soft-rock trio Rascal Flatts, which has scored 16 No. 1 country hits, including its signature “Bless This Broken Road.”

The pick of the night — and maybe of the festival — is Megan Moroney, the Georgia-born singer who identifies as an “emo cowgirl” and demonstrated her canny songwriting skills on last year’s breakout album "Am I Okay?," building on the success of her stellar 2023 debut, "Lucky."

On Friday, 2023 CMA Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson — the first woman to take the award home since Taylor Swift in 2011 — tops the bill.

Also on tap is “Breakup Over Breakfast” singer Avery Anna, whose new album "Let Go Letters" responds to missives from fans, including her new single “Danny Don’t Do It,” which pleads with a friend contemplating ending his life. And on the second stage, the one not to miss is Kaitlin Butts, the country and rock singer from Ardmore, Oklahoma, whose new high-energy "Roadrunner" is inspired by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s "Oklahoma!"

On Saturday, boorish “Try That In A Small Town” star Jason Aldean is the main attraction. But also playing the main stage is a welcome surprise: Philly’s own Boyz II Men, continuing to court a country audience that the “I’ll Make Love To You” trio initiated with a ballad-singing collaboration with country artist Brett Young.

 

And the other can’t-miss act on Saturday is Willow Avalon, the Georgia up-and-coming trad-leaning country singer, who was terrific when she played the Foundry at the Fillmore this year. She is also playing dates with Willie Nelson this summer.

Sunday’s big-name headliner is Jelly Roll, the face-tattooed hip-hop-loving country star who will be fresh off a Memorial Day weekend show at Citizens Bank Park with Post Malone. And the name to look out for on that day’s bill is Bayker Blankenship, the teenage Tennessee songwriting wunderkind who went viral with “Maxed Out” and whose new single is “Thinking Of Me.”

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Tickets and information about accommodations in Wildwood, New Jersey, at barefootcountryfest.com.

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©2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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