Bringing the vibe of an outdoor music festival indoors, the Ozark Mountain Music Festival warms up downtown Eureka Springs Jan. 16-19 with a series of concerts inside the historic Basin Park Hotel with after hours shows just up the street at Chelsea’s Cafe and Corner Bar.

With 28 performances over four days, music will include jam bands, bluegrass, folk, American Roots music and more. Helping to blend the boundaries between genres, or just adding a “little something” to sets by fellow bands and musicians will be multi-instrumentalist and performer John Mailander, the 2025 Ozark Mountain Music Festival Artist-At-Large.

Mailander is a producer and composer known mostly as a fiddle player but is skilled on mandolin and other stringed instruments. He plans to bring a selection to the festival.

“I love these artists-at-large opportunities because I just get to make music with my friends and play all day and sit in with different bands,” Mailander said. “It’s really fun for me just keeping things fresh and getting to experience playing with a lot of different people and different styles.”

Mailander started playing fiddle for the school orchestra around age 10 while growing up in San Diego. Eventually he took fiddle lessons from Sara Watkins, the violinist for Nickel Creek. Later Mailander was mentored by John McTann and Darol Anger while attending Berklee College of Music.

For the better part of the last decade, he has performed as part of Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers while also composing and performing with John Mailander’s Forecast.

Hornsby — who is known for both his solo career and many years on the road with The Grateful Dead — has been a mentor to Mailander too, he said, expanding his knowledge as a band leader and composer. For his forthcoming album, “Let The World In,” (due Jan. 27) Hornsby also inspired Mailander to compose at the piano, which is new frontier for the fiddler/mandolin player.

“Piano has become a big passion for me, so that really opened up a lot of compositional avenues for me on this record,” Mailander said. While he wrote many of the compositions at home, Mailander said each track incorporates what he calls “collective improv,” something he’s learned from Hornsby. Instead of each member of the band taking a solo on every song, Mailander said he and his bandmates create a “collective solo, where everyone is weaving in and out and talking to one another.”

is latest album, which will most likely populate early lists of the Best of 2025 albums, weaves together elements of freeform jazz, bluegrass, blues and rock and roll for a “listening experience” made to be “played loud,” according to the liner notes. Mailander sings only one song on the album, a cover of Nick Drake’s “Road.”

Mailander also produced headliner Sicard Hollow’s second album, “Brightest of Days,” last November helping tie together the myriad influences the group brings together for their psychedelic punk-grass sound.

“Working with him, I think he helped tie some ideas together and maybe make arrangements more seamless or cohesive, whatever word you want to use,” said Will Herrin, who sings and plays mandolin in Sicard Hollow. “I think it was great working with him. It was a whole lot of fun.”

Sicard Hollow met in 2018, all making music from different genres that were neither bluegrass nor jamband adjacent. Violinst Matt Rennick was doing electronic music. Herrin was playing guitar in a rock band while guitarist and vocalist Alex King “was barely playing music at all,” according to the band’s bio. Parrish Gabriel joined as the bassist in 2019.

Gabriel said they all came from similar music backgrounds and their influences are a moving target.

“My answer a year ago would have been The Beach Boys,” Herrin said. Gabriel said his ranges from Frank Sinatra to Jaco Pastorius to Nekrogoblikon (goblin-fronted folk metal), but mostly the bands and the people they meet on tour.

On the road they’ve supported Oysterhead, Umphrey’s McGee, The String Cheese Incident, Moe., Railroad Earth, Yonder Mountain String Band, Greensky Bluegrass, Sierra Hull, Lindsay Lou and Keller Williams.

In 2023 they supported the Kitchen Dwellers at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville. Herrin said they’ve played with local jamgrass favorites Arkansauce as well. He said even if you’ve seen them before to expect to some surprises.

“We all are always trying to keep the sets different. I don’t think you will ever see the same Sicard Hollow set twice,” Gabriel said. “You’ll hear some cool songs you never heard, and also probably hear a song that you love in a way you’ve never heard it.”

Make sure to bring your dancing shoes. See the full line up and schedule for the Ozark Mountain Music Festival at ozarkmountainmusicfestival.com.

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FAQ

Ozark Mountain Music Festival

WHAT — Bringing the experience of an outdoor music festival indoors, the four-day festival features the best in roots, Americana and more with live music from Sicard Hollow, Armchair Boogie; Clay Street Unit; Goodnight, Texas; Gasoline Lollipops; John Henry & Friends (with Adams Collins and Tom Andersen); John Mailander (artist at large); Dig Deep; Goldpine; Gravel Yard; The Swallowtails; Drifters Mile; The Matchsellers; Grody Riggins; Rock Bottom String Band; Crazy FolkeR; Kate Kristine; Trevor Clark; Steve Jones; “icky’ Ichniowski; Mountain Alice; National Park Radio; March to August; Carolina Mendoza; Patti Steel Band; Chris Harp and Average Joey.

WHEN — Jan. 16-19

WHERE — Basin Park Hotel with music after hours at Chelsea’s in downtown Eureka Springs.

COST — $159 plus taxes and fees for all-access, four-day pass. ($20 each for Thursday-only and Sunday-only passes)

INFO — ozarkmountainmusicfestival.com