Reveling in the Rhythm & Roots Festival
For almost thirty years, the Rhythm & Roots Festival has marked the end of summer in Charlestown's Ninigret Park with a Labor Day weekend full of live performances, fervent fans, dancing, camping, and plenty of good times.
Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel perform on the main stage. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
There are a few things that mark the end of long summer days in Rhode Island: comfortable temperatures, thinning vacation crowds and, for the last twenty-eight years, the Rhythm & Roots music festival. Over three days, the Charlestown celebration packs in more than 5,000 fans daily to revel in performances by zydeco, Cajun, blues, Americana and country artists. Photographer Wolf Matthewson captured the event’s atmosphere while photographing artists and attendees, some new and some who have been coming since 1998. That’s when longtime organizer Chuck Wentworth, an avid roots music fan who died in 2024, founded the fledgling music fest. (Connecticut-based GoodWorks Entertainment took over in 2022 with the help of Wentworth and his family.) With a strong sense of community and performances by acclaimed musicians like Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel, Donna the Buffalo and Molly Tuttle, it’s little wonder the festival draws thousands of twirling and toe-tapping fans back to Ninigret Park every year.
Musician and SUNY Schenectady School of Music teacher Sten Isachsen strums a mandolin as “king and queen” of the campground, Merry and Charlie Brown, howl “Wolf!,” our photographer’s name. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
GoodWorks Entertainment CEO Tyler Grill and son Colby with Laurie Ramaker, a member of the marketing crew. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Emcees Peter Rost, Ali Kaufman and Ed McKeon backstage. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Jacqui Macek with daughter Mara. Macek has been coming to the festival since she was a little girl and now brings her daughter. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Performers Bruce Sunpie Barnes and Leroy Etienne of Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots stand backstage before performing in the dance tent. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Blackberry Smoke performs Southern rock on the main stage. The stained-glass backdrop pays homage to the band’s founding drummer, Brit Turner, who died in 2024. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Grammy-Award-winning bluegrass artist Molly Tuttle performs contemporary country and bluegrass on the main stage. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Duane Betts, who looks and plays like his late father, Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers, performs on the rhythm stage. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Tuttle and her all-female band jam together. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Clarissa tosses a hat from the Sunny Life Hemp Hats stand. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Sunset Farms in Narragansett serves farm-fresh offerings from their food truck, with brisket and burgers being fan favorites. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Kevin O’Brien of Wormtown Trading Co. offers a selection of mystical carved and stone objects. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Campers at the Lucky Dawgs campsite perform their own version of “The Gong Show.” Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Volunteer Collin Andersen relaxes in his camper van in the festival’s campground area. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
Romi and Rocco Simonelli cool off with a dip in the pond. Photography by Wolf Matthewson
