Cali Roots Festival Round 3 Announcement

Cali Roots Festival is expanding its wings for 2015.

That means more jam bands and live hip-hop, while staying true to the reggae-based acts that have made it popular with its loyal fan base. 

Today’s third round artist announcement included popular festival veterans SOJA and Iration, along with fellow reggae bands Pacific Dub and Soul Majestic.

They will be joined by some first-time festival acts, including Australian roots jam band the John Butler Trio, SoCal hip-hop icons Cypress Hill, the Ethan Tucker Band, Cas Haley, and KBong.

The Cai Roots Festival takes place May 22-24 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey. 39 artists will perform, including The Roots, Slightly Stoopid, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Tribal Seeds, G.Love and Special Sauce, Dirty Heads, Steel Pulse, and Dilated Peoples.

The festival has leaned toward reggae-inspired acts during its first five iterations. Festival producer Dan Sheehan said there was a conscious effort to broaden the festival’s musical lineup while staying true to fan tastes.

“With the lineup this year, we wanted to stretch our wings without alienating the core audience that helped us build this festival,” said Sheehan. “We don’t want to do things our core audience doesn’t like. We were conscious of that.”

That core audience has helped the festival out weeks in advance the past two years. Last year, the festival drew 11,000 fans per day, utilizing the main arena stage.

The festival has built anticipation by revealing the artist lineup in tiers. With the third lineup announcement, Sheehan said the festival is entering new territory.

“It was important for us to expand our wings. We get lumped in as a reggae festival, and yes, the core of our bands are reggae driven,” said Sheehan. “But we don’t’ want to be considered just a reggae fest. We want to be considered much more. It’s music, a conscious music festival. Just music, good music. From top to bottom, that’s what we have on this lineup.”