Kolton Moore & the Clever Few End Rescheduled Jambaloo Finale on a High Note

The house lights dimmed at Tulips and the crowd began to chant. People had shown up early, packed themselves elbow-to-elbow, and waited patiently through two openers, all for this moment. They wanted Kolton Moore and they were going to get him.

This was not just another show. It was the final act of Jambaloo 2025, a free multi-city music festival that had taken over North Texas for one week back in February.

Moore had been scheduled to close it then, during the heart of the festival, but the flu got in the way, causing a reschedule for Friday, May 23. By then, the rest of Jambaloo had come and gone. This was the holdout, the epilogue, the unofficial encore.

Moore and his band, the Clever Few, brought a full hour of heat to a room that had already been softened by openers Levi Ray and Garrett Owen. The set pulled from Bare-Bones, Moore’s latest release, and stretched across fan favorites, a new single, and one final song long enough to name and thank every member on stage.

By the time they stepped off, the crowd had stopped chanting. They were cheering instead.

Levi Ray opened the night with a set that felt homespun and earnest. He sat beside his father, who joined him as second guitarist and performed a series of acoustic songs that moved with calm confidence.

At one point, Ray stripped it down to nothing, finishing a number with just his voice thus closing out his set.

Garrett Owen followed and brought a different kind of stillness. With an upright bassist on his right and an acoustic guitar in hand, Owen performed.

His tone stayed steady through a gentle but surprising cover of "Heart-Shaped Box" by Nirvana. He traded grunge for restraint, letting the low bass and clean guitar guide the song into something fragile and new. His voice never cracked. His sound never rushed. It was less of a cover than a reframe, and the crowd gave him the space to make it count.

When Kolton Moore & the Clever Few finally stepped onstage, the crowd leaned forward. This was the moment the entire evening had been building toward. The band eased into its set with immediate energy letting each track breathe before locking in for the encore stretch.

Moore’s vocals, as always, felt lived-in and sharp, cutting through the warmth of the instruments. When he introduced his bandmates one by one during the closing number, it did not feel like filler. It felt like a family roll call.

Jambaloo launched in 2024 and returned in 2025 with a much larger footprint. Built around the idea of removing all financial barriers from live music, the event spread across four venues—Club Dada and Ferris Wheelers in Dallas, Tulips in Fort Worth and Andy’s Bar in Denton—from Feb. 1 through Feb. 8. Every show was free. Every artist was booked with intention. Entry required only an RSVP.

The festival is the flagship project of the Mullen & Mullen Music Initiative, started by Joseph Morrison and Shane Mullen of the Dallas-based law firm Mullen & Mullen. They partnered with Spune Productions to create a week that would benefit venues, artists and fans alike.

“Not a single one of the headliners would normally be free,” an organizer explained.

This year’s festival featured 27 shows and 100 artists and attracted 5,750 attendees, a 281% increase from the same time last year. MJ Lenderman’s show at Tulips received more than 1,900 RSVPs.

“Every single Jambaloo show that someone showed up to attend, they got in the door,” Jim Capalbo, founder and CEO of CapCo PR Inc, said on behalf of Jambaloo.

Organizers had monitored capacity carefully, messaged attendees with updates and reserved space for early arrivals to ensure this.

“We sent out guaranteed tickets to the people that RSVP’d first. Even of those people, we had less than 50% show,” Corey Ponds, general manager of Spune, says.

The impact on venues was immediate. Ferris Wheelers reported a 212.18% increase in sales compared to the same week in 2024. Andy’s Bar, which closed permanently weeks after the festival, ended its run on a high with a 277.27% boost. Club Dada and Tulips also posted significant increases, with 97.59% and 74.26% increases in sales, respectively.

According to the National Independent Venue Association, Jambaloo's economic impact was estimated at more than $3.5 million. In a rare move for an event of this scale, 100% of the revenue generated at each venue stayed with the venue, according to Ponds.

Streaming played a role, too. WFAA aired 20 live sets from Tulips, drawing thousands of viewers and bringing Jambaloo into homes across Texas. The broadcasts did not generate revenue but expanded the festival’s reach.

“Now you have a situation where the openers are playing in front of 400 people when they never, ever would be playing in front of 400 people,” Ponds says.

Jambaloo will return Feb. 7 to Feb. 14 in 2026. Organizers say they plan to expand the venue count and book even bigger headliners. For now, though, the final night belongs to Kolton Moore, Garrett Owen, Levi Ray and everyone who showed up for a show that never once felt like an afterthought.