MISSION STATEMENT
To bring live Bluegrass music and mountain food and culture to the Burns that we attend with the intent to provide interaction with the positive aspects of our southern mountain heritage and to dispel negative stereotypes.
2025 APPLICATION IS OPEN!
Background
Our founder, Fixxer, first brought Bluegrass Music to Burning Man in 2012. When he first started going to Burns he realized that Burners were his people, but the overwhelming majority of music that he heard was EDM, and he wanted to bring live Bluegrass to the Burner community.
Fixxer created Rootpile Themecamp which was built as a mini Bluegrass festival destination within Burning Man with live pro-level Bluegrass music, instrument workshops, and hillbilly food offerings, bringing the camp back year after year through 2024.
In 2025, we are changing things up. This year we are coming to Burning Man as a Mutant Vehicle Support Camp and bringing our 3 Live Bluegrass Music art cars (including the Rootpile stage), so we can spread live Bluegrass music to the masses on the open Playa of Burning Man!
Camp
Mobile 'Pile campers will get a taste of Hillbilly music, food and culture. We encourage everyone to come to the live Bluegrass shows and participate in other interactivities in camp.
Camp members are from all over the world and we welcome people, no matter your race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or national origin. There is no need to be a musician to be part of camp. We have many different opportunities to participate in Mobile 'Pile.
We take the 10 Burning Man Principles seriously and expect all Mobile 'Pile campers to do the same. Communal Effort, Participation, Leave No Trace and the like are integral to the success of our camp.
In addition to their daily Mobile 'Pile camp duty shift, all campers are encouraged to also volunteer with one of the many Burning Man departments.
Join Mobile 'Pile Camp
Rootpile Themecamp, in its normal form, is taking the year off for 2025. Instead, we are doing a Mutant Vehicle Support Camp with our Bluegrass art cars. The 2025 CAMP APPLICATION IS NOW OPEN, and we have limited space available for some key roles in camp. We welcome both Virgin and Veteran Burners.
Rootpile/Mobile 'Pile Musicians
There are many playing opportunities for Bluegrass musicians of all levels who would like to join our camp. There are possibilities for scholarships and for help finding tickets for professional Bluegrass musicians wishing to participate. Learn More Here!
If you are interested in being a Mobile 'Pile musician, email us.
