Looking Through The 2026 Two Step Inn Festival Lineup
The Two Step Inn Festival in Georgetown, TX (just north of Austin) has become one of the premier festivals in the independent/throwback country space over the last few years, while always throwing in a few curve balls. The foundation is independent country and ’90s throwback country, along with usually including a hip-hop performer or two, and one or two other wild cards (see full lineup below).
The 2026 lineup is no different. For many years Chris Stapleton avoided the festival circuit unless it was a big mainstream event. After making an appearance recently at Healing Appalachia in Kentucky, he’ll now headline Sunday of the Two Step Inn. Saturday will see Brooks & Dunn headlining in a spot that Alan Jackson occupied last year.
Tracy Lawrence, Shenandoah, Clay Walker, and the “Randy Travis” show featuring singer James Dupré help round out the ’90s lineup. From the independent country and roots side of things, you have Wyatt Flores, The Red Clay Strays, Evan Honer, Brent Cobb, Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Castellows, Gabriella Rose, The Creekers, and others. Kaitlin Butts will also host the “Yeehaw Sessions,” and has been tapped as an artist ambassador for the festival in 2026.
Two Step Inn has always included some outliers. Ludacris performed in 2025, Diplo has performed a couple of years, and Blanco Brown and T-Pain have also made the bill. BigXthaPlug is this year’s supposedly “country-adjacent” hip-hop performer. BigXthaPlug has no business being on a country lineup, and if organizers wanted some diversity for the roster, they should have picked an actual Black country artist instead.
The Goo Goo Dolls also feel like a strange pick, though as we’ve seen at previous years of the Two Step Inn festival, the field will be full of nostalgic-seeking folks in their Panama Jack straw hats singing along.
One of the more confounding inclusion is The Band Perry. This is not The Band Perry of 2010. There have been so many iterations of this band, and the fact that promoters are including them in lineups and assuming audiences will be receptive takes a leap of faith. Along with the Randy Travis project that’s very polarizing since of course he doesn’t sing himself, this feels like Two Step Inn is booking names as opposed to performances.
Two Step Inn and promoter C3 Presents (owned by 51% of Live Nation) have also let it be known that for 2026, there will be more restrooms, more entry points, and no outside chairs allowed like in previous years. They’re also saying they will cap attendance at a lower number. To put it bluntly, Two Step Inn has been a poorly run production every year since its inception in 2023, and at this point, must address these issues.
Every year the restroom situation has been a nightmare for GA attendees. Every year the lines for food and drink have been horrible. Every year at least one of the days has been dramatically oversold. And it’s always a pain getting in. These oversights has resulted in many of the mixed to negative reviews the festival has received, especially for the high ticket price. Combine this with no on-site parking (except for super VIPs), and it’s just been a difficult festival to attend.
And beyond the logistical issues, you just can’t look at the Two Step Inn lineup and expect to see everything. With three stages, and the lineup jammed into two days, you can only really expect to take in 1/3rd of the music, even if you’re paying for the full lineup. That’s one of the reasons for the fest’s more eclectic lineup entries as they look to appeal to folks outside of the independent/’90s country realm.
Similar to Railbird Festival’s 2025 lineup that tried to get independent country fans to tolerate Jelly Roll and Bailey Zimmerman as headliners, these country mega fests continue to get the curation not exactly right, taking misnomers about the tastes of country fans and Pollstar numbers to Frankenstein lineups together. Nonetheless, there will be plenty of great performers to see for those who choose to make the trek.
Presale starts 9/25 at 12 PM Central. for more information, go to twostepinn.com .
September 24, 2025 @ 6:09 pm
BigXButtPlug and Kaitin Butts on the same bill.
That will surely get butts in seats.
September 24, 2025 @ 8:28 pm
Would also add they’ve decrease artists by 4 for each day compared to previous years. It’s a very top heavy lineup on Sunday with most of the young talent booked throughout Saturday. Goo goo dolls feels weird and there’s still some big 90’s names they haven’t touched. Also this festival is missing a key female artist atleast second billing.Stapleton literally just headlined ACL 25 min down the road this past year. Me thinks they lost the bidding for Zach Top’s services and he will be elsewhere in Texas.
September 25, 2025 @ 5:57 am
Two Step Inn Festival ? Never heard of it,but hopefully some great talent emerges from it.(Buddy Jackson? Glad you’re here,pardner! A true good ol’ boy name if ever there were !!!!!!!!!!!!)
September 25, 2025 @ 6:38 am
“ this feels like Two Step Inn is booking names as opposed to performances.”
yea that’s exactly what they do. that could have been the whole article. Having BigX, Stapleton, and Goo Goo Dolls on the same poster is not at all driven by those artists’ music or performances. It’s for the social media shock value and excitement of seeing 3 vastly different artists on the same bill.
Of course, if you’re into the scene, you know every big festival does this, and the white cowboy boot straw hat crowd thinks it’s just absolutely crazy cool every time
Jeremy pinnell rips new single today i havent listened yet i hope its good but it prob is bc he rips
September 25, 2025 @ 7:56 am
Clay Walker singing Randy Travis songs is utter blasphemy.
September 28, 2025 @ 6:27 am
He isn’t though. Trigger’s story literally says James Dupre will be the featured vocalist. Clay Walker will perform his own music.
September 28, 2025 @ 8:20 am
Clay Walker is playing Randy Travis in an upcoming biopic. He is not performing as part of this set at Two Step Inn, unless it’s something unique they’re putting together for this festival.
September 25, 2025 @ 9:21 am
When will we stop trusting that C3 can actually put on a good experience? I only needed one year of Fairwell to learn they have no idea how to do festival operations
September 25, 2025 @ 1:53 pm
Im noticing the poster deceptively makes it look like it’s a small- town organic festival by the statement ” Friends of Georgetown Parks and Rec Presents.” No mention of C3 or Live Nation. If you didn’t know better you’d assume it’s a quaint little mom and pop operation run by small town folk.
And really, what’s with the need to put rappers and pop superstar has beens in the mix with hard-core Country? It defies any common sense.
September 25, 2025 @ 5:34 pm
I will say in their defense, this event has raised a bunch of money for Georgetown Parks and Rec. But yes, LiveNation knows its vilified, and tries to keep itself in the shadows with many of these independent-facing events.
September 26, 2025 @ 1:58 pm
Love to see Red Clay Strays in that BIG font.
September 29, 2025 @ 5:56 pm
Kaitlin Butts, Brooks & Dunn, Tracy Lawrence, and Clay Walker could definitely convince me to go to this.