Fans Unhappy with 2025 Buckeye Country Superfest Lineup
The 2024 Buckeye Country Superfest at Ohio Stadium last June was one for the ages. With Zach Bryan, Billy Strings, the Turnpike Troubadours, Charley Crockett, Charles Wesley Godwin, and Levi Turner all on the same lineup—and an official tailgate party that featured Kaitlin Butts—it was one of the greatest assemblages of talent we’ve ever seen, and all from artists you won’t hear on mainstream radio.
The 2024 Buckeye Country Superfest was so good, they had to add a second date due to demand, with both dates eventually selling out. It really spoke to the rising economic power of independent music, and how the alternative to the mainstream is becoming the mainstream.
The approach of this event was especially important since in the past, the Buckeye Country Superfest had been mostly a mainstream production, though always with a traditional/independent streak. 2022 saw Luke Combs headline, with Cody Jinks just ahead of him, along with an up-and-coming Zach Bryan. 2023 saw George Strait and Chris Stapleton perform with Little Big Town opening.
That won’t be the case in 2025. The Buckeye Country Superfest has just revealed their latest lineup, and it couldn’t be going worse for the AEG-promoted event, at least according to the feedback from fans. Crowned by Kane Brown and Jelly Roll, this is the exact opposite of what the event’s established audience was expecting.
Megan Moroney is also on the lineup and being spared the worst of criticism, as is Treaty Oak Revival. But fans are not too thrilled with one-hit wonders Dasha and Connor Smith either. Some mainstream fans though are happy this event is being catered to them.
In fairness, Jelly Roll is a big name and a big concert draw, and the event will probably still do well. Zach Bryan has said he’s probably not touring much in 2025, and it’s not like there is another independent artist out there that’s a comparable draw. But you don’t see this 2025 lineup getting extended to a second day. Maybe this would’ve happened if they were able to pair Tyler Childers with Sturgill Simpson, and perhaps get Billy Strings back, for example.
It’s crazy how rapidly things have shifted to now if a festival announces a more mainstream lineup as opposed to an independent one, this is when fans start causing a ruckus instead of vice versa. It’s also true that some of these major independent names like Zach Bryan, Billy Strings, and Tyler Childers have become even more pricey for promoters than their mainstream counterparts, making them harder to book.
Cross Canadian Ragweed with the Turnpike Troubadours just sold out four consecutive days a T Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, OK for their reunion shows. This is where much of the economic growth is happening in country music. The Buckeye Country Superfest will probably be fine. But more and more, folks are flocking to more independent-oriented lineups in country. Tyler Childers headlining the Gulf Coast Jam is another great example. And all promoters should take notice.
October 8, 2024 @ 6:33 pm
I was notified of the lineup via text message today. My response to their message was ‘lame’. AEG didn’t recognize my response.
November 5, 2024 @ 9:03 pm
Your inputs are horrible. I have seen tons of concerts and honestly Jelly Roll had the best out of them all. Kane Brown is great too. You dont have to bad mouth them just don’t go. Which you probably don’t anyway. I listen to all country old and new. When I seen jelly roll his concert was on an island and after I walked with thousands of people for a few hours in a line and it was all worth it. This is 2024 country has different types of music and it is still good. Quit being so negative this concert will be packed. I can’t wait for the Buckeye Fest!!
October 8, 2024 @ 6:47 pm
Trigger, I wonder if you happen to know any details about what led to the cancellation of the Foxfire festival that was set to take place this coming weekend in Ashland, Kentucky.
October 8, 2024 @ 7:30 pm
I don’t have any specific insight to share but I will look into it. Doesn’t look like Helene damage or anything, but that whole region is suffering at the moment and maybe they just didn’t sell enough tickets or anticipate walk-up sales, especially with all the benefit concerts forming at the moment.
October 8, 2024 @ 7:45 pm
Seems a surprising line up after this year’s success but many will want to see the acts named. I can see there bring a demand. However, it’s not a line up, I would pay much to see.
October 8, 2024 @ 11:25 pm
Country to country aside from headliners and one or two others here in the UK is also an absolute stinker.
October 17, 2024 @ 2:10 am
C2C has always been a mainstream thing. With 49 Winchester, Wyatt Flores and The Castellows on the bill (at least here in Germany) I think it has improved, even if most of the acts are still not worth the money.
October 9, 2024 @ 3:27 am
My wife and I went in 2019 when George Strait was also the headliner that year. Our son went last year when George was the headliner once again, and this past summer. He loves the lineup this year as most of the acts were right up his alley. He loves Zach Bryan, but said Charley Crockett and Billy Strings put on the best show that night. Doubt he’ll be going this year with that lineup. I know I won’t
October 9, 2024 @ 5:53 am
Megan Moroney should be headlining.
October 9, 2024 @ 6:15 am
…chances are that jelly roll is becoming the cma’s next eoty soon, if they decided to make an example of morgan wallen again. kane brown has been a top country staple for many years now and megan moroney is quite likely the cma’s “new artist of the year” and even a potential grammy nominee perhaps. treaty oak revival rock. sounds like another very inviting rather diverse line-up in columbus in 2025 to me. fair enough, this year’s was an exceedingly good one – almost tailor made for the scm bubble – but the forthcoming one is as attractive, however, for a slightly different audience though. they really seem to have a knack for line-ups there in ohio.
October 9, 2024 @ 7:30 am
Entertainer of the Year for Jelly? Heck, at the rate his popularity is exploding, he may just get a post in the Trump or Harris administration next year.
But you’re absolutely right about the appeal of this year’s lineup. While Trig and the core SCM supporters tend to paint mainstream pop-country as a spent force, ready to be wiped off the earth by rootsier, “genuine” country music, it’s illogical to think that there are exponentially more people out there listening to acts that country radio ignores or doesn’t even know about — mainly because the vast majority of people out there in general know about Mr. Brown and Mr. Roll that recognize the names and music of most of the entertainers championed by SCM. A “different audience,” for sure, but it’s a huge one, and no distaste for the music or artists it prefers will render it insignificant.
October 9, 2024 @ 7:37 am
As I said in the article, “In fairness, Jelly Roll is a big name and a big concert draw, and the event will probably still do well.”
The test here will be to see if this does so well, they add a second day. My guess is they won’t. But we’ll see.
One important think is that no matter what you do as a festival promoter, you try to stay rather consistent. Buckeye Country Superfest pretty consistently offered lineups that straddled mainstream contemporary stars with traditional and independent artists. They try to do this here with the undercard, but Kane Brown is the poison pill with this lineup. I’m not sure how many Jelly Roll fans are big into Kane Brown. You make a wild swing like this over one year, that means your social media followers, email list etc. are full of people who are going to reject the new direction, and so you’re almost starting from scratch.
They will sell tickets to this. They won’t sell nearly as many tickets as last year.
October 9, 2024 @ 7:51 am
Gotta be honest Kane Brown’s song right now “Miles on It” or something is probably my favorite song of his by far. Is it country? Not really. Even thematically it isn’t particularly country, but it is fun and catchy. Much better song of the summer than Tipsy or I Had Some Help
October 9, 2024 @ 8:15 am
I have a soft spot for “Famous Friends,” but I’ve been smart enough not to mention it here. Until now.
Seriously, other than that song, the only other song he’s done that I like in the least is “Whiskey Sour,” from a couple of albums back. It was totally out of character for him, a ballad with serious Randy Travis vibes and a string arrangement reminiscent of Kathy Mattea’s “Where’ve You Been.”
As for “Miles on It,” no thanks.
October 9, 2024 @ 8:37 am
I’m not sure how many Kane Brown fans are into Jelly Roll.
Brown is going to be a huge draw at this fest.
And, put Kane Brown up against Cross Canadian Ragweed – you know, “CCR” and let’s see who is the bigger draw.
October 9, 2024 @ 12:25 pm
We don’t have to wait and see who will be the bigger draw. Cross Canadian Ragweed just sold out four consecutive stadium shows, while Kane Brown was announced as support for one. Sure, reunion shows are going to be be better received and Ragweed’s demand will probably decline from there. But I don’t know anyone pushing Kane Brown as a legitimate country music headliner at a major event.
“CCR” is just slang that fans use for Cross Canadian Ragweed. The idea that the band or even their fans are trying to replace the legacy of Credence Clearwater Revival is uninformed. And the fact that you’re rooting for Kane Brown over them because of this misnomer is pretty stupid.
October 9, 2024 @ 1:00 pm
Sincerely & with kindness pose the same question to you.
Why do you root for others over Kane Brown?
Why do you feel the need to tear other musicians down?
It is not cool.
That it gives some of your readers joy, and a platform to be insulting, is definitely not a win.
You do not have to tear others down to lift yourself up.
In fact it is one of the things that is keeping you down.
October 9, 2024 @ 5:07 pm
Di,
First off, you seem completely unaware of what Saving Country Music and this comments section is here for. I’m not a guy who responds and moderates comments for a living. I write articles for a living. I’m not here to respond to your comments like a customer service rep. I do respond to comments if they are relevant to the conversation.
At no point in time in this article did I tear Kane Brown or any other musician down. All I did was point out how the fan bases of Zach Bryan and Billy Strings is at the diametric polar opposite side of the spectrum from Jelly Roll and Kane Brown fans, making this lineup announcement a wild 180 turn, as many of the other commenters are remarking upon. Since you have no clue what’s happening here and you’re just talking to talk, none of this makes sense to you, and you’re also obsessed with getting a one up when you made a ludicrous uninformed statement about the popularity of Cross Canadian Ragweed. If you would actually take the time to read the articles before commenting, maybe you wouldn’t make as big of an ass of yourself. Otherwise, move on, because I’m sick of commenters like you scaring away others who actually read these articles and contribute something of value in the comments.
October 9, 2024 @ 6:41 pm
Good lord, give me CCR over Kane Brown any day of the year.
October 9, 2024 @ 6:49 am
This is the problem with booking way too many popular acts in one year: you have less booking options for the following year. In a way, I feel like this happened with Key Western Fest: They packed the first year with the majority of still-touring-and-not-stadium-packing ’90s artists, and one has to wonder if the following year’s all-female lineup was partially to avoid repetition. Festivals need to understand how this year’s lineup will almost always affect the next year’s event.
October 9, 2024 @ 7:01 am
The growing Jelly Roll backlash is interesting to say the least. Perhaps his story was simply too feel good.
October 9, 2024 @ 7:41 am
I still feel like Jelly Roll is less of a bad option compared to Florida Georgia Line, Walker Hayes, and Sam Hunt. But he has become so ubiquitous, and his shake shack preacher bit so predictable, that the public relations facade he’s built for himself is starting to show holes. He was the shiny new object for a while and the press was so fawning over him, a backlash was built. He still could win the CMA Entertainer of the Year next month. But I think the reception for his upcoming album is really going to be telling if this is real, or if it’s all been propped up by PR.
October 9, 2024 @ 8:32 am
If it’s going to be a rehash of “Whitsitt Chapel,” it will sell well initially but have no legs, and the Jelly Roll phenomenon will begin its fade. What I’ve heard so far — “Get By” and “Liar” — breaks no new ground for him thematically, but musically they are distinctive enough to keep him hot on the radio for awhile. I’d just like to hear him tackle a love song or a cheating song or a story song instead of rolling out song after song about what an awful human being he used to be and what a struggle it is to leave that behind.
What’s real with this guy and what isn’t? Honestly, I have a hard time telling. Do ex-drug dealers from troubled home lives really speak as eloquently as DeFord did in that congressional hearing earlier this year? Does he genuinely get kid-in-a-candy-store giddy when he meets famous people or hears his music playing in unexpected places? You’re right, Trig. It seems too good to be 100 percent real. The Nashville machine is very good at polishing the public image of problematical performers, but turning drug dealer Jelly into thoughtful, well-spoke Jelly through coaching alone would be its crowning achievement.
October 11, 2024 @ 1:05 pm
Hate to tell you, Trig, but everything about this album points to popular and critical success and an explosion of Jelly Roll music across all radio formats except, ironically, hip-hop and hard rock, the two genres Jelly tried everything to become a major figure in (when he wasn’t doing/selling drugs or serving time) but never rose above cult-favorite status. I’ll wait for your inevitable review before commenting further. I know what I expect to read, but you’ve surprised me before.
October 9, 2024 @ 1:20 pm
How much of this backlash is driven by people who – for one reason or the other – were never fans of his in the first place? Is the backlash taking the form of people who bought or streamed his music and attended his concerts now saying that they don’t like his music or image management? Or is it people who never did those things finding still more reasons not to? The former is real. The latter is echo chamber confirmation bias stuff.
October 9, 2024 @ 7:34 am
NPR has a piece about the plumeting attendance to music festivals so I wonder if that is having a trickle down affect on what acts these festivals are able to book.
October 9, 2024 @ 8:15 pm
Not familiar with the NPR piece, but I can guarantee you that attendance at music festivals is not plummeting. It has skyrocketed since the pandemic. The problem is that to meet the demand for them, a ton of new ones have come online. Coupled with LiveNation/C3 Presents trying to corner certain markets with new megafestivals, this has created major bidding wars for talent, and more competition between festivals, resulting in multiple cancellations and lower attendance as so many festivals fight for the same patrons.
October 9, 2024 @ 12:37 pm
Why is Kane Brown still a thing, jesus
October 15, 2024 @ 3:43 pm
Because he’s a handsome, non-threatening-looking 30-year-old guy who ever sorority girl in the SEC is head-over-heels for. They make up the largest portion of most of Brown’s concerts, if footage I’ve seen online is any indication.
October 9, 2024 @ 3:16 pm
This year’s was weekend concert of a lifetime for me. Went both days. Pretty badass that the artists, venue, and Promotor had the balls to add a second day and deliver. I have been anticipating the lineup for next year and spewed vomit like in the exorcist when I saw who it was. I was expecting something more in the traditional pop country but I was thinking maybe Eric Church or Carrie Underwood or something like that.
October 9, 2024 @ 8:14 pm
The born and raised lineup this year was way better. This is ass
October 10, 2024 @ 11:51 am
“Jelly Roll”…LOL. These are indeed very, very strange times.
October 11, 2024 @ 12:40 pm
This again supports my thesis that indpendent/Alt Country and Pop/Radio Country are two different Genres attempting to use the same label.
Neither are going to give up the label, and we are going to have this tension ongoing for the forseeable future.
October 11, 2024 @ 1:10 pm
And, in the long run, having both cross-pollinate each other might not be a bad thing for either, introducing fans of one style of country music to artists and songs they might never discover if indie/alt and pop/radio stayed strictly in their lanes.
October 12, 2024 @ 2:55 am
…your thesis starts with a flaw, mr. t. independent/alt country and pop/radio country are not different genres but different formats catering for different segments of the same market. take beer for example: no one would consider craft beer and budweiser being the same sort of brew. then again, everybody would still call it (correctly) beer and perhaps prefer either of it over soft drinks, which would be a different “genre”/market.
i can’t see, why there should be tension as long as anybody tries to make the best effort/music possible aiming to satisfy their audiences (and themselves) the most. debating over art probably is as old as art itself. there’s this famous caveman quote: “are you sure hank will do it this way?”
regarding the buckeye event 2025, the organisers quite likely are trying to attract another part of the market that they could not reach with the 2024 line-up. that would be more of a commercially than an artistically strategy i should think. the expectations of the fans and promotors have one big common denominator: the star(s) that will deliver the goods for both of them. let’s see how that will work out with next year’s line-up there.
October 12, 2024 @ 7:56 pm
These festivals should be a mix of up-and-comers and established artists,so I guess the organizers dropped the ball in at least one aspect.