Kentucky’s Railbird Festival Reveals 2026 Lineup
For the 2025 season, Lexington, Kentucky’s Railbird Festival threw everyone for a loop when they announced their usual lineup of top independent country and roots stars, along with an unusual list of mainstream headliners including Jelly Roll, Bailey Zimmerman, and Shaboozey. The culture shock was immediately felt within the Railbird faithful who’d been going to the festival before C3 Presents/Live Nation took it over in 2020.
For next year’s festivities June 6th and 7th, 2026, Railbird is once again mining talent from other genres for some of their headliners. But this time it’s from the roots side of indie rock, which often is more compatible with independent country fans than mainstream country. Joining top names like Tyler Childers, Zach Top, Shane Smith and the Saints, and Margo Price will be The Lumineers, Mt. Joy, and Caamp.
All three of these indie rock acts have headlined independent country festivals before, and putting them all on the Saturday bill makes much more sense than trying to shoehorn Jelly Roll or Bailey Zimmerman into the picture.
Something else interesting about the 2026 Railbird Fest lineup is how early they’ve announced it. For the 2025 lineup, the announcement didn’t come until January of this year. For the 2026 lineup, the announcement comes four months earlier. In fact, a lot of fests are announcing earlier than normal in 2026. One of Railbird’s sister fests—the Two Step Inn in Texas—announced a month earlier than the previous year, and the Jackalope Jamboree also announced six weeks earlier than last year.
What might be the reasons for these earlier announcements? With more performers preferring to book their own tours—especially headliners—fests want to secure their talent early. They also want to get their lineups out there first and get presale tickets going before rival events overshadow what they’re doing. With how crowded the festival space has become, and how tenuous the economy feels at the moment, the early bird might be the one that gets the worm.
Other names on the 2026 Railbird lineup include the must-see Mountain Grass Unit, hot up-and-comers The Creekers, Sons of Habit, and Carter Faith, along with Stephen Wilson Jr., Sam Barber, John R. Miller, Ken Pomeroy, and Kentucky’s own Nicholas Jamerson.
Tickets go on sale Wednesday, October 22nd at RailbirdFest.com.
October 20, 2025 @ 8:07 pm
Hey Trig,
Any word on UTBS 26? Heard some rumblings which I wouldn’t be a fan of if those are true.
And the lineup is typically announced mid-November, so with other festivals announcing early wondering if UTBS will follow suit.
October 20, 2025 @ 8:14 pm
I have not heard anything specifically about Under The Big Sky for 2026, though I do believe they intend to have another event next year. Looks like they announced mid November last year, and early December in 2023. I’m really surprised how early Railbird announced, and how early a lot of these festivals are announcing.