Sturgill, John Moreland, DM3, Nikki Lane & More on 2015 Stagecoach
Stagecoach: The big mainstream music festival that doesn’t suck.
Indio, California’s country version of the massive Coachella Festival bucks the trend of most corporate country music festivals by casting independent artists and legacy acts in their lineup right beside some of the biggest current names in the country music industry as well as major label up-and-comers. This is the environment that cultivates cross-pollination between independent artists and a wider fan base, while simply being on the poster helps independent artists’ name recognition. Brush aside the big headliners if you choose, Stagecoach still books more independent artists per capita, and the festival appearance is a big opportunity and payday for these deserving names.
With their 2015 lineup, Stagecoach shows their commitment to independent music by booking some of the fastest-rising and most deserving artists in the independent country and Americana world. On the first day you have The Devil Makes Three, Sturgill Simpson, Parker Milsap, and Lydia Loveless sharing the stage with Vince Gill & The Time Jumpers, Kacey Musgraves, and Merle Haggard.
The second day features Nikki Lane, John Moreland, The Quebe Sisters, Daniel Romano, and Della Mae with Steve Earle and Gregg Allman, while the third day will see appearances by Chatham County Line, Ben Miller Band, and Andrew Combs.
READ: Why The Stagecoach Festival Lineup is a Good Thing
The 2014 Stagecoach lineup featured the deserving names of Jason Isbell, The Whiskey Shivers, Corb Lund, Holly Williams, Sarah Jarosz, Shovels & Rope, and Shakey Graves just to name a few.
The 2015 Stagecoach Music Festival will transpire on April 24, 25, and 26 and Indio, CA’s Empire Polo Club. And since many will not be able to make the trek to Southern California, Stagecoach usually offers broadcast and streaming alternatives for people who want to see their favorite artists live from the festival. Last year the Stagecoach weekend was broadcast on AXS TV. Tickets go on sale October 14th.
Visit Stagecoach Festival’s Website
October 6, 2014 @ 3:46 pm
Since when is ZZ Top “country” and how are they less of a draw than freaking Justin Moore??
October 6, 2014 @ 6:03 pm
One of my all-time favorite concerts was ZZ Top and Brooks & Dunn (2008?).
October 6, 2014 @ 6:22 pm
Well, Stagecoach is organized by Goldenvoice, which is also responsible for the Coachella music festival. They take place in the same venue and everything. Coachella has a pretty diverse lineup, and despite the fact that Stagecoach is primarily a country festival, I would bet that it is intended to have a similarly broad scope. According to the Wikipedia article, Stagecoach includes artists “ranging from folk, mainstream country, bluegrass, roots rock, and alternative country.” I would probably add Southern rock to that list as well.
Side question: is the Cadillac Three considered a mainstream country act at this point, or are they still branded as Southern rock?
October 6, 2014 @ 4:55 pm
Looks like Friday would be great. Now to convince Mrs.N to forego Florida for CA….
October 6, 2014 @ 6:02 pm
Trigger, I immediately thought of your article about last year’s Stagecoach lineup when I saw this year’s bill.
Once again, I expect some folks will get their knickers in a twist about the placement and font size of some of the names on this graphic, which is understandable. Hell, it *hurts* to see Haggard’s saintly name nestled beneath Jake “Beachin” Owen and Kip … uh, wait, who the heck is Kip Moore again?… on the playbill. Ditto Steve Earle. Sturgill’s name is also too small considering what a hot commodity he is at this point.
But yeah, those quibbles pale in comparison to everything Stagecoach Fest is doing right. This festival kicks other country music festival’s asses. If Stagecoach continues to be successful, perhaps other festivals will take note of Stagecoach’s omnivorous approach and copy their formula. (I’m looking at you, CMA Fest.) This festival is automatically unique because the approach of putting independent and classic artists on the same playing field with mainstream stars is one few mainstream country institutions take these days. (For all its faults, the fact the Grand Ole Opry still continues to do this is one of the reason I sometimes defend it.)
Anyway, I bet Sturgill and some of the other independent artists will blow a lot of people’s minds. Despite not being much of a festival guy, I’m actually interested in this one. Too bad it’s so expensive and far away from Tennessee.
October 6, 2014 @ 8:25 pm
I first heard about this years lineup through Sturgills facebook page, I live in LA so I might have to go this year. If you make it out to LA, maybe I could give you a ride!
October 7, 2014 @ 1:18 am
The trend of using font size to degrade artists has always pissed me off. I’ve been an on-and-off designer my whole life and have even refused to do it and lost work over it (I’m a human being and a musician first). I can see putting the big headliners in a huge font – but then how about you use one smaller size rather than work your way down to the “who gives a shit crowd” in a one point font?
It’s bad enough when it’s the up-and-comers that you can’t read, but it’s really shitty when it’s the “greats on their way back down” that get buried. If they need a little more space they should just cut Maddie and Tae who are probablky just gonna play that one song on a loop anyway.
October 7, 2014 @ 8:00 am
It’s marketing.
This is what I said about it last year.
“I agree the marking of importance of artists based on font size, which has now become the norm in American festival culture, is always unfair, and Stagecoach is just as guilty as any. But it”™s not arbitrary, and saying that this approach doesn”™t make sense is being a little short sighted. Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and Eric Church regularly sell out arenas. Loretta Lynn doesn”™t. The font size of a given artists”™s name is directly tied to the draw of that artist. This says more about the priorities of society than it does how Stagecoach decides to market their lineup. They invert the font sizes to make some happy, and their festival loses. And so do the artists, including the smaller, up-and-coming artists looking to capitalize off the opportunity to play to the same-sized crowds as country”™s top headliners.
For Aldean, Church, and Bryan, Stagecoach is just another tour stop. To Jason Isbell and Loretta Lynn, it is potentially the biggest crowd they will play to all year, and the biggest opportunity to reach new fans. And virtually every festival takes this stupid font size approach, including independent ones.”
October 7, 2014 @ 11:44 pm
Yeah it’s cliche but I never thought about crowd size for lesser known acts. Do you really think people will show up for those lesser known acts. Won’t the fans just show up to the headliner or MAYBE the opener and headliner? Will they really spend all day to see Loretta Lynn sound all twangy and country and without EDM?
October 8, 2014 @ 12:16 am
I think fans that pay a high ticket price for festivals are going to meander around and at least see the names of these performers so when they see them again it registers deeper. I’m not sure just how deeply the theory of osmosis works at this festival because I’ve never been. But if I had a chance, I would go just to observe the crowd dynamic and how it might help these artists.
October 8, 2014 @ 8:07 pm
I’ve played many festivals, and they’re a weird entity.
The people who go to music festivals are fans of FESTIVALS above all else. They’re there for the shitty food, the spilled beers, and the festival atmosphere.
Here in Portland, we have the 2nd biggest Blues Festival in the world, every year. 4 stages 4 days, close to a hundred acts. It’s huge, and the average person hauling their cooler and lawn chair down there each day at the crack of 11a.m. couldn’t name 3 of the 100 acts if they tried. Most of them aren’t even really blues fans. They’re just fans of sitting out in the July sun and drinking beer.
There are many people though, who get there early and just wander the whole time – trying to hear something new. Those are the people who buy MY CDs and sign up on my mailing list and come see me play elsewhere later. I wish there were more of them, but they make up a pretty good number. I almost always sell out of CDs.
To the people who are the real music lovers, the smaller acts are their favorite part – especially if they’re someone they already know, because they get to get right up front and see you. Then they get to buy a CD right from you and get it signed by you. And not everyone does this, but I stay out and talk to every single person who wants to talk to me for as long as there’s anyone left that still does – hours sometimes. They dig that shit and remember it. I have people come up to me all the time at shows and tell me that they came to see me because a friend told them how cool I was to them at a festival somewhere…
Then, night time comes and the place just gets flooded with the people who just came to see the headliners. Unless the headliners are people I know, or would like to get to know – I’m long gone by then…hopefully on my way to another festival!
I was a delta blues act up until a year ago, so most of my experience IS with blues festivals, but I’ve been to enough others to know they’re all about the same. A little less grey hair maybe, but still about the same. 😀
I’m looking forward to getting my new act together and PLAYING some non-blues festivals next year! Maybe I’ll shoot for Stagecoach in 2016 / 2017…if I can make my posts short enough to get the work done, that is…
October 7, 2014 @ 6:34 am
Kinda an all over the place lineup but nice to see acts like the Handsome Family and Lydia Loveless making some dough. Friday’s show does look really good once you carve the top three off the bill.
Is it just me or do Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton’s photos look like a mug shots? And true to form, Tim McGraw just looks like his plain old douchey self. So dependable.
October 7, 2014 @ 11:39 pm
Maybe BS and Jerrod with team up for a duet of Donkey with The Band Ugly, I mean Perry, backing them. ! I’d pay to see that trainwreck.
October 7, 2014 @ 11:37 pm
OK I was hopeful with your list of names but seeing TIm McGraw about Vince Gill made me snicker. They are from the same country class practically and Vince retained his uh… class. Of course Tim is also above Merle Haggard but, hey man we all thought you were dead. LOL!
The good thing is most people will not be around for the opening acts so it will be less crowded than when the bro-country and skinny jeans kick in.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was this past weekend and their multiple stages the healiners included Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Steve Earl Keen, Lucinda Williams, Chris Isaak, Jason Isbell… and that doesn’t even take into acount tall the HUGE acts that opened these stages.
TBF HSB is free, I imagine most of young crowd that shows up would not pay to see Emmylou or Dwight.
October 8, 2014 @ 12:20 am
Yeah yeah, I think Hardly Strictly is great, but the simply fact is it’s unfeasible for the average Joe to go unless you know someone who lives in the area, and are willing to wade through some of the biggest crowds for any festival to see your favorite acts. Seeing one act can turn into a 3 or 4 hour commitment to just get close enough to hear. It’s really an apples and oranges comparison. All I’m saying is that with Stagecoach, you have the mainstream corporate festival model, with independent and legacy acts integrated. Think of the lineup like a radio playlist. It would be an immediate elevation.
October 9, 2014 @ 12:00 am
It appears that the lineup has already been changed. Lindi Ortega’s name replaces Lydia Loveless, and bluegrass band Baslam Range has been added.
http://www.stagecoachfestival.com/splash/
Even better in my opinion.