Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers to Headline Loaded Railbird Festival
Holy jeez. Who wants to head to Kentucky in June?
The Railbird Festival has been around for a few years now, mixing Kentucky horse racing culture and the state’s favorite spirit of bourbon with a diverse musical experience. The festival held their inaugural gathering in 2019 before the pandemic, and returned in 2021. Previously the headliners and undercard have been more oriented towards adult contemporary artists, indie rock artists, and Americana. Last year the headliners were My Morning Jacket, Leon Bridges, Dave Matthews Band, and Jason Isbell for example.
But in 2023, the Railbird Festival is leaning more into the independent country side of music and their Kentucky roots, booking Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan as headliners, as well as stocking the lineup with Sierra Ferrell, Charles Wesley Godwin, Charley Crockett, Molly Tuttle, 49 Winchester, Town Mountain, Cole Chaney, Brit Taylor, The Local Honeys, and so on and so forth. Sunday, June 4th is especially packed with country music goodness.
You still have a few artists from outside of the roots world like Sheryl Crow and Weezer on the lineup. But overall, the 2023 Railbird Festival lineup is killer. They are also moving the festival this year to Red Mile Gaming and Racing, which is right in the heart of downtown Lexington. Railbird will continue to offer hoity-toity VIP and luxury packages for all you blue bloods out there.
Similar to the Two Step Inn Festival in Georgetown, TX this upcoming spring, and Under The Big Sky Fest in Montana this upcoming summer, festivals no longer have to lean on big rock acts as headliners, and can book artists like Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers as massive draws, speaking to the emerging strength of country music that can’t be found on the radio.
Presale starts on December 8th at noon Eastern. You can sign up for the presale and get more information at railbirdfest.com .
December 6, 2022 @ 11:40 am
“Holy Jeez.”
My thoughts exactly. I’m super jealous of anyone attending this one.
December 6, 2022 @ 11:41 am
As much as I love Tyler and am interested in Zach, it’s the performers listed below them who I really want to see.
The depth is amazing.
December 6, 2022 @ 12:11 pm
Agreed. Sunday lineup is crazy.
December 6, 2022 @ 12:42 pm
There’s not even a bathroom or go get a beer break set at the bottom of that Sunday lineup. The only thing is you get what 15, maybe 20 minute sets of those artists. I think I’d rather seek out those guys and see them on their on stage this year.
December 6, 2022 @ 1:02 pm
Daniel Donato’s early set at Blue Ox got enough of my attention to buy a ticket to a headlining show he did a couple months later.
Oh. My.
He’s my breakout performer for this year.
December 6, 2022 @ 1:23 pm
They’re saying they have three stages this year, so that means most everyone should have full sets. That also means the issue will be competing set times. How they schedule things out will be interesting to see.
December 6, 2022 @ 12:15 pm
I really hope the Zach Bryan hype dies down. He never should have ascended to headliner status. I’d honestly describe him as the Taylor Swift of Americana music
December 6, 2022 @ 12:32 pm
I’m not the President of the zach Bryan fan club. But if you can fill arenas for six months straight and every single line of every single song is sung so loudly by the crowd that you can barely hear the performer that people came to see then you definitely have deserved to ascend to headliner status. I’m sorry friend but you are sorely mistaken.
December 6, 2022 @ 1:03 pm
Agreed – but I have grown tired of audiences singing every word to every song – I came to hear the artist perform – not the person next to me.
December 7, 2022 @ 7:06 am
1,000%. This whole “let’s have a singalong that drowns out the artist” thing is incredibly annoying. Seems to be most prevalent among certain demographics, and the ZB fan base is right up there from what I’v seen.
December 6, 2022 @ 12:32 pm
Amen
December 6, 2022 @ 1:19 pm
I don’t think Zach Bryan would entirely deny your description since he cites Taylor Swift as an influence.
The hype has been going for over three years now. At some point, you can no longer call it hype, and have to recognize it is a phenomenon.
December 7, 2022 @ 8:42 am
I’m not sure “Taylor Swift of Americana” is the insult you think it is
December 7, 2022 @ 3:42 pm
Right? You can hate her stuff but the girl can write some songs and has a devoted fanbase.
December 9, 2022 @ 1:50 am
He’s super vanilla like t swift. Not offensively bad by any means, but not interesting or characteristic in any way. Like a Starbucks coffee . Both are successful on the charts obviously. Charts aren’t ever a barometer of quality though.
December 14, 2022 @ 12:21 pm
Haha if you don’t like good music just say that.
December 6, 2022 @ 1:37 pm
Hopefully this festival gets their shit together, by all accounts the last one was a disaster.
December 6, 2022 @ 1:53 pm
Yes, was just reading up on that. My understanding is they did not have this festival in 2022 specifically because of all the issues in 2021, and paused to get their stuff together. They’ve also moved sites, which might be to better manage people.
We are seeing this with a lot of these independent festivals. In years past, the issue was solvency since the fan base for this music was so finite. Now the issue is there are so many fans, resources get taxed, and you have overflowing port-a-Johns. We saw this at Under The Big Sky Fest in 2021 too. We saw this at Greenville Country Fest in South Carolina last month. These festivals are just going to need to ramp up logistics and infrastructure.
I know some think I’m being a hyperbolic, but the music we all love is exploding. I expect this festival to sell out immediately.
December 6, 2022 @ 3:07 pm
C’mon man — the Braun Brothers have shown that you can put on a festival year after year that is an organizational shitshow and people will still flock to it. 😉
December 7, 2022 @ 3:48 pm
Was there for it and the stories you heard are probably spot on of how big of a shit show it was. Limited shade and it was hot. One person fainted in front of me before even walking in. Limited water stations that later in the day took an hour to get to. Beer/bottled water lines were as long as that. The VIP section was a joke from what I heard. They told everyone to go to the airport across the road to do Uber, but they didn’t count on hardly any Ubers/taxis even running. It was crazy because the same people behind Railbird are also behind Bonarroo and Forecastle so it’s not like they don’t have experience. There was also a hole in the gate where people with no tickets just walked in.
To their credit they brought in more stations for Sunday, had ice available and let people bring in whatever size sealed water they felt like.
December 6, 2022 @ 2:19 pm
Meanwhile, down in Texas…
Cody Jinks is playing the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Livestock_Show_and_Rodeo
just sayin..
December 6, 2022 @ 2:39 pm
Super glad for Cody Jinks, and it’s a big honor. But I’ve seen some folks acting like it’s some massive Rubicon-crossing moment. The Turnpike Troubadours, Aaron Watson, Cody Johnson before he was big, and others have played Rodeo Houston. Frankly, Cody should have played this years ago, and he’s already ensconced in headliner status. He headlined Under The Big Sky Fest and Born & Raised this year. Also seeing folks saying he’s “headlining” Rodeo Houston. That’s not exactly how it works. Each night at the rodeo, they have a musical guest. Again, I’m not trying to downplay it at all. But if I wrote an article about it, I’m not sure I could stretch it into four paragraphs. Of course Cody Jinks should be playing Rodeo Houston. Might do an article on the whole Rodeo lineup once it’s released.
December 6, 2022 @ 2:26 pm
Weezer?
December 6, 2022 @ 2:42 pm
Normally I might look sideways at that if it was on a country festival. But Railbird established from the beginning that the festival would be a mix of indie rock and indie country/Americana. If anything, they’ve gone so far away from that original mix, it’s indie rockers that have something to complain about.
December 6, 2022 @ 4:24 pm
I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s a great list, not as much star power as last year, but the venue change has me worried.
You’re going from one of the most beautiful venues that Kentucky has to offer – regardless of drink distribution issues – to a spot that’s kind of a dump (comparatively), and will have awful logistical issues.
Tickets do appear cheaper this year though, and they did a great job of capturing regional talent for the bill. I’ll be there either way.
Crazy to think that ZB went from playing the smallest stage to headlining Railbird in the span of like 15 months.
December 7, 2022 @ 7:10 am
Is Tyler still not playing anything that might hurt his wife’s feelings?
December 7, 2022 @ 12:30 pm
You ever piss off a pregnant woman? Now is not the time to deviate for the man.
December 7, 2022 @ 12:34 pm
Of course if she’s still pregnant in June of next year, they may have a whole new set of problems to deal with.
December 7, 2022 @ 7:36 am
Really solid lineup, but an absolute shame there isn’t more local talent. Lexington is becoming a sleeper city for phenomenal country and americana, both locally and regionally. Abby Hamilton in particular comes to mind as someone who will likely break once her album comes out. Then you’ve got the newer artists like Caleb Bailey & The Bottom Dollars who are just getting started but coming out swinging and a multitude of others. Regardless, this is a great lineup and I recognize that there are a few local-ish folks. The Local Honeys are always a can’t miss band.
December 7, 2022 @ 8:51 am
There is some good Kentucky talent on this lineup that is up and coming like The Local Honeys and Brit Taylor. But I agree that it’s always cool when big festivals like this open their stages to local talent. Under The Big Sky in Montana does this real well. Open up these big stages early and give these artists an opportunity.
December 7, 2022 @ 11:33 am
I think you buried the lede here, isn’t a Nickel Creek reunion worthy of its own post entirely? Assuming it is a full reunion anyway. I don’t really know if they have done one-off appearances but I haven’t heard of any. Both times I saw them it was really great so it’s cool that some of the folks who missed them will get the chance!
December 8, 2022 @ 1:50 pm
Update, the entire festival sold out during presale within an hour. Some of the complaints (valid) that you will hear are
1. The 1st tier pricing was gone in seconds (I got 2nd)
2. The fees tacked on were ridiculous as one would expect. My $175 ticket ended up being almost $225 after all the fees.
3. The fact that bots seemed to again be a problem checking out
December 9, 2022 @ 1:38 pm
weezer sticks out like a sore thumb but they are fun live
February 2, 2024 @ 8:08 am
I wish I could have gone and seen this. I love Tyler Childers music so much Zach Bryan is not my favorite but I enjoy him. I would pay so much to see Mr.Childers live.