Folk and Americana festivals

Folk and Americana festivals in 2026

Every bill still ahead of you with real Folk and Americana on it, deepest first. A festival needs at least 2 Folk and Americana acts to be here, so one stray booking on a bill about something else does not count.

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  Bourbon & Beyond 2026September 24–27, 2026 · Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center, Louisville, KY18 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  NC Folk Festival 2026September 18–20, 2026 · Downtown Greensboro, NC16 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  All Things Go DMV 2026September 25–27, 2026 · Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD11 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Austin City Limits 2026October 2–11, 2026 · Zilker Park, Austin, TX10 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Borderland 2026September 18–20, 2026 · Knox Farm State Park, East Aurora, NY8 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Oceans Calling 2026September 25–27, 2026 · Ocean City Boardwalk, MD7 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Raleigh Wide Open 2026October 1–3, 2026 · Downtown Raleigh, NC7 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026October 2–4, 2026 · Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA6 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Shaky Knees 2026September 18–20, 2026 · Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA6 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Sea.Hear.Now 2026September 19–20, 2026 · North Beach, Asbury Park, NJ5 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Ohana 2026September 25–27, 2026 · Doheny State Beach, Dana Point, CA4 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  The Fest 2026October 23–25, 2026 · Gainesville, FL4 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  World of Bluegrass 2026October 20–24, 2026 · Downtown Chattanooga, TN3 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Lollapalooza India 2027January 23–24, 2027 · Mahalaxmi Racecourse, Mumbai, India3 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Riot Fest 2026September 18–20, 2026 · Douglass Park, Chicago, IL3 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  All Things Go NYC 2026September 25–27, 2026 · Forest Hills Stadium, Queens, NY2 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Big Ears 2027April 1–4, 2027 · Downtown Knoxville, TN2 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Corona Capital 2026November 20–22, 2026 · Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico2 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Good Moon 2026October 8–10, 2026 · Downtown Durham, NC2 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →
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  Iron Blossom 2026September 19–20, 2026 · Midtown Green, Richmond, VA2 Folk and Americana acts on the bill →

Who carries Folk and Americana this season

All 182 acts we have tagged Folk and Americana, sorted six ways. The lists disagree with each other, and the names they disagree about are usually the ones worth hearing.

Booked the most in 2026

The Folk and Americana acts who spent 2026 on the road. Go to more than one festival and you have probably seen a few of them already.

1. 1Audrey Hobert8Wry, conversational pop songwriting from Gracie Abrams's longtime collaborator turned solo act — diaristic detail delivered with sharp comic timing.
2. 2Cardinals7Cork's melodica-toting indie romantics — Fontaines-adjacent and rising fast, with a windswept, literary streak all their own.
3. 3Mumford & Sons7Banjo-driven crescendos that defined a decade of festival folk, now delivered with the electric guitars left plugged in — the singalongs never optional.
4. 4Violet Grohl7Yes, Dave's daughter — and a genuinely arresting voice striking her own path, closer to torch song than stadium rock.
5. 5Amble6Irish folk trio — hushed three-part harmonies and homesick story-songs that have been quietly filling rooms far bigger than anyone expected.
6. 6Max McNown6Oregon folk-country riser — earnest, streaming-era troubadour with a fanbase that found him one chorus at a time.
7. 7Father John Misty5Josh Tillman's lounge-lizard prophet act — gorgeous orchestration, acid wit, and a crooner's delivery that sells every barbed line.
8. 8Kingfishr5Anthemic Irish folk-rock — banjo-driven singalongs built for fields, Limerick lads on a steep national rise.
9. 9Alice Phoebe Lou4Berlin-via-Cape Town dream-folk — honeyed, unhurried songs that grew from street-performance beginnings into a quietly devoted worldwide fanbase.
10. 10Cameron Whitcomb4Backflipping former pipefitter with a howl — raw-nerve folk-country redemption songs delivered with gymnastic stage energy and zero polish where it counts.

Most upcoming bookings

Everything still ahead of us, for anyone with festivals left on the calendar.

1. 1Jesse Welles4The internet's protest-folk bard — a new topical song every week, Dylan-grade wit aimed at whatever the news cycle just did.
2. 2Mumford & Sons4Banjo-driven crescendos that defined a decade of festival folk, now delivered with the electric guitars left plugged in — the singalongs never optional.
3. 3Violet Grohl4Yes, Dave's daughter — and a genuinely arresting voice striking her own path, closer to torch song than stadium rock.
4. 4Alice Phoebe Lou3Berlin-via-Cape Town dream-folk — honeyed, unhurried songs that grew from street-performance beginnings into a quietly devoted worldwide fanbase.
5. 5Aaron Lee Tasjan2Nashville songwriter with a glam streak and a Grammy nomination for American Roots Song; power-pop hooks and dry, self-aware lyrics dressed up in East Nashville sequins.
6. 6Bandits On The Run2Brooklyn trio that met busking in the subway: cello, guitar, accordion and found percussion under three-part harmonies, with an NPR Tiny Desk Contest nod for Love in the Underground.
7. 7Ben Howard2Moody English guitar-folk — from the campfire anthems of 'Every Kingdom' to gorgeous, murky experimentalism, following his own quiet obsessions rather than the charts.
8. 8Brandi Carlile2Americana's reigning voice — eleven Grammys of thunder and grace, with a catalog that moves from whisper to belt like weather changing.
9. 9Caleb Caudle2North Carolina songwriter with an unhurried, warm-grained Americana voice; he self-produced Heavy Thrill at the Cash Cabin and put it out on his own label.
10. 10Cardinals2Cork's melodica-toting indie romantics — Fontaines-adjacent and rising fast, with a windswept, literary streak all their own.

Most headline slots

The names printed in the biggest type, trusted to send everyone home.

1. 1Mumford & Sons5Banjo-driven crescendos that defined a decade of festival folk, now delivered with the electric guitars left plugged in — the singalongs never optional.
2. 2Alison Krauss & Union Station2The most awarded voice in bluegrass — crystalline, patient, and backed by the tightest band the genre ever produced.
3. 3Brandi Carlile2Americana's reigning voice — eleven Grammys of thunder and grace, with a catalog that moves from whisper to belt like weather changing.

Most places played

Whose year reads like a world tour that happened to be made of festivals.

1. 1Audrey Hobert8Wry, conversational pop songwriting from Gracie Abrams's longtime collaborator turned solo act — diaristic detail delivered with sharp comic timing.
2. 2Mumford & Sons7Banjo-driven crescendos that defined a decade of festival folk, now delivered with the electric guitars left plugged in — the singalongs never optional.
3. 3Amble6Irish folk trio — hushed three-part harmonies and homesick story-songs that have been quietly filling rooms far bigger than anyone expected.
4. 4Father John Misty6Josh Tillman's lounge-lizard prophet act — gorgeous orchestration, acid wit, and a crooner's delivery that sells every barbed line.
5. 5Violet Grohl6Yes, Dave's daughter — and a genuinely arresting voice striking her own path, closer to torch song than stadium rock.
6. 6Cardinals5Cork's melodica-toting indie romantics — Fontaines-adjacent and rising fast, with a windswept, literary streak all their own.
7. 7Max McNown5Oregon folk-country riser — earnest, streaming-era troubadour with a fanbase that found him one chorus at a time.
8. 8Alice Phoebe Lou4Berlin-via-Cape Town dream-folk — honeyed, unhurried songs that grew from street-performance beginnings into a quietly devoted worldwide fanbase.
9. 9Cameron Whitcomb4Backflipping former pipefitter with a howl — raw-nerve folk-country redemption songs delivered with gymnastic stage energy and zero polish where it counts.
10. 10Jesse Welles4The internet's protest-folk bard — a new topical song every week, Dylan-grade wit aimed at whatever the news cycle just did.

Most favorited by readers

The Folk and Americana people here actually listen to, booked or not.

1. 1Big ThiefAdrianne Lenker's trembling songcraft in band form — the most quietly devastating live act in indie rock.
2. 2Noah KahanNew England folk-pop about small towns and staying put, delivered with the kind of full-throated chorus that turns an amphitheatre into a choir.
3. 3Mumford & SonsBanjo-driven crescendos that defined a decade of festival folk, now delivered with the electric guitars left plugged in — the singalongs never optional.
4. 4Alice Phoebe LouBerlin-via-Cape Town dream-folk — honeyed, unhurried songs that grew from street-performance beginnings into a quietly devoted worldwide fanbase.
5. 5Ben HowardMoody English guitar-folk — from the campfire anthems of 'Every Kingdom' to gorgeous, murky experimentalism, following his own quiet obsessions rather than the charts.
6. 6Frank TurnerEnglish songwriter who came out of hardcore into acoustic singalongs, touring relentlessly with the Sleeping Souls and a crowd that knows every word.
7. 7James TaylorThe fingerpicked template for American confessional songwriting, carried by "Fire and Rain" and a voice that has barely shifted in fifty years.
8. 8John PrineA Chicago mail carrier who wrote "Sam Stone" and "Angel from Montgomery" and spent five decades finding the joke inside the heartbreak. Died in 2020.
9. 9The Felice BrothersCatskills barn-band Americana — ragged, literate, and joyful, story-songs played like a family argument in the best way.
10. 10WilcoAmerica's great art-rock institution — 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' to now, endlessly generous live, Nels Cline solos included.

Most saved to a plan

The Folk and Americana acts people are building a Saturday around.

1. 1Aldous HardingNew Zealand's shapeshifting folk enigma — every song a different possession, delivered with unnerving stillness, strange voices, and total command of a silent room.
2. 2WilcoAmerica's great art-rock institution — 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' to now, endlessly generous live, Nels Cline solos included.
3. 3DowsersMembers of Magic Tuber Stringband, Fust, and Weirs playing slacker-rock folk — the British folk-rock tradition run through the NC DIY scene.
4. 4Nana GrizolElephant 6-adjacent Athens folk-punk — horn-flecked, big-hearted anthems of queer joy and radical tenderness, community sung into being.
5. 5Dove EllisHushed, unhurried songwriting — a new voice with old grace.
6. 6Folk Bitch TrioMelbourne's deadpan folk harmonists — three voices, one wicked sense of humor, close-harmony singing with a stand-up's timing.
7. 7Haley HeynderickxFingerpicked folk parables — 'The Bug Collector' and quiet devastation, garden-and-insect imagery hiding songs that cut deep.
8. 8Mumford & SonsBanjo-driven crescendos that defined a decade of festival folk, now delivered with the electric guitars left plugged in — the singalongs never optional.
9. 9Alice Phoebe LouBerlin-via-Cape Town dream-folk — honeyed, unhurried songs that grew from street-performance beginnings into a quietly devoted worldwide fanbase.
10. 10AmbleIrish folk trio — hushed three-part harmonies and homesick story-songs that have been quietly filling rooms far bigger than anyone expected.

All 182 Folk and Americana acts

Audrey HobertCardinalsMumford & SonsViolet GrohlAmbleFather John MistyMax McNownKingfishrTom OdellAlice Phoebe LouCameron WhitcombDove EllisJesse WellesS.G. GoodmanBillie MartenBrandi CarlileFolk Bitch TrioJonah KagenKevin MorbyLucy DacusMolly TuttleMt. JoyPorch LightSierra FerrellSilvana EstradaSteph StringsTash SultanaWyatt FloresAaron Lee TasjanAlison Krauss & Union StationAmos LeeBandits On The RunBen HowardCaleb CaudleCassandra ColemanChance PeñaCharles Wesley GodwinDylan John ThomasFaye WebsterGoldFordJacob SharpJamie WebsterJensen McRaeJim LauderdaleJohn-RobertKacey MusgravesKen PomeroyKevin AtwaterKT TunstallMon RovîaNell MescalNoah KahanOld Crow Medicine ShowRainbow Kitten SurpriseRhiannon GiddensRyan BeattySamiaStephen Wilson Jr.The Head and the HeartThe Wilder BlueTim BarryWilcoYasmin WilliamsAbigail DowdAditya GadhviAldous HardingAltanAmigo the DevilAmy GerhartzAmy SpeaceAndrew ScotchieAngus and Julia StoneAni DiFrancoAnnahstasiaAnoushka MaskeyAnuv JainAsha BanksBaka BeyondBeans on ToastBig ThiefBonnie “Prince” BillyBright EyesBriston MaroneyCAAMPCarol HodgeCarol Hodge BandCarson McHonechrysalisClasse MoyenneDamien DempseyDarren KielyDashboard ConfessionalDavid RitschardDenise ChailaDónal Lunny, Máirtín O’Connor & Zoë ConwayDordánDowsersEddie Vedder & FriendsEleanor McEvoyEmperor XEthno USAFlorencia & the FeelingGab BouchardGigi PerezHaley HeynderickxHermitage Greenhey, nothingHoney DewdropsHoundmouthHowie DayIlliterate LightJake MinchJames Yorkston & Johanna SöderbergJason Isbell and the 400 UnitJess WilliamsonJoel AlmeJohn Francis FlynnJohn Otway & Wild Willy BarrettJon Tyler Wiley and the Virginia ChoirJoseph TerrellJoy OladokunKiely ConnellLanghorne SlimLaura BoosingerLily SeabirdLisa LoebLonesome Ace StringbandLord HuronLyn LapidMadison CunninghamMaighread & Tríona Ní DhomhnaillManuel GarcíaMatt MaesonMick FlanneryMilkweedMyles SmithNana GrizolNeil YoungOhtisPalmyraParis JacksonPatrick ArmouldPaula ColePresley BarkerRainbow GirlsRenRett MadisonRodrigo y GabrielaSam RussoSara ParkmanSeb LoweShovels & RopeSkyrieSons of the EastSorcha RichardsonSUSTO StringbandTaper's ChoiceThe Burney SistersThe Cox FamilyThe Felice BrothersThe Jerry Douglas BandThe Mary WallopersThe Paper KitesThe Saw DoctorsThe ScratchThe Slocan RamblersThe StunningThe WurzelsTia WoodTiny HabitsTom WalkerTrousdaleTurnpike TroubadoursVan MorrisonVictoria VictoriaViv & RileyWhiskey & Co.Will Hoge and his Rock and Roll BandWilliam PrinceFrank TurnerJames TaylorJohn Prine

Folk and Americana festivals: common questions

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