Bio : Railbird Festival
Traditionally, a Railbird is a horse racing enthusiast known for sticking close to the action, hanging on the rail as each contender comes barreling down the track. For one special weekend in June the term takes on an added meaning during the 3rd Annual Railbird Festival. 2 days. 3 stages. World class artists.
Railbird celebrates the spirit of Kentucky with highly-curated bourbon experiences in The Rickhouse! Find hand-selected barrels from Kentucky’s finest distilleries chosen in collaboration with co-owners Justin Sloan and Justin Thompson of Lexington’s treasured Justins’ House of Bourbon.
Enjoy all day comfort and exclusive access with Railbird’s GA+, VIP and Platinum Experiences. From exclusive lounges with shade and seating to prime viewing areas to complimentary hors d’oeuvres and tapas to reserved parking, a premium ticket offers you everything to make the most of your festival experience.
Zach Bryan
Oklahoma native Zach Bryan has gone from serving in the U.S. Navy to standing at the forefront of country as a captivating storyteller, performer, and once-in-a-generation voice. To date, he has accrued over 4.9 billion streams and earned 3 Gold-certified singles in addition to Platinum single “Heading South” and now 3x Platinum “Something in the Orange.” The latter also secured him a 2023 GRAMMY® Award nomination for Best Country Solo Performance.
Whiskey Myers
Genre-bending band Whiskey Myers have played more than 2,500 live shows to ever-increasing crowd sizes since their emergence in 2007. In addition to headlining their own sold-out shows from coast to coast at iconic venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheater and Ryman Auditorium, plus performing at marquee festivals Bonnaroo, Stagecoach, Download and more, the six-piece was also personally selected to open The Rolling Stones’ Chicago stadium show in 2019. Their latest self-produced album, Tornillo, available everywhere now via the band’s own Wiggy Thump Records, features the No. 17 most-played Americana song of 2022, “John Wayne,” and follows their fifth studio album, Whiskey Myers, which debuted at No. 1 on both the Country and Americana/Folk sales charts, at No.2 on the Rock chart and No. 6 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart (No. 3 among new releases). In total, Whiskey Myers have sold more than 1.65 million albums and amassed over 2.25 billion streams while earning six RIAA Gold & Platinum certifications as an independent band. Known for their high-energy live show and unique sound, the band praised by Esquire as “the real damn deal” has also earned synch success with features (and an on-screen appearance) in Paramount’s hit show “Yellowstone” as well as Netflix series “What/If,” Angelina Jolie film “Those Who Wish Me Dead” and CBS series “SEAL Team.” USA Today describes their sound as “a riff-heavy blend of Southern rock and gritty country that has earned comparisons to the Allman Brothers Band and Led Zeppelin,” with Rolling Stone noting “it’s the seminal combination of twang and crunchy rock & roll guitars that hits a perfect sweet spot.”
The Head And The Heart
While the previous two years have taken so many of our lives to a scary standstill, for the Head And The Heart — a beloved band who has continually redefined itself and forever pushed the boundaries of its sonic creativity — it allowed them the time to slow down, reassess their priorities and look to the future. They engaged in group therapy. They opened themselves up to self-analysis. And, for the first time, they had truly honest and direct conversations with one another… without having to walk onstage immediately afterwards. Such interpersonal growth has thankfully and excitedly translated to the group’s creative offering: such transparency and understanding, both Russell and Thielen agree, has allowed the Head And The Heart to make some of the boldest music of its already-impressive career. The stunning result is Every Shade of Blue, a wild and thrilling new album out April 29th via Reprise/Warner Records, that Thielen says is in many ways “representative of the diverse voices in the band that are so unique and different and sometimes even opposing.” She proudly calls the 16-track LP a “big swath of artistic expression” — and it’s exactly that: Every Shade of Blue has the unique ability to deftly wind its way along the emotional and musical spectrum, at turns rowdy and raucous while simultaneously delving into the melancholy and even mournful. Above all, it’s undoubtedly the band’s most progressive offering to date.
Sheryl Crow
Songwriter. Activist. Rock star. Woman. Champion. Mother. Nine-time Grammy winner Sheryl Crow is many things, but at the core, she remains a creative spirit channeling her talents into music that lifts people up, brings them together, and speaks to the truths on the horizon. Twenty-five years after winning her first Grammy, as well as Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “All I Wanna Do,” the Kennett, Missouri-born guitarist/vocalist/creative thought about all she’d done, the places she’d been, the lives that’d touched hers – and saw the rich tapestry her journey had become. Crow’s is a career beyond dreams, with songs that defined the third wave of feminism, a rockist’s ability to sweep the pop charts without losing any edge and enough wide-open Midwestern joy to captivate the world. Her first nine studio albums have sold 35 million copies worldwide; seven charted in the Top 10, and five were certified for Multi-Platinum sales. Crow has been feted by a new generation of singer-songwriters who have covered her songs and talked about her influence, including Phoebe Bridgers, H.E.R, Haim, Maren Morris, Lorde, Sasami, Best Coast, and Brandi Carlile. In 2019, Crow released her critically acclaimed album THREADS via The Valory Music Co., a collection of collaborations made with and in tribute to artists with whom Crow has musical connections.
Goose
Lately, if you blink you may miss Goose fly by. Attributing much of their success to a dedicated and exponentially expanding fan base, steady creative output, and a collective commitment to improvement, the band is now universally recognized as a premier musical act nationwide. The quintet - Rick Mitarotonda [vocals, guitar], Peter Anspach [vocals, keys, guitar], Trevor Weekz [bass], Ben Atkind [drums], and Jeff Arevalo [vocals, percussion, drums] brings a genre-fluid sound characterized by head-spinning hooks, technical fireworks, and a chemistry only possible among longtime friends. Following 2016’s moon cabin, they quietly emerged, playing countless shows during their ascent while slowly and steadily amassing a grassroots following. In 2022, Goose truly came into their own with a series of career-defining moments, including a massive winter/spring tour, the release of their third studio album and groundbreaking collaborations with Trey Anastasio Band on a sold-out, eight-show arena tour. Dripfield, their Intrepid studio release, arrived at number two on Billboard’s Top New Artist Albums chart. The project was critically lauded by outlets like Rolling Stone, who labeled the music “sweet headphone ear candy and the foundation for a perfect live peak,” and the single “Hungersite” made a huge splash on radio, spending several weeks inside the top 10 on the AAA charts.
Amos Lee
With one foot in the real world and the other in a charmed dimension of his own making, Amos Lee creates the rare kind of music that’s emotionally raw yet touched with a certain magical quality. On his eighth album Dreamland, the Philadelphia-born singer/songwriter intimately documents his real-world struggles (alienation, anxiety, loneliness, despair), an outpouring born from deliberate and often painful self-examination. “For most of my life I’ve walked into rooms thinking, ‘I don’t belong here,’” says Lee. “I’ve come to the realization that I’m too comfortable as an isolated person, and I want to reach out more. This record came from questioning my connections to other people, to myself, to my past and to the future.”
Jenny Lewis
Jenny Lewis’ fifth solo album, Joy’All, is out June 9th. Produced by Dave Cobb and recorded at the historic RCA Studio A in Nashville, Joy’All sees the highly anticipated return of one of the most compelling singer-songwriters of the 21st century embarking on a new era, in a new town—and on a new label, as she joins the iconic roster of Blue Note/Capitol Records. Heralded by the “strummy, beach bummy” (VULTURE) first single “Puppy and a Truck,” and the subsequent “Psychos”– declared as “easily , one of Lewis’ greatest creations” (PASTE)–Joy’All has already garnered a rapturous reception of critical acclaim: “four years on from her career-best On The Line, she’s sounding better than ever.” (PAPER). A culmination of Lewis’ prolific 20+ year career, Joy’All follows her four previous solo albums —2019’s On The Line, 2014’s The Voyager , 2008’s Acid Tongue and her 2006 solo debut Rabbit Fur Coat—as well as her universally-loved work in Rilo Kiley and side projects Nice As Fuck, Jenny & Johnny, and The Postal Service. With no signs of slowing down for 2023, Jenny is ready to hit the road for an epic itinerary that includes both the upcoming 20th anniversary Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie co-headline tour as well as supporting dates for the Beck and Phoenix co-headline Summer Odyssey Tour, in addition to her own headlining dates in support of Joy’All.
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
Earning 12 #1 hit singles, 15 GRAMMY® Awards, 13 IBMA Awards, nine ACM Awards, eight CMA Awards (including Entertainer of the Year), two Dove Awards, the ASCAP Founders Award, three honorary Doctorate degrees, inductions into the Country Music Hall of Fame, IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, National Fiddler Hall of Fame, Musicians Hall of Fame, and GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the 2013 Artist-In-Residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum, an Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award in the Instrumentalist category along with countless other awards, Ricky Skaggs is truly a pioneer of Bluegrass and Country music. Since he began playing music over 60 years ago, Skaggs has released more than 30 albums and has performed thousands of live shows. He started his own record label, Skaggs Family Records, in 1997 and has since released 12 consecutive GRAMMY®-nominated albums. His latest release, Hearts Like Ours, with his wife, celebrated artist Sharon White of The Whites features the couple dueting on handpicked country love songs. And the Grand Ole Opry member has released his first-ever autobiography, "Kentucky Traveler." The book details the life and times of Skaggs and provides a descriptive history of Country and Bluegrass music, as told by the master himself. In addition to his regular touring schedule with his band, Kentucky Thunder, he has added country tour dates as he plugs in and plays full shows of his chart-topping hits. Skaggs was a 2020 recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government.
Lucius
Acclaimed indie-pop band Lucius has been turning heads since the start, thanks to their irrepressibly catchy songs and bold aesthetic. Formed by Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, the Los Angeles group got rolling with their 2013 debut album Wildewoman, which Rolling Stone hailed for "an updated ’60s girl-group sound at once fresh and thrilling". Lucius shifted the focus on 2016’s Good Grief with moodier songs, before taking a break from the studio to join Roger Waters on his Us + Them Tour in 2017-18. Lucius returned in 2022 with the dance-ready collection Second Nature, which features singles “Next to Normal”, one of NPR Music’s top songs of the year and “Dance Around It” the pulsing song with Sheryl Crow and Brandi Carlile. In addition to their own work, the GRAMMY-nominated Wolfe and Laessig are singers in demand: their voices have graced songs by a host of other artists, including Carlile, The War on Drugs, John Legend, Harry Styles, Jeff Tweedy and Ozzy Osbourne.
Sierra Ferrell
With her spellbinding voice and time-bending sensibilities, Sierra Ferrell makes music that’s as fantastically vagabond as the artist herself. Growing up in small-town West Virginia, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist left home in her early 20s to journey across the country with a troupe of nomadic musicians, playing everywhere from truck stops to alleyways to freight-train boxcars speeding down the railroad tracks. After years of living in her van and busking on the streets of New Orleans and Seattle, she moved to Nashville and soon landed a deal with Rounder Records on the strength of her magnetic live show. Now, on her highly anticipated label debut Long Time Coming, Ferrell shares a dozen songs beautifully unbound by genre or era, instantly transporting her audience to an infinitely more enchanted world.
Co-produced by Stu Hibberd and 10-time Grammy Award-winner Gary Paczosa (Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch), Long Time Coming embodies a delicate eclecticism fitting for a musician who utterly defies categorization. “I want my music to be like my mind is—all over the place,” says Ferrell, who recorded the album at Southern Ground and Minutia studios in Nashville. “I listen to everything from bluegrass to techno to goth metal, and it all inspires me in different ways that I try to incorporate into my songs and make people really feel something.” In sculpting the album’s chameleonic sound, Ferrell joined forces with a knock out lineup of guest musicians (including Jerry Douglas, Tim O'Brien, Chris Scruggs, Sarah Jarosz, Billy Strings, and Dennis Crouch), adding entirely new texture to each of her gracefully crafted and undeniably heartfelt songs.
Morgan Wade
Morgan Wade didn’t write to be a sensation, for critical acclaim or massive concert tours. She wrote to speak her truth, to save her own life – and perhaps throw a rope to others struggling with the weight of a world moving too fast, loves where you fall too hard and nights that, good or bad, seem to go on forever. A Blue Ridge Mountain girl willing to put her whole truth out there as an artist without flinching – and as a performer who gives it all away onstage – Wade has a voice The FADER lauds is “like a jagged blade, sharp enough to draw blood but lustrous under the light” while The New York Times declares “she sounds like she’s singing from the depths of history.” The old soul writer understands chaos, compulsion and letting go in a way most people will never experience; with her songs, she brings listeners inside the rollercoaster ride of euphoria, emptiness and exile with a soft touch and deep truth. With her unabashed debut album Reckless, she landed on various Best Album and Songs of 2021 rankings from TIME, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Stereogum, The FADER, Tennessean, Boston Globe, and more. Produced by Jason Isbell + the 400 Unit guitarist Sadler Vaden and Paul Ebersold, the trio worked to create a song cycle that pulled the lean rock of Tom Petty through a modern take on country -- and achieved a No. 1 on SiriusXM The Highway’s Top 30 Countdown with debut single “Wilder Days.” The 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree is in the midst of her hot-ticket headlining NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN TOUR, which sold out 32 dates, added seven shows, and moved eight to larger venues to meet demand. An ACM New Female Artist of the Year nominee, Wade will take to Europe in early summer 2023 for a solo acoustic tour and is hard at work on her sophomore effort.
Charles Wesley Godwin
A native of West Virginia, Charles Wesley Godwin makes cinematic country-folk that's as gorgeous and ruggedly raw as his homeland. It's Appalachian Americana, rooted in Godwin's sharp songwriting and mountainous baritone. Billboard praised the "vivid language and scenic ambiance" of Godwin's 2019 debut, Seneca, and Rolling Stone enthused "his voice, with its tight, old-world vibrato, is perfect." Never afraid to blur the lines, Godwin's second album, How the Mighty Fall, proudly straddled the borderlands between several genres and was named 2021's Album of the Year by multiple critics. The success of How The Mighty Fall was met with a year of touring and collaborations with breakout star Zach Bryan, as well as Godwin's signing to Big Loud Records in 2023.
Neal Francis
On his new album In Plain Sight, Neal Francis offers up a body of work both strangely enchantedand painfully self-aware, unfolding in songs sparked from Greek myths and frenzied dreams andlate-night drives in the depths of summer delirium. True to its charmed complexity, thesinger/songwriter/pianist’s second full-length came to life over the course of a tumultuous yearspent living in a possibly haunted church in Chicago. The result: a portrait of profound upheaval andweary resilience, presented in a kaleidoscopic sound that’s endlessly absorbing.
The follow-up to Francis’s 2019 debut Changes—a New Orleans-R&B-leaning effort that landed onbest-of-the-year lists from the likes of KCRW, KEXP, and The Current, and saw him hailed as “the reincarnation of Allen Toussaint” by BBC Radio 6—In Plain Sight was written and recorded almostentirely at the church, a now-defunct congregation called St. Peter’s UCC. Despite not identifying asreligious, Francis took a music-ministry job at the church in 2017 at the suggestion of a friend. Afterbreaking up with his longtime girlfriend while on tour in fall 2019, he returned to his hometown andfound himself with no place to stay, then headed to St. Peter’s and asked to move into the parsonage.“I thought I’d only stay a few months but it turned into over a year, and I knew I had to dosomething to take advantage of this miraculous gift of a situation,” he says.
49 Winchester
With its latest album, “Fortune Favors The Bold,” Russell County, Virginia-based 49 Winchester is ready and roaring to break onto the national scene with its unique brand of tear-in-your-beer alt-country, sticky barroom floor rock-n-roll, and high-octane Appalachian folk.
“As we’ve aged and matured, our sound has gone from a softer place to this grittier, edgier tone that we have now,” says lead singer/guitarist Isaac Gibson. “So, we’re trending more towards being a rock band instead of a country band. But, at the same time, I don’t think anybody’s ever known quite what to call it.”
Although it’s 49 Winchester’s fourth studio album, “Fortune Favors The Bold” marks its debut for Nashville’s New West Records — one of the premier labels for Americana, indie and rock acts on the cutting edge of sound, scope and spectacle. Formed eight years ago on Winchester Street in the small mountain town of Castlewood, Virginia (population: 2,045), the band started as a rag tag bunch of neighborhood teenagers who just wanted to get together for the sake of playing together.
At its essence, “Fortune Favors The Bold” is about going against all odds to bring your art into fruition and into the world. It’s about leaving your hometown and heading for the unknown horizon. And it’s about proving those wrong who snickered and waited for the day you’d give up somewhere down the line, only to circle back home with your tail between your legs. But, it’s also about looking into the rearview mirror with a genuine appreciation for where you came from and what you’re made of, those hardscrabble, salt-of-the-earth traits in your blood and character that define what it actually takes to climb that damn mountain of dreams — come hell or high water.
Madeline Edwards
Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Madeline Edwards released her debut album, Crashlanded, in November 2022 via Warner Music Nashville. All 12 songs were co-written by Edwards, including brand-new standouts like “Mama, Dolly, Jesus” and “Too Much Of A Good Thing” as well as fan favorites including “The Wolves” and “Hold My Horses.” Since breaking onto the scene with a performance at the 55th Annual CMA Awards, Edwards has been recognized as an Artist to Watch by American Songwriter, Country Now, Spotify, Pandora and Amazon. The CMT “Next Women of Country” honoree was also recently selected as a member of the YouTube Black Voices Class of 2023, having previously been named both a Billboard “Rookie of the Month” and Apple Music “Riser of the Month.” California born and Texas raised, she has earned additional praise from People, NPR, Southern Living, The Tennessean and more for transcending musical boundaries by incorporating her jazz, soul, gospel and country influences into her unique sound. Her remarkable rise has included performances on some of the genre's biggest stages, recently joining Alanis Morrisette for a performance of “You Oughta Know” at the 2023 CMT Music Awards with Ingrid Andress, Lainey Wilson and Morgan Wade. Edwards was also featured alongside The Highwomen on Lady Gaga’s Born This Way tribute record. She joined Chris Stapleton's All-American Road Show Tour in 2022 and toured with Andress this spring, with fairs and festivals scheduled throughout the summer.
Calder Allen
At 20 years of age, Calder Allen is one of the newest rising acts to emerge out of Austin, Texas. Both audibly and lyrically beyond his years, Allen is a prolific singer-songwriter and self-taught guitarist. His debut album, produced and engineered respectively by Charlie Sexton and Jacob Sciba was released in June of 2022. His 2022 festival run included slots at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza Chicago, Sea Hear Now and Format Festival. Beyond festivals, he opened for John Hiatt, Turnpike Troubadours, The Wood Brothers, Shane Smith and the Saints and more. His new music is slated to be released Summer of 2023. The album is once again being recorded at Austin’s Arlyn Studios alongside Sexton and Sciba.