Tailgate N' Tallboys Festival Logo

The Bloomington leg of Tailgate N’ Tallboys is returning on June 14-17 2023. The Illinois country festival is expected to take place once again at the Normal Interstate Center. 

, Jelly Roll and Nickelback have all been confirmed as part of the 2023 line-up. 

Joining them will be ‘Pretty Heart’ hitmaker, Parker McCollum, along with fast-emerging country star, 

 is also set to take the stage at the hotly anticipated event. 

Alongside Parker McCollum, Bailey Zimmerman and the star-studded array of headliners, the festival will also feature performances from Jackson Dean, Conner Smith and more. 

Here, we'll have all the up-to-date news on line-up announcements, the latest ticket and festival pass details, and any further exciting info and details for the 2023 instalment.

VIP Single Day Tickets are on-sale now, while VIP All-Inclusive VIP tickets will also be made available soon. These include a range of special benefits, such as all-inclusive food and beverages, a parking pass and a festival t-shirt. 

The VIP ticket also grants access to exclusive areas of the festival, along with entry into the Wednesday pre-party, which will feature sets from Morgan Wade, Read Southall Band & Joe Stamm Band.

The full Tailgate N’ Tallboys Bloomington 2023 line-up so far is as follows:

The festival will be hosted by comedian Chelcie Lynn, while the festival DJ has been announced as DJ Cliffy D.

The 2022 festival featured a number of big names from the rowdier, edgier side of the mainstream country landscape. The headliners were 

, Riley Green and Brantley Gilbert, with festival-goers also getting to witness electric performances from Jelly Roll, HARDY, Chase Rice, Mitchell Tenpenny, Ernest, Corey Smith and more.

This forms one-quarter of the Tailgates N’ Tallboys series, with other annual festivals being held in Taylorville, Illinois; Clinton, Iowa; and Auburn, Michigan. The Bloomington event stretches across four days, and fans are able to purchase comprehensive camping packages for the festival.

Tickets to Tailgate N’ Tallboys Bloomington 2023 are available now, and can be purchased below.

For more information and to purchase tickets for all country festivals taking place in the US and Canada in 2023, 

For more coverage on Tailgate N’ Tallboys 2023, see below:

Tailgate N' Tallboys Bloomington 2023 Unveils Line-Up

Parker McCollum, Bailey Zimmerman and More to Perform at Tailgate N’ Tallboys Bloomington 2023

The 2023 instalment of the Bloomington festival will feature Lainey Wilson, Kane Brown, Parker McCollum and more.

Festival - Tailgate N’ Tallboys Bloomington 2023 Photo

Tailgate N’ Tallboys Bloomington

When any starry-eyed country music hopeful packs up their life and moves to Music City, they're often moulded, sculpted and pulled in every which way by label execs in order to build a specific ‘brand’. For Lainey Wilson, her brand is as simple as it is resolute - being her own damn self. 

, she's maintained a distinct determination to stay true to her roots. Many artists sing about their down-home upbringing as a marketing device, but for Lainey, it's always been the truth - all she needed was three chords to accompany it. 

She grew up in a camper trailer in rural Baskin, Louisiana, and stormed onto the scene with her reflective 2021 single, ‘Things A Man Oughta Know’. The track earned Lainey a No. 1, a Platinum certification and the award for ACM Song of the Year. Alongside this, Lainey also picked up the ACM New Female Artist of the Year prize. 

It didn't take long for Nashville to warm to Lainey's honeyed drawl and traditionally-minded yet contemporary sound. Billboard named Lainey as their Top New Country Artist of 2021, while CMT championed her as the 2022 Breakout Artist of the Year. 

If 2021 was Lainey's take-off, then 2022 saw Lainey rocketing into country's galaxy of modern-day stars. Two successful collaborations set the ball rolling. Her Cole Swindell assisted single, ‘Never Say Never’, became Lainey's second No. 1 in April 2022, while her dark, ominous HARDY duet, ‘wait in the truck’, sent ripples across Radnor Lake and quickly became one of the most notable tracks of the year.

This laid the foundation for the October 2022 release of 

The project spawned singles such as ‘Heart Like A Truck’ and ‘Live Off’, both of which embody the unpretentious, small-town way of life that continues to inspire so much of Lainey's music. 

Often, Lainey Wilson's sound of choice is fun, playful and swaggering, while at other times, it's beautifully poignant and heartfelt. But whichever sonic playbook she chooses to draw from, one thing's for sure - it's always going to be unmistakably, unashamedly and unwaveringly 

Lainey

Lainey Wilson: News, Songs & Reviews | Holler

Kane Brown’s path in country music seemed set when he won a high school talent show after singing Chris Young’s ‘Gettin’ You Home’ in eleventh grade.

He took his talent to TV, auditioning for American Idol and The X Factor. He landed on the latter, but left after the show tried to place him in a boy band. Brown, who is biracial, saw the power his presence could have in country – a genre he’d mostly been performing since those early high school days. 

Brown began posting covers of songs on Facebook, quickly amassing and a following, which helped him crowd-source his self-released EP Closer in 2014. 

His self-titled debut album followed in 2016, and one year later he released an expanded edition that brought things full circle. The project featured a duet with Chris Young on the track ‘Heaven’. Brown’s sophomore album Experiment arrived in 2018. 

In 2021, Brown hit two milestones: He became the first black person to the ACM Award for Video of the Year, and he launched his own label, 1021 Entertainment, through Sony Nashville.

Kane

Kane Brown: News, Songs & Reviews | Holler

When you first see Parker McCollum emerge onto the stage, donning a white t-shirt, a thin gold chain and his trusty snapback, you might assume that he’s attempting to instigate a Bro-Country revival.

But scratch beneath this glossy exterior, and you'll find a traditionalist crooner with a penchant for George Strait. This is best exhibited on McCollum's first two independently released records, 2015’s 

, both of which blended folk and alt-country with a classic Texas twist. 

, a record that he funded off his own back after a chance meeting with Ryan Bingham’s former band-member, Corby Schaub, began to build McCollum a burgeoning regional following.

, McCollum introduced hints of the radio-friendly sound that he has become known for. The album landed at No. 6 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, with the project’s forlorn closing track, ‘Hell Of A Year’, quickly becoming a fan-favourite.

Somewhere between the burning agony of ‘I Can’t Breathe’ and the cool blues of ‘South of the City Lights’ is where Parker McCollum’s sonic sweet-spot lies - and after signing with Universal in 2019, his debut single hit it on the screws. ‘Pretty Heart’ surged to the top of 

’s US Country Airplay charts and broke into the upper half of the 

The anthem remains McCollum’s most recognisable song to date, and it paved the way for his 2021 album, 

. Despite being a more polished offering with slick, Nashvillian production, the project made a point of holding fast to McCollum’s Texas country roots. The record spawned ‘Pretty Heart’’s moody follow-up hit, ‘To Be Loved By You’.

In 2022, Parker McCollum won the ACM Award for New Male Artist of the Year. In the same year, McCollum went on to release ‘Handle On You’ and ‘Stoned’, two singles that once again zeroed in on his hypnotic, brooding brand of country.

Parker

Parker McCollum: News, Songs & Reviews | Holler

 EP in June 2022, it became the biggest streaming country debut of all time. Zimmerman also became one of just three country artists to earn over a million streams on each track during street week alone. The other two artists? None other than Luke Combs and Zach Bryan.

It’s sometimes difficult to believe that Bailey Zimmerman is still in his early twenties, and that he’s only been releasing music since 2021. In the space of just over a year, Zimmerman has enjoyed an ascent that has felt so meteoric, that he seems to have already transcended the labels of ‘prodigy’ and ‘prospect’.

‘Fall in Love’, one of the highlights from his 2022 EP, became his first Country Radio No. 1 in December. The single serves as the perfect encapsulation of what makes Zimmerman such a threat. It has the signature rasp and heart-wrenching intensity that pervades much of the project, but - crucially - it is packaged up with a pop-leaning production style that makes it ideal for Country Radio.

The result is a sound that simultaneously straddles both the mainstream and the outer edges of the modern country landscape. Part of Zimmerman’s ability to infiltrate both markets can be traced back to his blue collar roots, having grown up working on a gas pipeline.

In 2023, Zimmerman is joining Morgan Wallen on his blockbuster 

world tour. Zimmerman has previously cited Wallen as a mentor, with the Sneedville native having even co-written ‘Trainwreck’ from the 

When he heads out on the road with Morgan Wallen, Zimmerman will receive a first-hand glimpse into what it takes to become one of the biggest country stars on the planet. Given how emphatic Zimmerman’s emergence has been so far, few would be surprised to see him unveil his own world tour this time next year.

Bailey

Bailey Zimmerman: News, Songs & Reviews | Holler

Hailey 

Hailey Whitters: News, Songs & Reviews | Holler

Tailgate N’ Tallboys Bloomington 2023: Line-Up, Dates and Tickets | Holler

Maxim is a Holler staff writer based in London, UK. He also runs a music and wellbeing magazine (Mindful Melody). He loves going on long drives soundtracked by his Kenny Chesney CDs, and he’s incapable of completing a conversation without referencing at least one George Strait song.

Maxim

Contrib - Maxim Mower 

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Tailgate N’ Tallboys Bloomington

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