The Best Country Music Festivals in the U.S. for 2025

Stagecoach Festival

Undeniably one of the biggest country festivals on the planet, Stagecoach Festival has become such an iconic landmark on the country music landscape that artists often use the California event as a launchpad for new album rollouts and major announcements.

This was evident at last year’s celebration in the desert, which saw Post Malone teaming up with Morgan Wallen to debut the first single from his blockbuster debut country album, ‘I Had Some Help’, while in 2023 Jon Pardi was surprised with a special invitation from Alan Jackson to become the latest member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Stagecoach always feels like a moment in a way that few other festivals do. This year, all eyes will be on Lana Del Rey as she makes her boldest step yet into the country world, ahead of her May project, The Right Person Will Stay. Similarly, the headlining trio of Jelly Roll, Luke Combs and Zach Bryan builds on the formidable 2024 roster, with Stagecoach one of the few places you’ll be able to watch Bryan perform live in 2025, after the Oklahoma star announced he was stepping away from touring.

Partly thanks to its colossal, genre-blurring line-ups and partly due to it being twinned with one of the most popular US all-genre festivals, Coachella, Stagecoach’s annual party in the desert helps to give country music an extra boost of mainstream visibility – not that it’s needed, mind you, for the past couple of years.

Be sure to check out the famed Palomino Stage, which briefly branched out into its own mini-festival, with the alt-country and Americana showcase set to host four-time 2025 Grammy winner, Sierra Ferrell, along with Nelly, Sammy Hagar, Koe Wetzel, Dylan Gossett, Noeline Hofmann and more.

- Maxim Mower

Under The Big Sky

Under The Big Sky is one of those festival's that you clear your schedule for. If not for the blockbuster bill of talent, then for the jaw-dropping scenery that the event provides free of charge (... not including cost of entry, we suppose).

One of the ultimate music-fuelled weekends around, Under The Big Sky showcases the very best of the west as thousands descend onto the picturesque Big Mountain Ranch in Whitefish, Montana.

Boasting some of the buggest names in country, Americana and roots music this year – taking place from July 18-20 – fans will get the chance to catch headlining sets from country icon Tyler Childers, British indie-folk legends Mumford & Sons and the biggest band in the world right now, The Red Clay Strays.

A whole host of other exciting acts will be taking the stage, too, including Wynonna Judd, Shane Smith & The Saints, Oliver Anthony, Dylan Gossett, Wyatt Flores, Luke Grimes and more.

With views that will take your breath away and artists that will bring you to tears, it's a weekend that you should probably consider selling your soul to get to... just saying.

- Lydia Farthing

CMA Fest

Ahh, CMA Fest.

Nashville's own four-day spectacle has been an annual excursion since 1972, and its only managed to grow and evolve every year since.

Originally known as Fan Fair and taking place during a week in April at Municipal Auditorium, CMA Fest is now one of the most thrilling long weekends in a country fan's calendar as something like 350 artists descend on stages all across Music City, including the nearly 70,000-capacity Nissan Stadium.

The 2025 edition, marking the 52nd iteration of the beloved festival, will take place from June 5-8 and will no doubt play host to a show stopping crop of chart-toppers, superstars, budding new talent and beyond.

In case you needed more convincing, nearly everything during the daytime for CMA Fest is free for the public to attend, which means you can see blockbuster acts like Shaboozey, Warren Zeiders, Megan Moroney, Zach Top and so many more for a whopping $0.

What's more, fans also have the opportunity to meet this next generation of hitmakers in between the action at Fan Fair X. Taking over Music City Center, you can get front-row access to some of country's biggest stars, as well as attend meet & greets to your heart's content.

- LF

Tortuga Music Festival

A sun-drenched, beachside country festival that doubles-up as a key fundraising event for ocean conservation, over the past decade Tortuga Festival has established itself as one of the leading socially conscious festivals in the US.

Since its inaugural installment in 2013, Fort Lauderdale’s Tortuga extravaganza has helped to generate over $4,000,000 for its Conservation Village partners, with a portion of each ticket being donated to Rock the Ocean, a non-profit dedicated to preserving marine life.

Putting its admirable cause aside, Tortuga Festival delivers a stellar line-up year-on-year, with its heavy-hitting assortment of acts usually leaning towards those with a summer-friendly, Sunshine State-worthy catalogue of laidback, margarita-infused anthems. Kenny Chesney made a point of headlining the festival every other year from 2013 to 2019, while Tortuga has also welcomed country chart-toppers such as Zac Brown Band, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Miranda Lambert and many more.

For 2025, Tortuga has once again delivered an impressive roster of performers, with Jelly Roll, Keith Urban and Luke Combs confirmed as the headlining trio, while the line-up also boasts Parker McCollum, Ludacris, Jordan Davis, Shaboozey, Megan Moroney, Cody Jinks, Lauren Watkins, Wyatt Flores and Corey Kent.

- MM

Rock The South

Rock The South makes a concerted effort to live up to its name every year.

The Cullman, Alabama event has been doing just that, rocking its rural locale, for well-over a decade, bringing together hitmakers far-and-wide for its singular weekend event.

Past seasons have hosted country favorites like Eric Church, Hardy, Jelly Roll, Parker McCollum, Oliver Anthony, Warren Zeiders, Flatland Cavalry and more. However, the upcoming 2025 affair – set to take place in mid-June – will welcome a wide array of non-country or country-adjacent acts, like Nickelback, 3 Doors Down and Afroman, to its lineup.

Of course, country staples like Hank Williams Jr. and Kid Rock will head the bill, with Treaty Oak Revival, Ole 60, Shenandoah, Hudson Westbrook, Cameron Whitcomb and many more slated to join in on the fun.

- Alli Patton

WE Fest

WE Fest was first started in August 1983 on a stage in a horse pasture. Something like 9,000 attended the inaugural event which was headlined by Tammy Wynette, Alabama and Merle Haggard (a trio which is nothing to snuff at, if we say so ourselves).

Over 40 years later, the annual pilgrimage to Soo Pass Ranch in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota is the stuff of legends, with more than 150,000 fans clamoring to see their favorite artists over three packed days of country music.

Returning from August 7-9, this year is set to offer up the same heaping collection of country superstars as ever, with HARDY, Jon Pardi and Cody Johnson sharing the headlining duties, while Ashley McBryde, Megan Moroney, Gavin Adcock, Treaty Oak Revival and more keep the music going all weekend long.

- LF

Watershed Festival

Anytime you have a chance to experience live music at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, we highly recommend you do, but especially if that live music is a part of the Watershed Festival.

The annual country-fueled weekend is always an unmissable event. The three-day affair – usually taking place in early August – boasts some of the biggest lineups of festival season, calling on genre heavyweights and buzzed-about rising stars to round out the beloved event.

While plans for this year’s fest have yet to be revealed, the 2024 installment made for an unforgettable good time. HARDY, Old Dominion and Luke Bryan topped the bill, but the fun didn’t stop there. The days were filled with performances from the likes of Riley Green, Koe Wetzel, Cole Swindell, Brian Kelley, Maddie & Tae, Zach Top, Ashland Craft and more.

This year, the staple festival will celebrate its thirteenth year of hosting good music and nurturing even better memories, and we’re eager to see what’s in store at Watershed this time around.

- AP

Sand In My Boots

Given his swift ascension to country megastardom over the last couple of years, it was only a matter of time before Morgan Wallen started his own festival, right?

While it did make some waves due to its replacing Hangout Music Festival, the inaugural Sand In My Boots event sold out almost instantaneously and it's not hard to imagine why.

As one of the most buzzed about artists in modern music history – even beyond the country genre – it's not an easy ticket to get your hands on, especially when you add in the long list of acts also set to take the stage over the four-day weekend, including Post Malone, Brooks & Dunn, HARDY, Riley Green, Bailey Zimmerman and so many others.

What's more, the weekend in Gulf Shores, Alabama, running from May 16-18, will also feature a slew of the biggest rappers, hip-hop stars and rockers in the game like T-Pain, Wiz Khalifa, The War On Drugs, 2 Chainz, Three 6 Mafia, 3 Doors Down, Moneybagg Yo and BigXThaPlug.

We're not sure what measures you're willing to go to to secure your spots at Sand In My Boots, but may the odds be ever in your favor.

- LF

Gulf Coast Jam

Taking place in the warm, welcoming surroundings of Panama City Beach, Florida, Gulf Coast Jam has cemented its status among the upper echelon of US festivals in recent years, with the spring extravaganza’s line-up regularly serving as a who’s who of the biggest names in contemporary country music.

After a blockbuster 2024 event featuring Morgan Wallen, Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson and Parker McCollum, this year will see a more eclectic mix of artists spanning commercial country, Americana and southern rock, with Lainey Wilson, Tyler Childers, Blake Shelton, Sam Hunt, Megan Moroney Jordan Davis, The Red Clay Strays, Sam Barber and more all due to take the stage in May and June.

Once a more decidedly breezy, tropically-minded country affair in the mould of Tortuga Festival, Gulf Coast Jam has gradually rebranded towards a traditional country feel.

Even so, the soothing setting of PCB always makes you feel as though you’re on vacation, and helps to give the festival its unmistakably celebratory ambience, making this a staple on many country fans’ calendars.

- MM

Bourbon & Beyond Festival

The last few years, Bourbon & Beyond has been the "it" girl of the festival slate.

One of the most highly-anticipated weekends of the year, the Louisville event ushers in well over 100,000 attendees for a four-day throw down that can best be described as a genre agnostic celebration of the best in modern music.

First launched in 2017 as an experimental festival, Bourbon & Beyond has grown to showcase well over 100 performers every year across its collection of stages, while also offering up the best food and bourbon around – a given considering its prime Kentucky locale.

By far the most bang for your buck when it comes to your festival options, the 2025 event – being held from September 11-14 – will see an onslaught of talent from across country, Americana, roots, folk and all of country music's close and distant cousins, with headlining performances teed up from Noah Kahan, Sturgill Simpson, The Lumineers and Phish.

Boasting an utterly stacked lineup of country heavyweights, like Megan Moroney, Dylan Gossett, Flatland Cavalry, Muscadine Bloodline, 49 Winchester, Michael Marcagi, Josiah and The Bonnevilles, Nolan Taylor, Waylon Wyatt, Bayker Blankenship, Reid Haughton, Kelsey Waldon and Brit Taylor, there will also be plenty other flavors to partake in, including Jack White, Benson Boone, Cage The Elephant, Khruangbin, Vance Joy, Third Eye Blind, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Foreigner, Dashboard Confessional, Lawrence, Julien Baker & Torres, Gavin DeGraw and more.

- LF

Cattle Country Music Festival

One of the country's newer premiere festival's, Cattle Country Festival held its inaugural event in April of 2024 with explosive success.

Hosted on a 400-acre ranch in Gonzales, Texas, the festival honors everything that makes the Lonestar State what it is, fit with wine samplings, bespoke culinary offerings and craft cocktails, as well as a heavy helping of the state's homegrown crop of talent and beyond, including Eric Church, Whiskey Myers, Koe Wetzel, The War and Treaty, The Red Clay Strays and more.

Taking place from April 10-12, this year's festivities look to bring together yet another masterful mix of mainstream country, red dirt, Americana, soul and rock for a three day spread under the Texas sky.

From headliners like Texan tunesmith Parker McCollum and classic country figureheads Tanya Tucker and Clint Black, the 2025 event will also boast can't miss performances from Wyatt Flores, Chase Rice, 49 Winchester, Shenandoah, Ty Myers and Giovannie & The Hired Guns, among others.

While there are so many festivals all across the country to give your money and attention to, there's something charming about this independently ran event deep in the heart of Texas that puts it in the top of our 2025 festival bucket list.

- LF

Railbird Festival

Here at Holler, we love a weekend in Lexington, Kentucky, for the Railbird Festival.

The past few years have seen the festival go from strength to strength, with the Infield at Red Mile playing host to some of the biggest names not just in country, but music on the whole. Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton and Noah Kahan have all headlined in the last two years, and you bet they are carrying that big-time energy into 2025.

There's a particular country flavour to this year's event. Lainey Wilson and Jelly Roll headline, with Bailey Zimmerman, Shaboozey and Riley Green all set to drive into Lexington.

If you're looking for something a little more on the alt-side, fear not – The Red Clay Strays are returning after essentially destroying the Burl Stage last year. At the same time, Sierra Ferrell, Treaty Oak Revival, Ryan Bingham & The Texas Gentleman and Wyatt Flores are all set to appear, too.

Railbird Festival is one not just to be experienced, but cherished.

- Ross Jones

Windy City Smokeout

Chicago's premier Country music festival, Windy City Smokeout, takes over the city for four days – July 10-13 – of delicious food, premium beer and good ol' country music.

Much like CMA Fest, Windy City has the pleasure of all the fun without any of the dirt or mud, so for a country music fan who's not so sure about it being wet under foot, this one's just right for you.

Never afraid to book from the entire breadth of the genre, this year's event is topped by eight of the finest in the game right now: Bailey Zimmerman, Koe Wetzel, Old Dominion, Dylan Gossett, Kane Brown, Megan Moroney, Jon Pardi and Riley Green.

If that's not enough, the rest of the line-up is one big lesson on the best up and comers in the game with Bayker Blankenship, Josh Meloy, Lauren Watkins, Charles Wesley Godwin and Ella Langley all set to appear.

Trust us and make the trip to Windy City, you don't want to miss it.

- RJ

Buckeye Country Superfest

It’s in the name. Buckeye Country Superfest is just that: a super fest.

For years, the Columbus, Ohio extravaganza has played host to some of the biggest names in country music and provided a platform for some of the most exciting performances of the genre to unfold.

Last year saw an A-list roster of stars, like Billy Strings, Turnpike Troubadours, Charley Crockett, 49 Winchester, Charles Wesley Godwin, Alana Springsteen, Kaitlin Butts, Kashus Culpepper and more, take the stage during the two-day event. And that’s not including the blockbuster headliner, Zach Bryan, who dominated both nights of the festival.

This year’s soiree will be no different in the way of star-power. Already, Jelly Roll and Kane Brown have been tapped as the 2025 headliners. They will be joined by Megan Moroney, Treaty Oak Revival, Dasha, Conner Smith and many more hitmakers still to be announced.

- AP

Laurel Cove Music Festival

Nestled in amongst the pines and streams of Appalachia on the crossing of the Cumberland River, Laurel Cove Music Festival has made a name for itself as the go-to music festival for authentic and true country, Americana and roots music.

Over the years, the festival has built a dedicated following of both enthusiastic attendees and artists, with headline sets from The Red Clay Strays, Wyatt Flores, Charles Wesley Godwin and Sierra Ferrell going down in history as not only some of the festival's finest moments, but the acts' too.

This year's line-up is once again a doozy.

Ian Noe returns to great anticipation, with the hope of new music to come, while Ole 60 look set to cement themselves with a memorable headline performance. If that wasn't enough, every band's favourite band Town Mountain close it out, ensuring that last year won't be the last time anyone ventures into the pond at the front of the main stage.

Top tip from us for 2026: don't miss out on tickets. 2025 sold out almost immediately, and with the devout cult backing from attendees the festival has, it's only set to get even harder to get your hands on some.

If you've got a ticket for this year, congratulations, you lucky S.O.B. Go see Jack Browning, you won't regret it.

- RJ