Bourbon & Beyond 2026 - Line 12 (Stella Lefty, Joan Osborne, Paula Cole, Vertical Horizon, Kaitlin Butts, Langhorne Slim)

Stella Lefty

One Liner: Unremarkable pop that borders into country
Wikipedia Genre: no Wikipedia, but this is pop
Home: L.A.
Day: Sunday

Thoughts:  Wikipedia took me to Stella Levy, who was an Israeli soldier and politician.  This is not her, as that lady is dead.  This gal is an odd sound, where at times I think this is country with drum machines, and then at times I think it is just pop music.  And I don't love it, but the (probably AI-written) article I just read about her is hyperbolic in its praise: "Everything about this EP doesn’t just make Stella Lefty feel like she’s one of pop music’s most promising rising acts; it makes her takeover feel all but inevitable. You’re running out of time to be an early fan, after all, so check out Tragic, Really before it’s too late."  HER TAKEOVER IS INEVITABLE!!!

Another article claims she is a student at Tulane University.  That would be really weird, if true, for her to go play big shows over the weekend and then head back to her Econ class on Monday morning.  But pretty limited article numbers out there about her - I'm sure it is because she is young and cool and those people don't want to read an article, they want to watch a TikTok to learn more about her.  And I refuse to do such things.

About 15 total songs with no real albums yet.  Although she did get a song on the Scream 7 soundtrack, so she's doing something right.  Well, that is how my brain works - does anyone else care if a song is on a soundtrack?  Dunno.  Probably not.  Anyway, her top track is a 2026 single with 16.8 million streams (most of her songs are under a million).  "Thinking 'bout you."

There is that country flavor - doesn't it sound like that could be a Nashville track?  It is fine - I'm sure the kids will have fun singing along to her when she plays it, but I will be on the other side of the festival for this show.

Joan Osborne

One Liner: A great folky Americana laced with classic soul rock
Wikipedia Genre: Rock, folk, country rock, blues, R&B
Home: Louisville, KY
Day: Sunday

Thoughts:  When my friend Chad saw this lineup and was complaining about it, he said that he was going to "snail trail before Joan Osborne hits the stage."  I have no clue what that means, and also have zero recollection of who Joan Osborne is/was.  Now, because I just googled it, I know that "snail trail" is a relatively gross term for natural vaginal lubrication left on clothing, and I wish I could take back the last twenty seconds of my life.

As for who this is?  Now, I completely recognize her main song.  You will too, although it is making me think of Austin Powers more than the original song.  You know that a person was a one hit wonder when the first three songs on their Spotify are the same song, just one is the album cut, one is another random version, and one is the radio edit.  If they couldn't move one of those off the top of the mountain in 31 years, then this is not going to go well for my listening pleasure.  Also, her fourth most popular song is a live version of "The Weight" by Mavis Staples with like 40 other artists helping.  

Her most recent album is a 2025 live disc called Dylanology that is just eight covers of Dylan played live somewhere.  It isn't terrible, but it's also a little lounge-act-ey.

She grew up in a suburb of Louisville, but moved to New York City in the 80's to study filmmaking at NYU.  While working her way through school, she sang at an open mic and other folks took notice and asked her to keep coming.  She soon formed a little band and started playing alongside up-and-comers like Spin Doctors and Blues Traveler.  Once she gave in and started really touring, she was signed to a label and released 1995's Relish, which was the album with the big hit on it.  "One of Us" has 200.8 million streams.

or there is always this:

Lovely.  I also recognize the first song from that album "St. Teresa," but the rest of it rings no bells.  I don't recall owning it, even though the cover looks very familiar.  I like that her second album is called Early Recordings, like there was this massive clamor after Relish came out where people were like "I HAVE TO HEAR HER OPEN MIC RECORDINGS!!!"  

Over her career, she has produced albums for other folks, she was a background vocalist for the Dead and Phil Lesh and Friends, opened for the Dixie Chicks, co-headlined the Lilith Fair, appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, sang on a Chieftain's album, and has seven Grammy nominations (no wins)

Anyway, I think I am good on this one.  She's got a lot of soul, but hopefully something else is playing at the same time!

Paula Cole

One Liner: DAWSON WAS A WHINY, MANIPULATIVE BITCH THE WHOLE TIME!!
Wikipedia Genre: pop, rock
Home: Rockport, MA
Day: Sunday

Thoughts: Oh, that is funny.  Like Joan Osborne, I couldn't come up with who Paula Cole was - I think I was thinking of Sarah McLaughlin's music.  But instead, this is the Dawson's Creek theme song lady - I still hear that damn song all the time because middle kid is streaming that show again right now.  Her photo on Spotify makes her look like she is (a) dead and (b) in a bad remake of Wonder Woman.  She's also got the "Where Have All the Cowboy's Gone" song that is very weird.  Her big album was that 1996 one This Fire, which had both of those big hits on it.  She's been cranking out music ever since, and while none of it sounds all that great to me, I can say that her voice seems to still be cranking.

Apparently, she first gained notice as the background vocalist for Peter Gabriel's Secret World Tour in the early 90's.  Weird that it doesn't sound like she was on the album, just the tour?  I feel like it would be really weird to go to a Peter Gabriel show and be like, "man, I really love that backup vocalist, I wonder who she is, oh she has no albums or music of her own but now she is famous?"  Simpler time back in 1993.  Ah, wait, now this makes sense: "Cole joined the two last legs of Peter Gabriel's 1993–94 Secret World tour.  A video of the concert was shot just days after Cole joined the tour. The video was released as Secret World Live, with Cole covering all the primary female vocals and featured in duets with Gabriel, especially the songs "Don't Give Up" on which she sang the part that Kate Bush recorded with Gabriel in 1986, and "Blood of Eden" recorded by Gabriel and Sinéad O'Connor in 1992. The film received the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. Cole was also the main female vocalist on Secret World Live, the audio album documenting the tour. The tour gave Cole international exposure as well as experience performing on a large stage. Her performance earned high praise: in a retrospective review, PopMatters wrote that Cole was "one of the real stars" on the tour, that she easily handled Kate Bush's parts, and that she was "maybe a superior vocalist" to Sinéad O'Connor."  That is what happened.  Cool!

She attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, and afterwards moved to San Francisco to work on her music.  But it was the Peter Gabriel tour that kicked her career into the stratosphere.  Gabriel's studio engineer told him to give her a call after O'Connor bailed on the tour, and Gabriel left her an answering machine message.  She flew to Germany, rehearsed it all one time, and then jumped on stage.  Pretty wild.  Another Lilith Fair headliner as well.  This line of the poster is big in the Lilithsphere.  Like her buddy Joan up above, she has been nominated for Grammy awards, but also took home Best New Artist in 1997.  Since then, she was "Ship" on season twelve of The Masked Singer.  I had no idea that show has existed for so many seasons.  That feels incorrect.

Anyway, top song is obviously "I Don't Want to Wait."  130.4 million streams.

AHHH!  WHy did they use that image for the YouTube thumbnail!  That video is deeply weird.  So dramatic.  I have not hated going down into this hole of her music - a lot of the new stuff feels more like bluesy soul standards and whatnot.  But I doubt I'd go watch this show.

Vertical Horizon

One Liner: Personal favorite of old alt rock and "camp"-feeling tunes
Wikipedia Genre: Rock, folk, country rock, blues, R&B
Home: Louisville, KY
Day: Sunday

Thoughts: I saw Vertical Horizon once when I lived in Dallas.  They played the iconic Trees club down off of Deep Ellum, with Jackopierce.  It was a good show, but also I remember just how much I used to listen to the There and Back Again album.  If you haven't heard that album, you should.  I have actual goosebumps on my arms right now hearing the opening track again - definitely a Jackopierce-style acoustic thing.  I'm sure I discovered it at camp back in the day, it gives off vague Christian vibes.  "Lines Upon Your Face" is lovely.  And of course, because I have Chad on my mind after writing about his Joan Osborne comments, I'm sure that he will hate this pretty stuff and call me names.  Whatever, I like it.

And their big hit album too - 1999's Everything You Want.  The title song from that is still their biggest hit, with 141.3 million streams.

Still love it - but hilarious how hard core they appear in that video, all bald headed and black, tight shirts.  "You're a God" is also a great pop rock nugget of happy memories for me.  "Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning)" sounds more like a Live ripoff than I remembered.  But you know those albums, where I have probably not heard this in at least a decade if not two, and yet I still remember the words.  Makes me smile.

But, I will readily admit that their newest album, 2018's The Lost Mile, is pretty cheesy pop rock schlock that brings me no joy.  I would have been happier never knowing that they made new music.  Way too many synths.

Kaitlin Butts

One Liner: Excellent story-telling Americana
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'd call this Americana
Home: Nashville (but originally from Tulsa, OK)
Day: Saturday

Thoughts: I ran across her one time several years ago, when I was listening to an album by Flatland Cavalry.  She was featured on that album, and I was kind of enamored with her name.  "The hit on here is the one featuring the excellently named Kaitlin Butts.  Who is either an heir to the HEB fortune and therefore it makes sense that she kept that surname, or was hoping for the old Beavis and Butthead crowd to find her and push her into stardom, or has a fantastic seat.  I'm going to imagine it's number 2.  Huh huh, cool.  Butts."  She also came through Two Step in 2023 and 2025.

She's not on Wikipedia, but she is mentioned in the Flatland Cavalry post because she is married to the vocalist for the band, which was formed in Lubbock in 2012.  That post says that she is a frequent collaborator with the band and an "oft-seen part of their live shows."  And you can tell, because both of the top songs on Spotify for her are Flatland songs on which she is featured.  

I've pretty much just let these songs play for the past two days.  I really like her stuff.  Good lyrics, strong voice, fine instrumentation.  It all sounds really good, like a more Americana version of Kacey Musgraves.  "blood" is an excellent song, that she does two ways in her Spotify, a regular version with full accompaniment, and then a stripped-down version.  Lot of soul in there.  That is the top song from her 2022 album - What Else Can She Do - 2.1 million streams.  This is the stripped version.

Just a killer set of lyrics about trying to measure up to your family and the things you do for your blood.  Makes me think of the way my sister-in-law treats my wife, and then the way my wife hides her feelings about it.  Really good.  She also does a cover of Leadbelly's "in the pines" that is pretty killer.  "It Won't Always Be This Way" is another well-composed tune about tough times.  Her cover of "Tulsa Time" is good stuff - I love that song.  And her cover of Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" sounds very much like Kacey Musgraves and is a pretty reimagining of the tune.

3 albums.  2015's Same Hell, Different Devil, 2022's What Else Can She Do, and 2024's Roadrunner!  She also released an EP in 2022 called Sad Yeehaw Sessions, where that stripped-down "blood" is from, that also includes a cover of Miley Cyrus's "Angels Like You" that sounds really good.  Her top single, of her solo stuff and not including the Flatland tunes, is a 2021 single called "Marfa Lights," with 6.5 million streams.

(1) nice tune.  (2) I was really hoping for a real video that would have been set in Marfa.  (3) that highway on the cover looks nothing like Highway 90.  Have you ever seen the Marfa lights?  They're pretty damn cool.  I've seen them a few times, and even with really good binoculars, I have no clue what is going on out there.  And her analogy is pretty good - "I'll chase you around, low and high, we're just out of reach, we're just out of sight."

Dig it.  I'd love to see her play.

Langhorne Slim

One Liner: A great folky Americana laced with classic soul rock
Wikipedia Genre: Americana
Home: Langhorne, PA
Day: Thursday

Thoughts:  I have a random story to tell that really doesn't connect with this fella, but bear with me.  Have you ever heard of Slim Whitman?  That was who I was really hoping this was going to be when I saw it on the poster.  Well, a few months ago I found a box of old 8 tracks and a player out at my step-mom's ranch, and the group had a blast jamming the old country goodness in that box of tapes.  None were mega-hits, the Dolly Parton album was some lesser-known mid-career thing, or the Oak Ridge Boys tape was from pre-fame, but we had a great time reveling in the old technology and the classic music.  Anyway, among the music were two tapes from Slim Whitman, who I had never heard of.  When I asked my step-uncle about them, he grinned with a far-away look in his eye and said "ol' Slim Whitman. That boy can yodel."  Which was hilarious.  So anyway, go check out Slim Whitman's yodeling some time.  I mean, look at this dope ass MOFO!!!

I need that robe right now.

But this guy, on the other hand, mainly reminds me of Lord Huron, but every once in a while he does a Paul Simon thing too.  Actually, the new album has some Black Keys undertones in it too.  Born as Sean Scolnick in Langhorne, PA, he gained some fame while touring with something called the Trachtenburg Family Sideshow Players.  As he gained a little notoriety, his songs have now been featured in other media, like a Microsoft Windows 8 commercial, the movies Waitress, Admission, and 21& Older, and a Travelers Insurance Commercial.

Check these accolades: Rolling Stone praised [2012 album] The Way We Move as "damn near perfect," while Laura Barton of The Guardian proclaimed the band as "one of the greatest live acts."  Additionally, Entertainment Weekly called Langhorne Slim "your next obsession," and The New Yorker described him as having "Leadbelly's gift for storytelling and Dylan's ability to captivate crowds."  Pretty good!

His top song has the Paul Simon flavor - from his 2015 album called The Spirit Moves (and which also features a backing band called "The Law") this is "Changes" with 117.5 million streams.

Gimme those old gospel singers!  I love it.  Overall, I think this guy's music is really good.  I am glad I came across his stuff and will keep listening even after this is all over.  I'd definitely go check out the live show.

Bourbon & Beyond 2026 - Line 2 (Queens of the Stone Age, Kacey Musgraves, The Red Clay Strays, Hootie & the Blowfish)

They have yet to release the actual schedule for this festival, so I am curious about how it will all work.  At ACL, you have to pick the main headliners - you wouldn't get to see both the Foos and the Queens.  But maybe this one will be different and better so that I can see everything all at once.  Anyway, here are the sub-headliners.

Queens of the Stone Age

One Liner: One of my favorite heavy bands of all time
Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock, stoner rock, desert rock, hard rock, alternative metal
Home: Seattle
Day: Thursday

Thoughts:  Not sure that I really have much to say about one of my favorite bands.  Here are a mess of links of the other times I have already written about them.

• ACL Taping: 11/18/2025
  
• Review of In Times New Roman...
  
• 360 Amphitheater: 4/24/2018
• Review of Villains
• ACL Taping: October 2013 (which was in between their ACL sets that year)

I only started doing to exhaustive review thing for the 2014 ACL, so I don't have a massive preview for them from that last time they came to the Festival, but know that if I did, it would talk at great length about how Songs for the Deaf is an almost perfect album that I love unequivocally.  it is not perfect, because "Six Shooter" is too much, but otherwise it nails exactly what I want to hear.  Rated R is great, Lullabies to Paralyze is fine, Era Vulgaris is very good, and Like Clockwork is awesome.  But SFTD is the one.  So, despite it being my sixth time to see them (if my math is right), I may even choose them over the Foos.  That is the strength of my love for Homme and the boys.  If they came to ACL this year I would be very happy.

Kacey Musgraves

One Liner: Texas-born country star who can write a damn song
Wikipedia Genre: Country, pop, folk
Home: Golden, Texas
Day: Friday

Thoughts:  Another where I can pretty much just show you my work and let you run through one of my favorites.

• Review of Deeper Well.
• Preview for 2022 ACL
• Review of star-crossed
• In which I named her Golden Hour as my second favorite album of the 2010's
• Preview for 2019 ACL (which is mostly the same as the 2022 one)
• Review of Golden Hour
• Preview of 2016 ACL
• Review of Pageant Material

Deeper Well has come around for me, but star-crossed is still a miss.  And her first two albums are all-timers for me.  Love 'em.  I just think she writes an excellent song, and then sounds really good performing it.  She released a few songs in 2025/2026 - "Dry Spell" is funny, the "Lost Highway" cover is classic, and "Sounds from the Heart of the Woods" is a sort of insane, but also extremely relaxing, twenty-minute track of bird noises and trippy guitar/banjo.  I need a massage to it right now.  There is also a live version of her joining Zach Bryan on stage in Chicago for "I Remember Everything" and the crowd goes fucking apeshit for her.  Wild.  Anyway, even though this would be my fifth or sixth time to see her, I'd love to.

The Red Clay Strays

One Liner: Up and coming Americana and country rock from Alabama
Wikipedia Genre: Country rock
Home: Mobile, AL
Day: Saturday

Thoughts:  These guys have been getting more and more popular recently - as is evidenced by them being on the same line of this poster as QOTSA or Kacey.  They came through ACL in 2024, but they were weekend two only, so I missed it.

Their name is so good.  I thoroughly expected that they would be from north Texas or south Oklahoma (which definitely reveals my bias), but instead they are a bluesy Americana, southern rock band from Mobile, Alabama.  

Have you ever driven through Mobile, Alabama?  If you are coming through town on I-10, maybe driving from Texas to Gulf Shores, AL, you go through a freaking massive tunnel called the George Wallace Tunnel.  And the thing that makes it so cool in my mind is that it takes your ass entirely under the Mobile River.  Which is so wild to me.  Like, a billion tons of heavy water just weighing down on those tunnels as you scoot along under there like a little ant.  Makes me think of those scary ass sections of The Stand where people have to hike through the Colorado mountain tunnels and avoid scary things, but I still get a charge out of it each time as though I am a kid.  Love it.

Anyhoo, these dudes are not that tunnel.  Several of the guys in the band were in a cover band in Mobile, who started to write and play a little more original material over time.  They added some more members and started playing increasingly larger venues and more places, and got signed by a management company.  Their first single was featured in the unfortunately terrible Doctor Sleep movie (speaking of Stephen King), but that got them moving until the pandemic shut it all down.  But, they used some crowdfunding action to raise up the funds to create and then self-release their debut in 2022, after it didn't get much traction, they signed with a label and got on the Lollapalooza stage.

Two albums - 2022's Moment of Truth and 2024's Made By These Moments.  Well, and then a live disc from 2025 recorded at the Ryman in Nashville.  At times, it is Chris Stapleton-esque belting over country rock.  At times, it is Jason Isbell-esque and more tender.  At times, it is Turnpike Troubadours and a little more bluesy and raucous.  Some Ray LaMontagne here and there too.  Seriously, I want you to listen to their first three most popular songs right now and follow along.  "Wondering Why" with 482.5 million streams and some LaMontagne vibes.

Bluesy and warm and luscious.  Super good stuff.  Apparently was a big hit on the TikTok, which is an odd thing to me, but I also don't pay attention to that stuff.  That is from their 2022 debut, which as I mentioned before didn't do much upon release.  Well, they did a version of it on a YouTube platform called Western AF, and that is the thing that initially blew up and led to the TikTok virality too.  I'd love to see what Willie or Waylon would think about that path to country stardom.

The second most streamed and currently #2 in Popular list on Spotify is "Wanna Be Loved," with 168.9 million streams, and in my mind serious Turnpike vibes.

Feels like those guitars are raring to break out and soar - near the end they try to get out of their cages, but then they just rein in and pull back for a soft coda.  And finally, you get the Stapleton belting maneuver in another track from the new album, their currently fifth most popular, called "Drowning" with 57.7 million streams.

I think it is just that one song from Stapleton where he keeps yelling the word "crying," but I feel that one for sure.  So, there you go.  Those are my comparisons, and three of their top songs.  They also just got a song on the outrageously long Twisters soundtrack (another Stapleton dupe), along with half of the other up-and-coming country artists in the world, so they are on their way! 

Since we are talking about live music, I tried out the Live at the Ryman disc too.  Damn good.  I can see why there is some excitement building.  The first song feels like I am listening to early Waylon Jennings fronting the Allman Brothers.  Bring it.

Hootie & the Blowfish

One Liner: The least offensive pop rock band ever
Wikipedia Genre: Pop rock, alternative rock, soft rock, roots rock, heartland rock, jangle pop
Home: Columbia SC
Day: Sunday

Thoughts:  Come on.  You already know them.  Maybe of interest is how little output they have had since their heyday.  I guess Darius Rucker went out and did his country thing for a while, but there is a 2005 album and a 2020 album (neither especially great) since their greatest hits comp.  But when you have like eight certified soft rock bangers in your holster, you still deserve to headline things.

I won't waste the time going over all of the mega-hits they had on that first album.  1994's Cracked Rear View went fucking TWENTY TWO TIMES PLATINUM.  That is #10 on the list of the highest certified diamond albums of all time.  Just below Pink Floyd's The Wall and just above Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.  Good gravy.

Well, that was obvious at the time, because the disc was in just about every red-blooded human's CD collection when I started college, and I can clearly remember hearing it in dorm rooms all over campus.  And so, I had a very fun, full-circle kind of moment when my son went off to college for his freshman year in the fall of 2024 and Hootie was the big, cheap entertainment right after they started.  He and I have never really bonded all that much about music, he seems to like it just fine but he doesn't get quite so obsessive about it as I do.  But, his report about the show made me genuinely happy.  Not only were the major hits great, but he also went through a long list of very fun covers that they did really well.  And not the things you would expect from their albums like "Wagon Wheel" or the ones from their 2000 cover album.  But heavier stuff - Led Zeppelin, Stone Temple Pilots, (and less heavy like) R.E.M. or Buffalo Springfield.  The boy was excited about it, which was really fun for me to hear.  Maybe some day he will waste countless hours writing about the bluegrass bands that no one plans to see at a music festival in some random flyover state?  A guy can dream.

Bourbon and Beyond 2026 - Line 19 (Woodbox Heroes, The Fretliners, Meels, Mason Via, Vickie Vaughn Band)

Wood Box Heroes

One Liner: A voltron of bluegrass pickers making fun stuff with their combined powers
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but straight bluegrass
Home: Nashville
Day: Thursday 

Thoughts:  When I read that band name, I did it with the cadence of the chorus of the Foreigner song "Juke Box Hero," and then was really hoping that this was going to be a band made up of the guys at nice resorts who make sure that each little cabin has plenty of split firewood for a romantic fire.  Instead, this is a super rad bluegrass supergroup.  Well, maybe not "super" group, but at least a Mediumgroup.  A bluegrass supergroup would be more like Chris Thile, Billy Strings, and that weird techno-fiddle lady who is also coming to this Festival.  Anyway, Matt Menefee was (is?) the banjo player for Mumford & Sons, Barry Bales was (is?) the bass player for Alison Krauss & Union Station (with the commensurate 15 Grammy awards) and also the songwriter for Chris Stapleton's "Nobody to Blame" which was the CMA song of the year that year, Jenee Fleenor plays the fiddle for folks like Blake Shelton, Martina McBride, Don Williams, and others (and was the first woman to win CMA Musician of the Year), and Josh Martin is his own singer/songwriter fella.

Although the poster shows their name as Woodbox, the Internet separates those words into Wood Box.  I'm sure you are scintillated by this observation.  Anyway, in 2021, a promoter invited Martin to bring some pickers to play a gig in Michigan.  He brought these folks, and they found something fun and good together.  Jenee and Josh do the singing, and their voices are nice, but it is the instruments that make this money.  Their top track is "No. 444" with 184k streams.  

The old traditional bluegrass breakdown, baby.  Sounds sweet to me.  I wish I could do those things to a banjo.  But yeah, I would go watch this happen. No clue how the schedule for this Fest might look, as in whether a band like this will be at noon on Tuesday or whatever, but if it is in an acceptable time slot, I like it.

The Fretliners

One Liner: Another bluegrass less-than-super-group but pretty good anyway
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but straight bluegrass (maybe the 19th line is reserved for bluegrass)
Home: Colorado
Day: Saturday

Thoughts:  They have a photo on the web at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and just seeing the mountain on the other side of that valley makes me nostalgic.  Working for a living blows, man.  According to their website bio, they "swept" the 2023 Telluride Bluegrass and RockyGrass band competitions, an achievement done only once before.  So, they are extremely big time.

The members were apparently previously in other bluegrass bands - Wood Belly, Head for the Hills, and Yonder Mountain String Band - but they joined together for a new non-supergroup.  The Internet is a fascinating place, but when you come across something like this, in which multiple people spend significant time talking about one of the members of this tiny band getting kicked out, is wild.  I guess Justice for Dan Andree!  Who knows if I am even hearing the same band now, without the mighty Dan Andree!?!?  What I will say is that the mandolin player can jam though.  Sorry that the fiddle guy is gone, but the mandolin is legit.  "Purple Flowers" has 154k streams.

I know that bluegrass can be an acquired taste for some - the wife definitely can get tired of the extended noodling jams.  However, I have a good feeling when I hear it, likely because it was about the only music I can think of hearing my dad enjoy.  He has always been more of a "silence is golden" kind of fella, and I of course need constant music at all times or might die, so I definitely noticed when he would sometimes have old time bluegrass on the radio in the truck.  This isn't the best bluegrass I've ever heard, but these guys are still fun.

Meels

One Liner: Americana and indie folk from a muppet ass with a nice voice
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but folky indie and Americana
Home: Mill Valley, CA
Day: Saturday 

Thoughts:  An amazing name.  Sounds like a bad guy in a Fraggle Rock episode.  And her look actually could have been inspired by the Fraggles.  Lotsa hair going on here.  Apparently, meel is the Iranian name an Indian club or mudgar, a type of exercise equipment that you juggle.  That sounds awful.  Meels is also the name of a Canadian organic meal prep delivery service.  Anyway, this lady is not a super-long bowling pin or a fad meal service.  Instead, this is Amelia Einhorn, a musician specializing in indie folk and Americana.

She left California to attend NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where she worked on songwriting as she navigated the big city and got her degree.  She flew to Nashville, booking ten days in a studio, and tackled her first album with two producers.  She's now moved to L.A. and apparently has a dauschund named Baltimore.  Her new album kind of reminds of Sierra Ferrell.

But her most popular song is "The Willow Song" with 144k streams.  And an amazing video.  A Muppet show copy!  And I came up with the Fraggle thing before any of this!

I just absolutely laughed out loud at that raccoon rocking back and forth with the harmonica in his paws.  Beautiful song though. And the lyrics are kind of clever as well.  I have generally enjoyed her music, although Spotify keeps ending her portion and playing other people like her, which is annoying.  I'd go watch her.  She's good.

Mason Via

One Liner: An Old Crow Medicine Show vet making solo bluegrass
Wikipedia Genre: Bluegrass, Americana, country
Home: Southern Virginia and North Carolina
Day: Thursday

Thoughts:  Let's keep the bluegrass vibe going, baby!  His top song right now is a sort of preachy little ditty about how the National Parks are all going to burn soon.  "See It While You Can (National Park Song)" reminds me that I wanted to go to Glacier NP a few years ago to make sure I saw the glaciers before they all melted.  Screwed that up though.  But it is a very pretty ditty about the great National Parks we have (for now).

Interestingly, I was hearing some nibbles of Union Station in the studio tunes, but then he has a live album on Spotify where he sounds like a combination of Dave Matthews Band and the Revivalists.  But, this fella was previously part of Old Crow Medicine Show, which is a pretty great band even beyond "Wagon Wheel."  He started releasing his own bluegrass in 2015, then joined OCMS for about four years, and then went back out on his own.  Also, in the midst of that, he was on the 2021 season of American Idol, performing under the tragic name Mason Picks.  he did not make the top 24.

I mean, you have to be a huge banjo dork to include something like the interlude in "There Goes Another One" where he has the cops talking about a "hot pursuit going 170 BPM" (beats per minute) and then Via yells "catch me if you can, eat my dust officer!"  C'mon dork.  Any true banjo outlaw would call him a "copper" like this was The Untouchables.

Only two songs with over 100k streams - both from his 2025 self-titled album.  "Fireball" is the winner with 160k.

He's a cute little nerd.  That song is pretty damn cheesy.  I swear he has better ones than that. Although that banjo solo was pretty wicked.  I honestly enjoyed listening through the music, and think that live album is pretty fun with its heavy steel guitar.  Bottom line of the poster, coming through here.

Vickie Vaughn Band

One Liner: Bluegrass bassist gets her own band
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but bluegrass
Home: Paducah, KY
Day: Sunday

Thoughts:  I was mistaken but very much hoping that this was the name of the girlfriend and then wife from Waterboy.  But sadly, that was Vickie Valencourt.  Six total songs, on one EP, so it will not take much to hear what she has to offer.  Instead, Vickie Vaughn has been described as "one of the most powerful bassists - and now vocalists - in bluegrass today."  In 2023 and 2024, she was named the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Bass Player of the Year.  We are talking about one of those big ass stand up bass things here, by the way.  She's not in a contest with Flea.  She was previously in High Fidelity and the Grammy-nominated all-woman, all-string band named Della Mae.  If I am being entirely honest, her voice gets under my skin.  A little too brassy.  Which is likely rude.  But I'm the one with these ears, so suck it.

Top song is really crushing it with 2,913 streams.  "Congaree" sounds like the name of a river in Tennessee.  Let's see if it has a video.

Sorta.  But what the heck - that is a great bluegrass breakdown.  I am trying to listen and see if it feels like the bass is especially powerful or whatever, and it's just kinda bopping around back there - and you don't have to worry about her voice either!

Quick Hits, Vol. 381 (Big Red Machine, A$AP Rocky, Rhett Miller, Mavis Staples)

Stinkin' Google is yet again unable to play along with YouTube links.  Very annoying when that feels like an important part of this blog to me.  So, I am publishing this anyway, but if I figure out how to make it work correctly, I'll come back and fix it.  Sorry.

Big Red Machine - How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?  An odd supergroup of sorts that came to me because someone in my Music League used one of their songs.  It can be really good!  It also can be deeply annoying!  Made up of Aaron Dessner (the mopey The National guy who has been producing a lot of Taylor Swift's recent music) and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), and then adding in a lot of guest vocalists - Taylor Swift being the most well-known, but also Anais Mitchell (who has an amazing voice and wrote Hadestown), the Fleet Foxes guy, Sharon Van Etten, Ben Howard, and others.  Where I get bogged down is that some of these songs are pretty boring, and then some add autotune BS on top of the boredom, and its very offputting.  But, like, the first six songs are all a nice little indie pop piece.  It helps that the third song, "Phoenix," just sounds like a Fleet Foxes tune with nice harmonies from the other folks, and then you get two TayTay songs that could have been on Folklore.  But "Hoping Then" starts to get a little annoying, and by "Easy to Sabotage" I worried that I was listening to a Kanye West song about Nazis that I couldn't understand.  I know it will shock you that the Taylor songs have lots of streams, but "Renegade" is the top streamer with 184.2 million.  For context, "Easy to Sabotage" has 1.1 million.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_wr-9X47ao

Like I said, just feels like a Taylor song where Dressner decided to do some backup vocals along with his production.  Sort of sounds like that one from folklore about the "last great american dynasty."  Much of this is not offensive, its just uninteresting.  "Magnolia" or "June's a River" just noodle on by without anything to remember them by.  There are some pretty moments, and this reminds me to go back and listen to Anais Mitchell some more, but I will be glad to delete this disc.

A$AP ROCKY - Don't Be Dumb.  I have said it before and will say it again - I don't think this guy has it.  I know he is fashionable and knocked up Rihanna, and I believe that his earliest stuff with Clams Casino was very enjoyable, but nothing in here works for me.  "STFU" is awful.  "PUNK ROCKY" is very cringe.  I will give "HELICOPTER" props for the brawny beat sounding tough, and "STOLE YA FLOW" has some of that too.  But the rhymes are completely forgettable.  But then "FISH N STEAK (WHAT IT IS) pops up, and I start grooving with it, and I think there could be some nuggets on here.  I just wish everyone would leave the freaky Tyler bits out of their rap albums and just do the good stuff without the "I can be emo and rage and quirky look at me!"  Top track is "STAY HERE 4 LIFE" with 29.9 million streams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxKA0NnNJeo

Blurg.

Rhett Miller - A lifetime of riding by night.  You may know Miller as the lead singer of the Old 97s.  He also has a few good solo songs ("Question" is a beaut).  But this album is sooooooo freeaaaakkkking booooooooooorrrrrrring.  I just jumped in here to fart out a quick review so that it will stop coming up in my new music playlist.  Go away, Rhett.  Also, now that I look at the playcount, no one is listening to this.  The top song has one of the Turnpike Troubadours guys on it.  "Come As You Are," with 49k streams.  Most of these are in the 4 digit range of streams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y3PCXek_Iw

Sure, very pretty strumming.  Nice harmonies.  Cool VW vans on stilts.  But I am getting rid of this album right now.

Mavis Staples - Sad and Beautiful World.  I really want to be able to be like - this album is amazing, what a great victory lap for a classic artist! - and instead each time one of the songs pops up while I am shuffling, I want to skip it.  It is not terrible at all, she still has a good voice (albeit nothing like her 50 years ago voice, but she still holds power in there) and these songs are built to showcase her slow-moving grace and messages of love and peace and the difficult world we live in.  But I also don't really love it anyway.  Top song is the title track, which is definitely a bummer of a song.  1.1 million streams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAZGQG3yHNo

"Sometimes I get so sad, sometimes you just make me mad, It's a sad and beautiful world.  Sometimes I just won't go, sometimes I just won't say no, It's a sad and beautiful world."  Jeez.  Stuff like "Beautiful Strangers" or "Satisfied Mind" are much nicer, but also, I do not need to hold on to this disc.

Predicting ACL 2026: Other Big Festivals

I thought I would be very clever and try again to use AI this year to help with a prediction set.  Everything I keep reading tells me that THE GAME IS CHANGING and AI IMPROVES BY A MILLION TIMES EVERY SECOND!!!!  Maybe.  I don't know.  I have honestly been pretty freaked out that it is going to crush my job.  And then I got this response when I tried a query:

Key Findings by Year

2025 (Upcoming)

The 2025 ACL lineup includes headliners Sabrina Carpenter, Hozier, Luke Combs, The Strokes, John Summit, Doechii, and The Killers (replacing Doja Cat).  As this festival hasn't occurred yet, no cross-reference data is available for additional Austin concerts in 2025.

Really?  Do computers not know the date?!?  I had asked it to analyze which artists in the past five years had played ACL but also had a concert in Austin that same year - I wanted to see if we might be able to use that to know the distance required between Moody Center shows and ACL headlining.  You know, for some of the rad things coming to the Moody soon like Nine Inch Nails and Bruce Springsteen.  Well, as you can tell from the above, this shit is dumb.  So, sadly, gotta do the caveman work as usual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UpoZpMBM9Y

I figured my first view would be to look at a couple of other major festivals and see if I could get a little flavor on who is on the circuit.  Obviously, Lollapalooza is the best indicator, and it's lineup isn't out yet, but maybe I'll do a whole post about that one.  Anyway, let's look at some Fests headliners.

Coachella - Sabrina Carpenter, The XX, Nine Inch Noize, Justin Beiber, The Strokes, Giveon, Karol G, Young Thug, Kaskade

Bonnaroo - (also booked by C3) - The Strokes, Griz, Turnstile, Rufus Du Sol, Teddy Swims, The Neighbourhood, Noah Kahan, Role Model, Kesha

Bottlerock - Lorde, Teddy Swims, Lil Wayne, Foo Fighters, LCD Soundsystem, Zedd, Backstreet Boys, Sombr, Ludacris

Governor's Ball - (also booked by C3) - Lorde, Baby Keem, Stray Kids, Kali Uchis, Asap Rocky, Jennie

Innings Festival (also booked by C3) - Mumford & Sons, Goo Goo Dolls, Myles Smith, Twenty One Pilots, Cage the Elephant, Lord Huron, Blink 182, Sublime, Public Enemy

Shaky Knees (also booked by C3) - not out yet

Jazz Fest - always funky because of how many nights - Eagles, Stevie Nicks, Rod Stewart, Kings of Leon, Lainey Wilson, Teddy Swims, Lorde, Jon Batiste, Tyler Childers, David Byrne, The Black Keys

Bourbon & Beyond - GOD DAMN, HAVE A LINEUP!  Foo Fighters, Mumford & Sons, Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews Band, Queens of the Stone Age, Kacey Musgraves, The Red Clay Strays, Hootie & The Blowfish (and then also Counting Crows, Goose, Jason Isbell, Gary Clark Jr., The War on Drugs, Portugal the man, Father John Misty - I mean, down in small type you have Vertical Horizon, Our Lady Peace, Jet, Better than Ezra, Tonic, Cracker, and the Verve Pipe.  Holy hell!

Shaky Knees (C3 festival too).  The Strokes, Turnstile, Fontaines DC, Twenty One Pilots, Pierce the Veil, The Prodigy, Gorillaz, LCD Soundsystem, Wu Tang Clan.

Not too many overlapping artists, honestly.  Interesting.  But let's dig into a few:

• The Strokes.  Here in 2025, so nope.
• Foo Fighters.  I mean, I love the Foos, but I also feel like they have been the rock headliner too many times.  My hope would be no, and after reviewing their tour dates, it is a no for sure.  They'll be in Australia melting faces.
• Lorde.  That could be interesting.  She played the Moody last year - my youngest went and said it was the best concert she's ever been to.  She is also playing the three south American Lollas, Lolla Berlin, and a ton of other small festivals that I have never heard of.  Her tour ends on September 1 in Luxembourg, so she has the space and time.  She was last here in 2014, so yeah, this feels like a good call.  Yes.
• Teddy Swims.  I would be a little bummed if he was a headliner - that one song is great, but then I'm left pretty underwhelmed.  Playing a ton of festivals and his tour ends on July 25.  He was last here in 2024, so I don't see why he would need to come back so soon unless his popularity is somehow popping.  Going with my gut to say no.

Others I feel like inspecting:

• Nine Inch Noize might be kind of fun - that is Trent Reznor with some German EDM guy called Boys Noize.  Could be good times!  Would they be off the list because of being here in Austin in the next month or so?  Not sure.  Thanks AI.  Feels like a no to me.
• The XX.  NOPE.  They will be in a very long residency at Madison Square Garden from late August to late October.  Not happening. 
• Griz.  I have mentioned Griz more than once, and how freaking fun his show in the Tito's tent was a while back.  Semi-generic EDM, but he plays the saxophone and goes nuts with it every once in a while as the beat is beating.  I had a good time.  Anyway, he could make it for weekend one, but he is playing the Seven Stars Festival in Arrington, VA during second weekend.  Feels like a no to me.
• Turnstile.  Hell yes, please do.  They came though Austin last year and I missed the show, which made me sad, but they are signed up for three Lollas, Coachella, Bonnaroo, and more, with a last tour date of 8/28.  They've never been despite my repeated request in the ACL end of year poll.  Feels good.  I vote yes. But I also vote that they are not in the headliner font.
• Noah Kahan.  Last date on the calendar is 8/31, and the only Texas date is Arlington at the end of July.  He was last here in 2023.  Feels pretty good to me.  I'm leaning yes.
• LCD Soundsystem.  Remember when he retired?  I member.  His current tour dates on the website show only March and May dates.  Doesn't really seem like that is much of a tour.  Going to go with no.
• Baby Keem.  I don't even know what a Baby Keem is.  Just felt like I should look at him or her or it.  He is playing Dallas and Houston in April, and then his last show on this tour is September 18.  That feels pretty well set up for him to come back over the pond after that last show in London and rap our faces off or something in October.  Sure.
• Asap Rocky.  I don't think I like the new album, but I need to give it more time.  I'm just not sure that he is actually a good rapper.  Oh, nevermind.  He plays Austin on June 19.  Bye!
• Mumford & Sons.  For crying out loud won't you die?  The beatdown here is that their live show is freaking fun as hell.  But please just give me something new and fun as hell!  9/24-27 at Bourbon and Beyond is the last thing on the calendar right now, so, unfortunately, they've got the time to get here.  I'm voting with my heart and saying no.
• Twenty One Pilots.  Not really on tour, just hopping around to some festivals.  I feel like that would be really weird, just going to Europe and doing successive nights in the Netherlands, then Germany, then another German town, taking a week off, and then Switzerland and Italy before a week off, and then Belgium and France.  Seems like a lot of weird downtime and then a flurry of action.  Especially when your music is dumb.  Anyway, the last thing on here is the Sommo Festival on 9/11 in something called New Glasgow, PE.  I want to unpack so much from that.  Peru is shortened to PE?  They have a town called New Glasgow down there?  I don't know what to do with this data.  Anyway, my vote is no.
• Eagles.  Their tour just says SPHERE for months and then tacks on Jazz Fest.  Nope
• Stevie Nicks.  Nope, she plays Austin in April.
• The Black Keys.  They play New Braunfels in July.  Feels too close, even if not in Austin.  They are out for second weekend for sure, as they will be in Maine and Canada.  I'll go with no.
• Dave Matthews Band.  Playing the Moody on May 11, so nah.
• Queens of the Stone Age.  That last show of theirs I saw was weird.  Neat, and interesting, but weird.  Their shows on tour are listed as either with System of a Down or Foo Fighters.  That is a big show.  After Kentucky on 9/24, they play Vegas on 9/26, which would leave them the time to be here.  I feel like they'd need to release new music for people to be interested, and it has been years.  I freaking love them, but saying no for now.
• The Red Clay Strays.  It seems like bands have been able to play Two Step Inn and then still show up at ACL, so I could see this one.  Their tour has a gap from 9/26 to 10/22, so that feels like a pretty good indicator that they'll show back up for ACL.  Yes.
• Backstreet Boys.  I mean, I hope not!  There was entirely too much of them involved in the Super Bowl commercials.  Nope, they will be in Germany!
• Sombr.  Dunno what a Sombr is, but figured it sounded like a hip thing the kids would want to tiktok with.  His last show is 9/12, oh wait, PE is a part of Canada!  Not Peru!  I'm not changing what I said above though.  I don't see it.  Going with no.

So, that could be Red Clay Strays, Lorde, Turnstile, Noah Kahan, and Baby Keem.  And probably freaking Mumford & Sons.  Not an especially exciting start!