World Famous Pets

One Liner: Edie Brickell!  A drummer who played with her, Pearl Jam, and a pile of others!  A bassist who played with John Legend, Sia, Bruno Mars, and Sting!  A guy who plays guitar!
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but going Finnish Death Pop
Home: Space and Time

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 14
Day: Friday at 3:30
Weekend Two Only.

BeatBox Stage

Thoughts:  Now here is some good intrigue!  A band that for sure has never been here before, because it just formed and they have no music available on Spotify or YouTube.

Here is what we know:

World Famous Pets is a new musical project featuring Edie Brickell, drummer Matt Chamberlain, bassist Kaveh Rastegar, and guitarist Mason Stoops. Announced in late 2025, the band has been working on new music at EastWest Studios and teases upcoming shows. 

Key Details About World Famous Pets

• Members: Edie Brickell, Matt Chamberlain, Kaveh Rastegar, and Mason Stoops.
• Status: Active as of late 2025/early 2026, working on new music.
• Genre/Style: Known for creating new music and teasing shows, with members having extensive backgrounds in various musical styles.
• Instagram: You can follow their updates on their official Instagram account, @worldfamouspetsband.

This collaborative effort emerged from the musicians' shared passion for creating music and working in the studio, with the group often highlighting their love for pets and collaborating with artists like Tig Notaro, who is considered the "band Godmother". 

Looking forward to knowing more!

Cannons (2026)

One Liner:  80's tinged synth pop formed from Craiglist

Wikipedia Genre:  Indie pop, dream pop, electropop, synthwave

Home: L.A.

Poster Position: 5
Weekend One Only.
Sunday at 5:30

SnapChat Stage.

Thoughts:  Last here in 2024.  Not a very long turnaround, so you'd think they have a bunch of exciting new music.  You would be wrong.  I mean, they did release a 2026 album, but no song on there has more than 2 million streams, so it isn't exactly burning up the charts.

Has what I would characterize as a lush, deluxe, smart pop sound, like the kind of stuff you'd hear playing in a nice boutique store in the background.  It is interesting to me that there are three people in the band, because it definitely sounds like it is just a singer and a computer.  The guitarist and keyboard guys had been friends since childhood, making music in their teenage years.  In 2013, they formed the band after seeing a Craiglist ad from the vocalist, who had posted in search of a band needing a vocalist.  That is wild to me.  Is that at all normal?  At first, they just e-mailed parts back and forth, before finally getting into the studio.

Five albums - 2017's Night Drive, 2019's Shadows, 2022's Fever Dream, 2023's Heartbeat Highway, and 2025's Everything Glows.  The biggest song, by a large margin, is from that 2019 album and apparently blew up after it was featured on a show called Never Have I Ever.  284.9 million streams for "Fire For You."

Completely adequately pleasant little nugget of pop.  The bassline is supremely delicious.  They are definitely intelligent to use the lead singer as the screen grab for all of their videos instead of the two schlubby dudes.  The second-most streamed track is from the third album - "Bad Dream" has only 43.7 million streams.

80's vibes in that one with the synth that comes in for the chorus.  Seems like a terrible idea to dance with a butcher knife like that killer guy does.  Weird that she needed Craigslist to find a band though, her voice is really great.  My only beef after letting this roll over me for hours is that the songs definitely get to feeling same-y after a while - just more pretty vocals over 80's tinged synth rock all day.  But I generally enjoy it as boring but pleasant backgroiund music.

Don West (2026)

One Liner: Throwback soul from another Aussie
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - classic soul
Home: Sydney

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 12
Saturday at 3:15
Both Weekends.

Tito's Tent

Thoughts:  This freaking guy was here just last year.  Can we really not find something new?  Well, here is my review from then for you to re-enjoy.

I really wish that this guy was one of the four listed Don West people named in Wikipedia.  Don West (educator) (1906–1992), American writer, poet, educator and civil-rights activist; Don West (wrestling) (1963–2022), American pitchman, television personality and professional wrestling broadcaster; Major Don West, a fictional character on the TV series Lost in Space; Don West, a lawyer in the trial of George Zimmerman in 2013.  Instead, we have a soulful supermodel-looking dude from Australia.  More Aussies on Saturday!  What is going on!?

Anyway, the sound here is (mostly) some classic Stax/Motown-era soul music.  Real instruments, real recording, etc.  Occasionally, he angles into a classic rock sound like the Black Keys might.  Very limited catalog for now with only singles and on 2024 EP named Don West.  Biggest single so far is called "Small Change." 55.8 million streams (up from 22.7 last year).

I mean, look at my guy.  If he is not modelling on the side then someone is asleep at his agency.  On top of that, to have a beautiful singing voice to go with it?  Who could say no!?  The horns and falsetto in there just make me happy.  That is a fun tune.  He apparently taught himself guitar with his dad's classic guitar, and then joined his brother's band - Sons of the East - as a bassist.  How you gonna keep that sexy bastard off to the side behind a bass?

Second-biggest streamer is "Friends," with 35.3 million streams (up from 11.3 last year).

And then this one brings all the vibes to the table.  Just slow and sultry and groovy to the max.  Although it is hard to understand how you claim you can just be friends right after you just claimed that you still touch yourself when you think of her.

Great tunes.  Easy call to go and let this classic sound just wash over my early afternoon.

ACL 2026 - Lineup is here!

And I'm afraid that it has been built to appeal to my teenager daughters and not me.  I see a few good rock things on there, but the weekend one headliners are all things that I would naturally avoid.  I'm a little bummed out right now.  We will have to dig in and find the gems, I suppose!

The most important thing I need to figure out is how to fix the cookies or whatever it is with Google and Blogger that are making it so that I can't upload videos or images.  I can't add an image of the dang lineup without going to my phone to add it from there.  If I don't fix, this season of writing these blogs is going to be really frustrating!

But those headliners are very pop-heavy - Charli, Rufus, Twenty One Pilots, Lorde, The XX.  I've done Skirllex before and don't need to do it again, and the Kings of Leon are great (but are only weekend two).

Turnstile, The War on Drugs, Amyl and the Sniffers - those will be fun.  And then, yikes.  I've heard of a few of those below there, but very few.

Onward!

Bourbon & Beyond 2026 - Line 18 (Shelby Means, Caleb & Reeb, The Steel Wheels, Rainbow Girls, Fireside Collective)

I realized that I failed to handle the last group once I got caught up in ACL.  Extremely quick writeups for these...

Shelby Means
One Liner: A little Allison Krauss flavor
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is bluegrass, Americana
Home: Charleston, SC (via Nashville, Wyoming, and Kentucky)
Day: Friday
Thoughts:  "One of the foremost bassists in bluegrass."  Raised in Kentucky and Wyoming, she's now a Nashville session bassist who makes music with loads of folks.  She earned a Grammy for her work with Molly Tutle on the 2023 album City of Gold.  Her voice is nice - not overpowering and without a lot of the annoying embellishments that some ladies can add.  Between the basic bluegrassy Americana background and her vocals, this is all very pleasant.

Caleb & Reeb
One Liner: Classic country, with a little bluegrass tossed in
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is classic county and great harmonies
Home: Pacific Northwest
Day: Friday
Thoughts:  Her voice kind of reminds me of Aimee Mann, and the underlying music in the top song is an excellent little old-school country shuffle.  I want to wrap up in it like a cozy blanket and take a long nap.  Some of the songs sound like the excellent stuff that Gillian Welch and David Rawlings make.  I let this play for way too long, I really like it.

The Steel Wheels
One Liner: Long-standing bluegrass band with a folky rock feel.
Wikipedia Genre: Americana, folk, bluegrass rock
Home: Virginia
Day: Friday
Thoughts:  A band that has been around for 20 years is interesting, in that I have never heard a single mention of them that I can recall.  And, they are big enough to put on their own music festival, the Red Wing Roots Music Festival in Mt. Solon, Virginia.  Some of the guys met at Eastern Mennonite University.  I know this is probably the wrong take, but that sounds like a terrifying school full of strict professors who will brook no dissent.  14 freaking albums!  I can't quickly get a handle on the whole output, but I will say that the first few songs are bluegrass with a little southern rock and folk and rootsy soul.  Enjoyable.  Sounds like the kind of band that would play a free show at the Dillon Amphitheater on a Tuesday during summer.

Rainbow Girls
One Liner: Folky harmonies for days.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is folk and acoustic indie rock
Home: Bay Area
Day: Friday
Thoughts:  Their Spotify bio starts with this: "We're just a couple'a heads on bodies doing our best over here.  Makes you feel warm, like a soup or a hot glove.  We highly recommend us for you."  A hot glove seems like a weird phrase.  Don't think I have ever donned a hot glove.  The music feels rootsy, very guitar forward, full of vocal harmonies.  They do lovely covers of "Helplessly Hoping" and "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall."  "Helplessly Hoping" is an all-timer for good harmonies, and they nail it.  "American Dream" is very pretty as well - their harmonies are really nice.  Although, feels like the kind of band we want to see in the Cactus Club, not a big festival stage.

Fireside Collective
One Liner: Straight bluegrass, maybe a twinge of gospel and jam in there too.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is bluegrass
Home: Asheville, NC
Day: Friday
Thoughts: Straight bluegrass action.  Like, someone earnestly singing about going on a hike or something, while a bass chugs a beat, a violin gets happily plucked, and some dude on a banjo ejaculates all over the stage.  It is jaunty and pretty fun if you dig that sort of thing.  I like it.  Although, their web bio calls then "newgrass turned eclectic jam band" so I am not sure that my wife will allow it.