Blue Ox Music Festival will return to the rolling hills of Eau Claire, WI, with a 2026 lineup topped by Charley Crockett, Marcus King Band, The Dead South, and Kurt Vile & The Violators. The festival will come home to The Pines Music Park on June 25th, 26th, and 27th [get tickets].
For its 12th edition, Blue Ox Music Festival will maintain its reputation as an oasis for a cross-section of today’s top bluegrass, Americana, folk, roots, and alt-country. In 2026, the festival will also host folk supergroup I’m With Her, twangy jam band Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, world-renowned mandolinist Sierra Hull, genre-blending singer-songwriter Valerie June, rising jamgrass outfit Shadowgrass, Grand Ole Opry regular Dom Flemons with The Traveling Wildfires, Nigerian desert blues band Etran De L’aïr, former Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway fiddler Brownyn Keith-Hynes, and many more. Pert Near Sandstone will return as hosts of the festival, performing two nights.
Them Coulee Boys, Folk Bitch Trio, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Silverada, The Lowest Pair, The Steel Wheels, Hogslop String Band, Wild Horses, Chicken Wire Empire, Abby Webster, Johnny Mullenax, The Mighty Pines, Fabrizio, Maygen & The Birdwatcher, Roe Family Singers, Art Stevenson & High Water, and Molly Brandt fill out the remainder of the initial 2026 Blue Ox Music Festival lineup, with more acts to follow in the new year. These artists will perform across the Main Stage, Saloon Stage, and Backwoods Stage all weekend long.
Attendees will sprawl out on the lush 140-acre The Pines Music Park campground, dotted with tall trees along the hills of western Wisconsin. The family-friendly environment will also feature an array of other recreations, including music workshops, a nine-hole disc golf course, morning yoga and meditation, kids’ activity stages, and more.
Tickets for the 2026 Blue Ox Music Festival—including 3-day GA passes, car camping upgrades, RV sites, and more—are on sale now here. Children 13 and under are admitted free with a paid adult.
As is tradition, Peart Near Sandstone members Nate Sipe and Blue Ox MC Justin Bruhn will produce the Road to Blue Ox Podcast in the run-up to the festival. Each episode will feature interviews with artists from the lineup, as well as key information and updates about the festival. The Road to the Blue Ox Podcast is available to stream on all major podcasting platforms.
Check out Live For Live Music‘s on-site coverage of the 2025 festival here, and revisit Volume One‘s mini-documentary celebrating the event’s tenth anniversary.
Blue Ox Music Festival — Ten Years in The Pines (Mini-Documentary)
