After the failed 1972 Dripping Springs Reunion, a three day event at Hurlbut Ranch in Dripping Springs Texas that featured Willie Nelson, the country singer decided to put on a show of his own. Where the original festival failed to reach its intended attendance due to poor promotion, Willie’s “4th of July Picnic” attracted 40,000 guests off the bat and continued on to be an annual festival.

In 1973, local residents shunned the event as “moral pollution.” The event was poorly staffed and notorious for safety concerns. The festival grounds would be strewn with trash, and only a few lowly portably toilets served thousands of people. However, the festival’s organizes worked over the years to correct the stains on their show’s reputation. The concert now attracts even more people, and is much more effectively run.

This year, 2018, Nelson invited Sturgill Simpson, Head and the Heart and Margo Price to headline the picnic. This year is the first time Simpson has played the festival since 2015. 2015 is also the first year that the picnic was held at its current location at the Circuit of the Americas racetrack just outside Austin, Texas. Other notable acts in this year’s lineup are Ryan Bingham, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians and Jamestown Revival.

Photography Credit: Raymond Flotat