After taking 2020 off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Railbird plans to be back in-person for 2021 with a different lineup than what they’d planned for last year. The festival is set for August 28-29 at The Grounds at Keeneland in Lexington, KY featuring newly-announced headliners My Morning Jacket, Leon Bridges, Dave Matthews Band and Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit. 

Tickets are available for the 2-day GA passes on Railbird’s site for $155 + fees and parking. Single-day passes will be sold closer to the festival date. Other artists playing the festival include Billy Strings, Black Pumas, Midland, Margo Price, Japanese Breakfast, Sarah Jarosz, John Moreland, Khruangbin, The Revivalists, Band of Horses, Tanya Tucker, Pinegrove and Liz Cooper & The Stampede, among others.

My Morning Jacket is known for putting on great live performances, as demonstrated by their well-regarded live album Okonokos. After releasing a sequel to their previous album The Waterfall (2015) simply called The Waterfall II last year, the outfit announced that they’d recorded a “completely new album” that they hoped to release once live shows opened up again. They also premiered a music video for their 2020 track “Feel You” during the Earth Day Eve livestream last week.

Leon Bridges was also announced as a headliner for the Hinterland Festival in St. Charles, IA this August. He last shared a cover of Pastor T.L. Barrett’s “Like a Ship” in February and guested on songs by Diplo and The Avalanches in late 2020. Earlier last year, he released two new solo songs called “Inside Friend” and “Sweeter” and a full collaborative EP with Khruangbin, who are also set to play Railbird. Khruangbin also released a full-length record last year called Mordechai and recently announced concerts for later this year at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, CA and Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre in Austin, TX.

Black Pumas and Tanya Tucker, who are also set to play both Railbird and Hinterland, will take to the stage on the day before Bridges and Khruangbin at the latter. Another festival Black Pumas plan to play this year is the WonderBus Festival in Columbus, OH. in August. Tucker is fresh off her 2020 Grammy wins for ‘Best Country Album’ and ‘Best Country Song’ and recently announced a new album in collaboration with Brandi Carlile.

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit is set to headline the Moon Crush socially-distanced music festival in Miramar Beach, FL this Friday. Isbell was recently caught donating songwriting royalties from his song “Cover Me Up” to the Nashville NAACP. He was one of the headliners originally scheduled for Railbird’s 2020 festival alongside Maren Morris, The Head and the Heart and Young the Giant.

Japanese Breakfast was also announced for the Treefort Music Festival in Boise, ID this September. She’s fresh off the heels of two new singles, “Be Sweet” and “Posing in Bondage,” both released in advance of her third LP under the alias, titled Jubilee. 

Other artists playing the festival to have released new music recently include Pinegrove, who just released a new album in February called Amperland, NY. John Moreland released his last album last year, simply titled LP5. 

Photo credit: Sharon Alagna