BEST NEW Music Festival

Festivals come and go, sadly.  But for every festival that has gone the way of the dodo, there’s a new one hoping to be the next big thing. 

We had a 3-way tie for first place for Best New Music Festival!

WINNERS:

Roots Music Festival – Boulder, CO

Downtown Boulder, CO, was brought to life with music, with over 150 artists appearing on stages big and small all throughout town at Roots Music Fest, put on by Roots Music Project.

Holy Smokes

Andy Frasco & The U.N. and Little Stranger teamed up to host the inaugural Holy Smokes! Festival at Nelson Ledges in Garrettsville, OH.

Newgrass Festival

Newgrass kicked things off in Newberg, OR with Broken Compass Bluegrass and Never Come Down.  They’re keeping the momentum rolling into year 2 with Shadowgrass, The Fretliners and Magoo announced for MARCH 13-14, 2026.

BEST International Music Festival

This is basically a gimme for Strings & Sol every year, holding the title since the inception of the Festies.  Hey, Jamcruisers, why don’t you get out the vote?

WINNER: Strings & Sol

Wanna know why this is simply the best?  Read our Strings & Sol Reviews.

FIRST RUNNER UP: Glastonbury

It has been hosting hundreds of thousands of fans and just about every major artist in the world since the 80’s.  Now it has a second-place Festy Award!  Talk about validation!

SECOND RUNNER UP: BajaWonderGrass

We’re huge fans of this “choose-your-own-adventure” style party in El Sargento in Baja California Sur.  Read our 2025 Review and our 2026 Preview to see why.  Tix still available for 2026 BajaWonderGrass!

Honorable Mention:

While it technically takes place in Woodward, PA, you can’t argue with the vote for Another World Music Festival as Best International Fest.  It doesn’t really get more international than another world!

BEST Small Festival

We ❤️ Small Festivals!

The 2025 winner proves that a dedicated and passionate fan base can make all the difference when it comes to festival success.  The fans of this winner came out strong and voted for their favorite!

WINNER: Bitter Jester Music Festival

We wrote about Bitter Jester a few years back, and were impressed with unique way of merging a band competition series with valuable instruction for its artists, culminating in a legitimate festival.  Check out the Bitter Jester organization and festival – and help support emerging artists!

FIRST RUNNER UP: First City Music Festival

We’re definitely putting this on our radar! Check it out.

SECOND RUNNER UP: The Ramble Festival

Ramble Fest held this title for a couple of years – no slight on them getting bumped a few spots – that just means there are even more great small festivals! ❤️

HONORABLE MENTIONS: The Moonshiner’s Ball, Tico Time Bluegrass, McAwesome Fest

BEST Family Friendly Festival

As long as people insist on continuing to reproduce, I guess these are a good thing.

WINNER : First City Music Festival

FIRST RUNNER UP: The Ramble Festival

SECOND RUNNER UP: DelFest

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival, The Moonshiner’s Ball, Rockygrass

BEST Waterside Music Festival

We LOVE dancing with our toes in the sand while listening to our favorite live music.  For the first year ever, Strings & Sol didn’t take the category!  I guess y’all forgot there’s a beach there?

WINNER: Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival

The Chesapeake Bay may not be the Caribbean Sea, but you can’t argue the beauty of Sandy Point State Park!  See why Annapolis Baygrass Festival is so special, and is a premier destination festival.

FIRST RUNNER UP: The Moonshiner’s Ball

A creek is water – and swimming is swimming, no matter where you do it!

SECOND RUNNER UP: Tico Time Bluegrass Festival

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Strings & Sol, Rockygrass

PERSONAL MENTION: Rhythm & Sails.  This might not fit the mold of a traditional music festival, but 8 days on a catamaran with 70 other souls, including 8 incredible artists, certainly gets our vote for Best Waterside Music Festival!  READ ALL ABOUT RHYTHM & SAILS

BEST Sit-in or Collaboration

Nothing better than the magic that happens on stage when different artists get together at a festival. There were a TON of great options to choose from, but the clear standout is Cris Jacobs, who became the unofficial “king of sit-ins” this year, and overwhelmed voting with his Dogs In A Pile Collab from Ramble Fest.

WINNER: The Ramble Band Plays Dead

Cris Jacobs & members of Dogs in a Pile, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong played a Dead set at Ramble Fest.

FIRST RUNNER UP: Michael Cleveland & Billy Strings KFC Yum! Center (Louisville, KY)  

SECOND RUNNER UP: Sam Bush & Lindsay Lou w/ Greensky Bluegrass (Kalamazoo Halloween)

HONORABLE MENTION: Holly Bowling w/ Greensky Bluegrass (Annapolis Baygrass FEstival, and many other occurances)

BEST Artist-at-Large

This differs from a sit-in or collaboration in that an artist-at-large is typically around for the entire festival, lending their skills to bands throughout the fest, and creating unique musical moments along the way.

2025 was an absolute runaway for the winner, Kyle Tuttle, who got more votes than all others combined! And let’s talk about the Artist-at-Large Power couple – Kyle’s partner and 2023 Best Artist at Large, Lindsay Lou, took 2nd place, and has consistently owned this category!

WINNER: Kyle Tuttle – Everywhere!

Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival, Moonshiners Ball, Cavefest, First City Music Festival (Kyle is back at First City in 2026!)

FIRST RUNNER UP: Lindsay Lou – also everywhere!

SECOND RUNNER UP: Holly Bowling – Annapolis Baygrass Festival

HONORABLE MENTION: Kanika Moore – already set as 2026 Artist-at-Large for Northlands Music Festival

Greenest Music Festival

Anyone old enough to remember the trash heap that was left at the 1990 Earth Day celebration?  Yeah, we can do better.  Lucky for us, many festivals are making a great effort and a huge impact by consciously throwing an event that doesn’t destroy the planet.

WINNER: Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival

Annapolis Baygrass doesn’t sell plastic water bottles at all.  They have a dedicated Green Team to help everyone recycle, they pour drinks in reusable aluminum cups, and much more.  The festival has a mission to help protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay, and even recycles the many oyster shells that are left from slurping the local delicacy.  Kudos, Baygrass – keep setting the example and leading the way – this is what a music festival should look like!

FIRST RUNNER UP: Telluride Bluegrass Festival

The OG’s paved the way by creating “SUSTAINABLE FESTIVATION” (n): Sustainable Festivation (n) is the act of creating a conscious, socially responsible community centered around a love of music, unwavering respect for the planet, an appreciation of the human experience, and thoughtful consideration of our intertwined futures.

SECOND RUNNER UP: FloydFest

Favorite Festival Camping

You’re basically living there for a week.

WINNER: DelFest

With shade trees and a river for floating, DelFest is a great campground.  (when it’s not raining, at least!)

FIRST RUNNER UP: Suwanee Hulaween

The Spirit of Suwanee Music Park is a magical land.

SECOND RUNNER UP: Rooster Walk

Honorable Mention: First City Music Festival

Favorite Festival Food Vendor

You gotta eat.  Let’s celebrate the folks keeping us fueled up to dance all day and night.  No, not those folks (although that could be its own category)… we’re talking about the Food Vendors!

WINNER: Johnny Wonton’s

A new addition to the Festies! Johnny Wonton’s Cajun and Creole fed the hungry masses at many a fest in 2025. Although seeing that “BYL 420 Fest” and “Smoke in the Hills” festivals were among their stops, can we really trust those voters? 🤪 💨

FIRST RUNNER UP: Stef’s Cereal Bar

Always a welcome sight at any festival, Stef’s Cereal Bar has a goal of “feeding the hungry, while also raising awareness for at-risk youth.”  Thanks for all you do! 

SECOND RUNNER UP: Sexi Mexi

HONORABLE MENTION: Anyone still slinging a $1 heady grilled cheese. 

BEST ARTIST ON THE RISE

Or, 2025 Artist most likely to be at the top of the lineup in 2026!

This is for a band that we expect to climb higher and higher on those festival lineup posters until they reach the top, or declare themselves the Lizard Kings while jumping from a rooftop.

WINNER: Magoo

This group from Colorado seems to have been recently shot out of a cannon.  Their picking skills, songwriting, setlist curation, and fan domination have all grown exponentially in the past year, as evidenced by the band’s inclusion in just about every single festival lineup of 2026.  They deserve everything coming their way.  Go see this band.  More on Magoo.

FIRST RUNNER UP: Mountain Grass Unit

(They were last year’s second runner-up, so it’s working!)

SECOND RUNNER UP: Dogs in a Pile

Best Red Rocks Show

We finally had to break down and give Red Rocks Amphitheatre its own category.

WINNER: Leftover Salmon & Kitchen Dwellers (Memorial Day Picnic)

This was an amazing party to kick off the 2025 season, along with Bill Payne, Nicki Bluhm, Jason Carter, Laurie Lewis, Mishka, AJ Lee, Clay Street Unit and the High Country Horns.

FIRST RUNNER UP: Tedeschi Trucks Band

SECOND RUNNER UP: Sturgill Simpson

That’s Johnny Blueskies.

Best Live Cover Song

“Play Freebird!  Play Freebird! Play Freebird!“

WINNER: “Rooster” (Alice In Chains) Kitchen Dwellers at Red Rocks (5/26/25)

Alwyn Robinson (Leftover Salmon) and Jason Carter joined in for this magical moment.

FIRST RUNNER UP: “Bark at the Moon” (Ozzy Osbourne) Billy Strings at CFG Arena (10/31/25)

SECOND RUNNER UP: “Mad World” (Tears for Fears)  Sierra Hull  (Various)

Best Indoor Music Venue

We can’t always be dancing under the stars.  Luckily, there are amazing music venues like these that make us feel like we are.

WINNER: The 8×10 (Baltimore, MD)

This iconic venue has announced it will be closing its doors in May.  Do yourself a favor and get to The 8×10 while you can!

FIRST RUNNER UP: The Metro (Chicago, IL)

SECOND RUNNER UP: Mission Ballroom (Denver, CO)

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Hub City Vinyl (Hagerstown, MD), The Hamilton Live (DC)

Looks like the East Coast got out the vote!  Love it.  We can’t wait to check out these venues!

Best Outdoor Music Venue

It’s not really a fair contest, but…

WINNER: Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Morrison, CO)

FIRST RUNNER UP:  Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts (Vienna, VA)

SECOND RUNNER UP: The Salt Shed (Chicago, IL)

Best Opening Band

Sometimes the openers are the ones bringing the real heat.

WINNER: 65 North Pickers – New Barn Theatre – Mount Vernon, KY (opening for The Infamous Stringdusters)

We’re definitely putting 65 North Pickers on our radar!

FIRST RUNNER UP: Magoo 

Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom – Denver, CO (opening for Shadowgrass)

SECOND RUNNER UP: Sicard Hollow 

Jefferson Theater  – Charlottesville, VA (opening for Leftover Salmon)

HONORABLE MENTION: Dirty Grass Players opening for Railroad Earth (Sherman Theater)

Best Multi-night Run

What’s better than seeing your favorite band once? Seeing them 3 nights in a row! (“But don’t they just play the same songs over and over?”  No, mom, this is jamgrass.)

WINNER: Billy Strings – Tie with Billy Strings

Billyween in Baltimore and Billy’s Asheville, NC run both took top honors in this one.

FIRST RUNNER UP: Kitchen Dwellers at Pine Creek Lodge

SECOND RUNNER UP: Greensky Bluegrass (25th Anniversary Celebration – Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo)

HONORABLE MENTION: Phish at Folsom Field.  Boulder, CO 

Read why we LOVED this change of venue in 2025.

Best Concert

We’re blessed to have so many to choose from, but there can be only one winner…

WINNER: David Byrne

This is unique – in the land of jambands and jamgrass, it’s rare for us to support an artist that basically plays the same show each night.  But anyone who caught David Byrne’s “Who Is The Sky?” world tour in 2025 knows that this is simply no contest.  Also, this made us realize that next year’s awards need a “Best Tour” category!

FIRST RUNNER UP: Leftover Salmon & Kitchen Dwellers (Red Rocks Memorial Day Picnic)

SECOND RUNNER UP: Sam Grisman Project w/ Peter Rowan (Ryman in Nashville)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Turnpike Troubadours @ The Anthem
Linkin Park @ Sonic Temple

BEST Festival Lineup

Arguably, the most important part of a music festival is the LINEUP of artists.

WINNER: Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival 2025

2 sets of Greensky Bluegrass with Holly Bowling, (who also served as one of the artists-at-large, along with Patrick Rainey and “2025 Best Artist At Large” Winner Kyle Tuttle), Molly Tuttle, Kitchen Dwellers, Railroad Earth, The Travelin’ McCourys, LaMP, Kyle Hollingsworth Band, Larry Keel’s Electric Larryland, and MORE!  Read the Review

FIRST RUNNER UP: Grassfire Festival

Greensky Bluegrass (2 sets), Molly Tuttle, Del McCoury Band, Infamous Stringdusters, Railroad Earth, Yonder Mountain String Band, Kyle Tuttle Band, and many more.  Noticing a theme with these bands?

SECOND RUNNER UP: The Ramble Festival

The California Honeydrops, The Infamous Stringdusters, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Cris Jacobs, The Brothers Comatose, High Fade, Sneezy, Yarn, Dizgo and more.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Ravina Festival: Not really fair, since this is more a concert series than a festival, but hard to argue with James Taylor, Beck, The Black Crowes, Weird Al Yankovich, Janelle Monáe, Al Green, The Roots, and Bonnie Raitt.  Actually, we really wish this were a weekend music festival!

First City Music Fest: Peter Rowan with the Sam Grisman Project (performing “Old & in the Way”), Armchair Boogie, Henhouse Prowlers, Grandpa’s Cough Medicine, Chicago Farmer & The Fieldnotes, Kyle Tuttle (Artist at Large), Chain Station and more!

BEST Festival Theme

We LOVE dressing up at music festivals.  Just ask our pet unicorn (and attorney), Neil.

Festival themes are a way to add flair and take the strange to the next level.  These festivals did it better than any:

WINNER: Party Animals

The winner has always been a festival, but this year it seemed that everyone had the same idea. “Party Animals” was a common thread this year, in some form or another.  🐘 🐒  “Safari Night” was first featured on Rhythm and Sails, then “Party Animals” popped up at First City Music Festival, while “Night at the Zoo” made it to Mexico at Strings & Sol.

FIRST RUNNER UP: The Ramble Festival

“The Disco Ball”, “Camp Ramble”, and “Once Upon a Onesie”.

SECOND RUNNER UP: First City Music Festival

“Tie Dye,” “Cosmic Cowboy,” and “Party Animals” 

HONORABLE MENTION: Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival

“Boogie Below the Bay”

Best Late-Night Performance

Often, the magic happens after the main stage closes.

WINNER: Noodles at the Dizgo

Natalie Brooke joined Dizgo at Ramble Festival for an epic, high-energy throwdown!

FIRST RUNNER UP: Silas Herman & the Tone Unit (and friends!) at Tico Time Bluegrass

A Sunday night super-jam featuring members of The Fretliners, Magoo, and Jack Cloonan.

SECOND RUNNER UP: Leftover Salmon

Following the Billy Strings Halloween shows, Leftover Salmon played a late-night set at Nevermore Hall in Baltimore to close out the weekend.

Most Memorable Musical Moment

What defines something as memorable? 

Getting hit in the face with a flying gorilla at a Leftover Salmon show is certainly memorable. 

Here, we were looking for the more positive memories, and we left this open to the voters.

👉 “Shannon Vetter, the artist at large at The Moonshiner’s Ball, went full rock star mode when he joined High Fade on stage. I never knew a saxophonist could get down that hard over roaring bass lines. Shannon at one point hit a jump off the drum kit platform with such impeccable timing and hit the most perfect note when he landed that I saw no less than 5 people spill their drinks around me from hell yeah ing so hard .“

👉 Billy Strings’ Spiderwebs: During the “Billyween” run, everyone was mesmerized by actual spiderwebs spreading over the audience during the performance, creating an immersive, eerie atmosphere.

👉 “Addie from the Brothers Comatose belting out Rhiannon while the rain dumped down at Ramble Fest, surrounded by so many smiling people.”

👉 Cross Canadian Ragweed’s Return: Their unexpected six-song set at Mile 0 Fest was cited as a major shockwave for the Red Dirt music community.

👉 Phish: The massive 50-minute “Carini > Light > Carini” in Alpharetta.

Best Music Festival Performance

THIS is a big one.  The BEST Music Festival Performance. 

There were thousands of sets that took place across the country (and beyond), performed by thousands of artists.  These are the ones that stood out the most to our readers, cementing themselves into festival legend.

WINNER: The Ramble Band Plays Dead

Cris Jacobs & Dogs in a Pile, Alex “Gator” Petropulos of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong.  This set must have been pure magic, for how many times it was mentioned, in many different categories.  During parts of the performance, Brian Murray (Dogs in a Pile) played Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir’s “original Cowboy Fancy” Ibanez BWM1 guitar, while Jimmy Law (Dogs) and Cris Jacobs both shredded a replica of Jerry Garcia’s custom Rosebud guitar.

First Runner-Up: Sierra Ferrell at DelFest

Del Yeah!

SECOND RUNNER UP: Armchair Boogie at First City Music Festival

Best Overall Music Festival

This is the BIG one.  These festivals just did it all right.  The music, vibe, location, staff, and attendees all combined to put these festivals over the top.  We expect them to be around for a long time, leading the charge and setting an example of what a great music festival can be.

WINNER: First City Music Festival

Wow!  First City Music Festival comes out of nowhere and takes home the Gold! 

The attendees of this Vincennes, IN festival are passionate – as evident in their voting in the Festy Awards.  What makes them so enthusiastic for First City? 

First City nabbed Festy Awards for Best Small Festival, Best Family Friendly Festival, Best Theme, Best Lineup, Best Artist at Large, and Best Camping. 

It’s safe to say that First City Music Festival is having its Beyoncé moment.

Congrats, First City! 

FIRST RUNNER UP: The Ramble Festival

Ramble always has a strong showing in the Festies, and it is well deserved!

SECOND RUNNER UP: DelFest

Del Yeah!  DelFest is in its 16th year in Cumberland, MD.  They know what they’re doing!

HONORABLE MENTIONS: The Moonshiner’s Ball, Annapolis Baygrass Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Rooster Walk