Palisade Bluegrass amd Roots Festival announces 2026 lineup | Arts & Entertainment

The Palisade Bluegrass and Roots Festival unveiled its 2026 festival lineup, featuring three days of national touring acts, Colorado standouts and genre-bending performers at Riverbend Park in Palisade. Since 2009, The Palisade Bluegrass and Roots Festival has showcased top-notch musicianship across the bluegrass and roots spectrum.

The festival will be held Friday through Sunday, June 5-7. The Friday lineup features the Queen Bees Band, Stillhouse String Band, the Slocan Ramblers, Magoo and Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country. Saturday’s lineup consists of Liver Down the River, Handmade Moments, Boot Juice, RapidGrass, Chaparelle and Andy Frasco & The U.N. On Sunday, the Pickpockets, Bronwyn Keith Hynes, Sun Jr., Southern Avenue and Shinyribs are scheduled.

The venue is set along the Colorado River with sweeping views of mesas, orchards and vineyards. The only time the park allows camping is during the weekend of the festival.

Friday’s headliner, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, has been the fastest-rising band on the jamband circuit over the last several years, kicking into high gear in 2021 when Nathan “Sugarleg” Aronowitz joined the band on keyboards, guitar and vocals. The band is rounded out by Will “Mustang” McGee on bass and vocals, and Will “Bronco” Clark on drums and vocals.

The band’s music sounds like a collision of country music and the Grateful Dead. Cosmic Country has released five albums. The 2023 record “Reflector” spent 29 weeks on the Americana album charts. The band recently released its fifth album, “Horizons.”

Saturday’s headliner, Andy Frasco & the U.N., is not even close to being a bluegrass band. They are witness to the fact that festival organizers care more about the quality of the show than the genre of the music. You can expect Frasco to dance wildly on the piano, guitar player Shawn Eckels to engage in ferocious guitar solos, bass player Floyd Kellogg to drop low-end bombs, saxophonist Sam Kelly to blow like Clarence Clemons and drummer Andee “Beats” Avila to own it on drums. 

Frasco is heralded for his clever lyrics with great hooks; his songs are often inspirational in nature. One of his best-known songs is called “Somedays” and has the chorus, “Some days you’ll feel great, some days you’ll feel so low, don’t let your sorrows drown into tomorrow, take it as you go.” 

Sunday’s headliner — Shinyribs, from Austin, Texas. The band blends Texas blues, New Orleans R&B funk, horn-driven Memphis soul, country twang, border music, big band swing and roots-rock. 

The Austin-based nine-piece supergroup is led by Kevin Russell, a charismatic frontman who wears colorful suits, swaps out an electric guitar for a ukulele and is known for his theatrics on stage. He fronted an alternative country band, The Gourds, which formed in Austin in 1994 and lasted until 2013. If you close your eyes and think of Snoop Dog’s “Gin and Juice” done in a bluegrassy twang, that was The Gourds. 

Shinyribs was named “Best Austin Band” at the Austin Chronicle’s Austin Music Awards in 2017 and 2018. The band has released nine records dating back to 2010. 

Palisade Bluegrass and Roots Festival is probably my favorite festival in Colorado,” said Mark Morris, guitarist and vocalist for RapidGrass, a frequent performer at the event. “The reason it’s so special is because the Colorado River is usually flowing at a runoff state. This creates a ‘welcome to summer’ like no other festival. The cottonwoods are snowing their springtime seeds while the desert air welcomes the coming of a new season. In this perfect setting, the songs effortlessly bounce off the mesa and fill the air while beautiful families share beautiful music.

“There is always a special moment for me at Palisade where the song fills my heart and soul to the fullest of beauty. Maybe it’s the magic of the people. Maybe it’s the magic in the peaches. Or maybe it is the magic of a Palisade sunset.”

For more information, visit palisademusic.com.