I’ve been dreaming about Under the Big Sky for the better part of a year now, and the line-up for 2023 was officially released a few days ago.  Eyes immediately draw to the headliners: Hank Williams, Jr., Zach Bryan, Caamp.  Tickets go on sale this Friday 12/09/22 @ Noon MT, so mark your calendars. 

The standout here is Bocephus for obvious reasons.  Not only does he carry the legacy of Sr. and a Chris Farley impersonation on SNL, but he’s also just the kind of bluesy outlaw who simply abides, and that’s alright by me.  Still releasing music, he dropped Rich White Honky Blues in June 2022 after working with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys to remaster a collection of blues covers.  It’s been grossly underreported on this year, in my humble opinion, which ain’t worth much.

If straight-up black ain’t your scene, explore some of the several other exclusive pressings offered by the big box stores, or legit cool-looking metallic gold direct on Hank’s website. Also available through Easy Eye Sound, Auerbach’s independent label located in Nashville. 

I’d watch Zach Bryan and Caamp, too.  Caamp definitely falls in the indie category adding to the eclectic nature of the line-up as a whole.  They likewise had a release this year, Lavender Days. Their big coffeehouse rock hit, “No Sleep” is elderly at this point from By and By in 2019, though I’ve slept on most else and I’m interested to hear them live.  Zach Bryan, I sincerely enjoy very much.  He debuted on Grand Ole Opry in 2021 and has been putting out music consistently since then after successfully completing an 8-year career with the US Navy and playing UtBS last year.  He’s also been featured on one of my favorite Insta places, @westernasfuck, and you should absolutely go troll their page and give them a follow if you enjoy a grassroots old-school country sound. 

Other notable artists include the dude I’ve kept my eyes on, Charley Crockett, who threw down The Man from Waco this year, and likewise, Whiskey Myers, with their summer release Tornillo. It’s been a year and some change for new music from Colter Wall, though he could sing me the phone book and it’d still put stars in my eyes. Wall played UtBS in 2021 and I’m beyond myself to see him specifically.

For me, this excitement all started with a photo.  Rather, a series of photos captured by Dallas, TX-based photographer, Brydie Hardwick, also known as @unconsciouspath from 2021 Under the Big Sky.

They showed up in a boredom-avoidant scroll through the Insta.  I stopped.  I stared.  I read the caption.  My heart pert near imploded.

Imagine Colter Wall, live, playing the soundtrack to your naked bared soul to another human being, the love of your life.  The sun, yawning on the horizon and setting the water on fire with glitter. Among the mud and splatter, a knee is taken and promises made, complete with festival friends hollering triumphantly in the foreground. 

It’s the simplicity and spontaneity of, “I choose you to hop this fence and dance in a muddy creek with me like kids.”  The, “let everyone witness what we share and ya’ll are welcome here, too.”  “You’re all I see,” dripping from an organic recipe of earthen clay, sweat, and love.  “I don’t care, fuck it, I choose you.” 

Takes my breath away thinking about what it must be like, both with jealousy and hope, and an appreciation to witness and feel it vicariously through photographic evidence. 

See, we can sit here and dissect a concert line-up until all the steers are rounded up and driven home.  I can throw the new releases and vinyl pressings at you from the artists I personally love who will be featured this year at Under the Big Sky, and talk about the elitist artists they’ve partnered with, their pedigrees, and what shirts they sell.  Let’s talk about Elle King in the line-up, how she’s Rob Schneider’s kid (yeah, dude, Deuce Bigalow…), and that she does country-ish music now.  Okay-ishly, too!

And yet (written by someone who really doesn’t enjoy festivals all that much), what’s demonstrated in these photos is the real moment, right? It’s crazy to think about and, as much as I respect Colter Wall, he was simply an enhanced backdrop to the true musical experience being played. This is why I’m here, why my ride out there will be an amazing one, and maybe I’ll have my own story to tell at the end of it all. 

Hope to see you Under the Big Sky in July. 

@siliconeandvinyl