Under the Big Sky’s 2026 standouts bring Allmans fire to Montana
Rolling Stone’s festival recap singled out surprise guests, rising country voices and late-night jamgrass at Under the Big Sky.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
A surprise blast of Allman Brothers history cut through Montana’s Under the Big Sky festival when guitarist Duane Betts joined Ryan Bingham for “Whipping Post,” playing a Gibson Les Paul that belonged to his father, Dickey Betts, Rolling Stone’s Garret K. Woodward reported.
The 2026 edition of the country and Americana festival, which launched in 2019, brought Western flair back to the northern Rockies with cowboy hats, big belt buckles, snakeskin boots, live rodeo between sets and a lineup topped by Chris Stapleton, Cody Jinks and Zach Top, according to Rolling Stone.
Support acts included Greensky Bluegrass, Stephen Wilson Jr., Charles Wesley Godwin, Marcus King Band, Old Crow Medicine Show and Kaitlin Butts, with several late-night shows stretching the weekend beyond the ranch stages.
Bingham, Betts and a family guitar
Rolling Stone reported that Bingham, fresh off the release of his album They Call Us the Lucky Ones, brought his band to the Great Northern stage for a set rooted in honky-tonk and alt-country. The peak came with Betts’ unannounced appearance on the Allman Brothers classic.
Bingham also reflected on the coming 20th anniversary of his debut album, Mescalito. “I was a whole different person back then, being a young guy playing the guitar,” Bingham told Rolling Stone. He said songwriting began as therapy and as a way to get “out of the trailer park.”
Stephen Wilson Jr. and Kaitlin Butts step up
Wilson, whose profile has grown from smaller rooms to larger festival and arena stages in recent years, held the crowd with percussive acoustic guitar work and songs including “Gary” and “Billy,” Rolling Stone reported. He told the magazine his rise has moved faster than he expected: “My dreams out-dreamt me a long time ago.”
Butts, the Oklahoma singer who has described herself as a “theater kid,” drew a warm reception on the Great Northern Stage, according to Rolling Stone. Her set included the single “Never Really Mine.” Butts told the outlet she once wondered when her career would accelerate, adding, “Now I feel fully ready for anything.”
Late nights, train songs and jamgrass workhorses
After midnight Saturday, Cole Chaney played the Great Northern Bar & Grill in downtown Whitefish, blending alt-country, folk and Nineties hard rock, Rolling Stone reported. His set featured songs from In the Shadow of the Mountain, including “Alone.”
Benjamin Tod performed with a freight train visible on the tracks behind the stage, a backdrop Rolling Stone tied to his history of train-hopping. Tod told the magazine he still feels connected to the railroad and travel.
Alabama jamgrass act Mountain Grass Unit pulled three sets on Saturday, according to Rolling Stone: both ranch stages, including a cover set for the ill Waylon Wyatt, and a late show at the Remington Bar. Guitarist Luke Black told the magazine bluegrass is growing partly because it is “so raw and broken down” in contrast with predictable AI-generated work.
Old Crow reconnects and Leftover Salmon closes
Old Crow Medicine Show played an intimate “Gospel Sunday” set under pines, with founding member Willie Watson back in the touring lineup after leaving the band in 2011, Rolling Stone reported. Frontman Ketch Secor compared Watson’s return to a beloved player rejoining a team, saying it put “spirit and pep” in the band’s step.
The weekend ended with Leftover Salmon at the Great Northern Bar & Grill, where the Colorado jamgrass band played a 90-minute late-night set into early Monday, according to Rolling Stone. The set included Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and Dave Dudley’s “Six Days on the Road.”
This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.