Railbird Festival
rail·bird noun: a spectator, especially one at a horse race, who watches from the railings along the track.
When David Helmers was looking for a theme for a Kentucky music festival, he simply looked around him. Helmers, of Lexington, is the producer of Railbird Festival, a two-day celebration of all things Kentucky.
“We wanted to differentiate this music festival from every other festival by embracing what is here, what we are about,” he said. “Kentucky culture, Kentucky industry, Kentucky products, bourbon, horse racing, food and hospitality, and, of course, music. Railbird has it all.”
The festival, held on the lush grounds of Keeneland Race Course, took off out of the starting gate in 2019, welcoming an average of 15,000 fans each day as people from 49 states and 11 countries flocked to the historic track. Concertgoers were treated to three stages of music, along with cooking demonstrations from well-known chefs, a bar selling sips of single-barrel bourbons, and an off-track betting tent featuring horse races from across the country.
Like most other public events, Railbird was forced to push the pause button for 2020 but is back in action this year, and Helmers plans for it to be bigger and better. “All the great aspects from 2019 are coming back,” he said. “Everything that worked before, we’re doing more of it.”
To that point, the stages are larger, the sound system bigger, and the footprint of space expanded. With these additions comes the ability for a larger audience capacity and an increase in the number of bars and food trucks.
Helmers is excited about the headliners this year, too. “My Morning Jacket is a Kentucky band, and they have not been playing for two years—they had been off for a year before COVID. So, this is a restart for their performances, and it is a pretty big deal,” he said. “Also, the Dave Matthews Band has not played in Kentucky for more than a decade.”
Another nod to the state is the Burl Stage, which is reserved for local artists. For the 2021 festival, this stage features Nicholas Jamerson from Prestonsburg, Grayson Jenkins from Greenville, and other Kentucky artists who are on the rise.
Helmers promises to showcase various musical genres. “The thread to Railbird is musicianship,” he said. “In 2019, we had everyone from Grace VanderWaal on the ukulele to Mavis Staples, who has been in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for 20 years. This year, from Tanya Tucker to up-and-coming bands like Japanese Breakfast, it has broad appeal.”
Each day includes three cooking demonstrations by well-known chefs. Jeremy Ashby, executive chef at Azur in Lexington, plans to cook with native Kentucky foods such as corn, hemp and AppHarvest tomatoes. He said that many people don’t know that hemp is a great source of protein. Ground hemp has the consistency of flour, and hemp hearts are similar to crushed walnuts. Both can be folded into recipes, boosting a dish’s nutritional value.
“As a native of Lexington, I love to shine a light on Kentucky and convey its culinary identity, too,” Ashby said. “I’m excited to be a part of this. Plus, I never thought my name would be on the same poster as Dave Matthews.”
Back and bigger this year is the Crafted Social Mercantile Tent. Described as a handmade shopping experience, the open-air tent features the works of about 30 regional artists. Crafted Social, an organization committed to promoting the works of artists at events and markets, was founded in central Kentucky by artisans Anna Gregory and David Kring. “We are both makers ourselves—I’m a woodworker, and David is a potter,” Gregory said. “So, we know festivals and we know how to promote local artists.”
Gregory said the tent focuses on contemporary, functional art like pottery, jewelry, leather and printmaking.
Keeneland will offer the Lucky Day Plaza and area with televisions and parimutuel windows open for betting races at Saratoga and Del Mar.
“You may come to a music festival and discover a new chef or a new musician, but our production crew from 2019 discovered horse racing,” said Helmers. “These people have been to a hundred music festivals, but they had never been to one where they could bet money on a horse race. By the end of the day, the headquarters was full of torn-up parimutuel tickets. I told them, ‘Now you’re getting it. This is Kentucky.’ ”
Helmer knows that people are excited to get out, but even he was surprised when VIP tickets sold out in 24 hours when they went on sale.
“Railbird works because there is an authenticity to the event that makes it very attractive,” he said. “We differentiate from any other festival by showcasing our Kentucky roots.”
Tailgate Party
In the western part of the Commonwealth, the Touchdowns & Tunes Tailgate Party returns to Paducah for its fourth year from Sept. 3-5 following its 2020 cancellation due to COVID-19. This year’s festival promises to be larger than it was in previous years due to a larger budget and additional time to plan.
Paducah has become a popular destination for travelers, ranking among popular small-town destinations in publications such as Southern Living’s “The South’s Best Small Towns 2020.” One attraction that draws crowds to the town is Tailgates & Tunes, the largest country music festival within a 200-mile radius. Ticket holders for the 2021 fest from throughout the United States and Canada plan to enjoy live music along with televised college football.
Because of last year’s cancellation, much of the funds that weren’t used have been allocated to make this year’s festival larger than it has ever been, with new features added to the festival experience and a larger lineup of musical artists, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Brantley Gilbert, Chris Young, The Steel Woods and more.
“2020 was only scheduled to be a two-day event, and giving us an additional year to plan and be prepared to go bigger, we did … I think attendance is going to be better than what it would have been pre-pandemic,” said Bryan Kent, the event organizer.
Due to the large projected attendance, Touchdowns & Tunes has moved to Carson Park, which offers a larger area for staging and the opportunity for guests to camp in RVs on the grounds with the purchase of a camping pass. Tent camping sites also are available, and TNT has partnered with several hotels in the area to allow guests to stay and take a shuttle to the festival grounds.
The extra space in Carson Park allows for several “zones” that guests can purchase passes to enter. The Tailgate Zone is a new feature open to Tailgate GA, VIP and MVP Club pass holders. Guests to the area can join in giant yard games while watching televised sports. The Tailgate Zone also provides shaded seating and a beer and wine bar.
The Locker Room Drink and Dance Hall is open to Tailgate GA, VIP and MVP Club pass holders. This area offers shaded seating, a live DJ and dance floor, and food vendors. “We’ve given [attendees] an area to cool off … just giving people the opportunity to escape the constant sound of live music,” Kent said. “Honestly, it’s my favorite part. The Locker Room is going to be really cool.”
VIP and MVP Club guests can enjoy the perks of the Red Zone area, which includes air conditioning, private restrooms, an expanded bar selection and phone-charging stations as well as televised football and yard games. VIP passes also grant reserved close-up seating for the full three days of the festival.
Families with young children can enjoy the Pee Wee Zone, which is new for this year. This area includes bounce houses, games and an obstacle course. General admission and access to all zone areas are free for kids 10 and under. “We wanted to make it as family friendly as possible … make it more possible for families to attend together, versus getting a sitter. We wanted to solve that problem,” Kent said.
While this year’s Touchdowns & Tunes will be the largest ever, organizers plan on further expanding it in the coming years. From its start in 2017 as a one-day happening in Mayfield, the event moved to the Paducah riverfront the following year and has become one of the largest musical fests in the area, despite the setbacks brought about by the pandemic. “We pride ourselves on being able to survive and compete,” Kent said. “I mean, how cool is it that it’s in Kentucky?”
More Music to Catch
August 19-29, Kentucky State Fair
The fair offers 11 nights of music spanning multiple genres. All concerts are free with fair admission.
8.19 Josh Turner with Alex Miller
8.20 Ginuwine with Color Me Badd
8.21 Colt Ford with Elvie Shane
8.22 The Oak Ridge Boys with T. Graham Brown
8.23 Zach Williams with CAIN
8.24 Happy Together Tour 2021, featuring The Turtles, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, The Association, The Classics IV, The Vogues and The Cowsills, with The Monarchs
8.25 P.O.D. with All Good Things
8.26 Jackyl with The Kentucky Headhunters
8.27 White Reaper with The Tommys
8.28 Jameson Rodgers with Exile and J.D. Shelburne
8.29 Cory Ashbury with We the Kingdom and Jordan Smith
For additional information, visit kystatefair.org
August 19-21, Birds of a Feather Music and Arts Festival
Featuring live jazz, funk and Bluegrass music from the Rumpke Mountain Boys, Big Atomic, Glostik Willy and more. Admission includes three nights of camping at the 200-acre Thornhill Farm in Morning View, Kentucky.
For more information, visit birdsofafeatherfest.com
September 15-18, ROMP Fest
Back for its 18th year, ROMP Fest is a music-filled weekend at Yellow Springs Park in Owensboro. Produced by the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, the event features bluegrass music as well as folk and Americana acts. The lineup for this year’s family-friendly festival includes Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers, perennial favorite Sam Bush, and Robert Earl Keen.
For more information, visit rompfest.com
September 23-26, Louder Than Life
You may want to break out the earplugs for this one. Billed as the World’s Largest Rock ’n’ Roll Whiskey Festival, Louder Than Life takes place on the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville. This year’s acts include Snoop Dogg, Korn, Nine Inch Nails and Metallica.
For more information, visit louderthanlifefestival.com