Willie Nelson Announces Return Of Traveling Outlaw Music Festival Featuring Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson And More

Rick Kern / WireImage for Shock Ink / Getty – Where There’s A Willie, There’s A Way
Willie Nelson will take his Outlaw Music Festival on the road again from August to September. Here, he performs at Austin360 Amphitheater in Austin, Texas, on July 4, 2019.

In three short months, Willie Nelson – and several of country and rock’s biggest names – will be back on the road again, as the Red Headed Stranger and touring legend revives his traveling Outlaw Music Festival.

Nelson, billed as Willie Nelson & Family, will stage the multi-artist event in 14 markets from late August to late October, joined by artists including Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Margo Price, The Avett Brothers, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Lucinda Williams, Gov’t Mule and Yola.

The tour kicks off Aug. 22 at Germania Insurance Amphitheatre in Nelson’s own Austin, Texas, with a lineup rounded out by Stapleton, Yola and Ryan Bingham.

Another lineup, consisting of Nelson, Simpson, Gov’t Mule and Price, will continue the tour with six East Coast shows from Sept. 10-19, before another lineup, comprised of Nelson, Simpson, Rateliff and Kathleen Edwards plays Ameris Bank Amphitheatre, outside Atlanta, on Sept. 22. That Ameris Bank bill, with the addition of Gov’t Mule, will play Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., on Sept. 24.

The tour then heads west for five dates, four of them California plays, from Oct. 15 to Oct. 24. All five shows will feature The Avett Brothers and Ida Mae, while four of them – excluding the Oct. 17 date at San Diego’s Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre – also include Gov’t Mule and Williams.

All told, Gov’t Mule is the most featured artist on Outlaw’s 2021 lineup, booked for 11 of the tour’s 14 shows. Simpson is next, with nine bookings, followed by Price, with six.

The tour is being presented by Live Nation and Blackbird Presents.

Courtesy Outlaw Music Festival – On The Road Again
Artists including Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson and The Avett Brothers will join Willie Nelson for this year’s Outlaw Music Festival.

“The Outlaw Music Festival Tour has always been about family and friends coming together for a great day of music and fun, and with the amazing group of artists joining us, this year promises to be our most special Outlaw Tour to date,” Nelson said in a statement. “I just can’t wait to get back on the road again.”

Although Pollstar‘s box office reports are incomplete for the previous Outlaw Music Festival, held in 2019, one event at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford, N.H., where this year’s tour will stop on Sept. 10, sold 5,885 tickets and grossed $515,509 on Sept. 6, 2019. When the 2018 iteration stopped at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, N.C., another venue booked for the 2021 edition, it sold 7,461 tickets and grossed $248,399.

Immediately prior the pandemic, Nelson had started 2020 strong, grossing $3.28 million over 16 shows. His top-grossing showing was at Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla., on Feb. 20, 2020, where he sold 4,227 tickets and grossed $334,272.

During the pandemic, Nelson’s Luck Reunion was an early adopter of livestreaming, including ‘Til Further Notice, the event it held in lieu of the country star’s traditional March event at South By Southwest. 

Tickets for the shows go onsale to the general public on May 27 at 10 a.m. local time. Find lineups for each date below.