Eight acts, two nights, and a whole lot of Montana
We spent a long time putting this lineup together, and what came out of it is a bill that feels like a love letter to the kind of music that belongs around a fire under a Montana sky. Eight artists across two nights, drawing from honky-tonk Texas, the back roads of the Canadian prairies, and the bluegrass scenes coming out of Bozeman and the Mission Valley right now. There isn't a filler set in the bunch — every name on this list earned their slot, and we think you'll feel it.
FRIDAY
3:00 PM — Marley Hale
A Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter born in Austin and raised in Northern California, Marley Hale arrives with the kind of voice that critics keep saying would feel right at home on classic country radio. Her 2024 debut EP By My Own Ways moves between smoldering country-rock and piano-laced honky-tonk, drawing on her love of Loretta Lynn, Gillian Welch, and Karen Dalton, while reviewers at Americana Highways have reached for comparisons to Patsy Cline and the torch-and-twang era of k.d. lang. Her songs are lived-in stories about danger, longing, and self-acceptance — delivered with the kind of narrative voice that makes the room go quiet.
6:00 PM — Tanner Laws
Tanner is a Thompson Falls native who taught himself guitar in his Montana Tech dorm room, finished his civil engineering degree, and then walked away from the job in 2021 to chase songwriting full-time. He writes about hunting, fishing, the outdoors, and small-town Montana bars with the kind of authenticity you can't fake, and his sound — shaped by Keith Whitley, George Strait, Tyler Childers, and Turnpike Troubadours — has earned him Northwest CMA Songwriter of the Year and opening slots for Clint Black, Dustin Lynch, and Marty Stuart. If you've ever wanted to hear modern country that actually sounds like Montana, this is the set.
7:15 PM — Saint of Soldiers
Out of the Mission Valley comes one of the most distinctive sounds on the bill. Saint of Soldiers is a five-piece named for the patron saint of the town of St. Ignatius, where the band's founding members grew up, and they make music that braids the grit of indie rock with the soul of bluegrass into something they themselves describe as haunting, ethereal, and a little bit gothic. Their songs draw on Montana's landscape and history, and their live shows — staged everywhere from the Conrad Mansion to the Philipsburg Opera House — have made them one of the most talked-about new bands in the regional Americana scene.
8:00 PM — Kitchen Dwellers
Formed in 2010 in a kitchen at Montana State, the Kitchen Dwellers have spent the last fifteen years turning what their fans dubbed "Galaxy Grass" into a genuine national phenomenon. Their psychedelic, jam-leaning take on bluegrass has packed Telluride, Bonnaroo, and Under the Big Sky, and culminated in headlining sets at Red Rocks and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Critics have called their live show a "full-blown galactic assault of stringed instruments," and their most recent records have racked up more than 15 million streams. There is no better way to close a Friday night in Montana than this.
SATURDAY
3:00 PM — Richard Inman
Richard Inman is a Canadian troubadour out of Manitoba who has played for thousands at festivals and for a dozen people in smoke-filled bars in rural Saskatchewan, and his songs carry the weight of every one of those miles. His rich baritone and unhurried, classic-country sensibility have earned him a devoted following on both sides of the Atlantic and cemented his place as what one outlet called a "Canadian songwriting giant." If you love the kind of country music that makes you put your phone down and lean in, you'll find your set right here.
6:15 PM — Rob Quist and the Halladay Quist Trio
This is a generational moment, and we don't say that lightly. Rob Quist is a Montana Music Hall of Famer and one of the defining voices of this state's musical tradition — founding member of the Mission Mountain Wood Band, songwriter behind "Close to the Land" (recorded by Michael Martin Murphey, named Song of the Year at the Texas Music Awards), and a cultural ambassador for Montana for going on fifty years. He performs alongside his daughter Halladay, an accomplished singer in her own right who's opened for Wynonna Judd, Colter Wall, and Corb Lund, and whose voice 406 Magazine described as containing "a lion's roar of love, compassion, earthiness and storytelling." Catch them while they're playing together.
7:30 PM — North Fork Crossing
Founded in 2021 after two old friends from Montana Fiddle Camp ran into each other at a party in Bozeman, North Fork Crossing has grown into one of the most exciting young string bands in the state. The quintet calls what they do "the evolution of string band music" — rooted in traditional fiddle tunes and ballads, but unafraid to launch into the kind of intricate, energetic jamgrass improvisation that makes their live shows feel like they could go anywhere. The name comes from the Blackfoot River, where their lead guitarist grew up working at his father's fly-fishing outfit. This is Montana bluegrass for the next generation.
9:00 PM — Summer Dean
We couldn't think of a better way to close the weekend. Summer Dean is considered by most to be the reigning queen of Texas country — a Fort Worth singer-songwriter who taught elementary school for a decade before cashing in the money her mother had set aside for her wedding to record her 2021 breakout album Bad Romantic. The result was a record Texas Monthly called the work of one of the state's "first-rate sonic artisans," with a duet with Colter Wall at its centerpiece. Named Ameripolitan Honky-Tonk Female of the Year and Texas Country Music Awards Female Artist of the Year, Dean delivers what Saving Country Music called "full-tilt honky tonk shit kickers and tear-in-my-beer ballads" with the kind of authenticity that has cemented her place among the top tier of Texas tunesmiths.
Grab a single-day pass or come for the whole weekend. Either way, we saved you a spot under the big sky.
See you out there,
The Old Salt Co-op
