Built around Western culture, Under the Big Sky festival has become one of the marquee fests in the nation for Americana and country music since launching in 2019. The audience is a sea of cowboy hats, dinner-plate-sized belt buckles, and snakeskin boots. There’s a live rodeo between sets. And the view of the northern Rockies commands equal attention with the headliners.
This year, they included Chris Stapleton, Cody Jinks, and Zach Top, alongside support acts like Greensky Bluegrass, Stephen Wilson Jr., Charles Wesley Godwin, Marcus King Band, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Kaitlin Butts. Here’s the best of what we saw at the July tradition.
Ryan Bingham and Duane Betts summon the Allmans.
Hot on the heels on his latest album, They Call Us the Lucky Ones, Bingham and his raucous outfit tore apart the Great Northern stage with their brand of honky-tonk and nitty-gritty alt-country. The pinnacle of the set, however, and maybe even the entire weekend, was when guitarist Duane Betts made a surprise appearance for a rendition of the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post, playing his father Dickey Betts’ Gibson Les Paul.
Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of Bingham’s debut record, Mescalito. “I was a whole different person back then, being a young guy playing the guitar. I really got into it as a means of therapy, writing songs and getting stuff off my chest,” Bingham says. “I never intended on performing for anybody or thought I had the ability to. I just thought, ‘Maybe I’ll write some songs and maybe one day somebody would record one, and I’d make a little money and get me out of the trailer park.’”
Stephen Wilson Jr. brings the holler to the mountains.
Wilson is on a rocket-ship ride, outgrowing small clubs for arenas and festivals within the matter of a few years. At UTBS, the singer-songwriter (and now eyeglass line designer) hypnotized the audience with his rhythmic acoustic guitar playing and songs like “Gary” and “Billy”: “You can call me Billy/but the hills come with me.” “I haven’t looked in the rear-view mirror much,” he says of his fast-paced ascent. “It’s all happening at an alarming rate. My dreams out-dreamt me a long time ago.”
Kaitlin Butts charms the ranch with Oklahoma swagger.
Butts was given a big Montana welcome when she stepped onto the Great Northern Stage to a swath of folks eager to see the self-professed “theater kid” perform live. The Oklahoma native put in the work and is finally breaking on a national level with songs like new single “Never Really Mine.” “I used to kind of wonder when it was going to pick up,” Butts says. “Now I realize it was because I wasn’t ready, and now I feel fully ready for anything.”
Cole Chaney takes the party downtown.
A little after midnight on Saturday, Cole Chaney took the stage at the Great Northern Bar & Grill in downtown Whitefish to mix alt-country and folk with Nineties hard rock. It worked: The Kentucky troubadour mesmerized with songs off his In the Shadow of the Mountain album, like the fiery “Alone.” “I’m not interested in overnight sensation,” Chaney says. “I’m trying my best to take inventory, pay attention and have a good time.”
Benjamin Tod taps into his untethered past.
A freight train sitting on the railroad tracks behind the stage as Tod delivered songs like “Wyoming” was a fitting image: The songwriter is an unrepentant train-hopper. “Right now? I’d get right on it,” Tod says. “[Train hopping] is a feeling of accomplishment, a feeling that you keep moving forward in life. For me, I still long for this. There’s a deep connection that I have with the railroad and traveling.”
Mountain Grass Unit are the fest’s MVPs.
Pulling triple-duty at UTBS on Saturday, Alabama jamgrass group Mountain Grass Unit ended up playing both stages at the ranch (they covered Waylon Wyatt’s set due to illness), plus a late-night gig at the nearby Remington Bar. No matter, the acoustic outfit is used to the hustle. They have a new album on the way, along with a Grand Ole Opry debut, and a stacked tour itinerary. Their bluegrass-heavy set lived up to the hype.
“It’s so big now,” MGU guitarist Luke Black says of bluegrass’s popularity. “Part of the reason why is this boom in AI, [where] everything is so predictable and generated. Bluegrass is the opposite — it’s so raw and broken down, just strict playing and improvising.”
Old Crow Medicine Show connect the circle.
Under a shady pine grove on a small ridge, Old Crow Medicine Show held court for an intimate “Gospel Sunday” set. The current lineup for the Nashville band’s summer tour includes founding member Willie Watson, who left the group in 2011. For Old Crow frontman Ketch Secor, who led Old Crow through staples like “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” it was a joyful reunion.
“It’s like if the [Oakland] A’s got Rickey Henderson back and weren’t moving to fuckin’ Vegas,” Secor says of Watson’s return. “This is a family, and this band has experienced all these years and multiple generations within the band. Getting him back on our team, it’s just putting such spirit and pep in our step.”
Leftover Salmon shut it down.
Another year at UTBS came to a close with Leftover Salmon turning in a late-night showcase at the Great Northern Bar & Grill that went into the wee hours of Monday morning. With bodies packed into the sardine-can venue, the Colorado jamgrass kings rolled through an hour-and-a-half straight set, including odes to Tom Petty (“Runnin’ Down a Dream”) and Dave Dudley (“Six Days on the Road”).
“Everybody’s at their best at a festival,” Salmon guitarist Vince Herman says. “We have an incredibly skewed view of the world because we get to see people at festivals all the time — I like that skewed view of the universe.”
