When it comes to music festivals, Lexington’s Railbird was a breath of fresh air full of both acts I already loved as well as new music to discover.
I don’t know what kind of music festivals you’ve been to, but never before have I been to one where every single person who squeezed past me stopped to say excuse me. Whether that speaks to the manners and hospitality of the near-South or perhaps the smaller size of the festival, either way, it added to a very nice overall experience.
Like many Millenials, I attended a slew of massive, chaotic festivals in my twenties. Bonnaroo’s campground, Forecastle’s late night boat shows, and Coachella’s afterparties have left me with hazy memories of both the fun nights I enjoyed and the inevitable exhaustion that followed.
So, now, a little older, but probably not much wiser, the decision to commit to a weekend-long music festival is not one I take lightly, especially when it requires me to leave Louisville. I ultimately decided to go, partly thanks to my obsession with Hozier’s Too Sweet, and I’m happy to say that even the rain couldn’t sour the experience.
Overview
Railbird was a two-day festival with 3 stages and 16 acts per day. Each day clearly drew two distinct crowds. Saturday’s headliner, Noah Kahan brought in a younger audience where a sea of kids in bucket hats sang along to every word. Sunday’s performances from Hozier and Chris Stapleton attracted an older, larger (and muddier) crowd.
Despite a beautiful lead up week, the weekend saw cloudy, overcast weather with a light drizzle Saturday and a few short, heavy downpours on Sunday.
Overall, the event had a relaxed, refined Americana vibe, the exact size, scale and style I’d expect at a music festival set in Lexington. The hospitable crowd made up for the rainy weather which made a muddy mess of what would have otherwise been a lovely venue. Food and drink prices were as sky high as you’d expect, but when it came to alcoholic beverages, I was surprised by the limited selection.
With some pretty clean porta potties (aside from Sunday’s mud, of course), Railbird certainly had the least amount of drugs and debauchery I’ve ever seen at a music festival. Whether you consider that a positive or a negative might tell you if Railbird is the right experience for you.
The Music
Over the years, many of my favorite festivals have seemed to change in terms of the style of music represented. Sometimes they try to go so broad that they lose their original identity. However, what struck me most about Railbird — from both the artists I was already familiar with and the new sounds I heard throughout the weekend — was how perfectly curated the lineup was.
Every artist at Railbird was either a Kentucky native or sounded like they could be. There were locals like Chris Stapleton and Wynonna Judd, as well as regional neighbors like Josiah Leming of Josiah and the Bonnevilles who grew up in Morristown, Tennessee. Plus, Elle King who, despite being born in Los Angeles to Rob Schneider, was raised in Ohio.
I loved how the core of the musical selections was rooted in Bluegrass, but the style was so modern that much of it could be passed off as Pop or Country.
Fiddles, banjos, and violins were present in almost every set, complementing mainstream sensations like in Noah Kahan’s outro to the folk-pop hit “Stick Season.” At Railbird, you could find everything from tried-and-true Bluegrass to its distant cousins ranging from singer-songwriter styles, rock-country hyrids, and catchy pop melodies.
I was thrilled to see Trampled by Turtles, a hard, fast, punkesque Bluegrass sensation I discovered at Waterfront Wednesday almost a decade ago. I also discovered new acts like the unsigned Josiah and the Bonnevilles as well as Red Clay Strays’ unique brand of Southern rockabilly that’s easy to dance to.
The highlight of it all was discovering why my 21 year old cousins are so obsessed with Noah Kahan. His music is both catchy, profound and striking with lyrics, harmonies, abrupt rhythmic shift, and instrumentation that compounds to make you feel everything from devastated to elated all at the same time.
The Venue
Railbird was held at Redmile Racetrack, the second-oldest harness racing track in the world. Its second year at the new venue, Railbird seemed to have a functional layout for vendors, plenty of shade and more than enough hydration stations. While bathroom lines could get pretty long, there was never too much of a wait for food or drinks.
Artist merch was joined by a large tent of vintage vendors, a new addition to the growing festival.
After Sunday’s mid-day downpour, a circular area — presumably where the track normally is — dissolved into a river of mud, meaning that any trip to the bathroom or bar required a careful treading across an increasingly wetter and muddier slush pool in which many shoes were sacrificed.
While any venue that mixes rain and a crowd of over 40,000 would struggle, I hope they’re better equipped with ground cover in the case that it should happen again.
The Food & Drinks
Over a dozen food vendors served up everything from Asian street food to hot dogs, tacos, and chicken fingers in the area opposite the main stage. There were traveling festival-focused vendors like Hippie Dips, serving fresh salads and healthy grub as well as local operations like Chaotic Coffee and Ole Kentucky Kettle Corn. There was quite a bit of Mexican and hot dogs, but you could really find just about any type of food you wanted here.
I was pleased to see two Louisville vendors with both Four Pegs and Red Top Dogs present at the event.
When it comes to the beverage options, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. Billed as a weekend of ‘music, equine and bourbon,’ I expected more of a selection, but maybe I’ve been conditioned by Bourbon & Beyond. I certainly appreciated the effort put into the Bourbon Hideout where you could lounge on shaded velvet couches and shop merch from Kentucky for Kentucky (the retailers at The Kentucky Fun Mall aka home of the taxidermied Cocaine Bear).
There were only two cocktails to choose from: Ale 8 and bourbon or lemonade, ginger ale and bourbon, as well as four bourbon brands to choose between. These included Chris Stapleton’s Traveller as well as Four Roses and Owensboro’s Green River Distilling. Justin’s House of Bourbon was also on site selling single barrel tastings.
Cocktails or tastings were priced by the ounce. A half ounce cost $15 and a full ounce cost $28.
The rest of the options were slim and included Bud Light, White Claw, and a handful of selections from West Sixth Brewing.
This article appears in Jun 5-18, 2024.