Lukas Nelson

ReviewScott Rollins

Album review: Latest Willie Nelson album is an instant classic

Outlaw country music pioneer Willie Nelson has perhaps been a greater influence on American music than any other singer, songwriter, or musician in history. At 86 he appears just as relevant today as anytime in his career.

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Greg AckermanReview

Music Festival Review: 10th Utopiafest featured Lukas Nelson, Patty Griffin, STS9

Last weekend’s 10th Annual Utopiafest held for the first time at Reveille Peak Ranch just outside of Burnet saw ideal weather conditions perhaps for the first time in the festival’s history as the event dates moved to their latest time of the year thus far. The limited-attendance festival featured performances by Sound Tribe Sector Nine (STS9), Patty Griffin, Lukas Nelson and John Medeski’s Mad Skillet among other acts that followed in the Americana / Jam band slant the festival bookers lean toward.

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Greg AckermanReview

Festival preview: Utopiafest Makes a Move

For the tenth UTOPIAfest, the limited attendance music festival has rebranded, Utopiafest Down in the Oaks to reflect the new venue the event has moved to located at a ranch near Burnet, Texas which is significantly closer (45 min) to Austin than the original venue. Organizers have also made some other changes, inching up the attendance cap and limiting BYOB beverages to the camp ground areas to grow festival revenue while maintaining the same community vibe that has been the festival’s hallmark. This year, the fest takes place Nov 2-4, promising cooler weather than past years. For festival goers, the experience at UTOPIAfest is vastly improved from larger format festivals. Fans can get close to the stage. The atmosphere is more relaxing and less hectic. It’s simply a more enjoyable environment.

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