For the first time in its six year run, the Red Ants Pants Music Festival held a block party on Main Street in White Sulphur Springs to announce the 2016 lineup.
Hundreds gathered in person while people around the globe viewed a live webcast streaming the news of this year’s lineup which includes Grammy award-winning country legends Wynonna and The Big Noise, global superstars The Mavericks, The Lone Bellow, Hayes Carll, Corb Lund, Montana’s own Mission Mountain Wood Band and a remarkable host of Americana legends and rising stars. “This year’s lineup offers incredible depth and diversity of talent from international stars including Wynonna and the Big Noise and The Mavericks to Montana’s own Mission Mountain Wood Band. Fans are going to hear some of the most unforgettable voices in Americana music today paired with rising stars who might just become their new favorite bands,” said Red Ants Pants Music Festival founder and producer, Sarah Calhoun. “Come connect with good folks and celebrate rural Montana with us this summer.” This is the sixth year of the music festival, which benefits the Red Ants Pants Foundation, a nonprofit organization in support of women’s leadership, working farms and ranches, and rural communities. Held in a cow pasture on the Jackson Ranch, and surrounded by the Big Belt, Little Belt, and Castle Mountain ranges, the festival will bring in more than two dozen different artists performing on separate stages.
The weekend-long, grassroots, honky-tonkin’ music festival brings in millions of dollars to the rural economy. Last year’s festival drew a record 14,000 in attendance. Other acts performing at this year’s festivities include: Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Dar Williams, Shinyribs, The McCrary Sisters, Henry Wagons, Eilen Jewell, Underhill Rose, Laney Jones and the Spirits, Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs, and Dead Horses, also including Balled in Burlap with Square Dance Caller Michelle Carcher, plus fifteen side stage performers!
Tickets to the festival to be held in White Sulphur Springs July 28th-31st are on sale now! Weekend (3-day) and Single Day (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday) Passes are available for $135 in advance/$150 at the gate and $55 in advance/$60 at the gate, respectively. Fifty VIP weekend passes for $500 each are also being offered. VIP ticket holders will enjoy an outstanding view of the main stage, shaded seating furnished by The Perch in Bozeman, complimentary refreshments, beer & wine.
VIP tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis. Full details available at RedAntsPantsMusicFestival.com/. •