ShoalsFest returns October 3–4 at McFarland Park in Florence, Alabama, and the fifth edition of Jason Isbell’s hometown festival has a lineup worth the trip. Isbell and the Drive-By Truckers will perform their 2003 album ‘Decoration Day’ in its entirety, Isbell and the 400 Unit take a separate set, and Jeff Tweedy, S.G. Goodman, Willow Avalon, and Steve Trash round out the bill. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 8 at 10 a.m. CT at shoalsfest.net.
‘Decoration Day’ is one of the most acclaimed albums in either artist’s catalog, a raw, character-driven record that holds up more than two decades after its release. Hearing it performed in full, in the region that shaped Isbell as a musician, is a genuine event.
The Shoals, comprising Florence, Sheffield, Tuscumbia, and Muscle Shoals, carries outsized significance in American music history. FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio drew Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, The Staple Singers, and Rod Stewart, among many others, each leaving with some of their most defining recordings. Isbell grew up in the middle of that legacy, developing his guitar playing as a teenager working at FAME Studios and playing alongside members of the studio’s celebrated house band, The Swampers.
This year’s festival directs proceeds toward bringing Nuçi’s Space, an Athens, Georgia-based nonprofit focused on suicide prevention and ending the stigma of mental illness, with a particular focus on musicians, to the Shoals community. The organization offers programs across health and wellness, musician services, and youth support.
Festival Details:
ShoalsFest 2026
October 3–4, 2026
McFarland Park, Florence, AL
Tickets on sale May 8 at 10 a.m. CT at shoalsfest.net