The Two Step Inn Festival in Georgetown, TX, held this past weekend, was a litmus test for the true appeal of independent country artists who are not regularly featured on corporate radio. The festival’s lineup featured Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers, who are arguably the two biggest names in independent country music. The fact that the festival sold out almost immediately shows that fans are willing to travel and pay to see these artists perform live.
This festival was unique in that both Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers were commencing their highly-anticipated 2023 tours at the event. Although Childers had already played a few shows in Europe and a theater gig in New Orleans to get warmed up, the Two Step Inn Festival marked the big start of Bryan’s tour where he is trying to bypass Ticketmaster.
Zach Bryan’s popularity has grown rapidly, and his fans’ passion for his music has not waned. Even though he has released nearly fifty songs in the last year, fans of all ages are still singing along to every single word like a singer/songwriter version of Beatlemania. At the festival, Bryan played 17 songs, including signature tracks like “Godspeed,” “Condemned,” and “Heading South,” as well as recent hits like “Oklahoma Smokeshow” and “Something in the Orange,” which is climbing the country radio charts.
Independent country artists like Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers are attracting huge crowds and selling out festivals. Their success shows that there is a market for authentic and honest country music that is not dictated by the mainstream music industry.
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