10 not-to-miss bands, singers at this weekend’s Railbird Music Festival in Lexington

It’s reboot time for Railbird as the sold-out, two-day music festival settles this weekend into at a new home.

An event about to be staged for the third time over five summers, Railbird possesses a complicated history.

It began in 2019 as one of the largest scale music events of its kind in Lexington history with The Raconteurs and Hozier as headliners. Staged at Keeneland, it ran smoothly for a such a massive inaugural festival, outside of a few parking issues.

That set the stage for an anticipated sophomore run in 2020 with Jason Isbell and Maren Morris topping a two-day roster that was wiped out, along with much of the year’s concert traffic, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

As a result, Railbird’s follow-up was pushed to 2021 with My Morning Jacket and the Dave Matthews Band headlining. What was resulted were massive lines for admission and concessions with a lack of available water outlets on the festival’s first day. That triggered a rethink that kept Railbird off the books in 2022.

Now we have Railbird Mark III at the starting gate, a race-track relocation from Keeneland to the infield at The Red Mile and a bill topped by progressive country upstart Zach Bryan and Kentucky-born Americana champ Tyler Childers.

As it was during its Keeneland years, Railbird will operate on three stages — two mainstage areas — Limestone and Elkhorn — on opposite sides of the Red Mile infield along with the more intimate Burl stage. Unlike previous years, though, the performance schedules of the two mainstages will not overlap.

What this translates into is a Railbird bill of 32 different acts over two days with Zach Bryan headlining on Saturday. What’s worth catching? All of it, really. But we’ve whittled down the offerings to the best selection of five recommended performers from each day — a Railbird racing form, if you will, designed to help you pick a few winners as the Red Mile prepares to rock ‘n’ roll.

Railbird at Red Mile: What’s similar, different from music festival at Keeneland?

SATURDAY, JUNE 3:

Weezer (8:15 p.m, Elkhorn stage)

The Los Angeles-rooted Weezer has been a major alternative pop force for over three decades, although that run hasn’t brought the Rivers Cuomo-led combo through Central Kentucky very often. The band’s self-titled 1994 album (fan-referred to as “The Blue Album”) was produced by the late Cars frontman Ric Ocasek and established a keen sense of pop lyricism with ample guitar crunch. The band’s latest studio project was especially novel: four EP albums with varying seasonal sentiments and inspirations released between March and December of 2002 under the banner title of “SZNZ.”

Sheryl Crow (5:15 p.m., Limestone stage)

While Crow introduced herself to the pop world at large at roughly the same time as Weezer, her Kentucky debut actually came in March 1988 as a background singer for a Freedom Hall concert in Louisville by Michael Jackson. Also, like Weezer, she never made her way through Lexington much as her own career escalated to global album sales in excess of 50 million. She compensated in 2022 when she performed at Kroger Field as part of Chris Stapleton’s twice-postponed “A Concert for Kentucky — An Outlaw State of Kind Benefit.” Crow’s latest triumph: induction this year into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Charley Crockett (4:15 p.m., Elkhorn stage)

In a musical climate that has many scratching their heads as to whether most of the corporate music manufactured out of Nashville can rightly be termed “country,” we have modest renegades like Crockett. But then the title to his 10th album asserts that perhaps the reason his music is so rustically authentic is that it bypasses the Nashville norm: “The Man From Waco.” Listening to Crockett is like stepping back into an unadorned past where country was more rustically billed as “Country/Western.”

Jenny Lewis (3:15 p.m., Limestone stage)

The Las Vegas-born Lewis made her initial career splash fronting the Los Angeles indie-rock troupe Rilo Kiley through its entire 15-year history, although her career also took her to collaborations with Elvis Costello, Vampire Weekend, Bright Eyes and the Louisville-rooted Watson Twins. Lewis’ newest pop adventure will be unveiled the weekend following her Railbird appearance — her first album with the seminal Blue Note label. Titled “Joy’All,” the record teamed her with famed Chris Stapleton/Jason Isbell producer Dave Cobb for a series of serenely lush modern pop excursions.

The Local Honeys (2:45 p.m., Burl stage)

Within a two-day artist roster ripe with major-name touring talent, it’s perhaps easy to overlook the fact that Railbird has regularly featured fine local and regional talent. Along with fellow home state acts as Wayne Graham, Cole Chaney and Brit Taylor, this weekend gives a chance to spotlight Linda Jean Stokley and Montana Hobbs, known for the love of Appalachian and rural Kentucky inspirations expressed in songs over the past decade as The Local Honeys.

SUNDAY, JUNE 4

Tyler Childers (9 p.m., Limestone stage)

Central Kentucky audiences have been lucky enough to enjoy Childers’ extraordinary songs for years in club settings before his 2017 “Purgatory” album turned the rest of the country on to the Lawrence County native. Headlining Railbird represents a homecoming of sorts as Childers played the inaugural edition of the festival in 2019. But outside of an abbreviated set at last October’s “Kentucky Rising” benefit, the Railbird return will mark the first live listen Lexington audiences will get to songs from Childers’ recent “Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?” album.

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats (6:45 p.m., Limestone stage)

Missouri-born, Denver-based Rateliff has built a devout international fanbase for the boisterous soul-savvy music he makes with his band the Night Sweats and the more introspective recordings fashioned on his own. Rateliff’s Railbird visit comes only two days after the release of a new EP album, “What If I.” The recording caps off a busy first half of 2023 that has seen Rateliff duetting with Margo Price at Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl, honoring Harry Nilsson with multiple orchestral collaborations in the spring and a recreation with Brandi Carlile of the popular Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton hit “Islands in the Stream” at a Florida concert last month.

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway (6 p.m, Burl stage)

For my money, this is the act, above all others, not to miss at Railbird. A masterful guitarist and banjoist, Tuttle has become a vanguard artist in a field of new generation bluegrass-inspired stylists. She won a Best Bluegrass Album Grammy earlier this year for “Crooked Tree,” although her appeal has become broad enough outside the genre that Tuttle also earned a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist (she lost to jazz vocalist Samara Joy). Mostly, though, Tuttle and her Golden Highway band offer one of today’s freshest Americana sounds on record and onstage.

Town Mountain (4:45 p.m., Burl stage)

Town Mountain has made Lexington a second home of sorts over the past decade with a string band sound bolstered by a hearty rhythmic drive that isn’t afraid to pull from rock, blues, honky-tonk and soul. The Asheville band has played in almost every available local venue through the years, from long-gone haunts like Willie’s Locally Known and Natasha’s to headlining sets at the Festival of the Bluegrass and regular visits to The Burl. Town Mountain’s Railbird debut comes on the heels of its newest album, “Lines in the Levee.”

Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder (2:45 p.m., Limestone stage)

Think Tyler Childers will be the lone ambassador representing Lawrence County at Railbird? Not so. Bluegrass/country veteran Skaggs will be on hand also with his virtuosic band Kentucky Thunder leading what will be a rich bluegrass music constituency for Sunday’s festival lineup. Skaggs may hail from Eastern Kentucky, but he has long been a welcome visitor to Lexington. He was part of the famed local ‘70s residency by J.D. Crowe and the New South before runs with Boone Creek and Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band led into a high-profile country music career.

Railbird Music Festival

When: June 3 and June 4

Where: Red Mile, 1200 Red Mile Rd.

Tickets: Sold out but you can join the waitlist or purchase “verified” resale tickets through Ticketmaster.

Parking: No public parking will be available at The Red Mile and shuttle service tickets from Kroger Field are sold out.