High Sierra Music Festival

In its 34th year, the High Sierra Music Festival arrives at a new home. After 25 years at the Plumas County Fairgrounds in Quincy, the beloved Northern California institution has relocated to the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley — California’s most beautiful fairgrounds by any reasonable measure, with 90 acres of ponderosa pine forest, shade-covered campgrounds, a scenic lake on the grounds, and restored 19th-century Fair buildings that give the property an architectural identity most festival venues cannot approach. The move drops travel time from San Francisco to two hours and from Sacramento to seventy-five minutes, opens up more than 1,000 hotel rooms within ten miles, and places the festival within reach of a day-trip population that Quincy’s remote location never permitted. From July 2 through 5, 2026, what High Sierra has always been — one of the most musically adventurous, community-invested, and creatively honest independent festivals in the United States — will unfold in a setting that matches its ambitions.

The 2026 Lineup: A Full Accounting

The 2026 bill represents the broadest and deepest High Sierra has assembled in years. Headliners are Steel Pulse, the British reggae institution whose work since 1975 has combined Rastafarian conviction with musical range of genuine sophistication; The Word, the sacred steel supergroup featuring John Medeski, Robert Randolph, the North Mississippi Allstars, and Ray Ray Holloman, reuniting for the first time in three years; and Don Was and The Pan-Detroit Ensemble, the Motown-anchored producer and bassist bringing his Detroit musical genealogy to the stage in expanded form. Below the headline tier, the lineup spreads across funk (Dumpstaphunk, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, The Breaks featuring Stanton Moore, Eddie Roberts, and Robert Walter), British psychedelic funk (Cymande), contemporary jam (Eggy, Big Something, lespecial, Pink Talking Fish), Americana and roots (Anders Osborne, Marty O’Reilly, Mountain Grass Unit, Steve Poltz, Magoo), soul (Judith Hill, Trombone Shorty Foundation Band, Hot Buttered Rum and Tea Leaf Green), and an extensive undercard of rising artists and local California talent. Lebo and Friends — Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz leading a supergroup including Grateful Dead/Dead and Company drummer Jay Lane, George Porter Jr. of The Meters, Trey Anastasio Band trumpeter Jennifer Hartswick, and pianist Holly Bowling — rounds out a bill of 50-plus total confirmed performers. The full lineup and late-night High Sierra Music Hall schedule are posted at highsierramusic.com.

What High Sierra Is Beyond the Music

The festival’s identity was built as much on its program architecture as its artist curation. Four outdoor stages with full production and light shows run simultaneously through the daylight and evening hours. The High Sierra Music Hall hosts late-night programming that extends the musical day well beyond the main stage closings. Intimate Artist Playshops and Troubadour Sessions give festivalgoers access to acoustic performances and workshops that the main stage environment cannot replicate at close range. Daily parades through the grounds — audience-participation processions that have become one of the festival’s most recognizable traditions — generate the kind of cross-generational communal energy that differentiates High Sierra from festivals organized purely around stage programming. The Family Village and children’s area run structured activities throughout all four days. Yoga classes operate on the fairground lawn each morning. On-site camping and RV hookups are available, along with day parking for attendees based at local hotels. A FestivALL VIP package now includes a hotel lodging option for the first time at the new venue.

Grass Valley and the Nevada County Foothills

Nevada County is Gold Rush country, and Grass Valley and the adjacent Nevada City retain the 19th-century commercial district architecture that the Gold Rush built — brick storefronts, Victorian residences, and a civic character that three decades of counterculture influence have made more interesting rather than less. The Empire Mine State Historic Park on East Empire Street preserves the site of what was once California’s largest and richest gold mine, with 367 miles of underground tunnels, a Cornish-style mining cottage, and 800 acres of trails through the former mine grounds — the most substantive family history destination within range of the festival grounds. Lake of the Pines, fourteen miles east of Grass Valley on Highway 20, provides the nearest significant swimming and waterfront recreation, while South Yuba River State Park to the north holds some of the finest wild swimming holes in the Sierra Nevada foothills accessible by trail. For dinner in Grass Valley, South Pine Café on South Pine Street has built a consistent reputation for creative American cooking with a Mediterranean lean — the roasted lamb gyro plate and the hand-stretched wood-fired pizza with local goat cheese and roasted garlic are the two preparations that anchor the dinner menu most firmly. For a pre-festival afternoon meal closer to the fairgrounds, Tofanelli’s Gold Country Bistro on West Main Street in Grass Valley does Italian-influenced California cooking with a wine list built around the Sierra Foothills appellation; the braised short rib with polenta and the house-made gnocchi with brown butter and sage are the weekend ordering anchors.

Good to Know
– The festival is all-ages. Check highsierramusic.com for specific camping and minors policies at the new venue.
– Saturday VIP tickets historically sell out months in advance at High Sierra; check current availability as soon as the general on-sale opens.
– Nevada County Fairgrounds is at 11228 McCourtney Road in Grass Valley. GPS navigation to this address is reliable from both Interstate 80 and Highway 49.

Sierra Foothills Waterways on Lake.com

The Nevada County foothills hold a string of Gold Rush-era reservoirs and natural lakes within thirty minutes of the fairgrounds — Lake of the Pines, Scotts Flat Reservoir, and the upper Yuba River drainage — that support waterfront rental inventory through Lake.com suited to the festival-week visitor who wants daily lake access between sets. Search Nevada County and Sierra Foothills lake options on Lake.com for early July availability.