Red Lodge Songwriter Festival

The Red Lodge Songwriter Festival turns ten in 2026, and the anniversary edition runs June 18–20 in the mountain town of Red Lodge at the foot of the Beartooth Range. Over three days, 26 songwriters from Nashville, Montana, and around the country take over eight downtown venues — the Pollard Hotel, the Roosevelt Center, One Legged Magpie, Black Canyon Bistro, and others — performing more than 50 shows in the round-robin songwriter format that defines the event. In that format, two to four writers share a stage, taking turns performing songs and explaining where each one came from: the specific conversation, failed relationship, or lucky image that became the lyric. Done well, it turns a concert into something closer to eavesdropping on a craft session among professionals who genuinely admire each other’s work.

The festival has donated over $120,000 to music education in the community since 2016, with 2024 contributions including music scholarships to students at Montana State University Billings and Northwest Community College in Powell, Wyoming, as well as sound equipment for Roosevelt Middle School in Red Lodge and percussion instruments for Sleeping Giant Middle School in Livingston. The charitable mission runs alongside the musical programming rather than as a separate element, which means tickets are funding something specific and local.

## The 2026 Lineup

The 10th Anniversary lineup was announced in stages. Confirmed performers opening the festival on June 18 include Lynne Hanson and Shawn Byrne; Kelley Mickwee, Lena Rich, and Ryan Lindsay; Kalyn Beasley, Josh Grider, and Lauren Mascitti; and Marcedes Carroll and Aaron Bibelhauser. The festival’s website at redlodgesongwriterfestival.org carries the full schedule, updated as additional performers are announced. Headliners and Legends for the anniversary edition were to be announced January 1, 2026, with VIP and Patron pass holders receiving a private songwriter showcase on Thursday evening June 18 before the main programming opens to general ticket holders.

Thursday, June 18 opens with nine songwriter rounds at three downtown venues beginning at 5 PM. Friday evening, June 19, expands to six shows with songwriter pairings across multiple venues from 7 PM. Saturday, June 20, presents rounds of three songwriters across venues that switch at intermission, allowing attendees to move between rooms and catch more performers over the course of the evening.

> Tickets and Access
> – Individual show tickets: $50–$205. VIP packages (includes lodging and full passes): $2,250–$4,850. Purchase at redlodgesongwriterfestival.org.
> – Patron passes include the exclusive Thursday night Legends and Headliners Showcase plus meet-and-photograph access before and after the evening’s performers take the stage.
> – Most performances take place in venues with seated, listening-room-style formats. This is not a festival where you stand at the back with a beer; it’s an attentive audience event.
> – The nearest major airport is Billings Logan International, approximately 60 miles north via US Highway 212.

## Red Lodge and the Beartooth Beyond

Red Lodge is a compact, well-preserved Western mining town with independent restaurants, galleries, and a genuinely livable main street. The Beartooth Highway (US-212), which departs from the south end of town and climbs to 10,974 feet at Beartooth Pass before descending toward Yellowstone’s northeast entrance, is widely considered one of the finest drives in the United States and is fully open by mid-June in most years. For families traveling with the songwriter festival as a destination, the Beartooth Pass drive and Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley wildlife corridor form a natural daylong excursion on the Saturday before or after festival programming.

> For Families
> The festival’s songwriter rounds are genuinely accessible for teenagers and older children who listen to music with any depth of interest. The intimate venues and candid artist commentary give younger audiences a view of how professional songwriting works that most industry-facing content doesn’t provide. Younger children are better served by the Beartooth Pass drive, Red Lodge’s summer rodeo calendar, and the town’s mountain trail access than by the evening programming itself.

## Find Your Red Lodge Base

Red Lodge has a concentration of lodging around the downtown corridor, and the festival’s own website holds rooms at partner hotels and vacation rentals for festival pass holders. The Hebgen Lake area near West Yellowstone, about 90 miles southwest on the Beartooth-Yellowstone corridor, provides a lakeside alternative to in-town lodging if you’re building a broader Montana water and music itinerary around the festival weekend. Browse available Montana lake properties on Lake.com across the Beartooth and Greater Yellowstone corridor to set up the right base for the trip.