Texas Music News — August 21, 2026
Willie Nelson and Neil Young will share a stage twice before Farm Aid 2026 kicks off next month. The two co-founded Farm Aid back in 1985, alongside John Mellencamp. Forty-one years later, they still show up every fall like two ranch hands checking the same fence line. The pair will co-headline a show at Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Sept. 22. Two days later, they play TD Pavilion at the Highmark Mann in Philadelphia. Now Nelson brings his Family band, while Young arrives with the Chrome Hearts. Dripping Springs, Texas, native Ty Myers opens both nights. It’s a fitting nod to the next generation of Texas troubadours sharing a bill with the genre’s elder statesmen.
Still Working the Family Farm
Farm Aid itself lands Sept. 26 at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach. Nelson and Young headline alongside fellow board members John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff. The lineup runs deep with Texas blood, too. Lukas Nelson, Willie’s son and an Austin native, joins the bill, along with Turnpike Troubadours, Sierra Ferrell and Jesse Welles. Young also canceled a European tour this summer, telling fans he simply “needed a break.” Two months later, he’s back in the saddle beside his oldest running partner.
At 93, Nelson still tours harder than musicians a third his age. Austin keeps its own tribute in bronze, a statue of Nelson watching over Second Street downtown. Farm Aid remains the one date on his calendar that’s never just business. It’s the cause that started it all, back when family farms across the country faced foreclosure. So tickets for the Bridgeport and Philadelphia shows went on presale Wednesday, with general sale opening Friday. For two guys who’ve spent four decades raising money for Farm Aid, the road to Virginia Beach still runs through Texas.
Details at Live For Live Music.
More Texas Music News
The Killers’ Brandon Flowers goes country on his new solo album, Thrasher, out Aug. 21. He also recorded the LP live in Nashville, with a killer lineup that includes David Rawlings, Margo Price and Charlie McCoy. Flowers won’t play North Texas anytime soon, but he lands at Austin City Limits Festival’s first weekend in October. Details at KXT 91.7.
Dallas soul queen Erykah Badu drops a joint album with producer The Alchemist on Aug. 28. They recorded it over 18 months between Dallas and Los Angeles. It’s Badu’s first new project in 11 years, and the first single, “Witch Doctor,” is out now. Details at The Fader.