Lainey Wilson, Charley Crockett Added to SXSW Festival Lineup

South by Southwest has added Lainey Wilson and Charley Crockett to its 2026 music lineup, underscoring a deliberate expansion of country music's presence at the Austin festival. They join previously announced acts, including Los Lobos, Passion Pit, and Money Mark, as well as new artists Ink, Miss Bashful, and Kairo Keyz.

The festival will host live performances and screen films that represent both Wilson's and Crockett's lives, allowing audiences to understand the complete story of each artist's career and their times. SXSW is owned by Penske Media Corp. and reflects the festival as an event within the broader culture and media ecosystem encompassing music, film, and digital. Festival leaders say the country push reflects broader shifts in how audiences discover music. 

“Country radio, more than any other genre, had the format in its grip,” Dev Sherlock says. “With the sort of dispersion of how people listen to and discover stuff. I think that's allowed it to open up to the new audience, to the new sounds, all those different things.”

SXSW Vice President of Music Brian Hobbs emphasized the scale of this year's country presence. “The bigger story outside of just Lainey herself is that country music is really going to have a big presence at South by Southwest this year, and it really hasn't in the past,” Hobbs says. 

“We've had some here and there, Garth Brooks in 2017, a Keith Urban concert before, but there hasn't been a ton. Our programming always mirrors the overall music business trends. The past couple years, regional Mexican music was exploding at South By as it was in broader pop culture. And it's going to be a lot of new country music doing that this year.”

Hobbs says Wilson and Crockett reflect “a lot of what's cool about current country music right now.” He pointed to Crockett's defense of Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show. “It's a little dangerous for country music artists to say some of the stuff that Charlie's been saying,” Hobbs says. “It feels right for him to have a big presence at South by Southwest this year.”

Beyond country, SXSW will continue spotlighting Latin music, with Junior H headlining Billboard's Stage showcase and Fuerza Regida leading Rolling Stone's Future of Music showcase.