The Outlaw Music Festival, a group of big-name artists including Willie Nelson & Family and Bob Dylan and His Band, will perform on the final night of Summerfest 2017.
Outlaw Music Festival also includes Sheryl Crow, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Margo Price, and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. Those artists will all perform at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater on Sunday, July 9.
This is the first time Milwaukee World Festival Inc., the Milwaukee-based Summerfest operator, has booked a festival within a festival. But the World’s Largest Music Festival has been pulling out all the stops for its 50th year.
Country star Nelson first performed at Summerfest in 1977, and last year played the BMO Harris Pavilion with Miller Lite. His rejection of the traditional Nashville country sound helped spur the formation of a subgenre called “outlaw country.”
Folk-rock legend Dylan last performed at Summerfest in 2009 with Nelson. Crow, who is influenced by a variety of genres, has played with both Dylan and Nelson before, and has won nine Grammy awards.
Isbell also is a Grammy winner, and formerly was a member of Drive-By Truckers. Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats is influenced by folk, Americana and vintage rhythm & blues, with hits like “S.O.B.” and “I Need Never Get Old.” Margo Price is a rising country music artist who has been compared to Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. Lukas Nelson, Willie Nelson’s son, previously performed at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater with Neil Young and will return with his rock group, Promise of the Real.
The Outlaw Music Festival will run from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. on July 9. Ticketed guests can exit and return to the amphitheater during the festival.
Tickets for the show go on sale Friday, April 21 at 10 a.m. and include Summerfest admission.
