Austin Blues Festival Goes Beyond the Blues

The Austin Blues Festival is returning April 25-26 to Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park with a lineup that reflects the genre’s long reach, from classic blues to rock ’n’ roll, psychedelia, funk and more. The fourth annual event, presented by Antone’s Nightclub and Waterloo Greenway Conservancy, will feature hometown favorite Gary Clark Jr. joining Jimmie Vaughan & Friends, alongside artists including Adrian Quesada’s Boleros Psicodélicos, The War and Treaty, BADBADNOTGOOD, Larkin Poe and Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton.

For organizers, that range is central to the festival’s identity.

“Austin Blues Festival was created to extend the Antone’s magic beyond its four walls and keep the Blues, and Austin’s identity as the Live Music Capital of the World, thriving,” said Will Bridges, co-owner of Antone’s and Austin Blues Festival. “Blues Fest bridges Austin’s musical history with our city’s evolving culture, inviting everyone to come together year after year to celebrate, connect and create new traditions.”

The bluesprint

That ethos shapes a festival built as much around Austin’s musical identity as any single genre. While the city’s blues legacy runs through East Austin clubs such as Victory Grill and Charlie’s Playhouse and later through Antone’s, organizers see the blues less as a narrow category than as a throughline connecting many corners of the city’s sound.

“The Austin sound is eclectic, so it’s hard to assign labels to it,” Bridges said. “But I think if you had to point at one connective tissue or one common denominator, it is the blues.”

That philosophy helps explain why this year’s lineup moves easily from Huston-Tillotson Jazz Orchestra and D.K. Harrell to Los Amigos Invisibles, New Breed Brass Band and George Clinton. Rather than freezing the blues in place, the festival aims to show how its influence continues to move across genres, generations and regions.

Local legends

Zach Ernst, the festival’s talent booker, said the event has developed its own identity over the last four years by embracing that broader definition.

“In year one we ended up with a pretty diverse lineup genre-wise, and I used that as an opportunity to set a new blueprint or template for future lineups,” Ernst said. “Every day and every weekend we try to have one or two tried-and-true blues festival artists, but I also use the opportunity to book more Austin bands that I like regardless of genre.”

This year’s addition of Clark to Vaughan’s Saturday night set gives the weekend one of its clearest links between Austin’s blues past and present. Ernst called any chance to put the two together “really magical,” while describing Vaughan as a guiding figure for the festival.

“We’ve been really lucky to have Jimmie Vaughan play every year at Blues Fest, and he’s headlining one of the days this year,” Ernst said. “He’s kind of the North Star in that he represents a lot of that rich Austin history.”

Supporting Austin’s urban park system

Once the main event begins, the format remains intentionally simple: one stage, no overlapping sets and room to settle into the day. Saturday’s bill is topped by Jimmie Vaughan & Friends featuring Clark, while Sunday closes with Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton. Official late shows at Antone’s will keep the weekend going after hours with performances by The Fabulous Thunderbirds featuring Kim Wilson, Madam Radar, New Breed Brass Band, D.K. Harrell and Pinettes Brass Band.

For Waterloo Greenway Conservancy, the partnership also ties music to place. A portion of festival proceeds supports the organization’s work along Waller Creek and its broader urban park mission.

“The Austin Blues Festival embodies the very spirit of Waterloo Greenway — bringing people together through music, culture, and shared public space,” CEO Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette said in a recent press release.

For tickets and more information, visit the festival’s website or follow Austin Blues Festival on social media for updates.

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