Dwight Yoakam to headline 2018 Red Ants Pants Music Festival
Dwight Yoakam will headline the eighth annual Red Ants Pants Music Festival this July, it was announced at a block party in White Sulphur Springs Saturday night.
The popular festival, staged in a working cow pasture on the Jackson Ranch just outside of White Sulphur Springs, is scheduled for July 26-29 and will also feature Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan, Shovels and Rope, the Steep Canyon Rangers, Junior Brown, Jim Lauderdale, Chancey Williams and the Younger Brothers Band, the Secret Sisters and more.
In all, the festival includes a free street dance on Thursday, July 26, along with 16 main stage and 14 side stage performances. With a reputation for pairing Grammy award-winning superstars with festival producer Sarah Calhoun’s hand-picked rising stars, the festival has grown from 6,000 attendees in its first year to 16,500 last year.
Yoakam, a multiple Grammy Award-winner, has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide and has 12 gold albums and nine platinum or multi-platinum albums, with five of those albums topping Billboard’s Country Albums chart and another 14 landing in the Top 10. Nearly 40 of Yoakam’s singles have charted on Billboard, with 14 peaking in the Top 10.
Country superstars Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan also are bringing their highly successful Grits and Glamour Tour to the Red Ants Pants Music Festival. Combined, Tillis and Morgan have recorded 28 top 10 hits, more than 18 million records sold, and 12 No. 1 songs.
Go here for a complete festival lineup.
The festival will also include agriculture and work skill demonstrations, a beard and mustache contest, a cross-cut sawing competition, local food, beer, wine, art and crafts, and — new this year — a yodeling contest.
This is the eighth year of the music festival, which benefits the Red Ants Pants Foundation, a nonprofit organization in support of women’s leadership, working farms and ranches, and rural communities. The weekend-long, grassroots, honky-tonkin’ music festival brings in millions of dollars to the rural economy.
The Red Ants Pants Music Festival also announced the 2018 poster competition winner, Liz Arnold, with her piece titled, “Nellie.”
Artwork from additional submissions will be featured on festival tickets. Ticket art winners are first runner-up Lissa Barber, “Hallowed Sunrise,” second runner-up Erin Rankin, “Work & Play,” third runner- up 13-year-old Taya Falcon, “The Back Pasture,” and fourth runner-up Kate Murnion, “The Cows Are Fans.”
A limited quantity of $125 early-bird passes good for the entire festival went on sale online only Saturday night at 8.
Regular prices are $145 for a weekend (three-day) pass, in advance, or $160 at the gate. Single-day passes are $55 in advance and $60 at the gate.
A limited number of $500 VIP tickets will give people access to a VIP area including premium, shaded seating with complimentary refreshments. VIP passes are available only online and at the Red Ants Pants store in White Sulphur Springs.
Camping passes are $25 per person. They can bought online or at the gate. Kids 12 and under are free.
Ticket purchasers can also avoid credit card fees and support rural and small businesses by visiting Red Ants Pants Music Festival hard ticket outlets. For ticket information and a full list of hard ticket outlets visit: www.redantspantsmusicfestival.