Shoalsfest 2026 Puts the Focus on Quality Over Quantity!

For one weekend a year, Florence, Alabama, becomes the heart of Muscle Shoals as Jason Isbell brings his annual Shoalsfest to Florence's McFarland Park. This is the festival’s fifth year, and it just keeps getting better. One thing that sets Shoalsfest apart from most music festivals is its focus on quality over quantity. Having only six sets played over the festival's two days allows artists to stretch in a way that isn't possible with other festivals where even an established band may get 30-45 minutes. Here, even the opening acts got an hour on stage to show off to a crowd that might not be familiar with their music.

Saturday at Shoalsfest was what I call the “Jason Isbell Marathon.” But things got started with another artist, S.G. Goodman. Goodman's hour-long set showed why she is one of roots music's most celebrated young artists, winning the Americana Music Award for Emerging Artist in 2023 and showing it was well deserved by notching nominations for Album of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2026 awards. Goodman's mix of folk, country, and Americana was on full display with songs like “Snapping Turtle” and “Space and Time.” She even busted out the most unexpected cover of the weekend, a rocked-out take on The Butthole Surfers' “Pepper.”

From there, the Jason Isbell Marathon began as the festival's founder began what would end up being 3.5 hours on stage in one night. Things kicked off with the most anticipated set of the weekend for many: The Drive-By Truckers doing a full run-through of their landmark 2003 album Decoration Day with Isbell sitting in for the entire set. Not only is it the first time the band has done Decoration Day in its entirety, but it's the first time Isbell has done a full set with the band since he left it in 2007. It was a special show, with the band blistering through the album, highlighted by their first full-band performances of the album's Isbell-led tracks (“Outfit”, “TVA”, and “Decoration Day”) since he left the band.

After an hour and a half of rocking with the Truckers, you'd think Isbell would be ready to call it a night, but he still had work to do as he and his band The 400 Unit were the evening's headliners. Over the next two hours, Isbell mixed a host of his singles with some deeper album cuts, even throwing another Drive-By Truckers song (“Danko/Manuel”) into the mix. To cap things off, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley of the Truckers returned the favor to Isbell and joined him onstage for the night's encore, a high-energy four-guitar romp through Neil Young's “Rockin' in the Free World.”

Day two of Shoalsfest was a little less rocking than day one, but still brought the goods. The day kicked off with Americana newcomer Willow Avalon. Avalon only released her debut album in 2024 and was an unknown to much of the crowd, but she took the opportunity over the next hour to win them over with her blend of honky-tonk country and outlaw swagger. She was even joined on stage by Jason Isbell for the album he contributed to on her new album, “Cardinal Sin.”

After Avalon came Jeff Tweedy of Wilco fame. Tweedy took to the stage alone with just a guitar to accompany him and entertained the crowd with his quirky sense of humor and thoughtful songs. He even sprinkled in a generous helping of solo acoustic reworkings of Wilco hits.

Finishing up Shoalsfest was night two of Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit. Again, Isbell and company blended hits and deep cuts for two hours that had very minimal overlap with the previous day. It's a testament to just how deep Isbell's catalog is that he could throw that many different songs out and still miss some songs that were released as singles (“Cumberland Gap”, “Anxiety”, and “When We Were Close,” just to name three off the top of my head). You can find the setlists from both nights of Shoalsfest here and here.

All in all, it was another successful festival for Jason Isbell and company, and the size of the crowds seems to indicate there's a hunger for a sixth edition of Shoalsfest in 2027.