Lawrence County’s Dream Music Festival Headliners
STAGE DREAMS: If Lawrence County ever turned its pastures into a three-day music festival, locals already have the lineup ready—and it’s one that would stretch from Muscle Shoals soul to metal mosh pits.
The comment thread started with a simple question: “If LC had a 3-day music festival, who would headline?” What followed was a mashup of country legends, modern chart-toppers, gospel greats, and even a few tongue-in-cheek picks that prove Lawrence Countians have range.
At the top of the crowd’s wish list? Lainey Wilson, Reba McEntire, and Alabama—the trifecta of Southern country royalty. Their names echoed across dozens of comments, often joined by Travis Tritt, George Strait, and Morgan Wallen, whose blend of honky-tonk swagger and radio polish clearly hits home in LC. “Gotta have Hank Williams Jr. 🤠 Alabama, Ella Langley,” wrote Brandi Terry Shankle, summing up the county’s balance between classic and current.
Other fans leaned hard into nostalgia. Judy Owens pictured Marty Stuart, Keith Urban, and T. Graham Brown sharing the stage, while Tina Garrison admitted it was “too hard to pick just three,” torn between Trace Adkins, Sawyer Brown, and John Michael Montgomery. In fact, Sawyer Brown sparked multiple enthusiastic shoutouts, including one from Patricia Presley, who made her pick crystal clear: “SAWYER BROWN!!! ❤️❤️❤️ Love SAWYER BROWN!”
But not everyone was content to stick to country. Melissa Lopp imagined a 2000s rock revival with 3 Doors Down, Nickelback, and Matchbox 20, while Robert Pennington and Jonny Letson threw down the heavy-metal gauntlet with names like Slayer, Pantera, and Tool. Andrea Phillips went old-school rock with Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Allman Brothers, proving that LC’s dream lineup might just need multiple stages.
Some commenters wanted to highlight local talent, too—a point made by Phyllis Wallace, who suggested “local talent highlighted with maybe one headliner.” Names like Don Gaddy and the Tight Wads, Darin Liles and the Barton Cowboys, and Self Inflicted Wound showed up as reminders that the county already has plenty of music worth celebrating right here at home.
The thread wasn’t without humor. Daniell Johnston jokingly chose “2Pac, Biggie, 50,” before admitting that lineup might be “hard to pull off.” Keith Pitt went fully classic comedy with “Larry, Curly, Moe.” And a few posters, like Lexis Smith and Chris McCollum, kept it real with a dose of small-town skepticism: “It probably won’t never happen in LC.”
Still, the spirit of the post was pure fun—and pure Lawrence County. Whether folks were dreaming of gospel acts like CeCe Winans and Brandon Lake, or rock anthems from ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the underlying theme was the same: music that feels like home.
And if Lawrence County ever did host that 3-day music fest, it seems there’s only one real challenge—figuring out how to fit all those headliners onto one stage.
Follow-up questions:
– Which local bands would you want to see open for these big-name acts?
– If the festival were real, where in Lawrence County should it be held?