Music Festivals and Events in Central Montana

From 3 day music festivals near the foothills of the Little Belt Mountains to evening concerts set under the stars, Central Montana has a variety of music events.

Enjoy bluegrass, rock, country and pop played by national artists and if you are lucky, you’ll experience a local jamming band which could very well be farmers and ranchers from the area.

Come for the music, seek out our local breweries and shops, and enjoy our unspoiled vistas in Central Montana.

Bluegrass Concert

Friday, June 14, 2019 at 6pm (gates open at 5)
Gibson Park Bandshell, Great Falls
This Bluegrass concert features two bands – the Lazy Owl String Band and The Two Tracks. Both will jam at 9:30pm. Harmony-rich and infectious melodies are delivered by The Two Tracks Wyoming- based band. More than bluegrass, Bozeman, Montana’s Lazy Owl String Band brings “stompgrass”. Bring your dancing shoes and get ready to enjoy some great tunes. Click here for tickets.

Logan Mize

Wednesday, June 19, 2019
5th Street and Central Avenue, Great Falls
Downtown Summer Jam concert features Logan Mize, an accomplished country singer/songwriter from Clearwater, Kansas, with deep musical roots in his family tree. His great uncle was Billy Mize, largely known for crafting and evolving the legendary Bakersfield sound, which included musical pioneers Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. He has played with country stars Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry, Blake Shelton and many more. His album "Come Back Road" debuted in the top 20 Billboard Country Albums and reached no. 2 on the iTunes Country Charts in 2017. Propelled by the album's popularity, "Ain't Always Pretty," eclipsed 30 million streams on Spotify in 2018. Click here for tickets.

June Festival

Saturday, June 22, 2019
Main Street, Harlowton
June Festival is June 22, Saturday at 3pm on Harlowton’s Main Street. Kuinka, Pandas & People, Arterial Drive and Dan Dubuque entertain for the Harlo Music Project. There will be food and drink vendors, face painting & fun under the Montana sky! Kuinka’s music is an electronic jolt into modern folk and Americana, waltzing along the grooved edges of dream-pop, synth-pop, and Brooklyn’s mid-aughts guitar-rock revival. Click here for tickets.

Summer Celebration

June 28-30, 2019
Fort Benton
Summer Celebration in Fort Benton will host a variety of musicians June 28-30. Anthony Arya, teenage singer, guitarist, songwriter, performed on NBC’s The Voice and has recently released his debut album “Going to California”. Arya will play Friday, June 28 at 12:45pm and Saturday June 29 at 1:15pm and 8-9pm. Other musicians playing Friday and Saturday include Jamie Carrier, Comstock Lode, Chad Lantz, Jessie and the Jinx, Rob and Halliday Quist and the Justin Case Band.

Beer Garden & Bluegrass Festival

Wednesday, July 3, 2019
City Park, Choteau
The Henge plays at Choteau’s Beer Garden & Bluegrass Festival in City Park from 3-7pm. Tickets available at the gate.

Jalan Crossland & The Dodgy Mountain Men

Tim Montana

Wednesday, July 3, 2019, 8:30pm
Rodeo Grounds, Choteau
Growing up in Butte, Montana Tim’s influences ranged from Merle Haggard to Guns N’ Roses. He moved to Nashville to write and record and in September 2017 released his single Hillbilly Rich. The band El Wencho opens for Tim Montana at 6:30pm. Tickets at the gate.

4th of July Hootenanny

Thursday, July 4, 2019
Central Avenue, downtown Great Falls
4th of July Hootenanny will be a free outdoor concert by Granger Smith in downtown Great Falls from 1-5pm. It will close down 8 blocks of Central Avenue. Born and raised in Texas, Granger started playing guitar at age 14. At age 19 he landed a songwriting deal with EMI Music in Nashville. His single Backroad Song became the most played in America topping all mainstream country radio charts. Granger Smith has performed in 10 different countries, on 3 continents and even at the White House. This concert is free!

Quaker City Nighthawks

Wednesday, July 17, 2019
5th Street and Central Avenue, downtown Great Falls
These Texans are live music legends and will hit the stage with a mix of 70’s and Southern rock. Rolling Stone recently said of their newest single Hunter’s Moon “The crunchy, chugging riff also bears the familiar mark of one of the band’s signature influences, ZZ Top, but with the added pyrotechnics of an organ solo that’s equal parts Edgar Winter and Boston.” Fresh off their seventh album in ten years this part country, part heavy metal band will bring a show the likes of which Great Falls has never seen. Click here for tickets.

9th Annual Red Ants Pants Music Festival

July 25-28, 2019
Jackson Ranch, White Sulphur Springs
Patty Griffin, Shakey Graves, Bobby Bare, Suzy Bogguss, Colter Wall, Valerie June, Dustbowl Revival and many more take the stage at this 3-day event located on the Jackson Ranch. It’s a family party in a pasture that starts with a street dance on White Sulphur Springs’ Main Street Thursday night. The festival has incredible food and craft vendors, ranch skills demos, merchandise tents, a dance floor and onsite camping. Named Montana’s 2018 Tourism Event of the Year. Click here for tickets.

Darryl Worley & Little Texas

Friday, July 26, 2019
Central Montana Fair, Lewistown
Darryl Worley & Little Texas play at the Central Montana Fair in Lewistown Friday, July 26, 2019 starting at 8:00 pm. Since their debut album in 1992, Little Texas has sold over 7 million albums, earned 3 Grammy nominations, won a CMA Album Of The Year award and earned the title “The Hardest Working Band In Country” by playing over 300 shows a year! On 11 all-new compositions, these veteran rockers celebrate the joys and triumphs of kicking ass in the latter years of life and offer listeners a window in to the real lives of the band that has truly been “Young For A Long Time!” Click here for tickets.

Collective Soul

Saturday, July 27, 2019
Montana Expo Park, Great Falls
Collective Soul celebrates their 25th anniversary in 2019 and performs Saturday, July 27 at 7:30pm at Montana Expo Park in Great Falls. The band has a palpable mixture of insightful songwriting and impeccable band chemistry. Simply put, they work together as a family to produce their music. Click here for tickets.

The Four Tops

Sunday, July 28, 2019
Montana Expo Park, Great Falls
The Four Tops perform Sunday, July 28 at 7:30pm at Montana Expo Park in Great Falls. The Four Tops are a vocal quartet from Detroit, Michigan who helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes. Click here for tickets.

Tracy Byrd

Monday, July 29, 2019
Montana Expo Park, Great Falls
Tracy Byrd performs Monday, July 29 at 7:30pm at Montana Expo Park in Great Falls. Byrd, an American country music artist, signed to MCA Nashville Records in 1992. He broke through on the country music scene that year with his single "Holdin' Heaven", which reached Number One on Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks. Click here for details.

Hairball

Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Montana Expo Park, Great Falls
Hairball performs Tuesday, July 30 at 7:30pm at Montana Expo Park in Great Falls. Hairball is a Rock & Roll experience you won’t forget. A band puts on a concert – Hairball puts on an event! The lights, sound, video screens, smoke, fire, blood, bombs, confetti, spiders, snakes & monsters (oh my) and the screaming hoards of rabid Hairball fans create an event – an event that hits you so hard, it’ll take a few days to recover! Rock & Roll will NEVER die! Click here for tickets.

August Festival

Saturday, August 10, 2019
Main Street, Harlowton
The Kitchen Dwellers, Michigan Rattlers, Dodgy Mountain Men, and Wes Urbaniak Music live on the Main Street of Harlowton, Montana! Montana-bred bluegrass outfit Kitchen Dwellers are captivating fans across the country with their high-energy live performances and unique approach to traditional music that fans have dubbed Galaxy Grass. Formed while attending college at Montana State, the group has burst onto the bluegrass scene. Enjoy fantastic performances, delicious food and drink vendors, face painting and fun under the Montana sky! Gates open at 3:00 p.m. Click here for tickets.

Montana Cowboy Poetry Gathering Grand Stage Show

Saturday, August 17, 2019
Fergus Center for the Performing Arts, Lewistown
Saturday grand stage show during Montana Cowboy Poetry Gathering features The Bellamy Brothers August 17 at 7pm at the Fergus Center for the Performing Arts, Lewistown, Montana. The musical odyssey of brothers Bellamy started creatively smoldering in their home state of Florida, before exploding nationally amidst the ’70’s pop music culture of L.A. Known by their music and the company they were keeping, The Bellamys officially lifted off the launch pad in 1976 when their single, “Let Your Love Flow,” became an instant smash in both the U.S. and Europe. The love was indeed flowing as The Bellamys jammed for audiences on their sold-out concerts and shared stages with the likes of Loggins & Messina, the Doobie Brothers, and the Beach Boys, with their patented blend of rock/country music. Click here for tickets.

Carter Winters

Wednesday, August 21, 2019
5th Street and Central Avenue, downtown Great Falls
Fitting every bit the part of the man in black, Carter Winter is country music’s modern traditionalist. With his rich, traditional country vocal and compelling live performance, Carter has gained recognition from some of the biggest names in country music and shared the stage with artists such as Sam Hunt, Chase Rice and Travis Tritt. Recently completing his second studio album with multi Grammy Award-winning producer Chad Carlson (Taylor Swift, Chase Rice, Cole Swindell) and producer Mark Bright (Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts), Carter Winter’s sophomore release The Whiskey In Me makes a solid entry into country music that firmly establishes his bad boy brand as a natural force in country music. Click here for tickets.

Jason Wickens

Friday, September 6, 2019
Chokecherry Jam, Lewistown
Jason Wickens, Montana born and raised singer/songwriter, performs for the Chokecherry Jam street dance Friday, September 6 in Lewistown from 7-10pm on Main Street and 2nd. Wickens was raised on a Montana cattle ranch, lives in Bozeman, Montana and hosts “Live From The Divide”, a syndicated live-performance public radio show. His music style centers around Indie and country. Tickets available at the street dance.

September Festival

Saturday, September 7, 2019
Main Street, Harlowton
September Festival is Saturday, September 7 and Red Shahan, Eilen Jewell, The Two Tracks, and The Hellroaring will be live on the Main Street of Harlowton, Montana! Red Shahan, the gifted young troubadour from Bluff Dale, Texas is off to a great start and Shahan’s now poised to reach an even bigger audience with the March 30 release of his sophomore album, Culberson County, on Thirty Tigers. Enjoy fantastic performances, delicious food and drink vendors, face painting & fun under the Montana sky! Gates open at 3:00 p.m. Click here for tickets.

Rock Lotto

Saturday, September 21, 2019
Havre Festival Days, Town Square, Havre
Free! Local musicians put their name in a hat and are randomly placed into bands for this one-time only performance. Musicians sign up for one category: vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards or “other.” Once Bands are assembled a subsequent drawing is held to assign songs for each of the bands to learn. Bands have five to six weeks to rehearse for their performance.

Performances Open to the Public

Montana Fiddle Camp

June 9-14, 2019
St. Thomas Camp, Monarch
Montana Fiddle Camp is located at the St. Thomas Camp near Monarch, Montana the first two full weeks of June (June 9-14, 2019). Lessons (fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, cello) are scheduled throughout the day. Evening concerts and dances are open to the public. Enjoy the music in this scenic area. The Little Belt Mountains form a beautiful background as Belt Creek ambles through the camp. Click here for more information. 406-320-1150.

Ongoing Music Events

Sounds on the Square

June 12–August 14, 2019
Havre
Every Wednesday, 6pm – 8pm June 14 – August 16 in Havre’s Town Square. For more information call 406-265-4383.

Kicks @ 6

June 18 – August 20, 2019
Great Falls
Every Tuesday at 6pm in Havre’s Pepin Park. Free.