Over here at Gary Hayes Country, we keep track of over 200 festivals with our weekly updates, and we often write off shoot articles about those festivals in other ways. This month I was made aware of two prominent Kentucky festivals that are in the process of hosting their yearly announcement parties, and those two are Master Musicians Festival and Laurel Cove Music Festival.
Many of the list of names on my festival master list will already have 2026 dates and lineups, and there are not that many festivals on my list that host parties for their event like these two do. Many of these festivals in my home state of Kentucky are banding together to form a community of fans and bands alike, and I try to remain a part of that as much as I can.
What steers me away from it? Good question.
Well, because there are 10 or 15 other communities nationwide that are like that, and one of my own personal goals is to help all of the bands link these communities together to create a bigger nationwide route to play in areas they normally would not. I have been spending the last 20 years of my life working hard to achieve that goal, and I am not going anywhere. This article will prove that here.
Let’s start with the first one and it is one that I have attended twice in the past. The Master Musicians Festival has been around a long, long time folks. This one and ROMP are both very integral to my very own local community’s economy. Both times that we attended, we were treated very well and that entire festival is very well ran!
Right now, I am currently working on the festival article for the North Spring Music Festival that involves the Creekers and let me tell you, you will soon discover why they are the talk of the independent music community. Here is all of the ticket info:
ATTENTION MMF FAMILY! 
We are ONE WEEK away from the MMF Announcement Party! 
MMF Faithful Weekend Passes are ONLY ON SALE FOR ONE MORE WEEK THRU 7PM EST 12/18! Tickets on sale RIGHT HERE at This is the cheapest price you can get a weekend pass to MMF! We’ll see you at The Makers Mill + Finders Keepers at 6PM EST on Thursday, December 18 for the official MMF33 Lineup Announcement Party! Special thanks to our event sponsor, UGN, Inc.! 
The 33rd Annual Master Musicians Festival will be held July 17th and 18th, 2026 at Somerset Community College and is presented by See Somerset , Lake Cumberland Tourism-Somerset-Pulaski County CVB, and DEG Live.
So, this portion of the article is for my dear friends that operate the Laurel Cove Music Festival and for my dear friends over at the Bell Theater. Through the years, they have loved on me and my website on many levels and I appreciate them. Their contributions to the local economy are second to none, and that is what this site was built for. The “small guys”. That’s who I fight for.
Dont miss the lineup announcement show for Laurel Cove 2026! We’ll be partying down on January 17th at the Bell Theater in Pineville! We’ll have music from The Lowdown Drifters, The Damn Shames and Hollerhead, as well as announce our full 2926 lineup, give away some tickets and much more!
Doors at 6:30 PM, music at 7:00 PM. Tickets on sale now here: HERE
