The 49th Ann Arbor Folk Festival just got a lot more country.
The annual music festival announced that acclaimed country artist Junior Brown will open for Michigan jam band Greensky Bluegrass to kick off the festival on Friday, Jan. 30.
Brown cut his teeth in the Austin, Texas music scene in the 1990s and is known for his signature “guit-steel” double-neck guitar, a hybrid of electric guitar and lap steel guitar.
A press release describes Brown “a cross between Jimi Hendrix and Ernest Tubb,” mixing traditional country music and surf rock.
Brown has also been a longtime favorite performer at The Ark, the nonprofit Ann Arbor acoustic music venue for which the Ann Arbor Folk Fest serves as a fundraiser.
Previously, organizers announced an updated format for this year’s Ann Arbor Folk Fest, which would see more of a typical concert format headlined by Greensky Bluegrass on Friday, Jan. 30 followed by a larger bill on Saturday, Jan. 31.
Saturday’s lineup features a mix of local and national acts, including Amos Lee, Dawes, The Crane Wives, Jon Muq, Rabbitology, and Ryan Montbleau.
Tickets to the festival range from $56.60-$281.50 and are available from theark.org/folk-festival-2026.
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