Old Settler's Music Festival announces it will sell homestead, postpone event until 2025

Hannah Ortega, Austin American-Statesman
·2 min read
In this undated photo, Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis perform at the Old Settlers Music Festival. Event producers have announced a pause for 2024 and a plan to sell the homestead they purchased in Dale.
In this undated photo, Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis perform at the Old Settlers Music Festival. Event producers have announced a pause for 2024 and a plan to sell the homestead they purchased in Dale.

After six years on the property, the Old Settler's Music Festival announced it will sell its homestead and postpone the event until 2025.

The homestead at 1616 FM 3158 in Dale, just outside Austin, consists of over 29 acres of camping area. The grounds are simply larger than needed, according to an announcement on the festival's website, which led to the decision to sell.

The announcement also said the Old Settler's team "will consider keeping the festival on the property or pursuing other locations with camping and additional infrastructure."

"We are grateful to those that had the vision of growth for the organization to include owning property, however we need to do what is in the best interest of our 501(c)3 nonprofit organization so that we can preserve this legacy and continue the festival for another 36 years and beyond," the announcement said.

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The Old Settler's Music Festival came into being in 1987, and it has since held 36 festivals in four different locations with a postponement in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was in Driftwood from 2002 to 2017, when the fest turned 30.

At the time, director Jean Spivey had hinted to the Statesman about the possibility of changes on the horizon, noting that Old Settler’s was “kind of busting at the seams” on the Salt Lick Pavilion and Camp Ben McCulloch grounds they’d rented for 16 years. “We need to think about the long-term viability,” she said, “so that we can continue to go on for another 30 years.”

Performers cover a wide gambit of Americana music, from roots to folk to jazz to blues to gospel to country, and camping is a popular option.

Last year's lineup included Yola, The Wood Brothers, Shovels & Rope, Elephant Revival, Sunny War, Matt the Electrician, Melissa Carper, Ley Line, Twisted Pine, Bee Taylor, Scott Strickland and more.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Old Settler's Music Festival will sell homestead, postpone until 2025