NEWS & UPDATES
2026 Blue Ox Virtual Band Competition
Compete for a chance to perform on the Backwoods Stage at Blue Ox on June 27th, 2026!
Deadline: Wednesday, March 4th @ 11:59 PM CT to be considered.
Are you a Bluegrass, Americana or Folk artist? Are you in a category that might be Blue Ox adjacent but would go over well with folks who appreciate good honest music? Have you been looking for ways to get on one of the stages at the Blue Ox Music Festival? Here’s your chance…create a short video of your band performing one original song in a live setting (please no heavily produced music videos) and submit by 11:59PM on Wednesday March 4th for a chance to perform live on our Backwoods Stage on Saturday, June 27th!
How to Enter:
1. Create a new video or submit a recently created video of your band performing 1 original song (performance video).
2. Upload your video to YouTube as a published or unlisted video (choose unlisted if you do not want your submission visible on YouTube). Please make sure you allow embedding of the video so we can place it on our voting page. Horizontal videos are preferred, but don’t let this stop you if you just have vertical formats to submit.
3. Fill out the VIRTUAL BAND COMPETITION application (BELOW) and include the YouTube URL link to your video no later than 11:59PM on Wednesday March 4th
**Late submissions will NOT be considered**
How to Win:
1. The Blue Ox team will select our top band competition submissions and will post band information with video links to our website.
2. Voting will open to the public HERE on this same webpage on Wednesday, March 11th and will close Saturday, March 21st at 11:59 PM CT.
3. Winner will be announced the following week: tentative date Wednesday March 25th (depending on the ability to contact the winning band).
The winner will receive a slot to perform on the Backwoods Stage on Saturday, June 27th. Band members will also receive weekend passes to the 2026 Blue Ox Music Festival.