he 2017 Lockn’ Festival will take place at Oak Ridge Farm in Arrington, Virginia between August 24 – 27. Today, festival organizers revealed the initial lineup for the fifth annual Lockn’ Festival throughout the day with the promise of more to come.
The Avett Brothers will make their Lockn’ debut at the 2017 festival. Additionally, Grateful Dead tribute act Joe Russo’s Almost Dead will return to the event after making their debut with two late night performances in 2016. The third act announced today was Brandi Carlile, who was on the 2016 lineup but was unable to perform. We also have our first musician to play each and every installment of Lockn’, Keller Williams. Williams is listed both as a solo performer and as Keller Williams’ Grateful Gospel. The second musician to play all five Lockn’s is Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh. Lesh will perform with Phil Lesh & Friends as well as with The Terrapin Family Band for a tribute to the 40th anniversary of Terrapin Station.
It was hard not to note Warren Haynes’ absence from Lockn’ 16, but he’ll be back in August with Gov’t Mule. The same can be said of The String Cheese Incident and Widespread Panic, who despite absences in 2016, are returning in 2017.