Jason Isbell Reuniting With Drive-By Truckers At Shoals Fest

Jason Isbell is turning the 2026 editino of ShoalsFest into something more than just a hometown gathering by leaning even further into the history that made him.

The fifth installment of the event will return Oct. 3-4 to McFarland Park in Florence, Al., with a lineup led by Isbell and the 400 Unit alongside Jeff Tweedy, S.G. Goodman, Willow Avalon and Steve Trash. But the headline moment is something deeper in the rearview: Isbell will reunite with Drive-By Truckers to perform their 2003 breakthrough Decoration Day in full.

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Isbell left the band in 2007 to begin his now thriving solo career; he and the Truckers have reconnected in a more substantive way in recent years, including a widely watched joint appearance last December on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to celebrate a reissue of Decoration Day. Truckers frontman Patterson Hood also joined Isbell during his set at ShoalsFest in 2025.

For Isbell, there may not be a more appropriate setting. Long before the Grammys and headlining tours, he was a teenager absorbing the legacy of FAME Studios and the broader Muscle Shoals scene, a lineage that includes Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and the Rolling Stones. Beyond the reunion, ShoalsFest continues to position itself as a curated, roots-minded alternative to the increasingly homogenized festival circuit.

There’s also a deeper community focus this year. The festival is partnering with Nuçi’s Space, a nonprofit dedicated to suicide prevention and mental health resources for musicians. Founded in Athens, Ga., the organization provides low-cost counseling, rehearsal space and youth programs, while actively working to destigmatize mental illness within creative communities. ShoalsFest is supporting efforts to expand Nuçi’s Space into the Shoals region, which aligns with Isbell’s long-standing advocacy around mental health and recovery.

Tickets go on sale Thursday (May 8), with proceeds once again feeding back into the local ecosystem that shaped Isbell in the first place.

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