There is a moment at Old Songs Festival — maybe Saturday afternoon, somewhere between the contra dance workshop and the shape-note singing circle — when you realize you have not looked at your phone in hours. The Altamont Fairgrounds hum with fiddles, banjos, and bodhráns drifting out of barns and sheds, people are gathered under trees trading verses of songs older than the nation itself, and somewhere a child is building a cigar-box ukulele. This is not a festival where you stand in a crowd watching a stage. This is a festival where you become part of the music.
Running since 1980, Old Songs is one of the longest-continuously-operating traditional music festivals in the Northeast. What began as an offshoot of the legendary Fox Hollow Festival has grown into a three-day celebration of folk, traditional, Celtic, and world music that draws roughly 2,500 attendees to the rolling fairgrounds just fifteen minutes west of Albany. The scale is intentional — Old Songs festival director Joy Bennett has said she wants the event to feel like family, not a stadium. And it does.
The 2026 edition, running June 26 through 28, marks the festival’s 46th year. The lineup is stacked with artists who represent the full breadth of traditional music: Holly Near, Garnet Rogers, Guy Davis, Bruce Molsky and Darrol Anger, Crys Matthews, Jake Blount Band, Trout Fishing in America, Cantrip, Windborne, Joe Jencks, Christine Lavin, and dozens more. But if you come to Old Songs expecting a conventional concert experience, you are missing the point entirely.
The Music
Old Songs books artists who carry traditions — Appalachian, New England, Quebecois, Irish, West African, South African, and everything between. The three evening main stage concerts (Friday and Saturday 6:30 to 11 PM, Sunday 3:30 to 7 PM) are the anchors, but the real magic lives in the daytime programming. Over 100 workshops, jam sessions, dances, and performances fill the hours between. You might sit in on a clawhammer banjo learn-how at 10 AM, join a Balkan dance circle at noon, catch a gospel singing workshop at 2, and find yourself in an impromptu old-time jam in one of the fairground barns by 4.
The 2026 headliners reflect this breadth. Holly Near brings decades of folk activism and a voice that can fill any room. Garnet Rogers delivers storytelling balladry with a baritone that stops conversations. Guy Davis carries the blues and folk tradition with the authority of someone who grew up in it — his parents were Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, and his music channels the deep roots of American song. Bruce Molsky and Darrol Anger together represent a summit meeting of old-time fiddle mastery. Jake Blount Band brings a younger generation’s perspective on Black string band traditions, connecting old music to present-day urgency.
Past festivals have featured artists like John McCutcheon, The Ebony Hillbillies, Sharon Katz and The Peace Train, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, Robin and Linda Williams, The Klezmatics, and Hubby Jenkins. The programming consistently bridges cultures and generations without ever feeling like a survey course — the connections happen naturally because the musicians themselves cross boundaries.
The Experience
The Altamont Fairgrounds is a 24-acre site that has hosted the Altamont Fair since 1893, and the barns, sheds, and historical buildings have been repurposed beautifully for festival use. There is a dedicated dance building with a real wooden floor — critical for contra dancing — and the Old Songs Dutch Barn hosts old-time jams that spill out the doors. The layout is completely walkable, and the intimate scale means you are never more than a few steps from someone tuning a mandolin under a tree.
Camping is available on-site and is a major part of the experience. Campers set up for the full weekend and form their own micro-communities — some coordinate their bookings year after year to camp near friends, creating little jam circles that run well past the official programming hours. The sense of community extends to the roughly 400 volunteers who keep things running smoothly, many of them returning veterans who treat Old Songs less like an event and more like a homecoming.
Families are not an afterthought here. The Great Groove Band, created in the late 1990s by Donna Hébert and now directed by her daughter Molly Hebert-Wilson, invites any child aged 5 to 18 to perform with musical coaches in a professional setting — their main stage set on Sunday is a genuine highlight. There is a dedicated children’s activity area and family stage, plus craft vendors selling handmade jewelry, pottery, and clothing along Artisan Way. The instrument exchange lets you trade an unused fiddle for one you will actually play. Food vendors cover the full spectrum, though many campers bring their own provisions for the weekend.
The atmosphere is something festival director Joy Bennett has described as deliberately welcoming. “I want people who come here for the first time to never miss coming back,” she has said, emphasizing the safety and warmth of the environment. That ethos permeates every corner of the grounds.
Getting There and Know Before You Go
The Altamont Fairgrounds sit at the edge of the Helderbergs, about 15 minutes west of Albany via Route 20. If you are coming from the Thruway (I-90), take Exit 24 toward Albany and follow Route 20 west. Parking is available on-site. The festival is close enough to the Capital Region that day-tripping is entirely feasible, but the camping experience is what turns first-timers into regulars.
Festival hours run Friday 1 PM to 1 AM, Saturday 9 AM to 1 AM, and Sunday 9 AM to 7 PM. Tickets are available as single-day, combo, or all-festival passes, with or without camping. Adult all-festival passes typically run under $200, with discounts for children, seniors, and students. Cash is handy for vendors, though most accept cards. Bring water — there are refill stations, but having your own bottle is smart. Much of the programming happens indoors, so light rain will not derail your weekend. For hot June weather, the shade under the fairground’s old trees is your best friend.
Why This Festival Matters
In an era when most festivals chase headliners and Instagram moments, Old Songs doubles down on participation. This is a place where the line between performer and audience dissolves, where a Grammy-winning artist might sit in on your afternoon jam, and where a five-year-old can play on the same main stage as a touring legend. The festival is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts and sustained by a community that genuinely loves the music — not as nostalgia, but as living tradition.
Old Songs Festival runs June 26 through 28, 2026, at the Altamont Fairgrounds in Altamont, NY. Tickets and full schedule at festival.oldsongs.org. If you have ever wondered what folk music sounds like when everyone in the room is part of it, this is the weekend to find out.
