The 50th annual Atwood Music Festival is coming up at Atwood Water Park, and the performance schedule is packed once again. The longest-running outdoor music festival in Mississippi, AMF is enjoyed every Memorial Day weekend as “The Party on the Pearl” River. This year it is May 23-25.

On Thursday, gates open at 5 p.m. Naomi Taylor will kick things off with a 6 p.m. performance, followed by Kayleigh Clark at 7 p.m., Ashton Gill at 8:15 and Laine Hardy 9:45-11 p.m.

Gates open again Friday at 5 p.m. Musical performances start at 5:30 p.m. with Doug Duncan. The Stephens Bros. will play next, 6:15-6:45. Cadie Calhoun will perform 7-8 p.m. and The Frontmen will take things further into the night with an 8:30-10 p.m. set. The final band of the night is The Tip Tops, capping off the evening 10:30 p.m. until midnight.

Saturday’s fun begins with Logan Greenlee at 4:30 p.m. Gates will open at 2 p.m.

The Lincoln Outfit and JT McCaffrey Band will play at 5:15 and 6:30 p.m., respectively. Lauren Watkins will take the stage at 8 p.m., followed by the festival headliner, Justin Moore, 9:30-11 p.m. A fireworks show will cap off the night immediately after.

Three-day festival tickets are $75 general admission or $85 pit passes, available only through Ticketmaster. Children ages 12 and under do not need tickets, and are admitted free. 

The festival was founded in 1975 by Lawrence County residents who had the dream of creating a festival for locals on Memorial Day weekend. It began as the Lawrence County Bluegrass Festival.

The festival’s impressive list of former performers includes Grandpa Jones, Minne Pearl, Ricky Van Shelton, Paul Overstreet, John Conlee, Ronnie McDowell, Mac McAnally, Earl Thomas Conley, The Bellamy Brothers, Eddie Rabbit, Lainey Wilson, Dan Seals, Marty Stuart, and the Charlie Daniels Band.

To hear music from this year’s performers, listen to the Atwood Music Fest 2024 playlist on Spotify.