The inaugural festival brings 10 artists and two nights of country music to Natchitoches as Northwestern State University launches an annual event with ambitions to become North Louisiana’s premier music festival. Get your tickets now at topofthebootmusicfest.com.
By Cole Gentry, Chief Marketing Officer at Northwestern State University
On Oct. 16 and 17, Northwestern State University will welcome country music fans, alumni, students, families and visitors to Natchitoches for the inaugural Top of the Boot Music Festival. The two-day event will bring established country stars, rising artists and Louisiana talent to the NSU campus for a fall weekend centered on live music, good times and the people you want beside you.
Friday, Oct. 16, opens with co-headliners Lee Brice and Louisiana native Dylan Scott.
Brice brings a catalog that includes eight No. 1 country singles and songs such as “I Drive Your Truck,” “I Don’t Dance,” “Hard to Love” and “One of Them Girls.” Scott returns to his home state with four No. 1 songs on the U.S. Country Airplay charts, including “My Girl,” “New Truck,” “Can’t Have Mine” and “This Town’s Been Too Good to Us.”
Lanie Gardner, Jackson Wendell and Clay LaBeff complete Friday’s lineup.
Saturday, Oct. 17, features Flatland Cavalry as the night’s headliner. The Texas Country and Americana group has earned three ACM Group of the Year nominations from 2024 through 2026. Ian Munsick, Rodney Atkins, Laine Hardy and Bottomland round out Saturday’s lineup.
Across two nights, 10 artists will take the stage at Northwestern State.
The reach of Top of the Boot extends well beyond Natchitoches. Marketing for the festival stretches across a multi-state region from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Jackson, Mississippi, south to New Orleans, Louisiana and west to Houston and Dallas, Texas.
That reach reflects the scale of the vision. Top of the Boot is being built as an annual destination event with the goal of becoming North Louisiana’s premier music festival, bringing country music fans from across Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas to Natchitoches each fall.
The festival will take place behind the NSU Soccer Complex along Tarleton Drive. Food trucks, vendors and two nights of performances will create a place for friends, families and loved ones to spend a fall weekend together.
For alumni, it is a reason to come home. For prospective students and families, it is another way to experience Northwestern State. For visitors, it is an invitation to spend time on campus and in Natchitoches while enjoying one of North Louisiana’s largest new entertainment events.
Northwestern State Athletics also has a direct stake in the festival’s success. The event was created to benefit NSU student-athletes while showcasing the university and Natchitoches to visitors from across the region.
Every annual tradition has a first year. For Top of the Boot, that year is 2026. Bring your friends. Bring your family. Come back to NSU or experience our campus for the first time. Spend two nights with some of country music’s biggest names and be there at the beginning of something built to return year after year.
Top of the Boot Music Festival
Oct. 16-17, 2026
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, Louisiana
General admission and VIP options are available. Get your tickets now at topofthebootmusicfest.com.