For the promoters of Lockn’ Music Festival, combining an impressive array of headliners spanning decades of American Music alongside thriving local and regional artists seemed to be a necessity. After all, the southern U.S. is where much our music history was born and evolved.

So many years after the disbandment of Grateful Dead that in turn relocated tens of thousands of devoted tour followers to various other acts and bigger life purposes, folks still crave that familiar feeling that kept them on tour. It didn’t only come from the music that Garcia and the gang connected with so many people through, but the sense of community and thriving weirdness that expanded continuously over decades of different intersections.

From the beginnings of the large scale festival, dating back to gargantuan events such as the 1969 Woodstock Music & Arts Festival or the Watkins Glen Summer Jam of 1973, it was apparent that hosting tens of thousands and creating a safe environment with proper amenities and resources was a challenge that needed some trial and error to perfect. Over the years music and the way we listen to it has come a long way. And so have the festival concepts that we enjoy contemporary.

If achieving a balance in diversity is a music festival’s key to success, then Dave Frey and Peter Shapiro have truly created the most dynamically integrated festival experience of all time. The Lockn’ Music Festival isn’t another colossal gathering from bandwagon fans there to see a couple of big name headliners mixed in with who-else-knows.

The FREE 1st annual Shakedown Street Festival honors the Grateful Dead and 50 years of music that has never stopped.

Keller Williams has announced his latest album release, DOS. DOS is a live-recorded collection of songs from the Grateful Dead with all proceeds benefiting the Rex Foundation. Keller’s talent and passion as a musician and for the Grateful Dead is reflected beautifully in DOS.