Wildwood’s premiere country music festival, Barefoot Country announced its first two headliners within the last two weeks. With two more to go and over 50 unannounced artists, our team decided to give guessing the lineup a shot.
Barefoot Country Festival is taking place on June 19th through the 22nd for its fifth anniversary. The festival takes place between Morey’s Piers, with two main stages: one with the back towards the Atlantic Ocean, and one with its back towards the Wildwood Boardwalk.
Lainey Wilson: Lainey was the first announced headliner and is already confirmed. She performed as a subheadliner in 2023 and is the reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year. Wilson’s newest record ‘Whirlwind’ was released this summer and appeared on Post Malone’s new country album.
Wilson serves not only as a great musician and performer, but also as a chance to add diversity to the Barefoot Country lineup, which is typically lacking in its headliners. Last year, its headliners were Luke Bryan, Kane Brown, Keith Urban, and Old Dominion. It wouldn’t be a terrible guess to assume she’ll be the only female headliner.
Jason Aldean: The reigning ACM Artist of the Decade, Jason Aldean is taking the stage at Barefoot this year, the festival confirmed last Friday. Aldean, known for his hits like ‘Dirt Road Anthem’ and ‘She’s Country,’ along with his newly controversial ‘Try That In a Small Town,’ headlined the festival in 2022 and will be another repeat headliner.
Based on fan reception in 2022, Aldean will be welcomed with open arms into Wildwood and the festival.
Now, here’s the fun part: guessing the other headliners and maybe a few names to go along with it. The festival typically has some repeat artists from previous years, and given its the fifth anniversary, they’ll likely want to bring back some fan favorites over the years.
Please note that the names listed below are only predictions and have not been confirmed by Barefoot Country or insider reports.
Kid Rock: Barefoot typically has a band in the lineup, and Kid Rock certainly fits that role. He headlined the festival in 2023 and would likely be welcomed back as he drew one of the larger crowds in festival history.
Cody Johnson: Even though Johnson is performing at the Prudential Center in January of 2025, he would still be a good fit for the #4 headliner at Barefoot. Johnson brings a lot of country twang and is the perfect size to headline the festival.
Jelly Roll: At this point, Jelly Roll doesn’t need to play festivals – he can sell out any venue in New Jersey. But, how cool would it be if he headlined anyway?
Mitchell Tenpenny: For an undercard name, Tenpenny would be great. He’s an artist who hasn’t performed at the festival since its inaugural year in 2021, so it would work out great for an anniversary year.
Warren Zeiders: Zeiders has never performed at the festival. One issue: he’s already doing a show at the Stone Pony Summer Stage in the summer. Nonetheless, if Barefoot can pull some strings, Zeiders would be a can’t-miss act at the festival.
With eight months until the festival, anything is up for grabs. Within the coming weeks, we should find out more about the lineup and its headliners. 4-day General Admission tickets are available on the festival’s website for $249.99.
Header image: Veeps.com
NJ Music Festivals 