From Stages to Campgrounds

Old Settler’s Music Festival Sustains a Robust Community Photos by Steve Levine/stl.images      The 38th Annual Old Settler’s Music Festival, happening this year over the final weekend in April,  was not just the latest installment of the longest-running festival anywhere near Austin, Texas. It was not just an eclectic mix of beloved and outstanding “roots” musicians. Old Settler’s 2025 was, more than anything else, the annual reaffirmation of a decades-old promise to reunite fans who love to enjoy, perform, and discuss – fans who love to immerse themselves in – the nation’s oldest musical traditions.  “This festival has a reputation for being fun, a reputation for coming out and being yourself,” said Larry Collier of Austin, one of Old Settler’s earliest organizers and now a fixture in the after-hours, campground picking scene. “It’s really a festival run by volunteers with big hearts and it’s all about being kind to one another and loving e