Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton to headline Healing Appalachia music festival
Kentucky musicians Chris Stapleton and Tyler Childers will headline the Healing Appalachia Music Festival in Ashland this fall.
Childers, a Lawrence County native and co-owner of the event, has headlined the festival every year since the inaugural show in 2018, according to Variety. Stapleton, who was born in Lexington but raised in Johnson County, will be making his debut appearance at the festival.
The show will be hosted in Kentucky for the first time. It was previously held in West Virginia.
The festival’s mission is to raise funds for reducing opioid addiction in Appalachian communities. The funds are given to a wide array of projects and programs from youth prevention, healthy lifestyles and wellness to recovery houses and recovery to work, according to Healing Appalachia’s website.
Attendance for the festival has grown from fewer than 2,500 patrons in 2018 to 21,000 in 2024, according to Variety.
Childers announced his participation in the festival while performing at Kroger Field Saturday, according to Variety. It was his biggest Lexington show of his career, and he described the concert as a big moment for him and his band.
The full lineup has not yet been revealed. The festival will take place at the Boyd County Fairgrounds in Ashland on Sept. 19-20.
Tickets can be purchased on Healing Appalachia’s website.
