Bluebird Music Festival 2027: Waxahatchee returns, Mon Rovîa and Jonathan Russell join a four-day Boulder run

Boulder's songwriter festival spreads across Velvet Elk Lounge, Chautauqua and Macky Auditorium April 22–25, with Waxahatchee closing out Sunday at Macky.

Some festivals sell you a field. Bluebird sells you a seat, and a quiet room, and a songwriter close enough to hear the pick hit the strings. The 2027 edition is coming into focus, and it is built around exactly that.

Bluebird Music Festival runs Thursday, April 22 through Sunday, April 25, 2027, in Boulder, and its official schedule spreads it over three rooms this time: Velvet Elk Lounge on Thursday, Chautauqua Auditorium on Saturday, and Macky Auditorium on the CU campus on Sunday. Our listing counts nine acts so far.

Sunday at Macky is the headline day. The afternoon "Strings & Stories" show puts Waxahatchee, Evan Honer, Josiah and the Bonnevilles and Marfa on one stage. That evening, Waxahatchee headlines again with Jonathan Russell of The Head and the Heart and Bebe Stockwell. Waxahatchee is not new to this festival; Boulder Weekly lists her among Bluebird's past headliners and pictured her at the 2022 edition. Getting her twice in one day is the kind of booking that makes a Sunday drive into town worth it.

Saturday at Chautauqua goes in the round in the afternoon, with Jonathan Russell, Mon Rovîa, Bebe Stockwell and Khatumu sharing the stage. Evan Honer and Marfa take the evening show. Mon Rovîa was part of the 2026 festival too, playing the April 18 matinee with LVDY, Chaparelle and Shakey Graves, per Grateful Web. An in-the-round set with four writers trading songs is the format Bluebird does best, and if you can only pick one ticket, this is a strong case for it.

An in-the-round set with four writers trading songs is the format Bluebird does best.

Thursday at Velvet Elk Lounge is still a blank: the festival lists those artists as "TBA in February." Keep an eye on that one. Small-room openers are where you tend to find next year's afternoon headliner.

Who to catch early? Khatumu and Marfa are the names on this bill most likely to be new to a lot of Boulder listeners, and both are spread across multiple sets, so you have more than one shot. Josiah and the Bonnevilles and Evan Honer fit the festival's roots-songwriter center of gravity, and Bebe Stockwell turns up on both Saturday and Sunday.

The 2026 festival ran April 18–19 at Macky, per The Colorado Sun. Stretching to four days and three venues gives the 2027 edition a different shape: a Thursday club night, a Chautauqua Saturday and a campus Sunday, each its own kind of Boulder room.

Tickets and the full schedule are on the festival's site, and Macky's dates also appear on the CU Boulder events calendar. April is a long way off, but these rooms are not big. Plan accordingly.

Bluebird Music Festival 2027: Thu, Apr 22 – Sun, Apr 25, Velvet Elk Lounge, Chautauqua Auditorium and Macky Auditorium, Boulder. Tickets & schedule.

Sources: Bluebird Music Festival — Tickets & Events (bluebirdmusicfestival.org); CU Boulder Calendar — Bluebird Music Festival (calendar.colorado.edu); Boulder Weekly — Bluebird Music Festival (boulderweekly.com); Grateful Web — Bluebird Music Festival's Saturday session (gratefulweb.com); The Colorado Sun — Bluebird Music Festival 2026 (coloradosun.com)