Two Step Inn 2024 Recap: Dancing in the Rain, Country Music, and Massive Improvements in Festival’s Sophomore Year

In its second year at Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park, Two Step Inn improved on just about every weak point imaginable from last year’s fest and in return, made for a much better and much more memorable festival experience.

I had a good time at Two Step Inn’s inaugural year in 2023 but there was definitely a lot that needed to be addressed, the biggest being the crowd layout at the Big River main stage. In 2023, “Big Hoss” Super VIPs inhabited the closest area to the stage, “Saddle Up” VIP seating stretched all the way back to the soundboard, then “Giddy Up” General Admission ticket holders were forced to the very back to find any little space available between lawn chair land mines all across the park.

This year, it all changed, and for the better. The VIP sections were cut in half and only inhabited the left side of the stage and “no chair” zones were strictly enforced at the main stage. For that reason alone, there was a huge shift in San Gabriel Park – 2023 felt like a concert, 2024 felt like a festival. The energy of people being able to get right along the barricade for artists like Wyatt Flores, Charley Crockett, Colter Wall, and headliners Cody Johnson, Turnpike Troubadours, and Hank Williams Jr. was unlike anything I felt during the festival in 2023.

Saturday

Just like last year, my Two Step Inn started with a walk around the perimeter of San Gabriel Park and a bittersweet one. On one hand, I was happy to walk off the heavy breakfast I had eaten at First Watch, on the other, I had my camera backpack with me, making it a heftier walk.

I got into the park in time to catch the last few songs of Zach Top‘s set. Zach is having a huge moment right now with his incredible throwback sound. Are you a fan of Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, or George Strait’s 90s classics? Perfect. You’ll absolutely love Zach Top. The man was born to be a country superstar and it’s such a bummer that I only got to see about 10 minutes of his set.

Dylan Gossett took the Pony Up stage shortly after and brought an extremely passionate and rowdy crowd for a 1 PM set. The first time I saw Gossett was as an opener for Wyatt Flores (more on him later) at Blue Light which is an absolutely insane sentence to say given the trajectory of both of their careers to this point. Additionally, Gossett’s studio output has been fantastic. With a full band behind him, it was amazing to see how Gossett had improved not only as a musician but as a live performer as well.

Drake Milligan followed him on the Big River Stage and absolutely tore it to shreds. Formerly an Elvis impersonator before recording and releasing originals, his stage presence just oozes Elvis influence with his different hip shakes and even opening his show with a cover of Blue Suede Shoes, there’s no doubt in my mind that Milligan found himself a ton of new fans during his set and the same could be said for anyone unfamiliar with Sam Barber who played next on the Pony Up stage.

Going from Milligan to Barber was some major whiplash in terms of energy but the two scratch completely different itches for me. Milligan was a freak of nature destroying everything in his path on stage while Barber wants you to connect with every word he sings, and boy is it tough not to connect. At 21 years old, no one should have a voice as good and as weathered as Sam Barber does. TikTok has done a lot to make a lot of artists way more popular than they have ever deserved to be. On Saturday though, both Barber and Dylan Gossett proved that a broken clock can be right twice a day. Anyways, enough of the comparisons and analogies, Sam Barber was damn good and another artist that you can tell is still somewhat getting used to playing with a full band. It doesn’t affect the performance though and with a little more time, he’ll be unbeatable live.

The back half of the day mellowed out for a little bit before finishing super strong. Lee Ann Womack returned to a Texas stage for the first time in five years and was my sleeper hit for the day. I knew I Hope You Dance, I had been playing I’ll Think Of A Reason Later on repeat on my playlist ahead of the festival, but outside of that, I didn’t know a ton of Womack’s music. She absolutely commanded that stage and her voice is just as incredible as it was on her records 30 years ago. Just like last year when I said I didn’t expect Wynonna Judd to be the artist I wanted to see the most again after the fest, Lee Ann Womack is someone that I would absolutely love to see again.

Colter Wall has been playing more shows this year than I think he ever has before and luckily, Two Step Inn was another stop on his growing list of shows across the United States. Colter and his band, The Scary Prairie Boys, are just so effortlessly cool and are such great musicians on stage. I was worried about how his show would translate to a giant festival after seeing him at Buddy Holly Hall in January but the energies were completely different. The Lubbock crowd was low-key, relaxed, and there to appreciate the artistry. The Two Step Inn crowd, on the other hand, was fired up and partying as much as they could before the rain came in.

Which does leave an elephant in the room that I haven’t addressed yet. It rained on Saturday, a lot. The schedule was originally amended before gates opened to have each set change only last 30 minutes and have each stage’s headliner take the stage an hour early. However, before Colter’s set, news came through that Ernest, Ryan Bingham, and Sammy Kershaw’s sets had been scrapped. Along with that, the schedule was amended again for Martina McBride and Ian Munsick to take the stage at 5 PM and for Cody Johnson to close off day one at 6 PM. The rain held off for most of the day but about halfway through Colter’s set, it started coming down pretty heavy. A lot of attendees towards the back were quick to grab their lawn chairs and bolt to the exits but Colter was unfazed, saying from the stage: “It’s just a little water.”

Martina McBride closed out the Showdeo stage as the rain continued to come down in buckets. I said this last year but it bears repeating again, it blows my mind how so many of the nostalgia bookings still sound so great. Martina was no exception to that. At 57 years old, Martina was still belting and hitting every note perfectly. Her performances of Blessed and especially Anyway blew my mind with how good she still sounded. For her entire hour, you could tell just how special this set was for both everyone in the crowd and for Martina on stage. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know a good chunk of the crowd likely has a similar experience as me: listening to her consistently during her heyday, having a lot of nostalgia attached to her music, and for the older part of the audience, maybe even being there since day one. Similarly, when’s the last time Martina played a show to a standing-room-only crowd partying in the rain? The energy from the audience translated back to Martina and you could tell she was having a blast on stage, leading sing-along after sing-along.

Finally, to close out day one, Cody Johnson entered the stage donning rubber rain boots and making a promise to the crowd after a raucous performance of That’s Texas to kick off his set, saying that if the crowd was willing to stick with him through the rain, he was going to give them the best show of their life and later promising that his 6 PM start time meant that he would play until he was forced to come off the stage. While part of me thinks that was just to get the crowd excited, it did actually seem to be his intention, coming back from his encore break after talking to a few official-looking people in the wings and saying that he was told he could only perform two more songs.

Johnson is a natural-born performer. I’ve been saying this forever, I will say it again because it always bears repeating, one of country music’s biggest mistakes was not making Cody Johnson a superstar a decade ago. On stage, he’s still second to none when it comes to captivating an audience. He may talk for way longer than he should, but no matter how long he rambles, the audience still hangs on to every word. Above all else though, his energy is unparalleled and his band behind him is always extremely enthusiastic and always extremely on point. Headlining this festival felt like a huge statement for Texas country music, as will his first-ever headline stadium show at Globe Life Field this November, and one that feels long overdue for Johnson as well.

Before I talk about Sunday, I just want to say that while some people on social media complained about the schedule changes, I think the staff behind the scenes of the fest did a great job of rolling with the punches of inclement weather. They adapted well, communicated the changes well, and did their best to make sure everyone got back to where they needed to go before the worst of the weather hit. Was it weird to see a headliner start at 6 PM? Absolutely, but eating dinner while watching the torrential downpour outside further proved that the right call was made.

Sunday

I woke up Sunday morning and just knew it was going to be a great day. I opened the curtain in my hotel room and saw the sun shining, I went downstairs to breakfast and had a divine waffle, my group and I found a free parking spot in Downtown Georgetown (I will be gatekeeping the info), and the weather walking to the park was gorgeous. All of the conditions were right for a great day.

Sunday, for me, started with Ella Langley on the Big River Stage, upon recommendation of Sports Reporter and soon-to-be Director, Timothy Tschoepe. I saw her for the first time at JAB Fest in 2022 and was excited to see her now that I’m more familiar with her music. Langely’s set struck a great balance between rowdy country-rock tunes and mid-tempo sad country songs, there was also a great cover of Here for the Party by Gretchen Wilson for good measure. Thanks for the tip, Tim.

J.R. Carroll kicked things off on the Pony Up stage and was easily the funniest person to speak into a microphone all weekend. Between stories of being arrested in Kansas for marijuana possession, introducing himself by saying “Most of y’all probably know me as being a guy in Zach Bryan’s band,” and saying that Diamondback was his best attempt at trying to impress Evan Felker of Turnpike Troubadours, when he wasn’t singing great heartbreak songs or playing a blistering cover of Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, he was cracking everyone in the audience up.

Heading back to the Big River stage, the crowd was already very full and very compact at 1:45 PM for someone who is going to come back and headline this festival in the next five years, Wyatt Flores. I’m getting goosebumps as I write this because this set was truly special and it’s gonna be tough to summarize all of the feelings and emotions of it into one paragraph. For starters, Wyatt is a damn good songwriter and the weight and reliability of his songs about mental health, life rushing past you, and heartbreak have struck a chord with so many people, as was obvious during his set at this festival. Please Don’t Go, Running Out Of Time, Losing Sleep, so many of his songs have a huge emotional weight to them and they are fully present as he performs them. Along with that, his band is just so damn good live. Having Kenzie Sue Miracle play fiddle for you is a cheat code to having a great band but besides her, Jake Lynn on drums absolutely crushed it as did utility man Clem Braden and guitarist Austin Yankunas. The entire band has insane chemistry and click extremely well live. Very few bands are operating and playing at a better level than they are at the moment and I cannot recommend Wyatt’s music and his live shows enough. Go see him while he’s still playing in relatively small rooms and keep seeing him as he continues to grow and flourish.

The middle of the day was extremely laid back and provided for a pretty easy comedown from the high of Wyatt’s set. Vincent Neil Emerson‘s Pony Up stage set was just what the doctor ordered. Laid-back country and blues tunes with some solid guitar picking. Covers of Willie Nelson’s Shotgun Willie and Link Wray’s Crowbar were treats as well. Sierra Ferrell‘s set was as mystical and as beautiful as her music is. I needed a shot of bluegrass at the fest and I sure got it from her set. While I think it took the crowd a while to warm up to her set, everyone was caught up in her charm by the end of it. If they weren’t bought in by the time she ran through Dollar Bill Bar, they were a lost cause anyway. 49 Winchester tried their best to destroy the Pony Up stage as I ate lunch and from a mile back, it was evident just how great they are live. Their studio work is turned up to a whole other level when they hit the stage and frontman Isaac Gibson has such a powerful voice that he’s never shy to show off.

I wandered over to catch a little bit of Neal McCoy and I honestly don’t know what I was expecting. When I got to the Showdeo stage, he was running through his band introductions and doing covers. To his credit, he was obviously having a great time on stage and you can tell his band loves playing live as well. I just wish I had wandered over there a little bit earlier or a little bit later so I could see him actually performing rather than introducing his band and hitting the crowd with some boomer humor.

A week ahead of the release of his 13th studio album in nine years, $10 Cowboy, Charley Crockett did as Charley Crockett always does. He brought the swagger, he brought his killer voice and killer tunes, he brought along his equally as killer backing band the Blue Drifters, and he further proved that you don’t need to be part of a massive label conglomerate to be successful in the music business. He’s been doing things his way his entire career and he showed no signs of slowing down or changing that. As he said himself before performing the then-unreleased Good at Losing, “It wouldn’t have mattered if doors had been shut in my face, I’d have kicked them down anyways.” Crockett would rather quit than let anyone try to box him in or tell him what he should do and play. Luckily, he’s steadfast in his journey to continue doing things his way and it continues to pay off more and more each day.

One of my biggest mistakes of the whole festival was confusing set times and missing the first 15 minutes or so of John Anderson‘s unplugged set on the Showdeo stage but as soon as I got to it, I was immediately appreciative to even be there. In my opinion, Anderson is one of country music’s most underrated stars. Seminole Wind is a timeless classic, but he has so many other classics as well that don’t get held in the same regard. However, that doesn’t mean that those songs aren’t just as loved and the proof was in his set. For an acoustic set, the crowd was buzzing the same amount as I’m sure Megan Moroney’s crowd was across the park. Anderson was in great spirits and his signature ragged and crooning voice was in amazing shape. He was truly just having a blast on stage, laughing at how fired up the crowd was singing the drawn-out chorus of Money in the Bank and smiling all throughout his performance of Straight Tequila Night. I don’t know if I’ll ever get another chance to see Anderson, but I won’t forget this set for a while.

After a run of laid-back sets, it was time to get back in party mode. Who better to welcome us back to partying than the one and only, Mr. Bocephus himself, Hank Williams Jr. I don’t know what I expected Hank’s set to be. I was sure he would be good, I had been told a bunch of times that he was incredible live. What I was not expecting was for Hank to play not only probably the best set of the weekend, but also one of the best shows I have ever seen in my 22 years of life. Hank and his band were absolutely incredible. Perhaps some of that comes from doing it for so long but I also think Hank and his band are another group that benefits from the live setting. Hank Jr’s music is great, don’t get me wrong, but something about the way so many country songs were recorded in the 70s and 80s can sometimes leave a little bit of edge to be desired. On stage, Hank and his band aren’t playing country songs, they’re playing full-blown rock anthems. Opening with Are You Ready For The Country, it almost felt like Hank still had something to prove, despite his legendary status, as he whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Nowhere was this more evident than his performance of All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight, opening the song by saying “34 years, seven Super Bowls, Grammy awards, Emmy awards, I’m the guy that wrote the f*cking song!” before immediately launching into the song’s “Do you want to drink? / Do you want to party?” chorus. For the entire hour, Hank and his band didn’t take their foot off the brake. Even the slower songs like Weatherman and Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound still had a certain amount of grit to them. At 75 years old, Hank is still crushing it and put a ton of bands all across the bill to shame.

Hank Jr. got everyone riled up again, and the party energy carried over to the Pony Up stage which hosted the festival’s one “breaking the mold” booking, Ludacris. Look, they had T-Pain and Diplo last year, so why not throw Ludacris a bone too? Once again, the “breaking the mold” slot delivered and was a total party. Ludacris just has so many hits under his belt that it’s almost tough not to have a good time at one of his shows. Just in the first fifteen minutes while I was in the photo pit, we got Welcome to Atlanta and Act A Fool. Once I found a decent spot in the crowd to watch the rest of his set he ran through Area Codes and his legendary run of features from the 2000s, playing Yeah! by Usher, Baby by Justin Bieber, and Glamorous by Fergie. I threw down, everyone at the Pony Up stage threw down, it was a certified party and another home run. Two Step Inn, please book Nelly in this slot next year, sincerely, me.

To close out the second year of Two Step Inn, Turnpike Troubadours played the best show I have ever seen them play. I was lucky enough to see their Panhandle Wildfire Relief Benefit show inside the Cook’s Garage Bus Barn and was worried that seeing them in that space would make me enjoy their Two Step Inn set less. However, I was reminded pretty quickly that no matter what size stage they play on, they are going to bring the heat. While the set did start off sort of hit or miss, you could feel when both the band and audience hit their sweet spot at the beginning of Every Girl. From that point on, Turnpike was in the driver’s seat and the crowd was eating up every last bit the band was throwing at them. The sing-alongs got louder, the crowd got rowdier, and the vibes were at an all-time high in the park. Even frontman Evan Felker seemed extremely appreciative of how great the crowd was, saying before A Tornado Warning, “This is just like the old days, but this sh*t feels way better than the old days.”

I don’t know if it was just something in the air that electrified both the crowd and the band but whatever it was, it made for a magical evening. For me personally too, I felt a very strange sense of pride watching the band close out the festival. Turnpike is a band that I’ve loved for about a decade at this point and for so long, it never felt like they were getting the respect that they fully deserved. When the band went on hiatus in 2019, I truly thought that I would never get the chance to ever see them again, especially as fiddle player Kyle Nix and bassist R.C. Edwards both started solo projects and lead guitarist Ryan Engleman joined Reckless Kelly. To see the band now headlining huge festivals like Two Step Inn, arenas, and giant amphitheaters all over the country is a great feeling. It feels like the world has finally caught on to what so many have known for so long, the band is great and deserves the world.

Just so I can have my “Say the line, Bart” moment before I close this article off, it makes me so happy to see the band on stage and happy again. Long live the Turnpike Troubadours.

Two Step Inn returns to San Gabriel Park on April 5 & 6, 2025. Tickets and more information can be found at twostepinn.com. Whether I’m a fan or a member of the media, I cannot wait to get back to this fest. If it’s half as good as this year was, it’ll be another smashing success.