Hangtime Music Festival Brings Three Days of Live Music to Placerville
PLACERVILLE, Calif. — A three-day celebration of bluegrass, Americana, folk, roots and genre-bending music is coming back to Placerville this month as the Hangtime Music Festival takes over the El Dorado County Fairgrounds from Oct. 16-18.
The festival’s 2026 lineup puts three established acts at the top of the bill: Leftover Salmon, The Devil Makes Three and Elephant Revival. They will be joined by a broad collection of artists spanning bluegrass, Americana, funk, folk and psychedelic roots music.
For El Dorado County residents, the location makes the festival particularly accessible. The fairgrounds are at 100 Placerville Drive, just off U.S. Highway 50 in Placerville, placing the event within easy reach of communities throughout the county and the greater Sacramento region.
Leftover Salmon anchors the weekend
Leftover Salmon will headline Friday and Saturday nights, bringing a sound that draws from bluegrass, rock, Americana, zydeco and improvisational music.
The band’s Placerville appearance is part of its 2026 national touring schedule. Its official tour calendar lists Hangtime for Oct. 16-17.
The group features longtime frontman Vince Herman and founding member Drew Emmitt, whose mandolin playing has become a defining element of the band’s sound.
For festival organizers, Leftover Salmon provides a fitting centerpiece for a weekend that leans heavily into bluegrass and roots music while refusing to stay inside one musical box.
The Devil Makes Three brings its distinctive sound Saturday
Saturday’s schedule also features The Devil Makes Three, the California-based trio known for combining elements of folk, Americana, blues, punk and bluegrass.
The band’s official tour schedule confirms its Oct. 17 appearance at Hangtime in Placerville.
The group is known for songs including “Old Number Seven” and “The Plank,” and its 2026 Hangtime appearance gives festivalgoers another headliner with a sound that doesn’t fit neatly into a single genre.
The Devil Makes Three’s music also provides an appropriately October-themed addition to a festival that has embraced the Halloween-season atmosphere.
Elephant Revival closes out the weekend
Elephant Revival will headline Sunday, bringing its blend of Americana, folk, indie and Celtic influences to the fairgrounds.
The band’s multi-instrumental approach adds another dimension to the weekend’s musical lineup, with the group incorporating instruments ranging from fiddle and upright bass to cello, banjo, mandolin and percussion.
Elephant Revival is scheduled for Oct. 18, the festival’s closing day.
A deep supporting lineup
The three headliners are only part of the attraction.
The 2026 lineup also includes Sam Grisman Project, Hot Buttered Rum, Poor Man’s Whiskey’s Dark Side of the Moonshine, Dead Winter Carpenters, Tejon St. Corner Thieves, Pixie & The Partygrass Boys, The Sweet Lillies, Wolf Jett, Hattie and Joe Craven, Bring Joy, Red Dirt Ruckus, Drunken Hearts, The Golden Cadillacs, BISON, Patrick Walsh, Funky Frontier and Later Days, a Mother Hips tribute.
The result is a bill that should appeal to fans who prefer their live music somewhere between a traditional bluegrass festival and a full-scale roots-music gathering.
Joe Craven and his daughter Hattie will perform together as the Hattie & Joe Craven Quartet, while Tahoe-area act BISON and Funky Frontier add a regional connection to the lineup.
Poor Man’s Whiskey will bring its “Dark Side of the Moonshine” project to the festival, while Tejon St. Corner Thieves will add its self-described “trashgrass” approach to the weekend.
Late-night music included with weekend passes
One of Hangtime’s selling points is that festivalgoers holding weekend passes don’t have to choose between the main-stage performances and late-night sets.
The festival’s official website states: “weekend passes include all late night shows!”
Three-day general admission passes also include walk-in tent camping, according to the festival’s ticket information. Parking, however, is sold separately, and organizers encourage attendees to purchase parking in advance and consider carpooling.
That arrangement gives attendees an opportunity to remain on the fairgrounds after the primary evening performances and continue listening to music without purchasing an additional ticket for each late-night show.
A festival built around the fairgrounds
The El Dorado County Fairgrounds provides a compact setting for the event, with the festival’s multiple stages, camping and other activities concentrated within the grounds.
Organizers describe the venue as a setting where attendees can move between performances without the long walks or transportation requirements associated with larger festival sites.
For Placerville and El Dorado County, the event also represents another major music gathering at a venue that regularly hosts concerts, fairs and community events.
Hangtime is scheduled for Friday through Sunday, Oct. 16-18, 2026, at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds, 100 Placerville Drive, Placerville. Festival gates are scheduled to open at 11 a.m. Friday, according to the festival’s arrival information.
With three headliners, multiple stages and a lineup that stretches well beyond traditional bluegrass, Hangtime is positioning itself as a destination weekend for music fans from El Dorado County, the Sierra foothills and the Sacramento region.
For those looking for a reason to spend a fall weekend in Placerville with a little less country-fair atmosphere and considerably more mandolin, dobro, fiddle and guitar, Hangtime is offering a fairly simple proposition: show up, find a stage and stay for the music.
Festival information and tickets: Hangtime Music Festival official website
