Lyman told Pollstar the yet-to-be-named festival will feature a variety of acts, including established names, indies and singer-songwriters and said he wants to hit the road with the new festival next year.
“Ever since I did the O Brother (Where Art Thou) / Down From The Mountain tours, I’ve been watching the country market and what’s been going on and learning and understanding it,” Lyman said.
The promoter explained a light bulb suddenly went on a couple of years ago when he was helping out at Coachella’s country sibling Stagecoach.
“I was looking out over the audience and I noticed that 30-40 percent of that audience, on the surface, could probably be at any one of my other tours.”
To fill out the widely varied roster he envisions for the festival, Lyman is looking at artists who are carving their own path to success.
“If you look at Taylor Swift this year, you know that wasn’t a traditional model for country to break a new act. There’s things changing,” he explained. “There’s other ways people are reaching fans.
“That model of having a radio hit, playing on the fair circuit and then going to headlining status isn’t quite there. A lot of artists who are building up these followings aren’t taking that traditional path.”
As for what kind of audience he’s hoping to attract, Lyman says he doesn’t necessarily expect it to be packed with Stetsons and cowboy boots.
“It continues my theory that people are living in an iPod these days and that iPod is on shuffle. My daughter’s listening to Akon, Fall Out Boy and Taylor Swift. There’s always going to be that hardcore, and I don’t know if this tour is going to be for that hardcore fan."