The Story of OUTlaw Pride Fest: Austin’s First Queer Country Festival
How a boutique music company built the first (and only) queer country festival in Texas — and just launched its own record label to keep the movement going.
A Festival That Shouldn’t Have Existed (Yet)
When OUTlaw Pride Fest debuted, there wasn’t another queer country festival in Texas. There still isn’t. We’re the first — and so far, the only — and that’s not because nobody else wanted one. It’s because building one in a state where queer artists are still fighting to be heard takes a particular kind of stubborn.
Organizer Julie Nolen has been working her tail off to build queer country community in Austin since long before there was an audience for it. The festival was the natural extension of years of booking shows, signing artists, and showing up for a music scene that didn’t always know it needed showing up for.
The Inaugural Year: $4K Raised and a Lineup To Remember
The first OUTlaw Pride Fest at Rustic Tap raised over $4,000 for Out Youth and welcomed a lineup that read like a who’s-who of the queer country movement:
- Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
- Jaime Wyatt
- Lavender Country
- Adeem the Artist
- Mya Byrne
- Paisley Fields
- Joy Clark
- Jett Holden
Coverage from KUTX, the Austin Chronicle, Country Queer, and Rainbow Rodeo Magazine followed. Then the Austin LGBT Chamber. Then a partnership with the Out Youth nonprofit that’s now the engine behind everything OUTlaw Pride does.
March 2026: The Day Party That Launched A Label
On Sunday, March 15, 2026, OUTlaw Pride threw a free day party at Dainty Dillo (3201 E Cesar Chavez St.) — and used it as the launch event for our very own queer country record label. The first of its kind. Officially in motion.
The party celebrated the artists shaping the future of queer country music while benefitting Stonewall Sports Austin and the Transgender Education Network of Texas — two organizations doing the kind of on-the-ground work that doesn’t get enough press but absolutely changes lives.
From 2 to 7 PM, Cesar Chavez was a queer country block party. The label was officially live. And it set the tone for everything we have planned for the rest of 2026.
What’s Next: OUTlaw Pride Fest 2026
The next festival is coming. We’re announcing the 2026 lineup and dates very soon — and based on the artist conversations already happening, this year is going to be the biggest one yet.
Same mission: amplify queer voices in country music, fund the youth services that keep queer kids in central Texas safe, and make the case that the most outlaw thing you can do in country right now is be unapologetically yourself.
Want to be the first to know? Get on the festival list →
The Bigger Picture
OUTlaw Pride Fest was never going to be just a festival. It was always going to be the front door to a bigger ecosystem — a record label, a video session series, a year-round booking and production operation, a youth nonprofit partnership, and (coming this summer) a shop where you can wear your support.
If you’ve been with us since the inaugural year, you already know. If you’re new — welcome. There’s a lot of room.