Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh Has Been Added To This Year’s Pickathon Lineup

He is perhaps the biggest name the festival has booked in its 21-year history.

By Matthew Singer

Pickathon, Portland's biggest little music festival, has a tendency to add big-name acts weeks after the initial lineup announcement. It happened with Feist in 2013, and the then newly reunited Wolf Parade in 2016.

Well, it's happened again—and perhaps with the biggest name the festival has ever booked in its 21-year history.

Today, it was announced that Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh and his current group, the Terrapin Family Band, will top the bill. He joins previously announced headliners Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, folk duo Mandolin Orange and psych-funk buzz band Khruangbin.

Related: Here's the Lineup for Pickathon 2019

Adding Lesh makes sense given the direction Pickathon has taken over the last few years. After drifting from its rootsy roots and courting artists from across the indie music spectrum, the festival has started to drift back toward stuff that falls under the general "Americana plus NPR-approved world music" umbrella.

But that's not to say that this year's festival isn't reliably eclectic. Along with Lesh, the festival has also added jazz visionary Makaya McCraven, Afro-funk outfit Ibibio Sound Machine, Swedish garage rockers Viagra Boys and Portland locals Reptaliens and Karma Rivera. A special tribute performance to the late Richard Swift, featuring members of Foxygen, Pure Bathing Culture and Dr. Dog, was also added.

Related: Richard Swift's Final Album is a Reminder of What We Lost With His Death, and of What Won't Be Forgotten.

Check out the full lineup here. Go here for tickets.

Pickathon will take place Aug. 2-4 in Happy Valley.

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