Live Music

In our city, live music is everything. With more and more music venues popping up across the city and county, Owensboro is quickly becoming one of the best places in the state to catch a show.

Owensboro is the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World and your go-to destination for live Bluegrass music. At the world-renown Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, you can catch shows from some of the world’s best musicians in the state-of-the-art Woodward Theatre. Whether it’s one of the legendary headliners that put Bluegrass music on the map, or one of the “Newgrass” bands you keep hearing so much about, this is one of the only museums in the state that offers live music all year round.

With or without live music, Owensboro’s downtown riverfront is breathtakingly beautiful. But during the spring and summer months, our 16-week outdoor music festival is one of the hottest hot spots in the state of Kentucky. At Friday After 5, you’ll find bands that cover everything from rock and country to funk and gospel. As you walk along the edge of the Ohio River, you can hear the music all around you, especially with Live on the Banks, a Saturday night music series.

Friday nights just got even more exciting with the addition of RiverPark Center’s Downtown Live summer series. Spanning 12 Fridays starting in mid-May, this 21-and-older event will see RPC transform into an entertainment complex with a different theme each night.

FYI, you can carry an alcoholic beverage with you as you enjoy the sights and sounds of downtown Owensboro. Just ask your bartender for one of the plastic green cups and treat yourself to a beer, margarita or glass of wine as you wind your way through “The District.”

Brasher’s Little Nashville is Owensboro’s newest hotspot for live music, featuring artists from all over the region who perform late week. You’ll get the chance to hear up-and-coming rock and country artists from all over the midwest perform at this downtown venue on Second Street. And on Sundays, they offer a Bloody Mary Bar for brunch!

Featuring an entire neighborhood turned live music venue, PorchFest OBKY is one of the coolest experiences for live music enthusiasts. Bands and solo musicians perform from the front porch of several historic houses along Owensboro’s famous Griffith Avenue corridor for an entire day and night of free entertainment.

Just a short 20-minute drive away, you can catch some big-name performers at the Beaver Dam Amphitheater—or, as we call it here, The Dam.