Any musician that’s ever played on a music festival lineup knows just how quickly it can become stressful.
Even the most inviting, engaging, and community-oriented festivals can fall prey to tight schedules, short changeovers, communication troubles, and any number of other stressors that can leave a performer wishing they could just get away into the woods and play some music in a more chill environment with only the audience and the elements to answer to.
And if there was some barbecue out there, well, that’d be even better.
Well, such a festival actually exists as PiGFest in Wellston, Oklahoma, a fully independent, fully Oklahoman summer music festival built entirely around a family atmosphere, a communal, musical ethos, and a deep love of pork, with the 2026 installment kicking off Saturday, August 1st.
Founded, booked, and staffed by lifelong friends and bandmates Dylan Swindell and Aaron Rogers, PigFest takes place each year in Wellston on Swindell’s family property, dubbed the Rainbow Valley Ranch, where the guys also own and operate Bison Tail Studio.
But despite drawing in some of the biggest artists in Oklahoman music – this year, boasting names like Beau Jennings and the Tigers, Desilu, Index Paradox, and The Big News – Pigfest is still a family affair, with Swindell regularly drafting his own siblings into service and his grandfather giving the event its name by slow-roasting a whole pig during the festival in its early years.
As Rogers tells it, that’s the laid back spirit that still drives the fest.
Aaron Rogers: It's just Oklahoma people, Oklahoma bands and musicians, and it's just a big hangout.
We're just having fun and hanging out because that's ultimately what everybody wants it to be. Everybody is chill and relaxed and having fun, and that's the bands and the production team included.
When bands get there, first thing I say to them is "We're chill. We're relaxed. There's beer over there for you guys. There is no 15-minute changeover. We're we're we're chilling.”
And that usually gets everybody's guard down.
Brett Fieldcamp: For Swindell, that casual tone saying “everything’s fun” and “everyone’s family” isn’t just something that they developed for PiGFest. It’s actually the sentiment, and the experience, that the whole festival first grew out of.
Dylan Swindell: I got married in 2020 in that same spot. We played on that for my wedding, like after we got married and had the old ceremony, we ended the whole thing, my whole family, we did like three hours of music.
And then in 2021, we had already done live music down there, we'd already played a show, you know, with my wedding, and so we said “well, let's do another one. Let's do something bigger.” Yeah, and it was a lot of fun. And I was like, you know, I was going to ACM at the time, and so was Aaron, and I was going for business, and he did production, and I was like “what kind of business student would I be if I didn't pick this up and kind of run with it a little bit,” you know?
Brett Fieldcamp: Through their recording studio and their performance podcast series The Spark & Plug, Rogers and Swindell have been building a deep bench of musical friends and supporters for years, which they say makes it easier to book the festival every year when they’re trying to convince artists to drive out to Wellston on a summer weekend.
But they also have their own band, the grungey, high-intensity Animal Mother, which affords them the opportunity to play their own festival and to experience the event the way that other artists and performers do, giving them a perspective that helps keep the focus each year on creating the most supportive and enjoyable time possible for the festival acts.
Dylan Swindell: I feel we can offer something to these artists, you know, who may not always get the chance to play on these on a bigger stage. It's just kind of a different environment for those bands, you know, and I want them to have that.
Aaron Rogers: It’s almost a manifestation of almost what we've always wanted, too. We're just trying to help out everybody locally, musically, with just offering something. I think we just want to give that opportunity to people around here.
Brett Fieldcamp: And while there’s set to be a wide selection of food trucks and vendors – including some pro-smoked barbecue options – this year may actually be the first PiGFest without its fire-roasting mascot on site.
Dylan Swindell: I don't know if we'll do a pig this year. Last year we did one, and it's always the biggest logistical nightmare.
Aaron Rogers: Yeah. Of everything, it’s the pig.
DylaSwindell: It is always the pig. It always seems like okay, yeah, no, I can teach myself lighting, you know, or DMX control, or whatever, I can do that, you know, that's no big deal, but I'm like man roasting this pig is such a pain…
Aaron Rogers: After we did it, we were like, we can pretty much just do whatever we want. Why are we putting all this pressure on us? Let's just do what best works for us.
Dylan Swindell: I mean, it's a lot of fun, it's a lot of fun, but it's a labor of love for sure.
Brett Fieldcamp: PiGFest 2026 featuring Beau Jennings and The Tigers, Index Paradox, and many more, kicks off at the Rainbow Valley Ranch in Wellston Saturday, August 1st, with free admission and camping.
For more, visit pigfestok.com.
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