On the heels of the 2025 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, The Big Easy Cruise announces artist additions to the 2026 line up to continue the celebration of the spirit, music, food and culture of the Crescent City. Grammy Award-winning artist Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Marcia Ball, Johnny Sansone and Pine Leaf Boys will return for their second consecutive voyage, while Grammy-winning duo Larkin Poe and New Orleans native Kyle Roussel will perform on board for the first time.

Hoochenanny Whiskey & Music Festival is turning up the volume on its second annual celebration, adding five standout regional acts to this year’s expanded roster at Camp Eastman in Irondequoit, New York. From basement beginnings to backyard blowouts, these hometown heroes will bring fresh energy to the stages alongside an eclectic mix of national headliners.

New Jersey! Get ready for Michael Arnone’s 32nd Annual Crawfish Fest, returning to the Sussex County Fairgrounds, 37 Plains Rd., Friday, May 30 through Sunday, June 1, 2025, bringing the best food, music, and culture that Louisiana and New Orleans have to offer to the East Coast.

New Orleans’ one and only Galactic and the legendary Soul Queen of New Orleans, GRAMMY® Award-winning singer Irma Thomas, have released their collaborative album, Audience With The Queen, today via Galactic’s own Tchuop-Zilla Records.

As Phish wraps up night one of their three-night run at Folsom Field, the party continues just down the road at the legendary Boulder Theater, where Galactic featuring Jelly Joseph will ignite the stage on Thursday, July 3, 2025. With doors at 10:30 PM and the show kicking off at 11:30 PM, this is the ultimate late-night funk throwdown – a can’t-miss after-party for fans eager to keep the energy soaring.

The StrangeCreek Campout is thrilled to announce its highly anticipated return to Camp KeeWanee in Greenfield, MA, from May 23–26, 2025. Bringing together an eclectic mix of rock, jam, funk, reggae, and beyond, StrangeCreek 2025 promises four days of musical celebration, camping, and community.

New Orleans’ one and only Galactic and the legendary Soul Queen of New Orleans, GRAMMY® Award-winning singer Irma Thomas, have shared the second song from their all-new collaborative album, Audience With The Queen. The buoyant “Where I Belong” puts the listener squarely in Thomas’ world as she reflects on an incredible life in music.

Following the overwhelming success of the sold out 2025 voyage in only its second year, StarVista Live’s Big Easy Cruise will set sail again January 18 – 25, 2026. The ship will depart from Ft. Lauderdale and will stop in New Orleans and Cozumel, Mexico aboard the luxurious Holland America Line m/s Eurodam.

Galactic returned to the jam-friendly Brooklyn Bowl on January 31, 2025, for round three of their four-night stand at the Brooklyn, NY, venue. The band was in the middle of a Northeast run that included dates in Philadelphia and Washington D.C. They were certainly in the groove this night and brought a high-energy set of funk-jazz originals and covers.

In November, New Orleans-based guitarist and vocalist Steve Kelly announced his 8-track debut solo album Here’s The Thing available on February 21, 2025 via Regime Music Group. Coined as “Americana Soul,” Kelly’s songwriting navigates the complexities of life’s cycles, candid struggles with mental health; the perils and pitfalls of substance abuse and addiction, and the peaks and valleys of personal relationships, ultimately delivering a message of hope and perseverance.