Toy Factory Project and Del McCoury Band at DelFest, photo by Rob Laughter

Over the weekend, DelFest returned to its longtime home of Cumberland, Md.’s Allegany County Fairgrounds for its 17th annual staging. The scene staple summit brought together another unforgettable cast of trailblazers from the worlds of country, folk, bluegrass, rock and everything in between, setting summer off right with performances from rising and established stars alike.

Beyond its founder, Del McCoury, and his trusty bandmates in the Del McCoury Band and The Travelin’ McCourys, DelFest 2026 was led by Alison Krauss & Union Station, celebrating their 2025 reunion record Arcadia with venerable dobroist Jerry Douglas; the Toy Factory Project, the Southern rock supergroup honoring the late Toy Caldwell and the music of the Marshall Tucker Band; country-rock firstarters Blackberry Smoke; and torch-bearing country and bluegrass legend Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives. Other noteworthy acts included Punch Brothers, The Infamous Stringdusters, Sierra Hull, Peter Rowan & Sam Grisman Project, Maggie Rose, Sam Grisman Quintet, Southern Avenue, Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland, Sister Sadie, Magoo, Mountain Grass Unit and Shadowgrass.

As always, this year’s DelFest was firmly grounded in community and reverence for the branching traditions of American folk music. This shaped the sets both in surprising covers, like Blackberry Smoke’s debut of the Grateful Dead’s “U.S. Blues” and Punch Brothers’ first reinvention of John Williams’ Star Wars theme since 2017, and in surprise collaborations, like the Del McCoury Band’s jaw-dropping sit-in with the Toy Factory Project on “Can’t You See.”

Get an inside look at DelFest 2026 in the photo gallery below, courtesy of photographers Rob Laughter, Cora Wagoner, Liz Pappas, Gary Jared, Taylor Lewis and Heidi Holloway.