On October 16, 2025, the music world was treated to a wave of new releases, major tour announcements, and benefit concerts, with Michigan and its homegrown talents taking center stage. From Margo Price’s stirring reinterpretation of Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm” to Billy Strings’ ambitious fall tour and new live album, the season is brimming with energy, nostalgia, and a spirit of community that’s hard to ignore.
Margo Price’s latest studio recording—a bold, emotionally charged cover of Bob Dylan’s 1965 classic “Maggie’s Farm”—arrived with a sense of urgency and rebellion. According to reporting by Jambands, Price had previously road-tested the song at two high-profile events: the 2025 Farm Aid gathering in Minneapolis, where she was joined by Billy Strings and Jesse Welles, and at the 60th anniversary of the Newport Folk Festival, performing alongside John C. Reilly. Both live renditions were met with enthusiasm, but the new studio version, released just weeks after her fifth album Hard Headed Woman (August 29, 2025, via Loma Vista Records), captures a raw, fiery energy. Price’s band, leaning into the song’s country roots, laces the classic with pedal steel, harmonica, and guitar licks that both honor Dylan’s legacy and assert her own musical identity. The timing feels apt, as the song’s themes of defiance and self-determination resonate in a year marked by artistic experimentation and social change.
But Price isn’t the only artist making waves this October. Billy Strings, the bluegrass virtuoso from Ionia County, Michigan, is on a tear. As Live For Live Music reports, Strings is set to embark on a sweeping U.S. fall tour beginning October 23, 2025, at the Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama. The tour will crisscross the country, including a highly anticipated two-night Halloween run at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena (October 31 and November 1). This year’s Halloween theme, “Meet Me At The Crypt,” promises a playful twist on classic monster lore: Strings will appear as The Wolf Man, with his bandmates taking on the personas of Frankenstein, Dracula, the Bride of Frankenstein, and The Mummy. Special guests for the October 31 show include organist Cory Henry, all six members of Leftover Salmon, cellist Adele Stein, viola player Celia Hatton, and violinist Adriana Molello—collectively dubbed “The Charm City Coven.” More surprise guests are expected, adding to the sense of occasion.
The tour, which continues through December with stops in Pittsburgh, Rochester, Albany, Newark, Louisville, Tulsa, Fort Worth, and a two-night finale in Austin, Texas, is already generating buzz. Several dates are sold out, a testament to Strings’ skyrocketing popularity. And for fans unable to attend in person, every show will be livestreamed via nugs.net for All Access subscribers—making Strings’ electrifying performances available to a global audience.
Strings’ momentum doesn’t stop at touring. As Local Spins highlights, he’s also partnered with Third Man Records—founded by Detroit’s own Jack White—to release a 25-track live album, recorded on May 25, 2024, at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. This robust collection, the 66th installment of Third Man’s Vault Program, features fan favorites like “Slow Train,” “Away from the Mire,” “Highway Hypnosis,” “Dust in a Baggie,” “Turmoil & Tinfoil,” “Seven Weeks in County,” and “Red Daisy.” Only available to subscribers who sign up before October 31, 2025, the album captures Strings and his band “in peak form, more than 20 tracks unfolding with fire, finesse and a sense of urgency that can only come from the stage.” The release also includes the first-ever vinyl pressing of Strings’ self-titled 2016 debut EP, marking a full-circle moment for the artist who left Michigan for Nashville nearly a decade ago.
“Billy Strings has built a reputation as one of the most vital and visionary musicians of our time, blending technical mastery with unbridled energy and a spirit that feels both timeless and brand new,” Third Man Records proclaims. The accolades are well-earned: Strings’ previous live album, Live Vol. 1 (2024), won a Grammy Award, cementing his place in the bluegrass pantheon.
The Michigan music scene, meanwhile, is thriving far beyond Strings’ exploits. Traverse City is enjoying a packed fall concert calendar, with venues like The Alluvion and Milliken Auditorium at Dennos Museum Center attracting jazz luminaries, Americana stars, and genre-bending ensembles. The Bad Plus, Lindsay Lou, Justin Avdek, Eric Engblade, and Mr. Sun are all slated to perform, while The Accidentals & Kaboom Orchestra will bring holiday cheer with a two-night run in December. There’s also a healthy dose of local pride, as Traverse City native Luke Winslow-King and mandolinist Don Julin return home for special shows.
Benefit concerts are another highlight of the season. On November 1, Grand Rapids’ Founders Brewing Co. will host a 13-act Grateful Dead tribute, raising funds for the family of late guitarist Nick Alexander. The event, featuring The Bootstrap Boys and a who’s-who of West Michigan musicians, promises to be both a celebration and a heartfelt memorial. Other November benefits include a blues show headlined by Detroit legend Thornetta Davis at Unruly Brewing in Muskegon (supporting the Killer Blues Headstone Project), a Grateful Dead tribute at Grand Rapids’ Fountain Street Church, and a concert at The Big Room to raise money for improvements to Sullivan Field.
Elsewhere in the music world, Baltimore pop-punk band All Time Low faced a setback when lead singer Alex Gaskarth suffered an acute infection of his larynx, forcing the band to cut short a Colorado show and cancel a Seattle date. According to Local Spins, Gaskarth has since been cleared to perform, with the band resuming its tour in Salt Lake City on October 16—much to the relief of fans. All Time Low’s new album, Everyone’s Talking!, drops this Friday, and tickets remain available for their Michigan stops in Grand Rapids and Detroit, where they’ll be joined by Mayday Parade, The Cab, and The Paradox.
With so much happening—new releases, sold-out tours, and a flurry of benefit concerts—the fall of 2025 is shaping up to be a memorable chapter for American music, especially in Michigan. Whether you’re a fan of bluegrass, punk, jazz, or Americana, there’s a show, a record, or a cause to support. As the leaves turn and the nights grow longer, the region’s musicians and fans are coming together in ways that feel both familiar and refreshingly new—proving, once again, that live music remains an essential part of our shared culture.
For those keeping score, it’s a season of milestones, homecomings, and heartfelt tributes—one that will echo long after the final encore fades.
