Big As Texas makes a rocking first impression – What worked at this new music festival near The Woodlands

BFeaturing country legends Billy Strings, Thomas Rhett and Dierks Bentley as headliners, the three-day Big As Texas music festival attracted more than 20,000 people to the Montgomery County Fairgrounds for its inaugural event.

Despite the threatening weather on the Saturday of the festival, Big As Texas attracted music fans from all over the world – including people from Australia and England. There was something for everyone – from pig racing and shopping to axe throwing and even a giant square bouncy castle. But the main attraction was the music. Two stages at opposite ends of the fairgrounds got music fans on their feet.

At 15 acres, the Montgomery County Fairgrounds is the third largest convention, exhibition and trade show complex in the entire Houston metropolitan area, and it turned out to be quite a sprawling playground for music lovers.

A fateful Big As Texas debut

One of the festival's sponsors was Stephen Said of Dosey Doe, who held a competition at Dosey Doe for talent to be included in the festival program. This year's winner was Caleb Young, who grew up in West Texas, north of Abilene. Young originally wanted to play baseball, but a shoulder injury led him to take a job in an oil field instead. Young He owes his beginnings in music to a close friend whose knowledge of songwriting, guitar playing and production opened up a new world for him.

“It was one of those natural things where a friend can play guitar really well – and another friend, myself, who is completely new to it,” says Young Paper City The woods. “I think cutting teeth in West Texas was a huge deal.

“I didn't realize it at the time, but I simply learned how to perform and how to get people excited. How to make people happy.”

Great local moments

Klein High School graduate Julia Cole also made the Big As Texas selection, completing her own long journey. When she was five, Cole's mother insisted that she take piano lessons.

“My mom said, 'You're going to take piano lessons,' and it was classical music,” Cole says. “So it wasn't pop music or country music or anything like that. It was based on music theory and it was very strict. And I begged her to let me stop. She finally let me go just before high school.”

Cole played volleyball in high school and sang the national anthem at high school volleyball and basketball games.

“And that's expanded to everything in Houston – Texans, Astros, The Rodeo,” Cole says. “I actually just did Opening Day for the Astros this year.”

After her senior year of high school, Cole started playing guitar.

“I took about five classes in the summer between my senior year and visiting Vandy (Vanderbilt) and Nashville,” Cole says.I studied entrepreneurship. And I graduated early – I finished in three years. And by the time I graduated, I had an agent and a manager and decided music was what I wanted to do.”

Cole made her Grand Ole Opry debut last year. Yes, this once reluctant musician is on the rise.

Julia Cole isn't the only local musician making waves at this inaugural Big As Texas music festival. Magnolia's Trent Cowie also played on stage. It's a long way from his beginnings in a Navasota bar.

“There's a place out there called Dizzy Llama,” notes Cowie. “And that's where I played my first acoustic set by myself. And it was just a dive bar.”

Cowie got into music while he was a student at Magnolia West High School.

“I was just sitting in my room trying to play guitar and didn't realize I could sing until high school,” Cowie says. “And after high school, I started working in an oil field in West Texas. In 2017 or 2018, I got laid off and realized I had an opportunity to pursue music. And we're still going.”

Cowie was looking forward to performing in front of family and friends at a major event so close to home.

“I think it's really cool to see that people are really interested in music and that they care about a bigger cause,” says Cowie. “Because the point of the festival is to raise awareness about mental health and suicide prevention. And I think that's really special.”

You can see Trent Cowie later this summer in Tomball on August 30th at a single release party at District 249.

An influence as great as in Texas

While attendance numbers for this first Big As Texas music festival are still being determined, over 35 local nonprofits that had booths at the festival will share 10 percent of the final net proceeds. Festival organizer Trey Diller tells Paper City that the final allocation of funds to the non-profit organisations will only be known in a few weeks, when the figures from a silent auction, which also featured items signed by festival musicians, are finalised and presented in tabular form.

Plans are already underway for a bigger, better Big As Texas music festival next year, with the second edition set to take place in June 2025.