2026 BCSMF Lineup
McCook, Nebraska
June 12th - 14th, 2026
“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.” Friedrich Nietzsche
The 29th Annual Buffalo Commons Storytelling and Music Festival is packed with opportunities to laugh, have fun, learn and remember. Journey with us through the dusty trails, starlit nights, and campfire tales of the American cowboy with our nationally renowned cowboy storytellers and musicians. Their gripping tales and raw, authentic songs from the trail is the ultimate tribute to the Grit of the West. Our guest visual artist will open your heart and stimulate your perceptions as you follow his life’s journey through his photography, art and stories. A bus tour will take you to a site where ordinary Nebraskans had an extraordinary impact on history. Festival 2026 will be one to love, from the Historic Fox Theatre stage show, dinner cabaret, historical tour and venues, art shows, museum melodies and memories, open mic opportunities, poetry sharing, Kids Fest and more!
2026 Featured Guest Artists and Presenters
don Flemons
Dom Flemons is known as “The American Songster®" since his repertoire covers over one hundred years of American roots music. Flemons is a folk musician, black country artist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music scholar, historian, actor, slam poet, record collector, curator, podcaster, cultural commentator, influencer, and the creator, host, and producer of the American Songster Radio Show on WSM in Nashville, TN. He is considered an expert player on the banjo, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, fife and rhythm bones.
Flemons is the Co-Founder and original member of the groundbreaking Carolina Chocolate Drops, the first ever black string band to win a GRAMMY Award. Over the past 25 years, he has received major awards, gained world-wide media recognition and has become one of the most influential and highly decorated voices in American roots music.
“Dom Flemons is one of the most accomplished American Folk Artists… few have pumped as much lifeblood into tradition as he has.” MOJO Magazine
https://www.theamericansongster.com
Wesaam al-badry
At the age of eleven, artist and photographer Wesaam Al-Badry’s family fled his home country of Iraq at the onset of the Gulf War. Before relocating to Lincoln, the family spent four years in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia where he first experimented with a camera. Wesaam began documenting what was happening around him to help process his experiences. That experience has sculpted much of his work, which focuses on capturing the human struggle. Believing that he could help others by telling their stories through his work encouraging them to see their beauty and begin a process of healing.
His Labor of Belonging exhibit includes a selection of nineteen photographs from a project Al-Badry began in 2024 to actively participate in and reflect the vibrant culture of his adopted home in the United States. Each portrait offers a glimpse into the complex community of people who call Nebraska home. What emerged is a collective portrait of Nebraska that is simultaneously familiar, surprising and authentic.
Wesaam is an investigative journalist and interdisciplinary artist working in photography, video installation, sculpture, and painting. Al-Badry has worked for global media outlets, including CNN and Al-Jazeera America. His photographs have been featured in the New York Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Atlantic, NPR, Fortune, The Nation, and Mother Jones.
Wesaam Al-Badry’s Labor of Belonging will be on display at the ArtBank in McCook during the festival and the festival will feature the artist in a presentation including his personal experiences and the stories behind this extraordinary exhibit.
https://www.wesaamalbadry.com
Andy Hedges
Songster, reciter, storyteller, guitarist, and collector of cowboy songs and poems, Andy Hedges fell in love with traditional music by listening to his father’s cassettes of cowboy songs.
Andy’s vast and varied repertoire includes classic cowboy poetry recitations, obscure cowboy songs, dust bowl ballads, and blues. He also hosts a podcast, Cowboy Crossroads. Through this popular program, Andy has interviewed musicians, ranchers, poets, farriers, actors, authors, and other Western luminaries. He sees himself as a messenger and as a steward of cowboy music and folk stories.
Andy has shared the stage with artists he grew up idolizing, performing with folk legend, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. The duo’s performance at the 60th Newport Folk Festival was named one of the “10 Best Things We Saw” by Rolling Stone. In 2023, he made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry and in 2024, Andy brought his album, Roll On, Cowboys to Carnegie Hall.
“Andy could very well carry on the traditions when all of us old guys are gone. I’d feel assured in knowing the music of our great American West was in good hands.” Don Edwards
Last Battle on the Plains Tour
Embark on a journey through history. Listen as experts chronicle the setting and events leading up to the last U. S. battle between the Sioux and the Pawnee. Matt Reed, Pawnee Tribal Historic Preservation Officer from Pawnee, OK, will provide information on the Pawnee Nation and guide us through the story of this historical day.
Upon boarding the bus, participants will travel to Massacre Canyon at Trenton for a first-hand look at the actual site and the monument commemorating the last Indian battle on the Plains. Matt Reed, along with Tom Baker, farmer, educator, historian, and former Nebraska legislator and Cathy Upton, educator and passionate Hitchcock County historian, will share the stories and artifacts of this epic event. The tour will continue to the ArtBank McCook to experience John Thein’s Wounded Knee collection. Participants will engage with the exhibit which focuses on the Wounded Knee massacre and the events that surrounded it. The collection is a result of the Thein’s hope for reflection and learning from circumstances of the horrific day.
Includes Lunch. Registration is required.
