Music Under Open Skies: Cool Outdoor Venues for Hot Summer Sounds

The Hudson Valley is home not only to some of the world’s best-known musicians but also to an abundance of top-flight concert venues. As the warm weather finally arrives, some of the best musical performances can now be found at a variety of outdoor spaces, from legendary sites like Bethel Woods, the home of the original Woodstock Festival, to art parks, farms, and breweries, boats, and the backyards of our favorite local bars and eateries.

To help you make the most of the sounds taking place under the skies and stars, we have created this guide to some of the best.  

Rail Trail Café – One of the most unusual and naturally splendid outdoor venues for summer sounds in the Hudson Valley is the Rail Trail Café. Located on Stone Mountain Farm, right off the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail between New Paltz and Rosendale, it’s a rustic destination deep in the woods where bikers and hikers can get a quick recharge – a snack, lunch, or even an evening meal – as they bliss out in nature and enjoy great live music. The owners, Brian Farmer and Tara Johannessen, serve a delicious assortment of wood-fired pizzas, baked goods, smoothies, specialty coffees, and salads made with local organic greens, some of which are grown right on the farm. A small stage under a lush canopy of trees, called “the Green Cathedral” by the musicians, features some of the best local jazz, folk, ambient, and world music acts, Fridays through Sundays, from May 8 through October 13. Now celebrating its 13th year, the Rail Trail Café is open Thursdays from 9 am to 6 pm and Fridays through Sundays from 9 am to 7:30 pm. Highlights from the 2026 lineup include The Clear Light Ensemble (June 7 at 1 pm), Matoaka Little Eagle and Julia Haines (July 12 at 1 pm), and Catskill Mountain Gamelan (August 9 at 4 pm).

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Storm King Art Center – The Hudson Valley’s most-visited art destination, Storm King, will feature a quartet of A-list concerts this summer. This 500-acre outdoor museum dedicated to large-scale sculpture and site-specific installations will kick off with a performance by Sonic Youth legend Kim Gordon (June 20), followed by British art-rockers Black Country, New Road (BCNR) and Chicago-based indie rockers Horsegirl (June 21). The series continues with an orch pop evening featuring the acclaimed Devonté Hynes Ensemble (July 11) and the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra, directed by 100-year-old Marshall Allen (August 15). Two of the events were co-produced by local curator Mike Amari of Chosen Family Presents.

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Stewart House Hotel & 1883 Tavern – One of the crown jewels of the Hudson Valley’s hospitality and dining scene, Stewart House is the brainchild of Lon Ballinger, who for 30 years ran one of NYC’s most legendary venues, Webster Hall, and his wife, Lois. This high-end boutique hotel in Athens, N.Y., boasts a bar with an old-world vibe and world-class dining. In the summertime, there’s a bucolic River Garden right on the banks of the Hudson River. From Memorial Day through Labor Day weekends, the River Garden will feature live music Thursday through Saturday, with occasional pop-up shows on Sundays. The first Thursday of every month will be reserved for an Open Mic, and the outdoor stage will feature a variety of musical genres, including rock, jazz, folk, country, and bluegrass, from opening until 9 pm. Food will be available from a special Garden menu and the Tommy Boy Korean food cart. Folks sailing or motorboating up the river can dock at Stewart House or the adjacent town dock to join in the fun.

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Bethel Woods Center for the Arts – The legendary site of Woodstock ’69 offers some of the summer’s great A-list artists on its sprawling Pavilion stage, including Paul Simon (July 3) and Brandi Carlile (August 16). But these huge spectacles are complemented by several other offerings, many of which showcase emerging talent. Bethel Woods’ smaller-scale secondary outdoor performance space, the Horizon Stage, will host a Family Concert Series featuring The Rock and Roll Playhouse, including a Pink Pony Party (July 11), a Jerry Garcia Birthday celebration (August 1), and an End of School Year Bash (June 13). The stage will also welcome performances by Dark Star Orchestra (June 27), Yacht Rock Revue (June 20), and more. The Emerging Artist Series will return to this stage in 2026, giving concertgoers the opportunity to discover rising talent from across the country before Pavilion shows. With a focus on up-and-coming artists, this summer’s lineup will include Goosebury, Jake Wildhorn, Allison Elena, and additional artists to be announced. The beloved free event series, Horizon Happy Hour, will return for another summer of music, with monthly events running from June through September. Guests can enjoy psychedelic rock, jazz, pop, dance, and experimental music in our Market Sheds overlooking the historic Woodstock festival field. While this season’s lineup has not yet been publicly announced, we can confirm the series will return this summer.

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West Kill Brewing – Five miles down a dead-end road, nestled in one of the Hudson Valley’s most scenic valleys, lies West Kill Brewing. West Kill is a small-batch brewery crafting nearly two dozen of the nation’s finest microbrews, with attention-grabbing names like Firetower Red IPA, Duck Camp Pale Ale, and Don’t Feed the Bears Hazy IPA. West Kill Brewing features not only these acclaimed brews but also a variety of great food promotions and pop-ups, including Forno Rossa Wood-Fired Food (including delicious pizza, of course), High on the Hog BBQ, an Oyster Party Pop-Up, and Samosa Shack. The brewery’s outdoor stage showcases great local talent on weekends. Highlights on the 2026 schedule include the honky-tonk of Bourbon Sprawl (June 13 at 3 pm) and the psych-rock of Spaceheater (August 15 at 3 pm).

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City Winery Hudson Valley – Set on a sprawling historic property of a former yarn factory in Montgomery, City Winery Hudson Valley continues to evolve into one of the region’s most dynamic live entertainment and hospitality destinations, blending nationally touring artists, local music programming, culinary experiences, wine culture, and community-driven outdoor events across multiple indoor and outdoor spaces on the property. Throughout the summer season, there will be free live music on the patio every Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm, featuring some of the very best local musicians the Hudson Valley has to offer. In addition, there will be ticketed outdoor events twice monthly, beginning with July 4’s ‘Aunties & Unc’s R&B Cookout’ and running through the end of September. The City Winery’s indoor main stage performances will include Junior Brown (June 18), Lyle Lovett (June 26 and 27), and Billy Bragg (June 30). A highlight of August’s programming is a concert celebrating the life and music of folk luminary Happy Traum, featuring David Amram, Rory Block, Fabio Fantuzzi, Bert Lee, and more.

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The Garden at Colony Woodstock – Colony Woodstock generated a great deal of goodwill when it launched performances in the huge garden space behind the venue during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, the Colony was pretty much the only game in town for locals to enjoy live music and much-needed socializing, all with the necessary safety protocols in place. Beginning in early May, the main stage inside continues to present top local talent and acclaimed national acts, while the Garden features music in two spaces. The main outdoor stage showcases full bands every Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday during the Memorial Day and July 4th weekends. The patio adjacent to its bar area features solos, duos, and trios every Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 5:30 pm. Some highlights coming to the Beer Garden’s main stage include the all-star salute to Bob Dylan with The Bob Cats (June 13) and Jay Collins & The Northern Resistance (August 29).

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Opus 40 – For nearly 50 years, Opus 40 has dazzled the Hudson Valley with unforgettable concerts, leading Rolling Stone Magazine to call it “the best outdoor performance venue in the Northeast.“ From classic acts like Jimmy Cliff, Sonny Rollins, and Sun Ra Arkestra to OTPMD, Yeison Landero, and the newest highlight of their concert season, Rock the Quarry, Opus 40 has been a place where visitors have enjoyed an astounding variety of musical performances in the shadow of one of the world’s most impressive artworks, a sculpture created in a quarry over 40 years by Harvey Fite. This season’s highlights will include Reggae on the Rocks with The Big Takeover (July 18), the pop & neo-soul stylings of Emily King (July 25), and the psychedelic sounds of Chicha Libre (August 30). Many of the upcoming events will feature an amazing light show by B.A. Miale.

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Griffin House – Every summer, this bespoke inn and lodge in Palenville hosts several of the Hudson Valley’s most exciting performances. June 27 will mark the return of the Follow the Arrow Festival. The 2026 edition is the fifth annual edition of this much-anticipated affair, a full-day event featuring jam-centric favorites, including The Budos Band, Tortoise, Ghost Funk Orchestra, and local keyboard maestro Marco Benevento. Griffin House will also host Palenstock ’26, an all-day event featuring five local bands, benefiting Palenville Peoples Park.

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Arrowood Farms – Every year, many local farms become performance venues, and one of the all-time favorites is Arrowood Farms in Accord. This year will see the return of two major events, produced in partnership with Impact Concerts. On Saturday, June 13, The Wood Brothers will perform, with openers Courtney Marie Andrews and Viv & Riley. On September 26 and 27, the popular Woodsist Festival returns, a genre-spanning affair with more than a dozen acts, including Destroyer, Cate Le Bon, and Divine Songs: The Music of Alice Coltrane. Arrowood’s tap room also hosts frequent performances by local musicians.

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Music on the Waves – The Solaris Live Music Cruise offers intimate concerts aboard a 100% solar-powered boat every Thursday at 6 pm, from June through September. Departing from the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, these cruises accommodate only 24 passengers and offer a unique, eco-friendly musical experience on the Hudson River and Rondout Creek. Highlights for the 2026 season include folk favorites Rick & Marilyn (August 1) and Callie MacKenzie (August 22).

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Spiegeltent at Bard SummerScape – Ok, we’re not technically 100% outdoors, but this long-running, awe-inspiring series is set in a tent rather than in any of the landmark buildings on this campus. A marvel of engineering rooted in a beloved nineteenth-century Belgian tradition, the Spiegeltent is a glittering mirrored pavilion with carved-wood surfaces, a parquet floor, beveled mirrors, stained-glass windows, and sumptuous velvet canopies. Since 2006, it has enchanted guests with boundary-breaking, entertaining performances in the Fisher Center‘s awe-inspiring setting. The 2026 season offerings will include everything from the comedy of SNL star James Austin Johnson (June 27) to the folk-meets-jazz fusion of the American Patchwork Quartet (July 31) to the lauded drag storytelling of BenDeLaCreme (August 14 – 15).

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Local Bars with Backyard Sounds – When the warm weather arrives, many popular local bars and restaurants bring the music outside to their patios + backyards. One of our favorites is Keegan Ales in Kingston. Founded in 2003 by the late, great brewmaster Tommy Keegan, this spot has been serving great handcrafted microbrews and music on two stages. In the summer, the music moves outside under a tent, Wednesday through Sunday, where you can see local favorites like blues guitarist Murali Coryell, Southern rockers Painted Blue Sky, and the punk-meets-pop of AM Gold. Woodstock’s greatest late-night hangs, Station Bar & Curio, puts the accent on showcasing emerging artists like the Bluestone Quarry with their lush vocal harmonies, industrial rocker Lazlo Lang and honky tonk faves Bourdon Sprawl. It also boasts one of the busiest pool tables in the Hudson Valley! Also recommend Rough Cut Brewing Co. in Kerhonkson;  Catskills’ Subversive Brewery in Catskill; the Gardiner Brewing Company in Gardiner and Obercreek Brewery in Wappingers Falls.

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And last but not least, sounds while you shop for local produce – Pretty much every town and hamlet in the Hudson Valley hosts a weekly Farmers Market, where you can not only pick up farm-fresh produce but also enjoy some cool sounds as you shop. Find a list of some of our favorites from “Your Ultimate Guide to the Hudson Valley’s Vibrant Farmers Markets: Spring to Fall.”

See you out there!

Featured photo courtesy of The Stewart House
Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and former publicist living in Hudson Valley NY.

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