All Tomorrow's Parties is an experimental music festival, named after the song by The Velvet Underground, that began in London in 1999. Since 2003, there have been several festivals in the U.S., and there is now a regular September festival that takes place in Monticello, New York. Each festival is curated by a band, or well-known personality. Portishead curated the first festival in London, while My Bloody Valentine, Flaming Lips, and filmmaker Jim Jarmusch set the lineups for the New York version from 2008-2010.
Austin City Limits is a three-day festival in September, which began in 2001. The festival takes place in Zilker Park, a vast 46-acre green public space. It has hosted a range of major international bands such as Muse, The Eagles, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Bob Dylan, White Stripes and Bjork. As well as music the festival also has local food, kids' workshops and arts and crafts.
The Americana Music Festival takes place inside five clubs in downtown Nashville, Tennessee over four days and nights in September. The festival tries to mix well-established artists with new, lesser-known talent. There are approximately 75 showcase slots which up and coming bands can apply for. During the daytime, there is an "Americana Music Conference," with panel discussions and seminars featuring a range of industry experts. Past performers have included Robert Plant, the Avett Brothers and Emmylou Harris.
The CMJ Music & Film Marathon is a festival in New York City. It lasts five days and nights and is spread over 75 venues in the city, with around 1,200 artists taking part. The festival showcases new up-and-coming acts, along with some reasonably well-established bands and artists, such as Four Tet, UNKLE and DeVotchka. There is a range of independent films, and seminars and workshops during the day.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a free three-day festival in Golden Gate Park, in the heart of San Francisco. The festival began in 2000 and is subsidized its creator, wealthy philanthropist Warren Hellman. He set up and pays for the festival as a gift to the city. The festival was initially called Strictly Bluegrass and only invited bluegrass artists. The "Hardly" was added four years later when the festival began to branch out into a wider range of genres, and now features diverse artists ranging from Gillian Welch and David Rawlings to Richard Thompson and Elvis Costello.