2026 Crossroads Guitar Festival: My Biggest Takeaways
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The eyes of the guitar world turned toward Austin, Texas, for the 2026 Crossroads Guitar Festival.
For two nights, some of the greatest guitar players on the planet descended on the Moody Center for an absolutely loaded lineup of performances, collaborations, stripped-down sets, and the kind of guitar moments you really aren't going to see anywhere else.
I was able to make the trip down to Austin and experience Saturday's festivities firsthand, and honestly, Crossroads felt like much more than just another concert.
It was basically a celebration of the guitar.
Before you even got to the main show, there were guitars everywhere, legendary instruments on display, major brands showing off their latest gear, smaller performances happening throughout the building, and thousands of people who were all there for essentially the same reason.
They love guitar.
And once the actual performances started, that feeling only became stronger.
Here are some of my biggest takeaways from the 2026 Crossroads Guitar Festival.
John Mayer Inducts Paul Reed Smith Into the Rock Walk
One of the first major events of Saturday happened before the main show even started.
Paul Reed Smith was inducted into the Guitar Center Rock Walk, and the ceremony gave fans an early look at just how guitar-focused this entire weekend was going to be.
The event opened with a performance from Isaac Holmes before John Mayer eventually emerged to help induct Paul Reed Smith.
Mayer obviously has a very close relationship with PRS at this point. The two have collaborated extensively over the years, most notably on the Silver Sky, and Mayer's speech came across as much more personal than some generic introduction.
He talked about Paul as both a collaborator and a friend and gave him a very fitting introduction into the Rock Walk.
Afterward, Paul Reed Smith stuck around for a while, meeting fans and taking pictures.
It was a cool way to start the day and set the tone for what Crossroads really was. Yes, the performances were obviously the centerpiece, but the festival also felt like a gathering of the broader guitar community.
The Moody Center Became a Giant Guitar Convention
One of the coolest parts of Crossroads was everything happening outside of the actual arena.
The main concourse of the Moody Center had essentially been transformed into a miniature guitar convention.
Guitar Center had its own large experience where fans could check out new instruments, gear, and products and actually get their hands on some of them.
And they weren't alone.
Gibson, Fender, Martin, Ernie Ball, and several other major guitar brands had displays throughout the arena. There were guitars to try, products to look at, representatives to talk to, and generally just a ridiculous amount of gear packed into one building.
If you're someone who can spend an hour wandering around a guitar store without even realizing it, this was basically paradise.
But maybe even cooler than the new gear was the guitar history on display.
There was almost a miniature museum built into the experience featuring some of the most famous guitars ever played.
Eric Clapton's legendary Stratocaster Blackie was there.
Stevie Ray Vaughan's Lenny was there.
There were also instruments connected to George Harrison, The Edge, and several other legendary players.
Seeing those guitars in person is a strange experience because these aren't simply expensive vintage instruments. These are guitars that have become part of music history.
You've seen them in photographs, documentaries, concert footage, album covers, and guitar magazines your entire life.
And now they're sitting a few feet away from you.
Between the historical instruments, the gear booths, the side stages, and thousands of guitar fans roaming around the arena, Crossroads really felt like a guitar player's paradise.
Then the doors opened, everyone began finding their seats, and the focus shifted toward the reason everyone was really there.
The music.
And from that point forward, the festival delivered.
Derek Trucks Might Be the Best Guitar Player on the Planet Right Now
One of my biggest takeaways from the entire weekend was something I already believed going in.
Derek Trucks is the real deal.
And Tedeschi Trucks Band might legitimately be one of the greatest live bands in the world right now.
Trucks had a massive role at Crossroads. He wasn't simply showing up, playing a few songs, and leaving. His fingerprints were all over the festival.
He played with Tedeschi Trucks Band.
He appeared in collaborations.
He played stripped-down performances on the side stage.
And when the festival needed someone to step into the Duane Allman role for "Layla," Derek Trucks was about as perfect of a choice as you could possibly make.
Every time he appeared, he delivered.
When Tedeschi Trucks Band eventually took the stage at the end of Night One, everything seemed to move up another level.
There are plenty of incredible technical guitar players in the world, but Trucks has something that is much harder to define. His playing feels completely natural. There is very little wasted motion, very little flash for the sake of flash, and yet practically everything he plays sounds meaningful.
Crossroads was basically another reminder that we are watching an all-time great in his prime.
John Mayer Has Earned the Respect of the Guitar World
Another thing that stood out to me was the way John Mayer was received throughout the weekend.
At this point, I think it's fair to say that Mayer has become one of the faces of modern guitar.
That wasn't necessarily always the case.
For a long time, especially among certain guitar fans, Mayer still carried the reputation of being the guy who sang "Your Body Is a Wonderland."
Obviously, guitar players who paid closer attention knew there was much more going on.
The John Mayer Trio showed what he could do as a blues player. Albums like Continuum demonstrated his ability to combine great songwriting with tasteful guitar playing. Then his years playing alongside members of the Grateful Dead with Dead & Company added an entirely different dimension to his reputation.
At Crossroads, it felt like there was very little left to prove.
He wasn't the pop star who also happened to be good at guitar.
He was simply John Mayer, one of the premier guitar players of his generation.
And it felt like the room understood that.
John Mayer and Derek Trucks Finally Had Their Moment
Speaking of Mayer and Trucks, their performance of "Keep On Growing" was one of the moments I was most excited to see.
And it did not disappoint.
We've seen these two share a stage before, but we've rarely gotten the kind of extended back-and-forth guitar conversation that fans have wanted from them.
Crossroads finally gave us that.
And really, what did we expect?
These are two players who have spent years operating inside two of the greatest modern jam-band environments.
Trucks comes from the Allman Brothers lineage and now Tedeschi Trucks Band.
Mayer has spent years immersing himself in the music of the Grateful Dead through Dead & Company.
Put those two together on a song connected to Derek and the Dominos, give them room to stretch out, and something interesting is probably going to happen.
It absolutely did.
At different moments you could hear echoes of Duane Allman and Jerry Garcia without either guitarist sounding like they were simply imitating the past.
It was two great modern players bringing their own vocabulary into that tradition.
This collaboration felt overdue.
And thankfully, it lived up to the expectations.
Billy Gibbons Was One of the Biggest Surprises
Billy Gibbons might be one of the most underrated guitar players out there.
I know that sounds strange considering he's one of the most recognizable guitarists ever, but I don't think a lot of people immediately put Gibbons into that absolute upper tier of guitar heroes.
I probably didn't either.
Then he walked onto the stage at Crossroads.
At 76 years old, Gibbons can still absolutely play.
His bends were huge. His tone sounded great. His phrasing immediately stood out.
And considering the lineup around him, standing out at Crossroads isn't exactly easy.
You're sharing a festival with people like Derek Trucks, John Mayer, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales, Marcus King, Gary Clark Jr., and Eric Clapton.
Yet Gibbons still had moments where you couldn't help but pay attention.
It was a great reminder of why so many guitar players have praised him for decades.
Clapton and Buddy Guy Are Still Giving Us Moments
Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy obviously aren't the players they were several decades ago.
Time catches everybody.
But there was still something really special about watching these guys play at Crossroads.
Buddy Guy is 90 years old.
Just think about that.
The fact that he can still walk onto a stage like this, play the blues, entertain thousands of people, and still occasionally give you flashes of that unmistakable Buddy Guy playing style is unbelievable.
The same thing goes for Clapton.
There were moments where you could understandably hear his age, but there were also moments where the old Clapton suddenly appeared again.
And that's really all you can ask for.
Their blues set alongside Jimmie Vaughan was exactly the kind of thing Crossroads should be about.
Three legends standing onstage together, playing the music that helped define their careers.
Clapton's Night Two set also felt stronger than his appearances on the first night, and there were definitely moments where his playing came alive.
At this stage, getting to see these players at all feels meaningful.
We're watching some of the final performances from a generation that completely changed what guitar playing could be.
Eric Gales, Marcus King, and Joe Bonamassa Tore Through "Voodoo Child"
One of the best performances of the weekend may have happened relatively early on Night One.
Eric Gales.
Marcus King.
Joe Bonamassa.
"Voodoo Child."
That's almost unfair.
The blues-heavy Hendrix classic gave all three players the perfect platform to show what makes each of them different.
Gales brought his explosive, aggressive playing.
Bonamassa brought his precision and control.
King brought that combination of blues, soul, and Southern rock phrasing that has made him one of the most interesting players of his generation.
Instead of feeling like three guitar players simply taking turns soloing, the performance actually worked as a collaboration.
And considering the amount of talent onstage throughout the weekend, that performance still managed to stand out.
Joe Bonamassa Was Fantastic
Joe Bonamassa had a great festival overall.
And regardless of how you feel about his style, there is really no denying what he can do with a guitar.
Every time Bonamassa appeared, the level of playing seemed to jump.
His solo acoustic performance on Night One was particularly impressive because it stripped away everything else and put the entire focus on his technique, touch, and command of the instrument.
In a festival packed with loud electric guitar moments, an acoustic performance easily could've felt like a lull.
Instead, it became one of the more memorable moments of the night.
Marcus King and Sierra Hull Had One of the Best Sets of the Festival
The side stages were one of my favorite ideas at Crossroads.
Because between all the huge performances inside the main arena, you would suddenly get these much smaller, more intimate combinations of players.
Marcus King and Sierra Hull may have delivered the best one.
Their stripped-down acoustic versions of "Mad World" and "Bell Bottom Blues" were incredible.
There wasn't much spectacle to it.
Just two ridiculously talented musicians playing great songs.
And sometimes that's all you need.
With everything happening throughout the festival, this could've easily flown under the radar, but it was one of my favorite sets of the entire weekend.
Trey Anastasio and John Mayer Was Another Dream Jam
Night Two also gave us another collaboration guitar fans have wanted for a long time.
John Mayer and Trey Anastasio.
If the Mayer and Trucks collaboration connected the Dead world with the Allman Brothers lineage, this one brought together two of the biggest figures from the Grateful Dead and Phish jam-band universes.
Again, Crossroads was the perfect setting for something like this.
You're not watching a carefully rehearsed pop performance where every note has been mapped out.
You're watching musicians listen to each other, react, build ideas, and figure out where the music is going in real time.
That's what makes these collaborations interesting.
And seeing Mayer and Anastasio together was definitely one of the standout jams of Night Two.
Gary Clark Jr. Always Delivers Live
Gary Clark Jr. also had a great set.
At this point, that almost goes without saying.
Clark is one of those guitarists who seems particularly built for the live environment.
His records are great, but seeing him onstage adds another layer to the music.
There's an intensity to his playing and his sound that comes across differently when you're standing in an arena listening to it at full volume.
Crossroads was no exception.
In a lineup filled with legendary names and once-in-a-lifetime collaborations, Gary Clark Jr. still made his presence felt.
Final Thoughts
All in all, the 2026 Crossroads Guitar Festival delivered exactly what you would hope an event like this would deliver.
An unbelievably stacked lineup.
Some of the greatest guitar players in the world.
Unexpected collaborations.
Legends sharing the stage with younger players.
Acoustic performances.
Blues jams.
Historic guitars.
Gear everywhere.
And thousands of people who care about the guitar gathered in one building.
The collaborations were probably what made the festival feel most special.
You can go see John Mayer on tour.
You can go see Tedeschi Trucks Band.
You can go see Joe Bonamassa.
But you're probably not going to see Mayer and Trucks trading solos, Eric Gales playing Hendrix with Marcus King and Bonamassa, or Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Jimmie Vaughan standing together playing the blues on a random Saturday night.
That's what made Crossroads different.
It wasn't simply a collection of great individual performances.
It was the combinations.
It was seeing what happened when musicians from different generations and different corners of the guitar world were put on the same stage.
And if Crossroads happens again, and you're a guitar fan, I would absolutely recommend experiencing it in person.
There really isn't anything else quite like it.
For a couple of nights in Austin, the guitar wasn't just part of the show.
It was the entire point.