On Friday, March 20, Bozeman’s own Madeline Hawthorne returns to The Filling Station for a co-bill with Utah festival favorites Pixie & The Partygrass Boys. The show is presented by Electric River Presents. Doors open at 7:00pm with music from 8:00pm – 11:30pm. Tickets are $15.

March in Bozeman is a hinge month: the days stretch longer, the roads dry out, and the town starts leaning back into nights out. This co-bill is built for that shift—an energetic, story-driven set from a local artist with real Bozeman roots, paired with a touring band that treats bluegrass like a contact sport.

Ask any Bozeman music fan where to catch a great show and The Filling Station comes up fast. It’s been a home base for live music in town for decades, welcoming everyone from nationally touring acts passing through the region to the local artists who shape Bozeman’s sound. There’s a reason it’s beloved: the room feels close, the crowd is tuned in, and the nights tend to turn into stories.

Madeline Hawthorne is a Bozeman-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose music sits comfortably in the overlap of Americana, roots, folk, and rock. Her work is grounded in songcraft, elevated by a bandleader’s sense of dynamics and drive. Her story is local and earned: she planted roots in Bozeman during college, honed her craft through years of backup and band gigs, then stepped fully into her solo career during the pandemic era.

That arc of local scene credibility plus the discipline of touring shows up in the writing. Hawthorne’s songs are built around forward motion: the internal monologue of late-night drives, the emotional math of leaving and returning, and the small, specific details that make a lyric feel lived-in instead of performed. She frames her work as music for the long haul - songs for cross-country restarts and midnight reminders that somebody else has been there too.

Her 2024 independent album Tales From Late Nights & Long Drives is a clean snapshot of that identity. The record was released in June 2024 and runs 11 tracks, leaning into an Americana core with a rock edge. It was written largely on tour and shaped by journal entries and road-memory fragments. Hawthorne recorded the album at Bear Creek Studio with producer Ryan Hadlock (known for work with Zach Bryan and The Lumineers).

Before that, Hawthorne introduced her solo catalog with Boots (2021), a debut that established her as an artist who can balance grit and vulnerability without leaning on clichés.

Live, Hawthorne is known for building a dynamic set, from quiet attention into full-voice choruses, and storytelling into momentum. Her touring résumé includes shared bills with major Americana and roots artists such as Jason Isbell and Nathaniel Rateliff, reflecting a project that can hold its own on serious stages while staying personal and direct.

For Bozeman audiences, this date reads as more than a hometown gig: it’s a local artist with long-standing ties to the community stepping into one of the city’s most storied rooms with a touring act that reliably turns a venue into a shared experience.

Pixie & The Partygrass Boys bring a very specific kind of lift: the feeling that the show could become a party at any moment, and that the band is fully prepared for that outcome.

The group began as “ski bums playing house parties” in the Cottonwood Canyons near Salt Lake City and evolved into a nationally touring band known for “high velocity instrumental excellence,” sing-along anthems, and a playful stage presence (including, famously, silly outfits). Their sound pushes beyond traditional bluegrass into a fast, genre-bending mix—often described by the band and press as a collision of bluegrass with punk/pop energy and festival-scale fun.

They’ve toured extensively since their 2018 EP Utah Made and released Snake Creek in 2021, helping cement their reputation as a live-first band that can satisfy serious pickers and casual dance-floor fans in the same set. Their touring history includes support slots for artists such as Billy Strings and Lake Street Dive.

This pairing is intentional: two different versions of “mountain music,” both rooted in musicianship, both designed to land in a room like The Filling Station. Hawthorne’s set brings the lyric-forward, road-worn side of Americana; songs that feel like Bozeman in motion: leaving, returning, and figuring out who you are in between.

Pixie & The Partygrass Boys bring the kinetic payoff: tight strings, big hooks, and the kind of collective energy that turns strangers into a choir by the second chorus.