Music 8PM-11PM

Pretend Friend is a progressive bluegrass & American roots band from Wichita, Kansas that is actively expanding their touring region and audience since 2017. Pretend Friend sounds like the quick-pickin’, supercharged offspring of Robert Plant and the Stanley Brothers, and their performances are marked by improvisational jams, entrancing harmonies, and dancing, percussive rhythms. Pretend Friend’s songs are laced with catchy melodic hooks and contemplative lyrics.

Pretend Friend’s songwriting, vocal stylings, and high-energy delivery hint at their origins in rock and roll. Pretend Friend was forever transformed on the dirt roads of the Pecan Grove during the 2017 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. The grass took hold, and the roots went deep.

Pretend Friend’s music has since reflected the melding of unlike worlds; the familiar, timeless melodies and sentiments of traditional American music with the raw, powerful delivery of rock and roll. Forever in pursuit of musical excellence, and consistently tight, right, and genre-defying.