Before the headliners gave a dime, this opening act already had
By Annie O’Neill EDITORIAL INTERN
Fader MaGavin & the Risky Livers opened for LeAnn Rimes and headliner Riley Green on Friday, July 31, 2026, at the Wildlands Festival at the Big Sky Events Arena. But when it came to giving back, frontman Willie McMillon’s band didn’t wait to see what the bigger acts on the bill would do. They were the first to put money down, donating $30,000.
McMillon brings an underground strain of country out of Jackson, Wyoming. Yet it’s McMillon’s group, not the headliners, that keeps writing checks to a festival they already lose money to play.
“We would do it whether other people wanted to jump on board or not. We do it no matter what,” McMillon said. “But it is kind of a bonus if it encourages other acts to kick money down, because we’re just the opening act. These guys have way more money than we do. Maybe it helps, maybe it doesn’t. We’d do it regardless.”
This marks the second year in a row McMillon and the Risky Livers have donated to conservation efforts through Wildlands, which celebrates outdoor recreation and conservation nonprofits at work in the Big Sky area. This year’s $30,000 gift went to PERC. For McMillon, the decision to return wasn’t complicated.
“I think our band is full of good energy, and everywhere we go together, it’s about leaving places better than you found them and being a good houseguest,” he said. “It was just a no-brainer for us.”
A cause with roots
McMillon’s connection to conservation isn’t new. Before music, he spent most of his life as a professional snowboarder, much of it in the backcountry around his home state of Wyoming.
“People who know the biological and psychological effects nature has on us, and how crucial it is for our peace and happiness, understand this is the most valuable thing to protect,” he said. “Nature provides everything we need, and there are a lot of people who aren’t connected to it and don’t see it that way.”
He credits much of that outlook to his late stepfather, who devoted his life to conservation work before he passed away.
“All this stuff is really in alignment with my stepdad and myself,” McMillon said. “There’s no better way to honor him.”
He also pointed to Wildlands founder Eric Ladd as part of why he keeps coming back. “I feel like all these organizations around here get it, and I want to support them,” he said. “I really back what Eric’s doing.”
From the backcountry to the stage
McMillon’s move from snowboarding to music wasn’t planned. His desire to “put my life on the line every day” wore off, and he found himself in what he described as a dark, purposeless stretch. He started writing songs as a way through it.
“It was just therapy, a way to turn sadness into something better,” he said.
A chance connection with bassist Sheena, whom he’d known for roughly a decade, turned into a band almost by accident. “I played her some songs, and she basically said, ‘We’re starting a band,'” McMillon said. Several original members remain, including drummer and guitarist Sean, a fellow former professional snowboarder, and Jeff, founder of Baldface, whom McMillon also met through the snowboarding world. The rest of the lineup is largely classically trained musicians, a mix McMillon said keeps the band grounded. “We’ve got three snowboarders and a bunch of real musicians. It’s a good balance.”
Music, he added, also carries forward something his own parents never got to finish. “Both my parents were songwriters, but they never really got to pursue it once my brother and I came along,” he said. “Part of me feels like I’m fulfilling that for them.”
Big Sky, through a Jackson Hole lens
Based in Jackson Hole, McMillon said he’s always thought of Montana as “Wyoming’s cousin,” similar in a lot of ways but with its own pull. This past trip, he said, is what really sold him on Big Sky.
“The first time we went up there to play, there was a lot going on and it was the first time we’d played on a stage that big,” he said. “This time, we actually got to appreciate it. Hiking up to the waterfall, eating barbecue on the river, it was basically like a Disney movie right outside the deck. Everybody was just at peace the whole trip.”
He said the band has made close friends in Big Sky and keeps finding reasons to come back. “I love the people, I love the vibe, I love how pretty it is up there. I want to spend more time up there.”
Still, he doesn’t think Big Sky and Jackson are on quite the same trajectory, at least not yet.
“To people who’ve lived there a long time, it probably feels pretty blown out already,” McMillon said. “But compared to Jackson, it’s not even close. Big Sky’s still got some years left in it.”
He’s watched Jackson go from sleepy to crowded firsthand, and said it’s changed how he sees growth in mountain towns generally. “Even 20 years ago I thought Jackson was blown out. If I’d known it was going to get this crowded, I would’ve appreciated it more back then when it wasn’t even a fraction of what it is now. It’s all perspective.” Part of that, he added, is that a place isn’t really “yours” to be frustrated with unless you watched it grow. “When I go somewhere else, it’s not my town. I don’t have the same stake in it. It’s different watching a place change when you grew up there.”
The dream cause
By McMillon’s own account, the band loses money playing Wildlands, and donates on top of that.
“I just feel like that’s how the universe works,” he said. “If I stay on the path I’m supposed to be on and spread the light the way I’m supposed to, everything works out. The money part doesn’t matter. It’s such a good experience that it doesn’t even factor in.”
McMillon didn’t hesitate when asked what he’d fund if he could pick any conservation cause outright: land protection, the kind that keeps ground out of development for good.
“I really support people who buy up land and shut it down. No development, put it in easements,” he said, noting his stepfather was deeply involved in that kind of work. “When you’re blessed with abundance, it’s your duty to give back. You’re sitting there with a magic wand that could make the world brighter. If you don’t use it, you’re a chump.”
