If you've gone to Trails West! in the past, you may have gotten used to hearing similar sounds and seeing the same familiar faces of bands on the festival's side stages.

But this year, things have changed a bit. The faces are younger. The music is more eclectic. The vibe may be a bit different. And according to Allison Stewart, performance arts chairwoman for Trails West!, that's part of the plan.

"In the past, we were not reaching the audience who should be at the festival," Stewart says. "I want to have a little bit of everything for each age group."

Over the festival's three days, from tonight through Aug. 23, people will be able to catch a ton of local and regional musical acts that are making their Trails West! debut. The young Celtic music trio Flannigan's Right Hook will be giving well-known tunes an Irish makeover. Local '80s tribute band Blue Oyster Culture Club will unleash their "Me Decade" madness. Piano-pop quartet The Act will add some new flavor. And acoustic folk/pop groups like Eyelit and The Bypass will get to leave their normal church and coffee house gigs to play for a larger audience.

Even a few notable Kansas City groups are making the trip to play St. Joe, like the eccentric cabaret rockers Alacartoona and the alt-country/rock group Expassionates.

And Stewart says that music from bands like Blue Oyster Culture Club and popular KC cover band Mongol Beach Party will be happening from late into the night to give festival attendees one one more reason to stick around.

"I wanted the type of group that people could go to a bar and listen to but still be at the festival," she says.

Adam Carter, pianist and frontman for The Act, thinks that it's good that Trails West! is taking a few chances to attract a younger audience.

"I definitely think that they are trying to appeal to a demographic that's going to show up," Carter says. "I think that what they are doing is a smart play."

When Carter tried to get his friends to come out and see The Act at Trails West! this year, he said they were reluctant because festival left a certain impression on them - one he thinks this year's acts could change.

"(They would say) it kind of has that, 'oh, it's for country music and older blues rock that they are going to play at every venue around town,'" he says. "But this year, I think it could help redefine it a little bit."

For a complete schedule of acts performing at Trails West! click here.