Keith Urban, Willie Nelson Announced for Inaugural US iTunes Festival

The annual iTunes Festival, which has been held in London every year since its inception in 2007, is coming to the United States, and bringing along two of country music's biggest stars.

Keith Urban and Willie Nelson will appear at the five-day event, which will be held from March 11-15 in Austin. They will join an all-star lineup that includes Coldplay, Pitbull and Imagine Dragons, with more artists expected to be announced shortly.

In the past seven years, the iTunes Festival has played before more than 430,000 fans, with over 400 artists performing, not counting the tens of millions of viewers who watch the concerts streamed live online. This year's festival will be partnering with Austin's annual SXSW festival, which brings together an eclectic group of musicians for one star-studded event each year.

“The iTunes Festival in London has become an incredible way for Apple to share its love of music with our customers,” Apple executive Eddy Cue says. “We’re excited about the incredible lineup of artists performing, and SXSW is the perfect place to debut the first iTunes Festival in the US.”

.He adds, “One of the cool things about trying to do the festival is that it’s all about the music, the musicians and the fans. You want it in a really close atmosphere where the fans are getting to see these musicians in places they’ll never see them again, because they play in much bigger venues.”

All five nights will be available for free as a live and on-demand stream on an Apple device, or with the iTunes Festival app on an iOS device. More information is available here.