Down the Road | 2024

EARL SCRUGGS AT

EARL SCRUGGS AT

100

100

The Life and Legacy

The Life and Legacy of a Bluegrass Pioneer

STECOAH VALLEY CENTER CELEBRATING APPALACHIAN HERITAGE STECOAH VALLEY CENTER CELEBRATING

APPALACHIAN HERITAGE

OLD MARSHALL JAIL

OLD MARSHALL JAIL

CONTENTS

ON THE COVER:

This year marks the 100th birthday of the late Earl Scruggs. An innovative banjoist, the life and legacy of the iconic musician is now coming centerstage with ongoing celebrations for Scruggs happening throughout the year.

BLUE RIDGE MUSIC TRAILS OF NORTH CAROLINA

Traditional music is flourishing across many parts of America, but in the mountains and foothills of North Carolina, more so than elsewhere, the music is part of the fabric of community life.

Music traditions continue to be handed down in families and communities; at the same time, musicians are moving here from other parts of the country to be at the heart of these wonderful traditions.

You’ll find lots of folks making music — from seasoned, master musicians and enormously talented youngsters to exuberant beginners and dedicated back porch pickers.

Most importantly, the music here is to be shared. Opportunities to listen in and to join in are plentiful.

THE PROJECT

The Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina is an initiative led by the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, and the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the North Carolina Department Natural and Cultural Resources. Many, many partners across Western North Carolina — arts councils, tourism agencies, music venues, event organizers, musicians, and dancers — are participating in the effort.

The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area’s “Down the Road” magazine is produced in collaboration with The Smoky Mountain News. ©2024/25

SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

PUBLISHER · Scott McLeod info@smokymountainnews.com

GENERAL MANAGER

Greg Boothroyd greg@smokymountainnews.com

ADVERTISING

Amanda Bradley amanda.b@smokymountainnews.com

Maddie Woodard maddie.w@smokymountainnews.com

DESIGN

Micah McClure micah@smokymountainnews.com

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:

Jessica Murray jessica.m@smokymountainnews.com

Jack Synder jack.s@smokymountainnews.com

WRITING · Garret K. Woodward garret@smokymountainnews.com

FROM THE DIRECTOR FROM THE DIRECTOR

Welcome to the sixth edition of Down the Road on the Blue Ridge Music Trails magazine!

The roots of American music run deep here in Western North Carolina, and our area continues to be a fertile ground for European, African, Cherokee, and new sounds that are mingling with mountain homegrown music. Covid-19 showed us all how important live music can be. We are thankful to be in a place where the appreciation of live music events and traditions is back and better than ever!

The mountains and foothills of Western North Carolina offer astounding breadth and depth of musical styles. These sounds, from the North Carolina Blue Ridge and the Great Smokies, emerged with distinction because they were born from the lived experience of so many people from so many different places and backgrounds. The music continues to grow and evolve, finding new audiences while still honoring the foundations of the past. We are happy to look back a year later at our Fine Tuned project and see the impact it has had on the musicians who took a leap of faith

and joined mentors and collaborators to try something new.

The Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina was launched more than 10 years ago as a partnership between

Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership (BRNHA) and the North Carolina Arts Council. Our goal is to guide visitors and fans to where they can hear the music for themselves.

Traditional mountain music features the old-time sounds of string bands and the high energy of bluegrass. Cloggers kick up their heels on mountain stages. You can follow the callers of street dances in our historic small towns. In our mountains,

SUPPORT THE BLUE RIDGE NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA

ballads have been passed down from generation to generation, “knee-toknee” on front porches with haunting verses that date back centuries to the British Isles. And across the region, you can hear sacred music from shaped note singing, to hymns sung in Cherokee, to African American gospel, to the melancholic timbres of the blues.

The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership is devoted to preserving our Appalachian culture, from traditional music to arts and crafts, our foodways and our abundant outdoors, and Cherokee traditions across the North Carolina mountains and foothills.

Please join us on this musical journey “Down the Road on the Blue Ridge Music Trails,” and we look forward to seeing you along the way.

Angie Chandler Executive Director Blue Ridge National Heritage Area

Play your part in preserving the living traditions and Appalachian heritage of the North Carolina mountains and foothills — including the Blue Ridge Music Trails — with a gift today! Here are several ways you can be a part of this important work for current and future generations:

• Donate at blueridgeheritage.com/about/donate.now

• Listen to Down the Road Podcasts now featuring four seasons of traditional music profiles and history at blueridgemusicnc.com/listen-and-learn/down-the-road-podcast

• Review our website and learn more about the Blue Ridge Craft Trails Program, explore itineraries that will give you all kinds of trip ideas, support our local businesses by attending events at some of our many venues and breweries, look through our online retail store, etc.

And please reach out to our staff at 828.818.5330. We serve the entire region of Western North Carolina and enjoy connecting with our donors, partners and program participants. Thank you!

A Fine Tuned recording session.

ARTS AND AGRICULTURE

Situated on a 98-acre farm that’s cradled by the Blue Ridge Mountains, just outside the small town of Hot Springs in Madison County, the Rare Bird Farm has become a haven for nature lovers, artists and music fans alike.

“We’re way out here [in the countryside] — it’s not a place you’re going to just stumble into,” chuckled Mitchell Davis, co-owner of the farm. “And we think music is a great connector to get people to come and check the [property] out.”

Alongside his wife, co-owner Farrah Hoffmire, the couple has created this invigorating space where creativity, connectivity and camaraderie merge into new avenues of possibilities in terms of agriculture and artisan endeavors.

“The arts component and community component go hand-in-hand with our [original mission] of connecting

Tug Fork Barn Stage at Rare Bird Farm.

RARE BIRD FARM PHOTO

FINE TUNED SESSIONS

In partnership with the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, the Rare Bird Farm will play host to the “Fine Tuned Sessions,” taking place from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the farm.

This special event is a collaboration with the BRNHA, showcasing talents from the BRNHA Fine Tuned program, alongside other regional and national acts deeply rooted in Appalachian and Americana music.

Immerse yourself in a full day of music at the farm. There will also be camping options and onsite food/catering available. Event proceeds will support the BRNHA Fine Tuned Program.

For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on rarebirdfarm.org/performingarts/fine-tuned.

people — to plants, to nature, to animals, to the changing seasons,” Hoffmire said.

With its first concert emerging on July 4, 2020, the farm has played host to a wide-array of musicians, genres and audiences. For 2024 and the foreseeable future, each show has limited capacity of 150 tickets sold.

That purposely low-ticket number allows not only an intimate live music experience, but also a platform by which musicians themselves are the main focus of the gathering — no distractions, just listening to the radiating sounds of an artist in real time.

“We’re just trying to be organic about how we’re doing it when it comes to the music, arts and cultural part [of the farm],” Davis said. “And to watch these musicians and bands play in our backyard keeps us inspired.”

The farm itself holds two stages. The Tug Fork Barn Stage (inside) and the Chestnut Barn Stage (outdoors). Each of which is completely unique and special in its own way, whether it’s the sounds of instruments and voices soaking into old wooden beams or the soothing sounds of Mother Nature in the outside garden.

“It’s magical [being here],” Hoffmire added. “We pinch ourselves. We feel fortunate and grateful to be stewards of the land and have the ability to create something beautiful out here.”

Chestnut Barn Stage.

RARE BIRD FARM PHOTO

EARL SCRUGGS CENTER COLLECTION PHOTOS

SCRUGGS AT 100

DON’T GET ABOVE YOUR RAISIN’

Rob McCoury can sum up banjo legend Earl Scruggs in one simple yet seismic sentence.

“Banjo at its finest,” said McCoury, a lauded Grammy-winning banjoist for the Del McCoury Band and the Travelin’ McCourys.

Earlier this year, an array of bluegrass icons overtook the Malcolm Brown Auditorium in Shelby for a celebration of not only the 100th birthday of the late Scruggs, but also the 10-year anniversary of the Earl Scruggs Center located in the heart of the community.

“[Earl] took that style of banjo that he heard growing up around this part of the country and perfected it,” McCoury said. “I’ve heard his music thousands of times, but I always hear something

different that I missed before — when you hear him, you know immediately it’s Earl Scruggs.”

Backstage at the auditorium, McCoury was surrounded by a “who’s who” of the bluegrass world, past and present, all paying tribute to the legend and lore that is Earl Scruggs — Jerry Douglas, Kristin Scott Benson, Tony Trischka, Ronnie McCoury, Jason Carter, and many more.

“[Earl is] perfection — he created this vernacular for us that still serves us so well,” Benson said. “We could never repay what he gave to us.”

Born and raised in Cleveland County, Scruggs revolutionized the banjo. Whereas previous fingerpicking styles like clawhammer focused on

down-picking (using the thumb and middle or index finger) on the fivestring instrument, “Scruggs Style” was a three-finger approach utilizing the thumb, middle and index, resulting in a rapid picking tempo known as “rolls.”

“People were playing three-finger style banjo before him, but no one did what he did — he invented a whole new style of playing,” Trischka said.

When the “Father of Bluegrass” Bill Monroe was searching for a new sound in the 1920s and 1930s — this blend of Dixieland jazz, blues and roots music — he was slowly creating what would eventually be known as bluegrass in the 1940s. Monroe’s famous adage — “if you can play my music, you can play anything” — still rings true today.

Earl Scruggs was a groundbreaking banjoist. WWW.NASHVILLEPORTRAITS.COM PHOTO

“Bluegrass is an improvisation music much like jazz is,” Douglas said. “And it’s really hard to come from any other genre to bluegrass music because it’s so physical and so geographical. [With] bluegrass, you learn syncopation, improvisation, scales, different ways of looking inside these songs with your own personality.”

But, it wasn’t until Scruggs was introduced as the newest member of Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys on the Grand Ole Opry in December 1945 when the gas was tossed onto the musical fire that Monroe had sparked years earlier.

“That first night [Earl] played the Opry, they were held over for five encores — people just couldn’t believe what they were hearing,” Trischka said. “You could make an arguable point that by having Earl in the band, that’s what made it bluegrass.”

Throughout the “100 Years of Earl Scruggs” celebration, dozens of local and regional musicians got behind the microphone alongside the marquee acts. Zooming up and down the fretboard, an endless cacophony of musical notes echoed throughout the

auditorium and into the cold, quiet hills of Appalachia.

“When Earl joined Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys, and then later joined up with [guitarist] Lester Flatt to form Flatt & Scruggs, that sort of set up the pinnacle for bluegrass,” said Mary Beth Martin. “And what speaks to Earl’s legacy is that people are still trying to reach that pinnacle, still trying to be like Earl and emulate him.”

Executive director of the Earl Scruggs Center, Martin oversees a state-of-theart two-story museum dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of the story and music of Scruggs, all of which are housed in the historic former Cleveland County Courthouse.

“Since the center opened in 2014, it’s really helped to revitalize this community around Earl’s legacy,” Martin said. “It’s much more than just celebrating Earl, it’s also celebrating this community and this county where he was raised — everything that people poured into him to become the musician that he was.”

To note, the center is also one of the main partners behind the annual Earl Scruggs Music Festival, which is held at

the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring. The 2024 installment will take place Labor Day Weekend with marquee acts Tanya Tucker, Old Crow Medicine Show, Yonder Mountain String Band and Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives atop the bill.

For Trischka, who has devoted his life to the banjo — it’s history, legacy and evolution — he continually finds inspiration, personally and professionally, in a famous quote from Earl Scruggs: “You can’t encore the past. If I see a bright light shining out there, I want to go towards it.”

“In [Earl’s] later years, he played with his sons in the [groundbreaking] Earl Scruggs Revue, added drums in his group and really stretched the boundaries,” Trischka said. “He was constantly being inspired by other musicians and genres, even playing with Elton John and Sting — he was a sponge who wanted to always learn and play with others.”

“[Earl] set such a high bar, not just with how he played, but also the type of musician he was,” Martin added. “He’s an example of what bluegrass is today, which is not being static — constantly growing and evolving.”

The 100th birthday celebration for the late Earl Scruggs was held in Shelby.

GARRET K. WOODWARD PHOTO

WALLEGHANY JUBILEE

ALLEGHANY JUBILEE

A HAVEN FOR BLUEGRASS, OLD-TIME AND MOUNTAIN MUSIC

A HAVEN FOR BLUEGRASS, OLD-TIME AND MOUNTAIN MUSIC

hen Agnes Joines looks back on the origins of the Alleghany Jubilee, she can’t help but chuckle when talking at-length about her late husband, Ernest.

“To tell you the truth, that’s all that my husband ever talked about — he wanted to have a venue,” Agnes said.

Located in the historic Spartan Theater on Main Street in Sparta, the Alleghany Jubilee has become a haven for bluegrass, old-time and mountain music. Founded in 1993 by the couple, the gathering is a beacon of culture and camaraderie for the community and greater Alleghany County.

“And you meet so many wonderful people — they come from all over, everywhere,” Agnes said. “The music just brings back such good memories. I don’t know, it just gets in your blood.”

At age 90, Agnes has recently shifted the duties of the venue over to family and friends. But, that doesn’t stop her from regularly attending the weekly events, whether it be line dancing lessons on Monday nights or live music on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

“People love it because it’s really authentic music,” Agnes said. “On Saturday nights, we have old-time, which is claw hammer banjo — the original kind of music they had back in the olden days.”

Lucas Paisley

“It’s family-oriented. People come to talk and meet their friends, and if a new person comes in, they’re welcomed and everybody tries to make them feel at home — like a family.”

— AGNES JOINES

A well-known musician in the area, Ernest was a multi-instrumentalist, one who not only played guitar and mandolin but also was a bassist in several bands, usually performing at local square dances and community gatherings.

Ernest even played on a Galax, Virginia, radio station for a period in the late 1940s. To note, he also appeared on the CBS television program “I’ve Got a Secret,” a popular panel game show in the 1950s and 1960s. He performed on the program on May 17, 1961, with the clip still available for viewing on YouTube.

Sadly, Ernest passed away in 2016. He was 84. The couple had been married for 65 years at that point. First meeting as young kids in Sparta, they played music together in high school. Immediately, there was a chemistry between them.

Following graduation, Ernest thought

they should start a duo and tour. Soon, they got married and hit the road. Ernest on guitar, Agnes also on guitar and standup bass. They sang harmoniously together, something heard on their 1958 melody “Falling in Love Again.”

“That was just his life — playing

music,” Agnes said. “So, we just went and started playing. We’ve been all the way to California and back playing — everywhere. We had a wonderful life.”

Eventually, the Joines circled back to Sparta and built a life together. While Agnes traveled for work, Ernest found employment at the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Upon Ernest’s retirement in 1990, the idea for the Allegheny Jubilee took shape.

Beyond the innumerable local and regional musicians and groups that have taken the stage at the Alleghany Jubilee, notable legends who have also played the theater — Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, Reno & Smiley, Uncle Dave Macon, and many more.

“It’s family-oriented. People come to talk and meet their friends,” Agnes said. “And if a new person comes in, they’re welcomed and everybody tries to make them feel at home — like a family.”

The Alleghany Jubilee in Sparta, North Carolina. BOB PECK/MOUNTAINWATER FILMS PHOTOS

RUNNING WILD AGAIN

JESSE IAQUINTO OF FIRESIDE COLLECTIVE

Celebrating a decade together with a special anniversary gig recently at the Salvage Station in Asheville, Fireside Collective has become a rapidly rising force in the Americana, bluegrass and jam realms in Southern Appalachia and beyond.

“At our core, we’re a grassroots band,” said Jesse Iaquinto, lead singer/mandolinist. “We thrive on meeting people across the country and learning different interpretations of folk music — it’s

the traditions from where we come from and the new directions we can go that keeps inspiring us to learn and create.”

Originally from the foothills of northern Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier region of New York, Iaquinto was a young kid when his mother brought him to a bluegrass festival. During that time, his father would also toy around with a banjo while at home.

“Through my formative years, blue-

grass would lay dormant in my mind and not emerge again until my college years,” the 39-year-old said. “Once I got to college, I started listening to a lot of [the] Grateful Dead and bluegrass reemerged in my life.”

At the foundation of Iaquinto’s love for music was (and remains) the psychedelic rock, American roots and improvisation jam aspects of the Grateful Dead. That was dovetailed with his discovery of the “Father of Bluegrass” Bill

Fireside Collective. FIRESIDE COLLECTIVE PHOTO

Monroe, New Grass Revival and Old & In The Way — the latter featuring the Dead’s Jerry Garcia on banjo.

“[Bluegrass] is such a beautiful thing — the harmonies, instrumental proficiency and live experience,” Iaquinto said. “Bill Monroe blended together so many elements from the music of his day and created something progressive and raw.”

Although he started playing piano at age five and dabbled with other instruments (guitar, percussion, saxophone), it wasn’t until Iaquinto was 22 when he experienced a musical epiphany once a mandolin found its way into his hands.

“[The mandolin] blended all of the qualities of the instruments I had played throughout my life,” Iaquinto said. “I love the percussive nature and the harmonic opportunities. Listening to Sam Bush and Chris Thile, I was blown away by how expressive the instrument could be.”

As an artist, Iaquinto looks at Monroe as an ongoing inspiration to always be a musical sponge, to be in constant awe of the world, to soak in every sight, sound and spectacle one may come across — only to wring it all out into something completely your own.

“I used to view life as one linear experience. Now that I’ve grown and traveled, I see it as an endless cycle,” Iaquinto said. “These cycles feed the artistic journey and keep everything fresh and moving forward — art is just

a reflection of those cycles told through the eyes and hearts of the artists themselves.”

Following college, Iaquinto landed in Western North Carolina. Formed in 2014, Fireside Collective came to fruition in the vast Asheville music scene. The group had a deep desire to tap into not only the ancient tones of the “high, lonesome sound” that is bluegrass, but to also create a festive atmosphere onstage.

“In particular, Asheville is a microcosm of the creative side of the American story,” Iaquinto said. “There are writers, painters, chefs and musicians who come here to be inspired by the beautiful landscape and vibrant culture.”

Right out of the gate, Fireside Collective was a hardcore bluegrass entity, so much so it won the band competition at MerleFest in 2016. That nationwide notoriety eventually parlayed itself into a nomination from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) for “Momentum Band of the Year.” In 2022, the band received an IBMA nod for “New Artist of the Year.”

“Since [we began], we went heavy into the bluegrass and are now returning back to the hybrid roots ensemble that was originally envisioned,” Iaquinto said.

That circling back to a hybrid roots model included the addition of drummer Michael Tillis, a move that sonically complements the finely-tuned

“It’s the traditions from where we come from and the new directions we can go that keeps inspiring us to learn and create.”

— JESSE IAQUINTO

skillset and unrelenting drive of Iaquinto, Joe Cicero (guitar), Tommy Maher (dobro) and Carson White (bass).

“I’ve never really been in too much of hurry — I’d rather build something that lasts than have quick, but fleeting success,” Iaquinto said. “That’s why I’ve always loved blending many different influences into a unique, yet familiar sound.”

Together, this latest chapter of Fireside Collective is a quintet reinterpreting a slew of original melodies and covers — an intricate acoustic unit with a rhythm section of sound and fury.

“It’s exciting to think about bringing our bluegrass knowledge into the current incarnation of Fireside Collective,” Iaquinto said. “Knowing we have something unique and everyone is enthusiastic about the new opportunities is definitely keeping the flame alive and burning brighter than ever before.”

With 10 years now behind them, Fireside Collective is quickly bubbling out of Southern Appalachia and onto the national scene — a juncture of time and place that only could have been reached by persistence and passion from the depths of the creative self in constant motion.

“We’ve always been the type of band that let our roots run deep and didn’t force anything,” Iaquinto said. “At the same time, we’ve always strived to grow and evolve — never [staying] in the same place for too long.”

Carroll Best

STRINGS OF FURY

BOOK SPOTLIGHTS HAYWOOD BANJO LEGENDS

In the mid-1960s, when Bill Allsbrook was a med school student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, he decided to pick up the banjo.

“I messed with the banjo for about 15 minutes and realized this is impossible,” Allsbrook chuckled.

Skip ahead 40 years. Allsbrook finds himself at a dinner party a few doors down from his home in Waynesville. He overheard a conversation about one of the guests taking banjo lessons. And, for some unknown, perhaps intrinsic

reason, Allsbrook felt the urge to give the five-string instrument another shot.

“And I took my first lesson just a few days later — I’ve enjoyed the banjo [ever since],” Allsbrook said. “I’m not a banjo aficionado by any stretch of the imagination. But, I’ve always liked it — there’s just something about it, the sound and the history.”

A self-proclaimed “profoundly mediocre” banjo player, Allsbrook became incredibly fascinated with the legend and lore of the five strings of fury. So

much so, he dedicated the better part of the last decade to putting together the recently published book, “Making Music: The Banjo in a Southern Appalachian County.”

“The banjo is a happy instrument, a joyful instrument,” Allsbrook said. “Whether you’re playing it or listening it, the banjo always puts a smile on your face. It’s also a [conduit] for friendship and fellowship.”

The premise of the work is to explore and, perhaps, answer one simple,

Raymond Fairchild

GARRET K. WOODWARD PHOTO

“Although there are many factors involved in why so many great banjo players are from here, what remains is that the banjo is a cherished part of the long history and continued traditions in this region.”

— BILL ALLSBROOK

lingering question — why are so many banjo greats from Haywood County? Names like Carroll Best, Marc Pruett, Steve Sutton, Raymond Fairchild, French Kirkpatrick and so forth all hail from these mountains, with each possessing a distinct tone and style.

“It’s not so much that there’s ‘something in the water,’” Allsbrook said. “Yes, there’s an inordinate amount of banjo players in Haywood County. And there are many reasons for that — geographical isolation, in-home playing, sharing of the knowledge and a longstanding tradition of this instrument being played here.”

A retired professor of pathology and surgery (urology) at the Medical School of Georgia at Augusta University, Allsbrook, now 81 years old, took his skillset of analytical

Bill Allsbrook

GARRET K. WOODWARD PHOTO

thought and attention to detail and placed it in the numerous melodic realms that banjo inhabits — folk, roots, oldtime, mountain, bluegrass and country music.

With the initial seed to start research for what would become “Making Music” now planted, the real gas on the fire of the project came when Allsbrook befriended Haywood County banjo virtuoso Marc Pruett — a five-string master and Grammy-winner well known as a longtime/ founding member of bluegrass icons and hometown heroes Balsam Range.

“Even for an outsider [like myself], Marc helped me any way he could, which was a blessing because, of course, [having Marc involved] gave the project credibility,” Allsbrook said. “Marc is a portal. He was able to help me identify, track down and interview banjo players [from around Haywood County].”

And for the next several years, Allsbrook would sit down banjo picker after banjo picker for an in-depth conversation about the instrument, its ancient allure and what it means for these musicians to carry the tradition headlong into the 21st century.

“The interviews would last an hour, hour-and-ahalf,” Allsbrook recalled.

“I really just wanted to document all of these people, their voices and this history they all share. At some point, there was so much information, I decided to turn everything into a book.”

Amid the 32 banjoists cataloged in the work, there’s also an extensive historical overview of the instrument. The history stretches back to the banjo’s African origin, onward to its transition into American culture via the slave trade. From there, the banjo intersected with the Scotch-Irish ballads of Southern Appalachia carried over by early European pioneers who appeared in these mountains centuries ago.

Once those factors previously mentioned were put into motion, so, too, emerged American folk/roots music — a sonic tone and approach that would eventually parlay itself into the “high, lonesome sound” of bluegrass and country music. To note, many banjoists and music aficionados in Haywood County and greater Southern Appalachia refer to bluegrass “as nothing more than mountain music.”

“And I think I was able to answer my initial question about the banjo and its place in Haywood County,” Allsbrook said. “Although there are many factors involved in why so many great banjo players are from here, what remains is that the banjo is a cherished part of the long history and continued traditions in this region.”

THE PURPLE ONION

HEARTBEAT OF A COMMUNITY

In the depths of the tiny mountain community of Saluda, within a stone’s throw of the historic railroad tracks, sits The Purple Onion — a crossroads of culinary delights, live music and fellowship.

“And the heartbeat of this place is the music,” said co-owner Emily Lamar. “We love our musicians and we love being able to give them a place to play and showcase what they do, and for our community to be able to come out and listen.”

Opened in November 1998 by Lamar’s mother, Susan Casey, The Purple Onion has become not only a renowned destination for farm-to-table cuisine, but also a highly-sought after artistic platform for local, regional and national

artists — Americana to folk, country to bluegrass.

“I wouldn’t do The Purple Onion any other way unless I could have music here — music is really one of the things that makes it for me,” Lamar said.

In January 2020, Lamar and her business partner, Executive Chef Chambi Stuber, took over The Purple Onion from Casey. With this latest chapter of the establishment now unfolding, live music remains a mainstay of the culture and camaraderie of the property every Thursday and Saturday evening.

“The crowd is almost always well-balanced between exuberance and listening room sensibilities,” said singer-songwriter Aaron Burdett. “I myself absolutely cut my teeth there. I wouldn’t be where I am today without it — I can say that without hesitation.”

A Saluda resident. Burdett is a longtime, beloved troubadour, playing venues around Western North Carolina and beyond. In recent years, he has joined the Grammy-winning Steep Canyon Rangers from just up the road in Asheville.

“For a small town, [The Purple Onion] is very often the focal point of the social scene any given night,” Burdett said. “They’ve built something over the past quarter century that you can’t create instantly — it takes time and effort to curate an asset to the town and region.”

For Burdett, it’s about the intimacy and attentive quality of a real deal listening room — a space of respect and

“And the heartbeat of this place is the music.”

admiration that can truly enrich and encourage the careers of artisans either passing through the area or holding court on a regular basis.

“Music venues like The Purple Onion are increasingly hard to come by,” Burdett said. “[These places] where the owners and management value music from both established and well-supported artists [to] early-stage performers who are still making their way and honing their chops.”

Just taking a glance at The Purple Onion’s calendar for any particular month, one will see a plethora of talent — from Americana songbird Amanda Anne Platt to rising bluegrass act Unspoken Tradition. To that, nationally known names like Darrell Scott, James McMurtry and Hayes Carll have each stepped behind the microphone.

“When you’re here, you can see the musicians and be right up in the front,” Lamar said. “It’s really unique in the way that we do things here — the music just changes the entire atmosphere of the restaurant.”

With the first 25 years of operation now behind them, The Purple Onion looks forward to the next quarter-century — all of the people, performers and “you had to be there” moments ready to surprise you on any given night in small town Appalachia.

“It’s important bring people together — this is a gathering place,” Lamar said. “My mother opened it as a gathering place, so it’s important to add to that — it’s helps the growth of the community.”

Chambi Stuber and Emily Lamar

WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA DISTINCTIONS IN TRADITIONAL MUSIC

NO OTHER PLACE HAS had more influence on the development of the banjo in America. Musicians from the western Piedmont and mountain region, including Earl Scruggs, Charlie Poole, and Snuffy Jenkins, among many, are recognized as the creators and popularizers of modern banjo styles.

THE FIDDLE AND BANJO ENSEMBLE tradition that developed in Surry County’s Round Peak community is embraced and emulated by young musicians around the world. The Mount Airy Fiddlers’ Convention is now an annual gathering place for thousands of young musicians influenced by Round Peak musicians.

TRADITIONAL DANCE EVOLVED over generations with music traditions and flat-footing. Clogging in Western North Carolina is recognized as one of the most highly-developed vernacular dance traditions in the country. Haywood County is where team square dancing first originated in the 1930s.

ONE OF THE LONGEST, unbroken ballad singing traditions in America is found in Madison County where singers were first documented by English folk song collector Cecil Sharp prior to World War I. The current generation of singers continues to perform a wide range of ballads, including some brought from the British Isles by early settlers.

THE MOUNTAIN DANCE AND FOLK FESTIVAL, started in Asheville by Bascom Lamar Lunsford in 1928, is the oldest continuous folk festival in the United States and is the model for the National Folk Festival.

MERLEFEST, presented at Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro on the last weekend in April, is one of the nation’s largest and most influential “Americana” music events. It was founded in 1988 by Doc Watson in memory of his son Merle.

KEEP IN MIND

As you begin your journey, keep in mind that even though all the events listed occur on a regular basis, it is always best to verify the information before heading out. For the most up-to-date information on venues and events, please visit BlueRidgeMusicNC.com. Happy Trails!

WPAQ AM 740 IN MOUNT AIRY is the oldest live radio show that continues to program regional music from the Blue Ridge. The Merry Go Round program, which is broadcast live from the Downtown Cinema Theatre every Saturday, first signed on in 1948 and presents local old-time, bluegrass and gospel performers.

BLUE RIDGE MUSIC TRAILS PODCAST

The “Down the Road on the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina” podcast highlights bluegrass, old time, and other traditional music stories, performers, and venues across the mountain and foothills counties of Western North Carolina.

The podcast is hosted by Laura Boosinger, a celebrated musician, folklorist, and storyteller, and produced by Corrie Askew of WNCW-FM.

Beginning with short and sweet three-minute episodes in seasons one and two, the popularity of the podcast warranted more content. From seasons three on, episodes have expanded to around nineminutes long and often feature multiple musical tracks. These tracks have been assembled in a Spotify playlist called Music from Down the Road Podcast.

“Down the Road” airs biweekly on WNCW-FM (88.7) at 8:50 am on Tuesday mornings (during NPR’s Morning Edition).

Episode topics include: interviews with musicians taking part in the Fine Tuned project, behind-the-scenes recordings of influential WNC instruments, a deep dive into the Earl Scruggs Music Festival, and much more.

You can find and listen to all the episodes at blueridgemusicnc.com/listen-and-learn/down-the-roadpodcast.

The Jonathan Scales Fourchestra BOONERANG PHOTOS

A SENSE OF PLACE

BOONERANG

Created in 2022, the Boonerang festival is a musical celebration of the artists that either hail from Boone or have a deep connection to the picturesque outdoors and university community.

“Walking around that first year it was a combination of, ‘Oh gosh, this worked. Look at all the fun people are having,’” said Mark Freed, director of cultural resources for the Town of Boone. “But, we also felt this ‘Field of Dreams’ mentality of ‘if you build it, they will come’ — people here are outdoor enthusiasts,

music lovers and community-minded.” Named after the long-held slang for folks who leave Boone only to eventually return (happily) to put down roots, Boonerang is an annual event overtaking the downtown corridor. Put on by the Town of Boone with help from several community sponsors and partnerships, the gathering has become a cherished tradition in just a few years.

“We’re outside. We’re celebrating our music and arts,” Freed said. “The events are free and accessible to anyone. You can come out with your family and you

can bring your children to the kid’s zone — there’s something for everybody.”

Since its inaugural event in 2022, Boonerang has welcomed a slew of Boone-related acts — Acoustic Syndicate, Songs From The Road Band, Ashley Heath & Her Heathens, Tray Wellington, Alexa Rose, Abby Bryant & The Echoes, Zoe & Cloyd, and Clint Roberts & The Holler Choir.

“There’s definitely an abnormal amount of talent that has come out of this particular part of the state,” Freed said. “There’s been folks attracted

“There’s definitely an abnormal amount of talent that has come out of this particular part of the state. There’s been folks attracted to this area for its music for hundreds of years. And once you get on the map for that, it attracts people with those interests from all over — it sort of snowballs from there.”

— MARK FREED, TOWN OF BOONE’S DIRECTOR OF CULTURAL RESOURCES

to this area for its music for hundreds of years. And once you get on the map for that, it attracts people with those interests from all over — it sort of snowballs from there.”

For the 2024 installment, Boonerang will showcase The Nude Party, Melissa Reaves, Empire Strikes Brass, Gringo Star, The Tree Of Forgiveness Band (A John Prine Tribute), High Country Drum Collective, Ghost Trees, The Swingbillies Of Boonetown, Lund, Snake Oil Medicine Show, and more.

“We try to be diverse with the music offered — traditional, blues, jazz, rock and reggae,” Freed said. “This year, we’ll also be introducing the Boone Film Festival, a fashion show, and launch ‘Boone’s Got Talent’ at the Appalachian Theatre [of the High Country].”

Freed also points to the influx of musicians that have emerged from Appalachian State University

around the corner from downtown Boone. Beyond the innumerable students who have become local/ regional touring acts, marquee names Luke Combs, Old Crow Medicine Show and Eric Church all hailed from ASU.

“Anybody who’s spent a summer here knows it’s a special time in the High Country,” Freed said. “We relish that time of the year, where it’s so great to invite your friends back and celebrate all things Boone.”

Between numerous outdoor stages and venues offering up live music and local artisans, Boonerang also spotlights local breweries, restaurants and independent businesses that highlight the unique, charming aspects of the mountain destination.

“From the support of the community, the businesses and nonprofits involved, and the people who come out to attend it, it’s been a real community-wide effort,” Freed said.

Abby Bryant & The Echoes

Crys Matthews

The Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center is a bastion of music and fellowship in Graham

STECOAH VALLEY CULTURAL ARTS CENTER PHOTO

MOUNTAIN SOUND

‘AN APPALACHIAN EVENING’ CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

Celebrating a quarter-century this coming summer, the “An Appalachian Evening” live music series at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center in Robbinsville brings in some of the biggest names in bluegrass, oldtime, mountain and Americana music.

“I think about the quality of the entertainment that we’ve been able to provide over the 25 years we’ve been doing this,” said Jennifer West, executive director of the SVCAC. “And it came from the vision of our original founding members of this organization, this vision they had for the center and what it could be for the community.”

The series is a “who’s who,” with the likes of Balsam Range, The Steeldrivers, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

and Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, amongst countless others, gracing the stage over the years.

“There’s a purposeful method of looking at who’s hot on the scene,” West said. “Not only in bluegrass, but out there in other music scenes that fit into what we do here — who’s popular and who’s up-and-coming.”

At just around a capacity of 320 people, the history of the stage is as long and varied as the list of musicians that stepped in front of the microphone.

Though the original schoolhouse building was constructed in the 1926, the auditorium stage played host to some of biggest names in bluegrass in the 1940s and 1950s.

Legendary acts like Bill Monroe &

The Blue Grass Boys, The Carter Family, Flatt & Scruggs, Chet Atkins and more performed in the auditorium for locals and visitors alike. And a good number of those who played there also appeared on the popular “Mid-Day Merry Go Round” radio program on WNOX in nearby Knoxville, Tennessee.

The 2024 installment will kick-off with Dale Ann Bradley June 29, with other rising strings acts (Pretty Little Goat), blues legends (Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues) and acoustic icons (Kruger Brothers) also rolling into the center. Balsam Range will return to tie a bow on the season as the last performance Aug. 31.

“Over the years, our lineup has been really strong, featuring great local/

County.

regional musicians and people who have gone up the ranks of the bluegrass world,” West said. “And we’ve been able to keep that [caliber of artists] up. There’s also a strong following of people who come to the concerts who just love this auditorium.”

Delving into history of the center, it came about when the school closed in

1994 due to district consolidation. The massive building sat empty and abandoned for several years before Graham County took it over and launched the nonprofit organization in 1996 that became the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center.

“It was a group of citizens that formed the nonprofit in order to create

the art center, but part of our mission is to keep the building intact as the center of the community,” West said. “It’s this twofold project to promote Appalachian culture and music and to keep this building alive.”

Nowadays, the center is a 10-acre property focusing on art, nature, history and music through

“There’s not a bad seat in the house. My favorite place to sit is actually at the very back of the auditorium up against the wall. Even back there, you can see the whole view of the auditorium and the performers onstage — it’s such a beautiful, intimate setting.”

— JENNIFER WEST, SVCAC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

(FROM LEFT) Kruger Brothers, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Darren Nicholson

year-round programming and a keen sense of community outreach.

“I really love interacting with the guests that we have on a day-to-day basis and those who come on concerts nights,” West said. “You come here and you can’t believe in this little neck of Graham County that there’s this little gem of a place — it has just a great vibe.”

And, in just two years, the old schoolhouse building will mark its 100th anniversary. West and her colleagues are already thinking about that milestone, but also what lies ahead for the center itself.

“It is a very big milestone,” West said. “We just want to keep this whole process going, figuring out how we can grow the center, keep it alive and bring more people in to experience what we’ve got here.”

With the lineup for “An Appalachian Evening” now released and tickets available for purchase, West is looking forward to once again walking into an auditorium buzzing with the energy of a community coming together — this sacred two-way interaction of artistic performance and cultural appreciation.

“There’s not a bad seat in the house. My favorite place to sit is actually at the very back of the auditorium up against the wall,” West said. “Even back there, you can see the whole view of the auditorium and the performers onstage — it’s such a beautiful, intimate setting.”

Donna Ray

ballad singer

On an otherwise quiet weeknight in downtown Marshall, parking was scarce at and around the Old Marshall Jail Hotel. Dozens of patrons packed out the back patio overlooking the French Broad River — it’s the monthly ballad swap.

“There’s so little in life that perseveres,” said Sheila Kay Adams. “The ballads they sing here are just like they sung when I was a child. And I’m sure some of these ballads were sung in this very jail.”

A cherished Western North Carolina storyteller and musician, Adams is a Madison County native, one who aims to share the history of these mountains and its inhabitants through song and lore centuries old — in creation and in performance.

SOUNDS OF PERSEVERANCE IN MARSHALL BALLAD SWAP

“These songs are my heart — they’re a reflection of the human condition,” Adams said.

Launched in March 2023, the ballad swap — held every second Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. at the jail — has become a much-anticipated community gathering. Open seats are prime real estate. The room silent, respectful and attentive. One-by-one, local storytellers and singers step up to the microphone to share a beloved traditional melody handed down through the generations.

“The ballads are a way to preserve the family history,” said Donna Ray Norton. “I didn’t inherit any land, house or money — these songs are my inheritance.”

An eighth-generation ballad singer

hailing from the Sodom area of Madison County, Norton is also the second cousin of Adams.

“Ballad singing has been getting phased out of festivals and we’re still trying to do our thing — it’s important this tradition stays alive and relevant,” Norton said.

Together, Norton and Adams decided to put together the ballad swap at the Old Marshall Jail Hotel as a way to bring together locals and visitors alike to immerse themselves in the beauty of culture and connectivity in this region.

For Norton, who can’t read music and has never received formal vocal training, it’s all about the feeling of each song and how it was heard from her elders.

The monthly ballad swap in the Old Marshall Jail Hotel.

“I just sing’em like I heard’em,” Norton said. “There’s all these different inflections in the lines. High and middle pitches that drop down low. Then, at the end of our verses, we sometimes have a ‘yip,’ which is this little inflection — it’s unlike anything else you’re ever going to hear.”

Having the ballad swap at the Old Marshall Jail Hotel is quite a poignant setting. The historic building was a jail from 1905 until its closure in 2012. Up until then, it was the oldest operational jail in the entire state. In recent years, the property was purchased by Josh Copus, an artist and creative entrepreneur.

“When I bought the jail, it was immediately evident to me that just wasn’t like any other building — this was an opportunity for something special,” Copus said. “We’re taking something so historic and important to the cultural heritage of this town and moving it into our contemporary world.”

“Part art hotel, part museum exhibit, part historic preservation,” the Old Marshall Jail also houses Zadie’s Market, a rapidly rising culinary destination for Madison County and beyond. But, for Copus, it was of the utmost importance to feature a musical component. And it was during a happenstance encounter with Norton that it was suggested the ballad swap be held at the jail.

“This whole project with the ballad nights is not about being stuck in time or about nostalgia,” Copus said. “It’s about honoring that tradition and history, but also looking to the future and understanding if these ballads aren’t alive, then it’s dead.”

Much like the jail itself, Copus views that ballad swap as a way to balance the past, present and future of the culture of Western North Carolina and greater Southern Appalachia.

“We have a unique situation here where we can switch on new people to these ballads in an accessible way that’s not a novelty.” Copus said. “I want people to see the beauty of the culture and experience it in its realness — it’s got to be active, it’s got to be vibrant.”

“I’m shocked every time I come in here and people are here waiting for us to sing,” Norton added. “It’s about appreciating the heritage and the history, but also getting people interested and involved in keeping these ballads going for future generations — right now, it’s working.”

HAPPENINGS HAPPENINGS

FESTIVALS, CONCERT SERIES, JAM SESSIONS, MUSIC CAMPS, EXHIBITS AND MORE ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK BEFORE HEADING OUT

YEAR ROUND 6

Alleghany Jubilee

SPARTA

alleghanyjubilee.com

Tuesdays 7-9 pm, Saturdays 7-9:30 pm Appalachian Clogging and Flatfoot Lessons

ASHEVILLE

facebook.com/ashevilleappalachiancloggingandflatfoot

Beginner & Intermediate Lessons, see website for info

Ballad Night at the Old Marshall Jail Hotel

MARSHALL

facebook.com/oldmarshalljail

Second Wednesday each month, 6 pm

Blue Ridge & Beyond Concert Series

MOUNT AIRY

surryarts.org

Concerts year round, visit website

Bluegrass & Old Time at Jack of the Wood

ASHEVILLE jackofthewood.com

Wednesdays 5-9 pm Old-Time Jam, Thursdays 7-11 pm Bluegrass Jam, Friday-Saturday evening bands (visit website), Saturday afternoon - Nobody’s Darling 4-6 pm, Sunday 12-3 pm Bluegrass Brunch

Bluegrass Jam at the Reeves ELKIN

ReevesTheater.com

Second Thursday each month, except major holidays, 6 pm

Cherokee Homestead Exhibit HAYESVILLE

cccra-nc.org

Daily, sunrise to sunset

Concert Series at the PAC HIGHLANDS highlandsperformingarts.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts

MARS HILL mhu.edu/event

Events year round, visit website

Concerts & Events at Blowing Rock Art & History Museum

BLOWING ROCK blowingrockmuseum.org

Concerts, lectures, and installations, visit website

Concerts Ashe Civic Center

WEST JEFFERSON ashecivic.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at 185 King Street

BREVARD

185kingst.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at Asheville Music Hall

ASHEVILLE ashevillemusichall.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at Black Mountain Center for the Arts

BLACK MOUNTAIN blackmountainarts.org

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at Burnsville Town Center

BURNSVILLE burnsvilletowncenter.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at CCC & TI HUDSON cccti.edu

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at City of Morganton Municipal Auditorium

MORGANTON commaonline.org

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at Highland Brewing Company

ASHEVILLE highlandbrewing.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at J.E. Broyhill Civic Center

LENOIR broyhillcenter.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at Muddy Creek Café & Music Hall

SPARTA

muddycreekcafeandmusichall.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at Silverados

BLACK MOUNTAIN silveradoswnc.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts

FRANKLIN greatmountainmusic.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at The Appalachian Theatre of the High Country BOONE apptheatre.org

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at the Don Gibson Theatre

SHELBY dongibsontheater.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at The Foundation Performing Arts Center

SPINDALE foundationshows.org

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at The Gem at Boojum Taproom

WAYNESVILLE

boojumbrewing.com

Friday & Saturday evenings, visit website

Concerts at The Grey Eagle

ASHEVILLE

thegreyeagle.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at The Orange Peel

ASHEVILLE

theorangepeel.net

Concerts year round, visit website

The Peacock’s Main Stage Series

HAYESVILLE

thepeacocknc.org

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at the Reeves Theater

ELKIN

ReevesTheater.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Concerts at White Horse Black Mountain

BLACK MOUNTAIN

whitehorseblackmountain.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Crouse House Pickers (Jam Session)

SPARTA

townofsparta.org

Mondays 6 pm

Earl Scruggs Center: Music & Stories from the American South SHELBY

earlscruggscenter.org

Tuesday-Saturday 10 am-4 pm

Fading Voices Festival

grahamcountytravel.com/event/fading-voices

Saturday,10 am-4 pm

Feed & Seed

FLETCHER

feedandseednc.com

Friday-Saturday 7:30-9:30 pm

Fiddling on the Hill Traditional Jam Session

MARS HILL

mhu.edu/event

Monthly, Tuesdays 5-7 pm

Jackson Arts Market

SYLVA

jacksonartsmarket.com

Saturday & Sunday 1-5 pm

Jam Sessions at the Barber Shop

DREXEL

facebook.com/100063786660363

Saturdays 10:30 am

Jimmy’s Pick n Grin

ANDREWS

blueridgemusicnc.com

Saturdays 7-11 pm

John C. Campbell Folk SchoolConcerts, Dances & Fall Festival

BRASSTOWN folkschool.org

Year Round Events - Visit Website

Jones House - Old Time Accoustic Jams

BOONE

joneshouse.org

Thursday 7-10 pm

Live Music at The Purple Onion

SALUDA

purpleonionsaluda.com

Year Round, dates vary

Madison County Arts Council Concerts Series

MARSHALL

madisoncountyarts.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Meadowlark Smoky Mountain Heritage Center Concerts & Events

MAGGIE VALLEY

meadowlarkmotel.com

Events year round, visit website

Mount Airy Museum of Regional History

MOUNT AIRY

northcarolinamuseum.org

Tuesday-Sunday 10 am-5 pm, visit website, May 29 - October 30 add Monday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday 1-5 pm

Mountain Gateway Museum and Sunday Afternoon Jam

OLD FORT mgmnc.org

Sunday Jam Session 2 pm

Mountain Gateway Museum OLD FORT

mgmnc.org

Tuesday-Saturday 9 am-5 pm, Sunday 2-5 pm

Mountain Music Old Time Music Jam at Trailside Brewing Company

HENDERSONVILLE trailsidebrews.com

Wednesdays 6:00-8:30 pm

Music & History at Wilkes Heritage Museum

WILKESBORO

wilkesheritagemuseum.com

Monday-Friday 10 am-4 pm

Music at the Depot

MARSHALL

visitmadisoncounty.com

Mondays and Thursdays, 7 pm, Fridays 6:30 pm

Old-Time Music Heritage Hall

MOUNT AIRY

surryarts.org

Monday-Friday 12 pm-2 pm, Saturday 11:00 am-1:30 pm, Sunday 1:30-4:30 pm

Phipps General Store Jam

LANSING

facebook.com/100057275815434

Fridays 7-11 pm

Round Robin Ballad Swaps

SECOND TUESDAY, 5-7 PM mhu.edu/event

Events year round, visit website

Saturday Morning Gospel Jam

MARION

BlueRidgeMusicNC.com

Saturdays 10 am-12 noon

Sims Country Bar-B-Que - Food, Music & Dancing

GRANITE FALLS

simscountrybbq.com

Friday and Saturday 5-9 pm

Thursday Open Mic

SPARTA

muddycreekcafeandmusichall.com

Open Mic Nights every Thursday, 7 pm

Tuesday Bluegrass Series

ASHEVILLE

highlandbrewing.com

Concerts year round, visit website

Tuesday Casual Collaborations

BREVARD

185kingst.com

Tuesdays 6 pm

Joe Shannon’s Mountain Home Music Concert Series

BOONE & BLOWING ROCK

mountainhomemusic.com

Multiple concerts, visit website

Mountain Music Jam Sessions

BREVARD

sycamoreflats.com

Every Monday 6-8 pm

Wednesday Night Bluegrass HIGHLANDS theuglydogpub.com

Wednesdays 6:30-9 pm

WPAQ Saturday Morning MerryGo Round

MOUNT AIRY wpaq740.com

Saturdays 11 am-1:30 pm

Yadkin Cultural Arts Center Concert Series

YADKINVILLE yadkinarts.org

Concerts year round, visit website

Zuma Coffee Bluegrass Jam Session

MARSHALL zumascoffee.com

Every third Thursday, 6-8 pm

6

SEASONAL 6

Stories on the Square

HAYESVILLE

kanuterarey.com

January-November, 3rd Friday, 6 pm

Traditional Concert Series at Davidson College

DAVIDSON

davidson.edu/the-arts

February & April, one concert each month.

Music at the Mills

UNION MILLS

unionmillslearningcenter.com

March-December, Fridays - visit website

Amphitheater Series

TRYON

tryonarts.org

April-June, Thursdays 6:30 pm

Rare Bird Farm

SPRING CREEK rarebirdfarm.org

April-September, multiple concerts, visit website

Red, White & Bluegrass Jam Session

BOONE

blueridgemusicnc.com

April-October Weekly on Tuesdays 7 pm

Brasstown Community Civic Center Summer Concerts

BRASSTOWN

brasstowncommunitycenter.org

May-August, 2nd & 4th Saturdays, 7 pm

RADIO SHOWS

Enjoy the sounds of mountain music from the comfort of your home, cabin, or car by dialing in (or streaming) a radio show. Here’s a sampling:

• BLUEGRASS REVIEW 3-5 pm Sundays, WSQL 102.1 FM

• CLOSE TO HOME (old-time music), 8-10 pm Saturdays, WCQS 88.1 FM

• GOIN’ ACROSS THE MOUNTAIN (bluegrass), 11am-7 pm Saturdays, WNCW 88.7 FM

• GOSPEL TRUTH (bluegrass gospel), 7-9 am Sundays, WNCW 88.7 FM

• LET’S GO LOCAL (ballads, oldtime, mountain music) 12 pm, Saturdays WART 95.5 FM

• MOUNTAIN MORNINGS (bluegrass), Sunday through Friday, 6-7 am, WNCW 88.7 FM

• THE TALL GRASS (bluegrass and roots music), 6-7 pm Saturdays, WNCW 88.7 FM

• THIS OLD PORCH (old-time music), 3-6 pm Sundays, WNCW 88.7 FM

• WPAQ 740 AM – Bluegrass, Old-time, Gospel

• WPVM 103.7 FM - Bluegrass, Old-time, Gospel. You can also listen to our “Down the Road on the Blue Ridge Music Trails “podcast daily, Monday - Saturday at 1 pm.

ROBBINSVILLE

Historic Cowee School Concert Series

FRANKLIN

coweeschool.org

May-September, 3rd & 4th Saturdays, 6 pm

And the Beat Goes On Music Series

SPARTA alleghanyartscouncil.org

May-December, one concert a month, 8 pm

Blue Ridge Music Center Roots of American Music Exhibition

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY MILEPOST 213 blueridgemusiccenter.org

May (Thursday-Monday), June-October (daily), 10 am-5 pm

Pickin’ on the Square

FRANKLIN

franklinnc.com

May-October, 2nd & 4th Saturday, 6 pm

Mid-Day Mountain Music at the Blue Ridge Music Center

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY MILEPOST 213 blueridgemusiccenter.org

May-October, daily 12 noon-4 pm

Concerts at the Blue Ridge Music Center

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY MILEPOST 213 blueridgemusiccenter.org

May-October, visit website

Friday Night Live HIGHLANDS

highlandschamber.org

Mid-May through mid-October, Fridays 6 pm

Songwriter Showcase HAYESVILLE

thepeacocknc.org

April 20, June 8 and 29, August 10, September 21, October 19, 7:30 pm

Unto These Hills CHEROKEE

cherokeehistorical.org

May-August, Monday-Saturday, 8 pm

Fain Alley Music Series MURPHY cherokeeartscouncil.org

May-October, Last Saturday, 6 pm

Concerts on the Creek at Bridge Park

SYLVA

mountainlovers.com

May 24-August 30, Fridays 7 pm, & July 4th 6:30 pm

Summer Concert Series On the Historic Hayesville Square

HAYESVILLE

cccra-nc.org

May 17-August 16, most Fridays 7 pm

Live Mountain Music at the Orchard at Altapass

SPRUCE PINE

altapassorchard.org

June 8-October 27, Saturdays and Sundays 2-4 pm, visit website

Music & Dance at the Stompin’ Ground

MAGGIE VALLEY

BlueRidgeMusicNC.com

April-October, Saturdays 8-11 pm

Oconaluftee Old-Time

Music Jam

CHEROKEE

nps.gov/grsm

May-December, 3rd Saturday year round, 1-3 pm

Pickin at Priddy’s

DANBURY

facebook.com/est.1888

Every Saturday in October except October 26, 2024, 3-5:30 pm

Earl Scruggs Center’s Pickin’ on the Square SHELBY

earlscruggscenter.org

June-August, 2nd Saturday, 11 am-1 pm

Summer Concerts at the Jones House

BOONE

joneshouse.org

June-August, Fridays 5:30 pm

Todd Summer Concert Series

TODD

toddnc.org

6 pm June 24, July 15, Aug. 12; 11:30 am July 4

An Appalachian Evening Summer Concert Series

ROBBINSVILLE

stecoahvalleycenter.com

June 29-August 31, Saturdays 7:30 pm

Summer Tracks Concert Series

TRYON summertracks.com

June-August, two concerts a month, visit website

Saturdays in the Park

SPARTA

alleghanyartscouncil.org

June-September, 4th Saturday each month 6-9 pm

Music on the Courthouse Square

ROBBINSVILLE grahamcountytravel.com

June through mid-September, Fridays 7:30-10:30 pm

Brevard Music Center Concert Series

BREVARD brevardmusic.org

June-September, multiple concerts, visit website

Music on Main in Sparta SPARTA

alleghanyartscouncil.org

June-September, 1st Saturday 7 pm - see website

Shindig on the Green ASHEVILLE folkheritage.org

July 6, 13, 20, 27, August 10, 17, 24, Saturdays 7 pm

Concerts at the Rock VALDESE townofvaldese.com

October 2024-April 2025, one Saturday a month 7:30 pm

Indoor Concerts at the Jones House

BOONE joneshouse.org

Several concerts, visit website

Sacred Harp Singing

SWANNANOA christianharmony.org

September-May, 3rd Sunday each month, 3-5 pm

6

APRIL

6

APRIL 12-14

Ola Belle Reed: A Songwriting Retreat

WEST JEFFERSON ashecountyarts.org

Friday-Sunday, visit website

APRIL 13

Ola Belle Reed: Songwriters in Concert

WEST JEFFERSON ashecountyarts.org

Saturday 7:30 pm

APRIL 15

Quay Smathers Memorial Singing School

CLYDE qssingingschool.org

Saturday, 9 am-4:30 pm

APRIL 20

Appalachian Heritage Weekend

WAYNESVILLE sheltonhouse.org

Saturday10 am-4 pm

APRIL 25-APRIL 28

MerleFest

WILKESBORO merlefest.org

Thursday 2:30-11:30 pm, Friday & Saturday 11 am-11:30 pm, Sunday 11 am-6 pm

6

MAY 6

MAY 4

Rare Bird Fine Tuned Sessions

SPRING CREEK rarebirdfarm.org

Saturday 12-7 pm

MAY 4

Spring Etowah Christian Harmony Singing & School

ETOWAH

christianharmony.org

Saturday 10 am-3 pm

MAY 9-12

LEAF Retreat

BLACK MOUNTAIN theleaf.org

Thursday 4:30 pm-Sunday 5 pm

MAY 19

Steve Sutton Fest

ASHEVILLE

silveradoswnc.com

Saturday 2-6 pm

MAY 23-26

The Way of the Dulcimer Spring & Fall Retreat

LITTLE SWITZERLAND donpedi.com

Thursday 4-10 pm, Friday & Saturday 8 am-10 pm, Sunday 8-11 am

MAY 23-26

Carolina Hills FiddleFest UNION GROVE carolinahillsfiddlefest.com

Thursday 6 pm-Sunday 3 pm

MAY 24-SEPTEMBER 6

Groovin’ on the Green Summer Concert Series CASHIERS villagegreencashiersnc.com

Memorial Day-Labor Day, Fridays 6 pm

MAY 24-26

Swain County Heritage Festival BRYSON CITY greatsmokies.com

Friday 5-10 pm, Saturday 9 am-9 pm, visit website

6 JUNE 6

JUNE 1

Cold Mountain Music Festival CANTON coldmountainmusic.org

Saturday 12 pm

JUNE 7-8

Mount Airy Bluegrass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention MOUNT AIRY

mountairyfiddlersconvention.com

Friday 7 pm, Saturday 9:30 am

JUNE 6-8

Cherokee Bluegrass Festival CHEROKEE

evansmediasource.com

Thursday 12 noon-Saturday 10 pm

JUNE 9-14

Blue Ridge Old-Time Music Week MARS HILL

mhu.edu/conferences

Sunday-Friday, see website

JUNE 15

Bluff Mountain Festival HOT SPRINGS

madisoncountyarts.com

Saturday 10 am-6 pm

JUNE 20-AUGUST 15

Summer Concerts in the Park BANNER ELK bannerelk.org

Thursday 6:30 pm

JUNE 26-27

Elkin Roots Music Fest ELKIN reevestheater.com

Friday-Saturday evenings

JUNE - 3RD WEEKEND Boonerang

BOONE joneshouse.org

Thursday-Friday evenings, Saturday all day

JUNE 29

Annual Heritage Day and Wood Kiln Opening

LENOIR

bolickandtraditionspottery.com

Saturday 10 am-5 pm

JUNE 30-JULY 6

Swannanoa Gathering Mando & Banjo Week

ASHEVILLE swangathering.com

Tuesday-Tuesday, week-long session

JUNE 30-JULY 6

Swannanoa Gathering Fiddle Week ASHEVILLE swangathering.com

Tuesday-Tuesday, week-long session

JULY 6

JULY 7-14

Swannanoa Gathering Traditional Song Week ASHEVILLE swangathering.com

Sunday-Saturday, week-long session

JULY 5-6

Christmas in July Festival

WEST JEFFERSON

christmasinjulyfestival.com

Friday 3-10 pm, Saturday 9 am-7 pm

JULY 6

Coon Dog Day

SALUDA

cityofsaludanc.com

Saturday 8 am-11 pm

JULY 8-12

Surry Old Time Music Camp DOBSON surry.edu

Monday-Friday 9 am-2 pm

JULY 12-13

Annual NC Blackberry Festival

LENOIR

ncblackberryfestival.com

Friday 5 pm - Saturday 9 pm

JULY 12-14

Festival on the Square

HAYESVILLE

clayhistoryartsnc.org

Friday 7pm, Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday 10 am-4 pm

JULY 19-20

Alleghany County Fiddlers Convention

SPARTA

alleghanycountyfiddlers.com

Friday 5 pm, Saturday 11 pm

JULY 19-20

Doc & Rosa Lee Watson MusicFest ‘N Sugar Grove SUGAR GROVE

docwatsonmusicfest.org

Friday and Saturday, see website

JULY 21-27

Swannanoa Gathering Old-Time Week

ASHEVILLE swangathering.com

Sunday-Saturday week-long session

JULY 27

Annual Swannanoa Shaped Note Singing

ASHEVILLE christianharmony.org

Saturday 10 am-3 pm

JULY 28-AUGUST 3

Swannanoa Gathering Guitar

Week

ASHEVILLE swangathering.com

Sunday-Saturday, week-long session

JULY 26-27

Ashe County Bluegrass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention

WEST JEFFERSON

ashefiddlersconvention.org

Friday-Saturday 10 am-10 pm

JULY, OCTOBER

Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands

ASHEVILLE

southernhighlandguild.org

Thursday-Sunday, July 18-21 and October 17-20,10 am-5 pm

6 AUGUST 6

AUGUST 1-3

Mountain Dance and Folk Festival

ASHEVILLE folkheritage.org

Thursday-Saturday 7-10 pm

AUGUST 10-11

Blue Ridge Heritage Weekend

WAYNESVILLE sheltonhouse.org

Saturday 9 am-5 pm, Sunday 11 am-4 pm

AUGUST 15-17

Annual North Carolina State Bluegrass Festival MARION evansmediasource.com

Thursday 12 noon-Saturday 10 pm

AUGUST 16-17

Doc Watson Day BOONE joneshouse.org

Friday 5 pm - Saturday - see website for details

AUGUST 19

Nature’s Wisdom Thru Native Eyes Film showing, with live dance and music

CHEROKEE saveculture.org

Monday, 8 pm at Mountainside Theater

AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 1

Earl Scruggs Music Festival

TRYON

earlscruggsmusicfest.com

Friday-Sunday, All Day

AUGUST 31

Fall Etowah Christian Harmony Singing

ETOWAH christianharmony.org

Saturday 10 am-3 pm 6

SEPTEMBER 6

SEPTEMBER 1

New River Blues Festival

GRASSY CREEK newriverbluesfestival.info

Sunday 1-6 pm

SEPTEMBER 6-15

Mountain Music Festival at the Mountain State Fair

FLETCHER wncagcenter.org

Performances throughout the 10-day event

SEPTEMBER 7

Music at the Mill

WAYNESVILLE francismill.org

Saturday 10 am-4 pm

SEPTEMBER 14

Annual Old Folks Day ShapedNote Singing

CANTON

qssingingschool.org

Sunday 12 noon-3 pm

SEPTEMBER 21

Mountain Heritage Festival

SPARTA

alleghanycountychamber.com

Saturday 10 am-4:30 pm

SEPTEMBER 21-22

Heritage Weekend at the Folk Art Center

ASHEVILLE

southernhighlandguild.org

Saturday 10 am-4 pm, Sunday 12 noon-4 pm

SEPTEMBER 14

Music in the Mountains Folk Festival

BURNSVILLE

toeriverarts.org

Saturday 5:30-8:30 pm, see website

SEPTEMBER 21

Yadkin Valley Harvest Festival

YADKINVILLE

yadkinarts.org

Saturday 10 am-3 pm

SEPTEMBER 21

Cherokee Heritage Festival in Hayesville

HAYESVILLE

cccra-nc.org

Saturday 10 am-3 pm

SEPTEMBER 28

Art on the Mountain

WEST JEFFERSON

ashecountyarts.org

Saturday 10 am-4 pm

SEPTEMBER 28

Art on the Island

MARSHALL

madisoncountyarts.com

Saturday 10 am-5 pm

SEPTEMBER 28

Mountain Heritage Day

CULLOWHEE

mountainheritageday.com

Saturday 10 am-4 pm

6

OCTOBER 6

OCTOBER 4

BBQ for Books with a Side of Bluegrass KING stokespfc.com

Friday 6-9 pm

OCTOBER 5

Bascom Lamar Lunsford “Minstrel of Appalachia” Festival

MARS HILL

lunsfordfestival.com

Saturday 10 am-4 pm

OCTOBER 5

Spruce Pine BBQ Championship & Bluegrass Festival

SPRUCE PINE sprucepinebbq.org

Saturday 10 am-6 pm

OCTOBER 11-13

Cashiers Valley Leaf Festival

CASHIERS

villagegreencashiersnc.com

Friday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday 10 am-3 pm

OCTOBER 11-13

Autumn Leaves Festival

MOUNT AIRY

autumnleavesfestival.com

Friday-Saturday 9 am-9 pm, Sunday 12 noon-6 pm

OCTOBER 12

Smoky Mountains Bluegrass Festival

MAGGIE VALLEY

Haywoodarts.org

Saturday 11 am-6 pm

OCTOBER 12

Church Street Art & Craft Show WAYNESVILLE

downtownwaynesville.com

Saturday 10 am-5 pm

OCTOBER 17-20

LEAF Festival

BLACK MOUNTAIN theleaf.org

Thursday 4:30 pm-Sunday 5 pm

OCTOBER 18-20

Punkin’ Chunkin’ Festival

HAYESVILLE

claychambernc.com

Friday 6-9 pm, Saturday-Sunday 10 am-5 pm

OCTOBER 18-19

Stecoah’s Harvest Festival

ROBBINSVILLE

stecoahvalleycenter.com

October 3rd Weekend, Friday 6-8 pm, Saturday 10 am-5 pm

OCTOBER 19

Apple Harvest Festival

WAYNESVILLE

haywoodchamber.com

Saturday 10 am-5 pm

OCTOBER 19

Mush, Music & Mutts: NC’s

Official Fall Liver Mush Festival

SHELBY

tourclevelandcounty.com

Saturday 9 am-4 pm

OCTOBER 19

RiddleFest

BURNSVILLE

TraditionalVoicesGroup.com

Saturday, 7-9 pm

OCTOBER 19

Valle Country Fair

VALLE CRUCIS

vallecountryfair.org

Saturday 9 am-4 pm

OCTOBER 19-20

Woolly Worm Festival

BANNER ELK

WoollyWorm.com

Saturday 9 am-5 pm, Sunday 9 am-4 pm

OCTOBER 24-27

Mount Airy Ukulele Retreat

MOUNT AIRY

surryarts.org

Thursday-Sunday, visit website for registration 6

NOVEMBER 6

NOVEMBER 9

NC Ceramic Arts Festival

ASHEVILLE

northcarolinaceramicartsfestival.com

Saturday 10 am-5 pm

NOVEMBER 16

Annual Singing on the French Broad River

MARSHALL

madisoncountyarts.com

Saturday 10 am-3 pm in the Arts Center

NOVEMBER 9

Swannanoa Valley Shape Note

Singing

BLACK MOUNTAIN

christianharmony.org

Saturday 10 am-3 pm

NOVEMBER 30

Annual Thanksgiving Kiln Opening

LENOIR

bolickandtraditionspottery.com

Saturday 10 am-4 pm

6

DECEMBER

6

DECEMBER 6-7

Balsam Range Art of Music Festival

LAKE JUNALUSKA

balsamrangeartofmusicfestival.com

Thursday 6-11:30 pm, Friday-Saturday 12 noon-11:30 pm

6

6

FEBRUARY 14-16

Bluegrass First Class

ASHEVILLE

bluegrassfirstclass.com

Friday-Sunday, visit website for 2025 times

FEBRUARY 2025

Appalachian State Old-Time Fiddler’s Convention

BOONE fiddle.appstate.edu

Friday evening-Saturday afternoon

FEBRUARY 2025

Tommy Jarrell Festival

MOUNT AIRY

surryarts.org

Thursday-Saturday

MARCH 2025

Annual Sandy Ridge School Bluegrass Show

SANDY RIDGE

BlueRidgeMusicNC.com

Saturday evening

MARCH 2025

Remembering Earl Fundraising Concert

SHELBY

earlscruggscenter.org

Saturday, 6 pm

MARCH 2025

Caldwell Traditional Musicians Showcase

LENOIR

broyhillcenter.com

Saturday

MARCH 2025

Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

WILKESBORO

wilkesheritagemuseum.com

Saturday, 6 pm