Industrial Strength Bluegrass, a Xenia and Wilmington, Ohio-based festival run by Joe Mullins and his family and staff at Real Roots Radio, won Event of the Year from IBMA in 2022 and 2024. Content on their festival social media has racked up millions of views on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. And rightly so, their events and airwaves always boast the absolute best in bluegrass.
BGS has partnered with Industrial Strength Bluegrass many times over the years and this time we’re excited to bring you full-length videos of ISB’s most popular and veritably viral performances. We began the series sharing Ron Stewart and Michael Cleveland ripping through a version of “Roanoke” accompanied by Joe Mullins, Vickie Vaughn, and more. Now we’re continuing the series with our second edition, this time featuring Carson Peters & Iron Mountain performing a gospel number, “Lord Don’t Leave Me Here.”
Captured at Industrial Strength Bluegrass in March of 2024, it’s a lovely a cappella arrangement, sung in an old-fashioned bluegrass style. When ISB first shared a clip of the number on TikTok later that year, it quickly amassed 2 million views and over 180,000 likes. Carson Peters, who’s been well-known on the bluegrass circuit since he was a youngster, is no stranger to this sort of virality, whether it’s his singing or fiddling that awes audiences.
Now more than two years after this hugely popular performance, Peters just announced that he’s signed a publishing deal with Sony Music Publishing Nashville. An accomplished songwriter as well as a frontman and picker, Peters has a couple of cuts on Braxton Keith’s new album, Real Damn Deal, and Peters and Iron Mountain will open for Keith on select tour dates this summer. Peters does it all, from country songwriting to a cappella bluegrass gospel – and fans and listeners are loving it.
Follow Industrial Strength Bluegrass on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Make plans to attend their Summer Fest held July 16-18, 2026 in Xenia, Ohio, and future indoor festivals, too. More information can be found here.
