The 3rd Annual Earl Scruggs Music Festival was a smash hit! Held over Labor Day weekend at the stunning, luxurious grounds of the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, North Carolina – a short drive from Scruggs’ hometown of Shelby and the small crossroads of Flint Hill, where he was born and raised – the event featured bluegrass, old-time, country, and Americana made at the highest levels on three stages. Featuring brick-and-mortar restaurants, a shaded grandstand, dozens of vendors and boutiques, a large campground, posh tiny home cabin stays, and so much more, this is not your standard flatbed-trailer-in-a-hay-field festival. It’s so much more.
BGS was on hand at this year’s event to once again co-present a special tribute set, renamed The Scruggs Sessions and paying tribute to Flatt & Scruggs’ iconic live album, At Carnegie Hall! Festival hosts Jerry Douglas and the Earls of Leicester helmed the special show on the Foggy Mountain Stage, a crowd favorite in years past that formerly highlighted the Earl Scruggs Revue. This year, artists and bands like Shadowgrass, Wyatt Ellis, Lindsay Lou, Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, Twisted Pine, the Faux Paws, Old Crow Medicine Show, and more played selections from Flatt & Scruggs’ legendary performance at Carnegie Hall in 1962. The ESMF crowd delighted in note-for-note replications alongside brand new reimaginations of the album’s essential songs and tunes – complete with a rendering of “Martha White” that elicited plenty of raucous singing along.
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Horse jumping demonstrations were held nearby the Legend’s Workshop Stage, where artists from the lineup told stories, shared songwriting pointers, talked about banjo techniques, and so much more. Fine spirits and wines were available for sale at the Spirits of Bluegrass stands and the Earl Scruggs Center – a fantastic museum focused on Scruggs that calls the former courthouse in Shelby its home – sold their Scruggs-ian wares and passed out hand fans to festival goers throughout the weekend.
It was a perfect festival to mark the 100th year since Scruggs’ birth, with artists, bands, and musicians from across the musical spectrum demonstrating the wide scope of the innovative banjo picker’s impact and legacy. On the Flint Hill Stage, headliners like Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives – featuring Chris Scruggs, who received multiple standing ovations from the audience – Mighty Poplar, Yonder Mountain String Band, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Tanya Tucker illustrated that bluegrass is certainly not a monolith. And, that traditional-leaning festivals such as ESMF can be just as expansive and broad as their more Americana-geared or rootsy competitors.
Though Friday and Saturday were blisteringly hot and Sunday saw more than one weather delay while lightning storms rolled out of the Appalachians and over the foothills, the crowds were resilient and energized and the festival showed, yet again, that this event is being built for the long haul. Conveniently located a short drive from Greenville, SC, Asheville and Charlotte, NC and a mere five hour drive from Nashville, ESMF is a must-visit destination festival where everything you could ever need – from banjos to horse jumping to wood-fired pizza to glamorous camping to high-quality interviews and workshops to international superstars – are all combined in one convenient, luxurious location.
Below, check out select photos from the 2024 edition of the Earl Scruggs Music Festival – and make plans to join us next year over Labor Day weekend in 2025! Tickets are on sale now.
Tickets for Earl Scruggs Music Festival 2025 are on sale now.
All photos courtesy of Earl Scruggs Music Festival and shot by Cora Wagoner and Jess Maples, as marked.
Lead Image: Tanya Tucker performs on the Flint Hill Stage, photo by Jess Maples.
