Tag: festival

Old Crow, Sierra Ferrell, and More Ring in 25 Years of Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion

Posted on by Editor

As long as I can remember, I’ve been enamoured with the small mountain town of Bristol, Tenn./Va. Growing up I idolized NASCAR drivers like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt who mastered the half-mile bullring just south of town, but it wasn’t until adulthood when I fell in love with it all over again and came to know it as the birthplace of country music.

That happened during my inaugural trip there in 2021 to attend the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, where I not only got to see performers like Sierra Ferrell and Charley Crockett for the first time, but also became immersed in the town’s history in music. After numerous return visits on travels to and from my native Kentucky, I finally made it back to Bristol last week to celebrate a quarter century of the festival, acknowledge the 1927 sessions that became the Big Bang of Country Music, and get hyped for the rising stars who will be guiding the tradition forward for years to come.

Arguably the biggest connection between country music’s past and present at the gathering was Old Crow Medicine Show, who closed out the festival on Sunday evening with the unmatched energy we’ve all come to know and love from frontman Ketch Secor. Watching Secor’s jubilant dancing and other onstage antics is just as, if not more entertaining than the band itself, which has been blazing trails and growing the reach of roots music for even longer than the festival has been around.

That longevity led to a catalog spanning set highlighted by hits like “Cocaine,” “Alabama High Test,” and of course, “Wagon Wheel.” However, its grandest moment came when Secor officially kicked off the 100-year celebration of the 1927 Bristol recording sessions by Ralph Peer with a touching cover of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Waiting for a Train.” Despite the song being recorded in Atlanta in 1928, Rodgers is widely regarded as the biggest breakout star of the Bristol Sessions alongside The Carter Family, making the song’s inclusion a poignant recognition of the city’s historical role in country music and how it still has its finger on the pulse of that tradition to this day.

But Old Crow’s homage was far from the only celebration of country music’s most influential figures throughout the weekend. Rising star Maggie Antone was joined by her partner and bandmate, Garrett Murph, for a duet on John Prine and Iris Dement’s “In Spite Of Ourselves,” Sierra Ferrell drummed up her rendition of John Anderson’s “Years,” Meels and Darrell Scott both honored Dolly Parton with performances of “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?” and “In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad),” and The Creekers got grassy on The Steeldrivers’ “Blue Side of the Mountain.”

Even though these songs aren’t direct connections to those who participated in the 1927 sessions, I can’t help but feel like their significance and perhaps even their mere existence wouldn’t be a thing if Peer hadn’t traveled to Bristol that one fateful summer and lit the fuse for what became country music’s big bang. But that butterfly effect doesn’t stop with just country music. The “roots” element of Bristol Rhythm & Roots was on full display during the festival’s 25th iteration with acts like Los Lobos, who got the crowd dancing on “La Bamba.” Additionally, Jim Lauderdale — who in 2021 had a stage next to the Sessions Hotel in downtown Bristol renamed in his honor — lauded George Jones and Gram Parsons with his original tune “The King of Broken Hearts” that another legend, George Strait, went on to record in 1992.

Then there was the southern rock and soul sounds of Caitlin Krisko & The Broadcast and The Band Loula.

The former is a group I first stumbled upon a decade ago during my first big solo music trip to attend the Suwannee Springfest in Florida, where I recall being blindsided by Krisko’s immaculate voice that channels the very best of powerhouse vocalists like Susan Tedeschi and Bonnie Raitt. The band’s Saturday evening Bristol set from the Lauderdale Stage was no exception, with Krisko and company tearing into originals like “Keep on Trying” and “Something Sweet” from its new record Heirloom in addition to a cover of the Ray Charles classic “Drown In My Own Tears.”

On the flipside, one of my biggest surprises of the weekend came with The Band Loula. I recall first having the North Georgia group put on my radar last year when I interviewed Trisha Yearwood and she praised the band and specifically vocalist Logan Simmons as a woman to watch in country music, but Bristol Rhythm & Roots was my first time actually getting to see them. Taking to Cumberland Square Park, the group wasted no time during the heat of the day in getting hot and sweaty with their self-described “swampgrass” on cuts like Roberta Flack’s 1973 classic “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and their haunting original “A Little at a Time.”

But without a doubt my favorite set from the entire weekend belonged to River Shook. Only added to the festival a day prior to taking the stage (when Sunny Sweeney withdrew following a death in her family), Shook reveled in the last-minute gig that marked their first show back in Bristol since performing at the Reunion in 2018 with their former band, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. The Sunday afternoon set saw the group performing its grungy alt-country songs both new and old like “Good as Gold,” “Country Angel,” “Sidelong” and “F**k Up,” with guitarist Blake Tallent cutting through the midday heat like a knife through butter with his simmering guitar solos that left Shook’s songs sounding more vibrant and polished than ever before.

Then following their full-band set, Shook and Tallent appeared inside the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for a pop-up duo set to be featured on an upcoming edition of the BGS Sessions. There they served up raw and acoustic versions of tunes like “Lost Without Your Love” and the new, unreleased “California Dreaming,” pulling back the curtain and offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the raw origins of their music in the process.

All of this contributed to Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion being one of my favorite festivals of the year alongside Laurel Cove Music Festival back home in Kentucky. With a mix of racing and music history, the diverse sounds that converge at the festival and the quaint, walkable downtown where the only traffic comes by foot, there’s truly something for everyone in Bristol — no matter which side of the state line you stand on.

Photo Credit: Billie Wheeler (Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor and Chance McCoy)

Earl Scruggs Music Festival Honors a Bluegrass Banjo Hero

Posted on by Editor

The sheer beauty and alluring magic of the Earl Scruggs Music Festival is akin to the film Field of Dreams. That adage of, “If you build it, they will come.”

Why else would one of the premier bluegrass gatherings be held at an equestrian center in the middle of nowhere, just off a rural highway, surrounded by vast farm fields in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, and work to absolute perfection year after year?

Well, it does. And for its fifth anniversary, the festival, held at Tryon International, once again invited a slew of the marquee names when it comes to the “high, lonesome sound” and those arena acts orbiting the genre itself: The Avett Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, The Del McCoury Band, Béla Fleck, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, Alison Brown, Mountain Grass Unit, Lindsay Lou, Della Mae, East Nash Grass, The Earls of Leicester, and more.

“He was my gateway. If it weren’t for Earl, I wouldn’t be me,” says Brown, a world-renowned banjoist and co-founder of Compass Records. “Earl was a traditionalist, in the sense that he created this style that we all play, which we consider to be the cornerstone of bluegrass. But, he was an adventurer. He was not afraid to take the banjo to places it hadn’t been before.”

Born just down the road from the festival grounds in Cleveland County in 1924, Scruggs revolutionized the banjo when he perfected a three-finger approach to the instrument. With clawhammer banjo using down-picking (using the thumb and middle or index finger), “Scruggs Style” utilized the thumb, middle and index, resulting in a rapid picking tempo known as “rolls.”

“When I was first starting to learn [banjo], I was playing out of the Earl Scruggs book,” says Michael Bont, banjoist for Greensky Bluegrass. “And I’ll never forget, there was this morning where I had been practicing the rolls and trying to play the songs, and it was ‘Little Cabin Home on the Hill.’ That’s the song [where I went], ‘Oh my god, I’m doing it.’ It never ceases to amaze me [how Earl developed] this new style of playing an instrument.”

At age 21, Scruggs joined Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys. On Dec. 8, 1945, Scruggs found himself on the Grand Ole Opry at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium when Monroe debuted his new sound to numerous standing ovations. Although Monroe had built this “muscle car” of a band that would showcase a whole new genre of music, it was Scruggs who was the gasoline that put Monroe’s vision into motion. Not long after, Scruggs would form the wildly popular Flatt & Scruggs with his Blue Grass Boys bandmate, guitarist Lester Flatt; when that duo broke up, he created the groundbreaking Earl Scruggs Revue with his sons Randy and Gary. A third son, Steve, later joined the group, too. In 2012, Earl Scruggs passed away at age 88.

Behind the festival is a partnership between the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby (in Cleveland County), Isothermal Community College and WNCW 88.7 FM (both located in nearby Spindale). Coming together to share the story of Scruggs and expand his legacy in the 21st century, the trio built this annual gathering from the ground up, where it’s now become a bona fide bastion of bluegrass music and camaraderie.

“When you go into the first [festival], you never know if it’s going to be successful, and you always hope the next year is bigger,” says Mary Beth Martin, executive director of the Earl Scruggs Center. “But, then to be crossing this milestone of year five is pretty amazing — people are marking it on their calendar every year.”

Since its inception, the festival has showcased some of the biggest names in bluegrass and beyond: Alison Krauss & Union Station, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Tanya Tucker, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Wood Brothers, Peter Rowan, Old Crow Medicine Show, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, etc.

“Honestly, just the love that people have for the music and for the acts we’re bringing in is really touching and inspiring,” Martin says. “Because, at the same time, they also have that same love for Earl, and we’re continuing to put his legacy front and center.”

Friday afternoon. Heading backstage, I approach the green room trailer for The Earls of Leicester, a Grammy Award-winning bluegrass group that exclusively performs songs from the Flatt & Scruggs repertoire. Knocking on the door, dobro legend Jerry Douglas answers. As someone who personally knew Scruggs and spent decades getting to interact with the man himself, onstage and off, Douglas can’t help but be proud of what the festival is cultivating from both sides of the microphone.

“Every little niche of [Earl’s] musical life is being explored here,” Douglas says. “And, like Earl, the festival is doing [what he did] — staying open-minded and taking the music forward. There’s room for everybody, and we’re just pushing the envelope a little bit more.”

For Douglas, he remains in awe of Scruggs and the music he created.

“Every time I go away from it and come back to it and listen to it again, I’m amazed all over again that it even happened the first time,” Douglas notes. “And how a guy like him played this kind of music, and was able to push a whole band, a whole idiom that far.”

Before I exit the trailer, Douglas pulls an antique red bow tie out of his travel bag. Placing it on the table, he looks at it, then looks at me. “That was Cedric’s,” Douglas says.

“Cedric Rainwater?” I reply in amazement.

“Yep,” Douglas grins. “I’m letting our bass player wear it tonight.”

That evening, EOL bassist Daniel Kimbro is sporting the bow tie, this incredibly powerful symbol of Howard “Cedric Rainwater” Watts, a first-generation name etched into the bedrock of bluegrass, a musician who played bass in Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, the “Original Bluegrass Band” when Monroe debuted his new sound alongside Scruggs in the mid-1940s. Watts would later become a member of Flatt & Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys and Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboys.

Right after the whirlwind performance ends, Kimbro walks sidestage and tracks down Douglas. He hands the tie back and thanks him for letting him wear it, if but for a moment. “Keep it, it looks good on you,” Douglas says with a smile. Kimbro is rendered speechless by the poignant gesture.

Following EOL was Béla Fleck, who closed out the Flint Hill Stage on Friday night with his project, My Bluegrass Heart, which has been the banjo wizard’s highly successful return to his musical roots in recent years.

“I didn’t know I was a banjo person. Then I heard Earl Scruggs play the banjo, and suddenly I was a banjo person. He was the spark, and he’s that for a lot of people,” Fleck says backstage. “Something about Earl has that sound that makes people go, ‘Well, I don’t know what that is, but I’ve got to hear more, and I’ve got to figure out what it is’ — he had that effect on me.”

Featuring a rotating cast of stellar musicians, Fleck presented fiddler Michael Cleveland, bassist Mark Schatz, guitarist Jake Stargel, Dobro player Jeff Partin, fiddler Maddie Denton and mandolinist Harry Clark (the latter two of East Nash Grass) to a raucous audience soaking it all in.

“The part of that [musical] language that all banjo players always come back to is Earl Scruggs,” Cleveland says. “It doesn’t matter what else I’m doing, I can always turn on Flatt & Scruggs and it’s like hearing it for the first time.”

The festival grounds also showcase an endless sea of bluegrass activities and educational opportunities to immerse oneself in the history and lore of not only the genre itself, but that of Western North Carolina, too. There were numerous musical workshops and live audience Q&A sessions with artists, and even the “Spirits of Bluegrass,” a cultural collaboration and tasting area sponsored by The Bluegrass Situation and featuring local/regional distillers.

Saturday evening. The Del McCoury Band is headlong into its Flint Hill Stage set. Nowadays regarded as the elder statesmen of bluegrass, the 87-year-old McCoury represents the finest in traditional sounds. He also remains this sponge of curiosity, this open-minded, kind heart and carefree, welcoming soul that mirrors the ethos of Scruggs in more ways than just the music.

“If I hadn’t heard Earl Scruggs when I did, I wouldn’t be playing today,” McCoury says in a humble tone. “There’s something that just struck me about him. He was a genius. All of those great banjo players learned from Earl.” (To note, although McCoury is well-known for his guitar playing, he originally started out in the bluegrass realm as a banjo picker.)

“High on a mountain oh, wind blowin’ free/Thinking about the days that used to be,” McCoury’s high, powerful tenor voice rings out, his signature tone ricocheting around the arena and across the nearby fields. “High on a mountain oh, standin’ all alone/Wondering where the years of my life has flown.”

Sitting sidestage watching McCoury intently was 19-year-old Murphy Campbell. Performing earlier in the day as part of the Blue Ridge Music Trails presentation, Campbell, a native of Western North Carolina, is a rising old-time banjo player/singer. For her, music is not only tradition, it’s life, and to see McCoury in all his glory was something she was grateful for, and inspired by.

“We all have this common goal of preservation, and to see people do it on such a large scale is deeply encouraging,” Campbell says. “I’m not used to stuff like this, it’s crazy to watch it from [sidestage]. I never thought that me playing the banjo would get me here to sit and watch [Del] play.”

As of late, Campbell is in the midst of recording new renditions of old ballads that were cherished and collected by her ancestors over a century ago in Mitchell and Yancey counties in North Carolina. Those tunes were cataloged in the book English Folk Songs from Southern Appalachia, with Campbell’s relatives writing down their ballads back in 1918, on a date that coincides with Campbell’s exact birthday.

“We’re all grasping onto something that has roots, because no one feels like they [have roots] anymore” Campbell says when asked about the massive revival in string music in recent years. “And they hold on hard, real hard.”

And when it comes to North Carolina musical roots, you’d be hard-pressed to find deeper ones than those of The Avett Brothers. Tying a bow on the weekend with the honors of playing the Sunday finale, the Avetts roared across the stage with their mesmerizing blend of Americana, bluegrass and folk stylings, the culmination of which being this incredibly vibrant tone of heart and soul.

“Three words that became hard to say/I, and love, and you,” Scott Avett howled to the heavens, an audience of thousands of joyous faces in the grandstands completely mesmerized and singing along to every single word. “What you were then, I am today/Look at the things I do.”

“Earl Scruggs used to be the model for a technique when I started [playing banjo],” Avett says. “And the more I learned about Earl, followed what he did, and paid close attention to his creativity, I realized he was a pioneer in more than just a technique, he was a pioneer in being an individual.”

For Avett, “being an individual” is a core value of the band’s ethos, and something that genuinely reverberates throughout the festival and the artists taking the stage. All of this circling back to Earl Scruggs and what it means to be original and authentic, whether it’s in reference to one’s music and art or simply the way one interacts with the world at-large — this deep, intrinsic sense of curiosity and camaraderie, passion and purpose.

“Doc [Watson] told us personally, ‘You’re on your path. Stay on your path. You’re not on Doc Watson’s path,’” Avett says. “Tom T. Hall told us the exact same thing, Willie Nelson would say the same thing now. I think Earl would say, ‘You guys need to do what you do,’ and we take that to heart.”

See photos from the Flint Hill Stage at the 2026 Earl Scruggs Music Festival.

All photos courtesy of Earl Scruggs Music Festival. Lead image of The Avett Brothers: Bain Stewart.

Friends & Neighbors: The Seldom Scene, “Old Train”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

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. The second edition of the series featured Carson Peters & Iron Mountain performing a gospel number, “Lord Don’t Leave Me Here.”

Now, we’re continuing with another Friends & Neighbors post featuring bluegrass legends the Seldom Scene performing one of their hits, “Old Train,” at Industrial Strength Bluegrass in the fall of 2024. As it happens, it’s a bittersweet performance, the last time former frontman Dudley Connell would perform with the group before his retirement from the band. Connell joined the group in 1995 and after 30 years with the group planned his retirement from the road in early 2025. However, an injury prevented him from performing further shows with the Seldom Scene after his appearance with the group at ISB.

“Old Train” is an icon in the bluegrass canon and this 2024 rendition displays why the track – and the group itself – have such staying power. While so many were saddened, rightfully so, to see Connell leave the group (read our March 2025 interview with Dudley about the move here), the band is continuing to tour and perform with Lou Reid, Ronnie Simpkins, Ron Stewart, Fred Travers, and guitarist, singer, and IBMA Award winner Clay Hess stepping into Connell’s role.

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.

Photos courtesy of Industrial Strength Bluegrass.

Basic Folk: Matt Smith (Club Passim)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Matt Smith is a living legend with his unbelievable 30-year run at Club Passim, the historic folk venue nestled in a Harvard Square basement. Currently in the role of Managing Director at Passim, Matt is the most passionate music lover I know. He has used his platform at the club to help establish artists like Lori McKenna, Anaïs Mitchell, Lake Street Dive, and so many more. I met Matt while working as a student at WERS 88.9FM, where he brought fantastic shows to a listening room filled with people who were clamoring for honest music in an intimate space. He’s been a very good friend and mentor to myself and thousands of musicians since he began his tenure at the club in 1995.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

In honor of Matt’s 30th anniversary at Passim, we brought two longtime friends on the pod to talk to him about his role in the Passim community – and beyond. Musicians Edie Carey and Dinty Child join us in conversation with Matt; he shares advice he would give his younger self, we chat about what a vacation without music would look like, and his incredible memory. That memory is tested in our lightning round where he answers Passim trivia (almost 100% correctly). There’s also a discussion about what Matt is most proud of in all his years at the club: the campfire. festival, which takes place every Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends featuring sets in-the-round of mostly unknown new acts. I would imagine if you’re listening to this episode of Basic Folk, you either know Matt or Club Passim. Hello to all our friends and I hope you enjoy this window into one of the best people we’ve ever known: Matt Smith!

Photo Credit: Barry Schneier

Our Trip to Live in the Vineyard Goes Country

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Country music is all about place. Songs and locale, joined together. It’s a relationship so ubiquitous within the music we often lose sight of it, forest for the trees. But there would be no country music without… well, the country – or without rural places and their communities; without farms and ranches; without Texas or California; without Appalachia or the Southeast. Country also wouldn’t exist without urban centers, and the country folks who migrated to cities to find work, or reunite with their families, or build a better life. Even in concrete jungles seemingly divorced from country ideals, whether drawn by homesickness or nostalgia or longing for home – real or imagined or aspirational – country music and place always go hand-in-hand.

Lucky for all of us, this is a genre well-suited for a variety of places, from honky-tonks to front porches to internationally appealing festivals. Or even Napa Valley, California, vineyards.

Last month, we attended Live in the Vineyard Goes Country, a production of Austin, Texas’s Forefront Networks, an intimate three-day event that effortlessly denoted and celebrated that relationship between country and place. Guests, industry professionals, and country artists – from festival headliners to fresh discoveries – gathered at gorgeous locations on April 21, 22, and 23, throughout Napa and Napa Valley to enjoy stripped-down and essential performances, gourmet farm-to-table meals, delicious organic and biodynamic wines, and the lovely weather, views, and settings of California’s wine country. The eighth installment of the country edition of Live in the Vineyard, it showcased the genre with an elite yet still approachable level of quality, care, and intention.

Guests enjoyed a welcome reception featuring Jackson Dean, Lauren Watkins, and Chandler Walters on day one, sipping bubbles at Chandon in Yountville during golden hour. From there, separate groups of attendees were sorted into waiting coaches to be swept off to dinner for delicious food paired exquisitely with local wines – and still more small, up-close-and-personal musical performances. Our green group dinner, for instance, were treated to hilarious and touching stories and songs shared by Lauren Watkins and her husband, hit songwriter Will Bundy, at Cakebread Cellars over jaw-droppingly delicious chardonnay and perfectly lacquered short ribs.

 

The sun shines on Raymond Vineyards on day three of Live in the Vineyard Goes Country.

Though days one and two were punctuated with bursts of spring rain, throwing a logistical wrench into the works, the Forefront and LITV teams reacted with grace and ease, allowing attendees to relish the rarity of rainfall in Napa Valley without a second thought, and increasing the magical feeling of country music and country people basking in such a space. Day two began with the Texas Music Scene Tailgate, featuring performances by Sunny Sweeney, the Braun Brothers, and a songwriter round including Wade Bowen, Shelby Stone, and Cody Canada. During the live taping for Texas Music Scene’s long-running TV series, guests relaxed between sets by strolling the grounds, eating fresh Napa-grown produce, enjoying complimentary wines and sweets, and ducking in and out of the Frog’s Leap Winery barn to catch country songs sung amid the bright brass vats.

The Braun Brothers (L to R: Micky, Gary, Willy, and Cody)– known from Micky & the Motorcars and Reckless Kelly – swap songs and stories while performing at Frog’s Leap Winery for the ‘Texas Music Scene’ Tailgate.

On the evening of day two, the entire Live in the Vineyard Goes Country entourage traveled together to the Uptown Theatre in gorgeous downtown Napa for the headline show of the event, featuring sets by Abbie Callahan, Alex Lambert, and Marcus King. Once again performing in pared-down, intimate setups for the around 800-seat venue, the crowd was nevertheless animated and engaged, hooting and hollering as if they were polishing the floorboards for rowdy, full-band sets on a stage wrapped in chicken wire, rather than a gilded theatre in wine country. Even in as manicured and lovely a location as Napa Valley, the old saying holds: You can take the folks out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the folks!

Marcus King performs for the Uptown Theatre audience at Live in the Vineyard Goes Country.

On day three, already feeling like Live in the Vineyard was much too short, attendees gathered at Raymond Vineyards in St. Helena, California, for one final hoorah, a lovely send-off brunch featuring a mimosa bar, lemon-blueberry pancakes, JCB Wines, and performances by Frankie Ballard and Zach John King. In the shade of palm trees and snacking on scratch-made frittatas, it was clear – from start to finish – that Live in the Vineyard Goes Country gives this genre, the folks who make it, and the fans who love it the treatment they all deserve. Yes, country is made for barn dances and radio shows and flatbed trailers in pastures, but isn’t it made for Napa Valley, too? For barns aging fine wine, for farms growing gourmet salads, luxurious wines, and handmade breads?

Country is a music for everyone, for every setting, and for every place imaginable. The GC team was excited to be on hand for Live in the Vineyard Goes Country 2026, capturing lo-fi photos with our trusty Camp Snap camera and reflecting on how delicious country music can be when it’s made with this level of intention and care in a beautiful setting such as this. Scroll to enjoy even more photos and dispatch notes from our trip with LITV to Napa Valley.

If you missed Live in the Vineyard Goes Country, don’t worry, Forefront Networks have more music and roots music events on the docket so you, too, can experience country in gorgeous places like this. For a near-immediate fix, Hill Country Reserve will take place in November 2026 in Fredericksburg, Texas. And stay tuned for future editions of LITV, Elevation Bear Creek, and more from Forefront.

All photos by Justin Hiltner, shot on Camp Snap.

Another Glorious Voyage Aboard
Cayamo: A Journey Through Song

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Last month, the BGS team once again embarked on Cayamo: A Journey Through Song, the 18th edition of the beloved week-long floating roots music festival that crisscrossed the Caribbean aboard the Norwegian Pearl. With performances by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Dawes, Watchhouse, Patty Griffin, and many, many more, plus port visits in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Cayo Levantado, Dominican Republic, our team was more than ready to yet again partner with Cayamo and Sixthman to bring you special Basic Folk podcast live tapings on board and our fan favorite BGS Nightcap jam set, our fourth edition of the event.

There’s no festival or live music event quite like Cayamo, where ardent roots music fans and the best and most buzzed-about artists and bands come together on a floating sanctuary to enjoy music, art, community, and togetherness – and a break from the wintry weather, too. Below, enjoy a couple of clips captured on board and a series of photos from Cayamo 2026 that clearly demonstrate the joy and fun of this one-of-a-kind event.

Great news, too! The 2027 lineup for Cayamo: A Journey Through Song has already been announced (see above). Tickets go on sale on April 16th at 2pm EDT, but you still have time to join the final presale. More info here.

Days 1 & 2

Sierra Hull and the Milk Carton Kids perform “Everybody’s Talking” at the Stardust Theater during Cayamo 2026, captured by BGS on board.

Days 3 & 4

During our favorite event of the voyage – ahem, the BGS Nightcap of course – Kathleen Edwards joined Della Mae to perform “Six O’Clock News.” Thanks to Della Mae for recording and sharing this clip.

Days 5 & 6

BGS Nightcap

The BGS highlight of the week! A Nightcap jam session is our favorite pastime, especially aboard Cayamo. What a lineup of artists and bands and special collaborations. And this year it happened to fall on St. Patrick’s Day itself – perfect for a roots music party.

Day 7

Photos courtesy of Sixthman, credits as listed in each watermark. Lead image: Will Byington.

Headed to Earl Scruggs Music Festival? Here’s What to See and Do

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

On March 4, 2026, the team behind Earl Scruggs Music Festival announced the lineup for the 5th annual edition of their event, which was recently honored with the 2025 IBMA Award for Event of the Year. Held each year in Mill Spring, North Carolina, at the Tryon International Equestrian Center, the festival will take place September 4 through September 6 with performances from headlining acts Béla Fleck: My Bluegrass Heart, Greensky Bluegrass, and the Avett Brothers as well as many, many more artists and bands. Tickets are on sale now; see the full lineup below.

BGS has been proud to partner with ESMF since the very first year of the festival, presenting special sets of music, doing on-site coverage, and bringing the unique setting and community of the weekend to our audience. This year we’ll be back again for still more of our partnership – and to enjoy some of the best bluegrass, Americana, country, and roots music on offer anywhere in the country.

Get a sampling of Earl Scruggs Music Festival with our photo stories, previews, and recaps from previous years: 2025; 2024; 2023; 2022.

The most striking feature of ESMF each year – besides their superlative lineups, of course – is the grounds and festival footprint. Tryon International is a luxurious, resplendent location for a music festival, featuring brick-and-mortar restaurants (we love Campagna – scratch made Italian and wood-fired pizzas at a bluegrass festival? Yes.), adorable boutiques, horse riding and jumping demonstrations, a shaded grandstand, multiple bars, a general store, posh VIP areas, and much more. There are campsites for RVs and tents, glamping options and tiny homes, and even a just-opened on-site lodge. Tryon International may just be the most amenity-rich site for a bluegrass festival we’ve ever encountered.

Still, it’s worth getting off-site when you can and exploring the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the many adorable, vibrant communities surrounding Mill Spring and Tryon International. We’ve attended ESMF for five years now and each time we uncover new (to us) hidden gems, restaurants, activities, shops, and highlights around every corner. In 2025, we decided to take our audience – and any potential ESMF attendees who may need extra convincing – along with us for a Camp Snap photo journey as we adventured down the mountains from Asheville, North Carolina, to the festival and beyond. We stopped in Saluda, Tryon, Shelby, and Boiling Springs, North Carolina, getting lunch, shopping for antiques, stopping in adorable boutiques, and visiting the homeplaces of two local legends: Nina Simone (in Tryon) and Earl Scruggs himself (in Boiling Springs). We also hopped just across the border to Landrum and Gaffney, South Carolina, for more markets, horses, and trains – and live music, too.

We’ve only just scratched the surface but if, like us, you’re looking forward to getting back to Earl Scruggs Music Festival this year, we’ve got the list of things to do and see outside of the festival grounds while you’re there. Make your plans to attend ESMF in 2026 here and scroll for more of our tips, tricks, and local favorites.

Saluda, North Carolina

If you’re headed across the Blue Ridge Mountains to ESMF from Asheville, the Asheville Airport, Johnson City, Bristol, TN/VA – or even as far as Knoxville, Nashville, Lexington, or Louisville – a stop in Saluda, North Carolina, is in order before taking on the grade down the mountains to Mill Spring. Here, the United States’ steepest standard gauge railway grade crests in an adorable little music-steeped and outdoor activity-obsessed community.

Stop by the Saluda Historic Depot & Museum and the Saluda Visitor’s Center next door – and snack on some delicious ice cream while you’re there.

Picturesque and adorable downtown Saluda on a bright late summer day.

Stop inside a classic, time capsule of a shop, the M.A. Pace Co. General Store, open and in operation since 1899. Refreshing drinks, sundries, souvenirs, local produce, and an array of jams, preserves, sauces, salsas, honey, syrups, and more from local vendors are on sale.

A mural depicting downtown Saluda and the iconic rail lines as seen on side of the building of K’s NY Pizza.

The Purple Onion is an excellent restaurant and cafe and an important community music venue at the heart of Saluda on Main Street. Bluegrass, folk, and Americana artists, bands, and songwriters perform on Thursday and Saturday nights – and select Sundays for their special Sunday Evenings Concert series. It’s intimate, the food is delicious, and the musicians they feature are incredibly talented whether local, regional, or nationally touring acts.

A view of the crest of the now out-of-service rail line topping the Saluda grade.

The railroad is clearly an important keystone of the Saluda community, even in the 2020s.

Perhaps stop in for a meal at Ward’s Grill for excellent, down-home Southern cooking and American classics. Wherever you end up in Saluda, there’s plenty to enjoy – and many fine food options for fueling up before heading down the mountains and toward Mill Spring for the festival.

Tryon, North Carolina

Maybe you’re coming down the grade from Saluda or perhaps you’re driving in from Charlotte, North Carolina, or from Greenville, South Carolina – or beyond! Wherever you’re coming from, Tryon is just a hop, skip, and a jump from the festival grounds at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring. Nestled into a holler in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, it’s a town full of art, music, culture, and heritage. You’ll find that horses and the railroad are important here, too. Stroll down the main drag and enjoy cute shops, tasty food offerings, and more.

Sometimes it gets hot during the late-August/early-September festival, especially at the lower elevation of the Tryon International grounds, so why not cool off Tryon proper in the cozy dark and air conditioning watching a film at the Tryon Theatre?

There are plenty of independent shops, boutiques, and retailers in the adorable downtown area offering local and far-flung products.

American musical icon Nina Simone was born in Tryon and her presence is felt throughout the little town. Nina Simone Plaza is conveniently located downtown and features a sculpture of Simone by Zenos Frudakis that contains a portion of Simone’s ashes enclosed inside a bronze heart within the gorgeous work of art.

Always a good sign! Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina is such a great resource and community builder in the region, highlighting art and music born in the mountains and made by mountain folk. In 2025, we partnered with Blue Ridge Music Trails, ESMF, and local partners on a special set of music at the festival called “Healing the Hollers,” which raised funds and awareness for the ongoing relief efforts after Hurricane Helene tore through and devastated the area in 2024.

There’s so much more to do, see, and explore via Blue Ridge Music Trails.

Horses show up in a variety of ways in Tryon – and not just at the equestrian center!

The Nina Simone Childhood Home stands on top of a hill in the middle of Tryon overlooking the village – and with gorgeous views of the surrounding ridge tops. Last year, while traveling to the festival, the humble home was in the final stages of its renovation and preservation by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and many other local, regional, and national partners.

Simone’s impact on American roots music and popular music – nationally and globally – cannot be overstated. Still, she’s rarely placed, understood, or honored as an Appalachian musician, despite where she grew up. A visit to Simone’s homeplace in Tryon is essential for all music fans, especially now that the renovations were completed in fall 2025, just after the festival.

The view of the ridge line of the stunning Blue Ridge Mountains behind St. Luke Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, as seen from the property of Nina Simone’s childhood home.

You can learn more about Tryon and Nina Simone in a bonus episode of our podcast, Carolina Calling, made with Come Hear NC.

Downtown Tryon is full of adorable sights and diverting activities.

Put “Molly & Tenbrooks” or “Goodbye Old Pal” on the speakers and get into the bluegrass and equestrian mindset. No judgment if your horse is on wheels!

Team BGS always brakes for antique stores, and this area is dripping with excellent shops, flea markets, and antique vendors offering wares at remarkably reasonable prices. On our journey, we traveled from Tryon to Landrum, South Carolina – passing the Antique Emporium & American Vintage, Old Mill Market Square, Tryon Antique Mall & Marketplace, and Dark Horse Antique Market in one fell swoop; all are within a quarter mile of each other and are worth stopping to peruse. Plus, many more antique shops and stands and vintage stores are in the area. Keep your eyes peeled, there are plenty of treasures to find.

Landrum, South Carolina

Some of the best little shops and stores we found nearby Earl Scruggs Music Festival, though, were the little holes-in-the-wall or mom-and-pop shops. Our favorite doesn’t have a name, doesn’t have posted hours, doesn’t have a website – or any kind of point on Google Maps at all. Heading out of Tryon toward Landrum, you’ll just cross over the state line on US Highway 176, Asheville Highway, when you come across a couple of small buildings covered in antiques. Stop at the intersection of US 176 and State Rd S-42-183.

Run by a pair of sisters, the shop is only open Thursday through the weekend and takes only cash, but you will find an inventory unlike any other. Sure, they may package your local North Carolina pottery finds in a (clean) reused Burger King bag. It only adds to the charm! The sisters will be happy to give you a tour and show you the historic property. We return every year and strolling through the crowded, historic house full of their collection of finds is a highlight of attending ESMF.

You may even find a bluegrass belt buckle along the way! While we can’t tell you the name of the business or really any more information than what’s included here, we cannot recommend a stop at 21919 Asheville Highway in Landrum enough. It is truly a hidden gem.

When you get to Landrum, you’ll notice we’ve rolled entirely out of the Appalachian foothills, topographically. Still, horses abound and there’s plenty to do, see, and enjoy. Stop first at the Landrum Depot, a rail and history museum, event venue, and community gathering place – including a refurbished Pullman sleeper car.

Beautiful and quaint downtown Landrum also includes many restaurants and stores ready for visitors.

Stop and peruse antiques and goodies at stores like The Yankee Peach (above) or Expressions Antiques (below), just across the street from each other.

We always enjoy stopping for a drink, lunch, or dinner at The Hare & the Hound in Landrum. They often feature live music and whether you’re sitting in the cozy indoors or outside on the shady street, the vibe is perfect. Need to park your horse trailer? They’ve got that covered in Landrum, too!

The Peachoid, Gaffney, South Carolina

Just around the corner from Landrum and mere minutes from Earl Scruggs’ childhood home near Boiling Springs, North Carolina, is Gaffney, South Carolina, home of the infamous Peachoid. There are lots of prime roadside attractions worth a visit in the area surrounding Earl Scruggs Music Festival, but the Peachoid may top the list.

If you’re heading to or from Scruggs’ homeplace or the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, North Carolina, as we were, stop by for a photo opp – and put Netflix’s House of Cards theme song on full blast.

Boiling Springs, North Carolina

Why not take a tour of historic homeplaces while attending ESMF? The musical dichotomy of Nina Simone and Earl Scruggs is perceived as incredibly distant or far-fetched, yet the two were born and raised barely 40 miles from each other. Why do we perceive one of these megaliths of American music as Appalachian, but not the other? (Meanwhile, Scruggs was raised decidedly outside of the mountains in southern Cleveland County, while Simone was raised nestled within them.)

Scruggs’ childhood home was recently purchased by the Earl Scruggs Center and during our visit last year at the time of the festival, preservation and renovation activities had just begun at the property.

Like Simone’s homeplace, the Scruggs property on Riverside Road in the Flint Hill community of Boiling Springs feels sacred, immediately grounding fans, visitors, and passersby while reminding of the humanity of these larger than life musical figures. Hit play on “Reuben” or “Shuckin’ the Corn” and revel in being in the exact place where Scruggs first unlocked three-finger style himself and started a century-long banjo craze that’s still going today, at ESMF and beyond.

Learn more about the Earl Scruggs Center’s plans for Earl’s childhood home here.

Shelby, North Carolina

Of course, no visit to Earl Scruggs Music Festival is complete without visiting the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, the county seat of Cleveland County, where Scruggs was born and raised. The Center is a host and presenter of ESMF and they offer special events and ticket discounts to ticketholders during the festival.

Over the winter, the Earl Scruggs Center closed for renovations, updates, and new and revitalized exhibits, so it’s worth another visit if you haven’t been in a while. An easy 30 mile drive from the festival grounds, during ESMF there’s plenty of special programming, music, and events worth the field trip. Plus, Shelby boasts great restaurants, breweries, shops, and – of course – antique stores, so there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

We particularly recommend Newgrass Brewing Co., where the beer is just as good as the name – and the food is excellent, too. Especially the homemade chicken tenders. It’s just around the corner from the Center. Don’t forget to step outside and take a turn into the alley, though, for a superlative mural photo opportunity of the man himself, two stories tall.

Just across the street from the Earl Scruggs Center on the square you’ll find the Antique Market of Shelby. Because we know, like us, you won’t be sick of antiques yet.

While Scruggs hailed from just down the road in Flint Hill, country star and singer-songwriter Don Gibson was born in Shelby proper. A hitmaker and stalwart of country from the late ’50s through the early ’80s, Gibson’s legacy is on display in Shelby in a variety of ways, chief among them the Don Gibson Theatre. Catch movies, live music, and special events throughout the year – including an incredible slate of bluegrass and country shows. The Don Gibson Theatre is also a stop on Blue Ridge Music Trails.

Learn more about Don Gibson and Shelby in our Carolina Calling episode about the city, featuring Gibson, Scruggs, and more.

A visit to Cleveland County wouldn’t be complete without a plate of livermush, so head over to the Shelby Cafe for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and a sampling of this local delicacy. Just like Earl would have enjoyed it? Certainly!

There’s so much to see, do, and enjoy at Earl Scruggs Music Festival and the surrounding territory, we know we barely scratched the surface. Hendersonville, Chimney Rock, Gastonia, and Rutherfordton are just up or down the road; so many nature preserves, parks, and trails are nearby; Spartanburg, South Carolina, is a stone’s throw away. While Tryon International is a lush, hospitable location for the festival, we encourage all attendees to get out and enjoy the places that birthed these musical forms we all hold so dear.

We’ll see you in Mill Spring, North Carolina, for Earl Scruggs Music Festival September 4-6, 2026! Tickets are available now. And we hope we run into you out adventuring and antiquing, too. Do you have a favorite local haunt in the area? Let us know on social media.

All photos by Justin Hiltner, shot on Camp Snap. Poster art courtesy of Earl Scruggs Music Festival.

This content brought to you in partnership with Earl Scruggs Music Festival.

ANNOUNCING: Bourbon & Beyond’s 2026 Lineup is Here

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Danny Wimmer Presents has announced the full lineup for the 2026 edition of Bourbon & Beyond, the world’s largest music and bourbon festival. Held September 24-27 at the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky, the hugely popular event – which attracted more than 200,000 attendees in 2025 and boasted more than $40 million in local economic impact that year alone – will include headline performances by Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Mumford & Sons, Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, the Red Clay Strays, Dave Matthews Band, and Hootie & the Blowfish. Passes are on sale now; view the full lineup poster below.

For our eighth consecutive year, BGS will return to Bourbon & Beyond to curate and present the Bluegrass Situation Stage inside the mouthwatering Kroger Big Bourbon Bar tent. Over four days, Thursday to Sunday, the BGS Stage will include performances by some of the most exciting and buzzworthy bands in bluegrass, Americana, jamgrass, and folk. Headlining acts on our stage will include mandolinist and GRAMMY nominee Sierra Hull, psychedelic jamgrassers Kitchen Dwellers, our current February Artist of the Month the Infamous Stringdusters, and the expansive sonic universe of Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country. Other performers on the BGS Stage include Wood Box Heroes, Magoo, Shelby Means, Rainbow Girls, Meels, Caleb & Reeb, and many more. See our full BGS Stage lineup below.

Though we tend to stay close to our own stage during Bourbon & Beyond – we’re partial, what can we say! – each year the DWP team does an excellent job of spreading roots music, country, bluegrass, and Americana across the event’s five stages. This year, we’re excited to catch performances by so many of the artists and musicians included on the lineup, from Charley Crockett, the Red Clay Strays, Mumford & Sons, and Kacey Musgraves to Langhorne Slim, Maoli, Paula Cole, Kaitlin Butts, Clover County, S.G. Goodman, the Devil Makes Three, Palmyra, Amos Lee, Max McNown, and many more. Plus, we’ll be sure to catch Kentuckian viral sensations the Creekers while on-site.

Music isn’t the only draw, of course, as bourbon, food, and fellowship are equally tempting alongside the superlative roster of bands and artists. Hundreds of bourbon labels from dozens of distilleries will be on sale or available for tastings as well as impeccable food by local chefs and celebrity culinary personalities. Catch cooking and beverage demonstrations at the Fork & Flask stage curated by Kroger or enjoy bourbon panels and workshops at the Bourbon Experience. Our team, partial to tiki vibes and tiki drinks, will be sure to stop by the Jim Beam Black Tiki Barrel Bar over the course of the weekend, as well.

BGS has been proud to partner with Bourbon & Beyond and Danny Wimmer Presents ever since the festival’s very first iteration more than eight years ago. We are so excited to return to Louisville to celebrate bluegrass, roots music, bourbon – and beyond! – with you all in 2026. Buy your passes now and check out our full BGS Stage lineup below. We’ll see you at the Big Bourbon Bar in September.

The 2026 Bourbon & Beyond Bluegrass Situation Stage Lineup

Thursday, September 24

Wood Box Heroes
Mason Via
Magoo
Sierra Hull

Friday, September 25

Fireside Collective
Rainbow Girls
Shelby Means
Kitchen Dwellers

Saturday, September 26

The Fretliners
Meels
The Infamous Stringdusters

Sunday, September 27

Vickie Vaughn Band
Caleb & Reeb
The Steel Wheels
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country

All artwork courtesy of Bourbon & Beyond and Danny Wimmer Presents.

John Dickson on Only Vans
with Bri Bagwell

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

John Dickson has been fostering the Texas music scene for over five decades and is the brains behind one of the best country music festivals in the United States. John joins me on Only Vans to talk about the 40th anniversary of MusicFest, which is held annually in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

 

PHOTOS: The 2025 Desert Bluegrass Festival in Marana, Arizona

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

The first Desert Bluegrass Festival was held in 2000. Its 2025 iteration took place over the weekend of March 7 to 9 just northwest of Tucson in a beautiful desert park in Marana, Arizona. Despite a windy and rainy Friday night, the festival artists played on Saturday and Sunday bathed in beautiful south Arizona sunshine. The festival is 100% volunteer-run and its mission is to bring “family-oriented, high quality bluegrass and acoustic music entertainment” to the community and to visitors.

Perhaps this was not a high-powered festival, but it stayed true to its ambitions by creating a friendly atmosphere and a comfortable way to hear and see some excellent performances. The sound system was first class, there was plenty of room to sit, stretch out, or to get as close to the stage as anyone could want. Festival organizers made sure there was enough shade for listeners to cope with the bright desert sun and the artists performed with the beautiful Rincon Mountains and a snow-capped Mt. Lemmon in the background. Several hundred people arrayed themselves around the stage. As is often the case at bluegrass festivals, artists were accessible and friendly. And there were plenty of well-behaved bluegrass dogs enjoying the music.

Saturday’s headline group was the Becky Buller Band. Band members had been slated to lead workshops during the lunch break, but due to the crapshoot that is airline travel they were unable to get to the venue in time. However, they did an engaging set to close out a beautiful evening. Fiddler and band leader Buller led her outstanding fellow musicians through a performance of the song cycle of her newest album, Jubilee, with its message of hope, survival, and healing. This, together with some bluegrass-ified versions of Simon & Garfunkel and Joni Mitchell, contributed a more contemporary feel.

JamPak Blues ‘N’ Grass Neighborhood Band kicked off Sunday morning’s program. Based in Chandler, Arizona, the venerable Mrs. Anni Beach leads this long-running community youth band. JamPak musicians start young and some have played long enough to do some very respectable picking. Musical values are strong, and JamPak has spun off several generations of performers, including another band featured on Saturday, Cisco & the Racecars.

This was never going to be a jamgrass festival (as one attendee grumbed), given that its headline act took the stage before sunset. But the 2025 Desert Bluegrass Festival achieved a good mix of contemporary and traditional music, with consistently high level performances. It was a good chance to catch some regional bands, listen to some good sounds, and enjoy the beautiful desert setting. – Peggy Baker, Mad Angel Photos

All photos by Peggy Baker, Mad Angel Photos.