The North Carolina Folk Festival is a free, three-day outdoor celebration of cultural roots and heritage held annually in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. The folk festival is a legacy event of the National Folk Festival which was hosted in Greensboro from 2015 – 2017.
Performers include hometown girl Rhiannon Giddens, co-founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and star of CMT’s “Nashville;” Amythyst Kiah, Cabin Creek Boys and Bobby Hicks, Mark Kuykendall and Asheville Bluegrass. Continue reading →
The eighth annual Apex Music Festival is set for Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018, in downtown Apex, North Carolina. Featured acts include The Gravy Boys, Lauren Nicole, Beth Wood, Shawn Mullins, and many more. Continue reading →
The Richmond Folk Festival, scheduled for Oct. 12-14, 2018, is one of Virginia’s largest events, drawing visitors from all over the country to downtown Richmond’s historic riverfront, according to organizers.
Much like the Greensboro Folk Festival, this festival is a FREE three-day event that got its start as the National Council for the Traditional Arts’ National Folk Festival, held in Richmond from 2005-2007. The Richmond Folk Festival features performing groups representing a diverse array of cultural traditions on seven stages.
In 2017, the festival attracted more than 220,000 people to downtown Richmond’s riverfront to celebrate the roots, richness and variety of American culture through music, dance traditional crafts, storytelling and food.
The Richmond Folk Festival has become one of Virginia’s largest and most-loved events of the year and has been voted as the best musical festival in Richmond several years running. The 2018 Festival will bring a new and similarly amazing list of performers — including bluegrass superstar Claire Lynch, Boone, North Carolina-based Jeff Little Trio and gospel queen Mavis Staples — as well as other artists and exhibitors.
Be Loud! ’18 is set for the weekend of Aug. 24-25 Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, with all proceeds benefiting the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation.
This is our fifth Anniversary show (can you believe it?!) and we’re pleased to announce that Matthew Sweet is headlining Friday night with a reunited The Right Profile and Surrender Human opening. Saturday night is anchored by the one and only Sex Police with Collapsis and the Pre-Raphaelites supporting.
Sam Bush loves North Carolina. And gauging from the roar of the appreciative crowd of some 200 souls gathered at the Cat’s Cradle live music venue in downtown Carrboro on Saturday night, North Carolina loves Sam Bush and company, and in this particular instance, the Sam Bush Band.
“It don’t get no better than to play in North Carolina,” Bush said from the stage.
His fans agree. “As always, Sam and band were amazing,” commented Rick Henderson of Raleigh. “No two shows are the same, but they’re all terrific.”Continue reading →
The Lockn’ Festival is celebrating its sixth year Aug. 23-26, 2018, in central Virginia featuring four days of continuous music, food, craft beer and more under the stars.
This year’s event includes collaborations including bringing Branford Marsalis back together with Dead & Co. As if that wasn’t enough, legendary Led Zeppelin Drummer Jason Bonham will be sitting in with Umphrey’s McGee. According to the website, collaborations are a LOCKN’ tradition, and fans expect to see a lot of spontaneous joining.
Hosted by one of MerleFest’s fan favorites, Donna the Buffalo, Shakori has a similar vibe and similar artists to the aforementioned festivals. But if you live in or near the Triangle, it’s just a short drive to Shakori’s home in bucolic Chatham County.
And for music festival lovers, it offers not one but two chances to camp out and catch some great live music each year — one in the spring and one in the fall.
I had the pleasure of meeting up and hanging out with some of my fellow die-hard festivarians (yes, it’s a word) at the spring 2017 festival featuring some amazing sets by Rising Appalachia, Violet Bell, Dangermuffin, The Mastersons and Steve Earle and the Dukes, just to name a few.
But if you don’t want to take my word for it, Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine named it among its Bests of the Fests of 2018.
And for $90, you can take advantage of the 2018 fall festival, Oct. 4-7, and its 50-plus acts including headliners Lettuce and, of course, Donna the Buffalo, as well as Ryan Mountbleau, Urban Soil and Shiloh Hill, among others.
But don’t wait. Tickets go up after Friday, Aug. 17, and before the rest of the acts are announced on Monday, Aug. 20.
In the meantime, catch some of the acts who presumably will be at Shakori this fall on “The Road to Shakori” tour.
The Brooklyn-based Americana/alt-country band will hit the Pine Grove Stage at 9 p.m.
Fans are invited to camp, eat, drink and dance. Deschutes Brewery beer will be on tap, plus wine and food from Hylton’s Wood Fired Grill. Tickets are $15 advance and $20 at the gate, and camping is just $10 per vehicle.
Outside coolers, lawn chairs, blankets etc are OK, but outside alcohol is not permitted.
Yarn’s sound owes as much to Gram Parsons and Earl Scruggs as to Jerry Garcia and Exile On Main Street-era Rolling Stones. Much like its name, the band Yarn weaves country, rock, blues and more into a genre-defying blend that has captured the attention of fans and critics alike. Following in a fine tradition that includes forward thinking roots bands like The Flying Burrito Brothers and New Riders of The Purple Sage. Yarn weaves roots music idioms into a fresh sound that turns on hipsters and fans of country music alike, with technically impressive song-crafting and universal tales from the road of life.
From the good folks over at the 
musicreporterblog 