RALEIGH — One of Grammy award-winning Dobro player Jerry Douglas’ earliest memories is hearing Earl Scruggs play banjo on the radio in his childhood Cleveland home.
“I doubt I would be a musician now if it hadn’t been for that sound,” Douglas told a group gathered at the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) annual conference and music festival in the Raleigh Convention Center on Friday, Sept. 27, for the announcement of the inaugural Earl Scruggs Music Festival set for Sept. 4-5, 2020, at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, North Carolina.
Douglas continued, “Little did I know that later in life he would be my friend.A s far as I’m concerned this festival named in his honor is far overdue. But I also believe that’s the way Earl would want it to be. We can only hope that we can make him proud in how we perceive his legacy to the world.”
Douglas, who started his group the Earls of Leicester as a tribute to Scruggs, will act as musician in resident for the festival.
Scruggs, who has deep ties to North Carolina, popularized a three-finger banjo picking style that became a defining characteristic of bluegrass music.
The two-day event that will feature music from bluegrass, folk, blues, roots and Americana styles to celebrate Scruggs is a collaboration between the Earl Scruggs Center located in Shelby and WNCW radio station located on the campus of Isothermal Community College. The festival will benefit both the radio station and the college.
In addition to Douglas, the initial lineup includes Marty Stuart, Alison Brown, Dom Flemons, Radney Foster, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, The Barefoot Movement and Unspoken Tradition. Both Foster and Unspoken Tradition performed as part of the announcement that was made by festival director Steve Johnson, formerly of MerleFest.
Few other artists in American history have had such an impact as Scruggs, according to a festival press release. His work in 1946/47 with Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys and later with Flatt and Scruggs helped create an entire genre of music. His banjo playing was so fresh and different for the time that it was christened the “Scruggs style” of banjo and is still the most prominent banjo performance style in the world.
“Earl was my uncle, so I knew him a long time,” says JT Scruggs, a board member of the Earl Scruggs Center. “The first Earl Scruggs Music Festival presents an opportunity to bring exposure and new visitors to the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, North Carolina. The proceeds from the festival will also help to keep the center in good financial shape. The festival will bring great music and many different groups to the region. And I hope that people will hear things about Earl that they may have never heard before as all the artists share their personal stories. I know that Earl would be proud of what we are doing and that we are remembering him through the festival.”
Noah Wall of The Barefoot Movement grew up in North Carolina.
“I feel so lucky to have that in common with legends like Earl Scruggs,” he said. “He was such a trailblazer, not just a pioneer of bluegrass, but he also pushed the boundaries of traditional music. I don’t think he set out to be different for the sake of standing out, I think he did it for sake of the music itself. He just sought after good music, music that moved him, and that is so inspiring to me.”
In October, two new acts — Acoustic Syndicate and Blue Highway– were announced. More artists, both national and North Carolina-based, will be added over the coming months. The festival will feature more than 20 artists and three stages in a beautiful setting at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, according to organizers. Camping, lodging, restaurants and other amenities will be available onsite.
WILKESBORO, NORTH CAROLINA — MerleFest, presented by Window World, will begin accepting entries for the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest (CASC) on Wednesday, Oct. 1, according to a press release.
CASC is one of the most acclaimed songwriting contests in roots and Americana music and has a reputation for launching careers as well as drawing attention to important new talent. The contest is split into four genre-based categories including bluegrass, general, gospel, and country. First through third place winners will be chosen in each category at MerleFest 2020, set to take place on April 23 – 26, 2020.
MerleFest is an annual homecoming of musicians and music fans on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro. First-tier tickets for MerleFest 2020 will go on sale on Nov. 12, with Tier 2 pricing beginning Feb. 17, 2020, and Tier 3 pricing beginning April 23, 2020.
The Kruger Brothers own homegrown music festival, Carolina in the Fall Music & Food Festival, has been on the rise ever since it received IBMA’s Momentum Award and this year is no exception.
In addition to the Kruger Brothers, festival goers will have the chance to hear Balsam Range; Chatham County Line; The Black Lillies; EmiSunshine; Hawktail; Trout Steak Revival; Scott Mulvahill; Cicada Rhythm; The Contenders; The Honey Dewdrops; Baucom & Jones; Williamson Branch; Hank, Pattie & The Current; Zoe & Cloyd; Red Wine; Newberry & Verch; Presley Barker; Lateral Blue; Nikki Talley; Thurler-Mosimann Project; Carly Bannister, S. Grant Parker and Jac Thompson; The Burnett Sisters; Cane Mill Road; Back Porch Bluegrass Band; Shay Martin Lovette; Alex Key & The Locksmiths; and Bob and Roberta Kogut.
The final lineup for Scythian’s Appaloosa Roots Music Festival 2019 is here and includes headliners Steep Canyon Rangers, the Dustbowl Revival, Yarn, Humming House, Fireside Collective and many more.
“We’re thrilled to release our full slate of amazing artists for our big fifth anniversary, with 33 bands over three days,” the band wrote in an email.
VIP Packages and Family Packages are available. And this year, the festival has added a full day of music on Friday.
Featuring an eclectic collection of more than 120 acts, Hopscotch Music Festival will return for its 10th year on Sept. 5-7, 2019 to downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.
Hopscotch has been described as “America’s (secret) best festival” and “the premiere experimental and underground festival in America.”
Wristbands go on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 23, at bit.ly/Hopscotch10
After they were announced at MerleFest 2019, the Chris Austin Songwriting Competition winners performed at MerleFest 2019 on the Cabin Stage to an audience eager to hear these up-and-coming songwriters before they’ve hit the big time.
Now in its 27th year, the contest is an extraordinary opportunity for aspiring writers to have their original songs heard and judged by a panel of music industry professionals (Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale, better known as The Milk Carton Kids, Cruz Contreras of The Black Lillies, and Texas-troubadour Radney Foster), under the direction of volunteer contest chairperson, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale.
From its first incarnation in 1993, MerleFest’s annual Chris Austin Songwriting Competition has seen the likes of Gillian Welch, Tift Merritt, and Martha Scanlan rise to the top of an always competitive field of up-and-coming songwriters. Legendary songwriters have presided over the competition from the start as judges, too. Darrell Scott, Hayes Carll, and the late, great Guy Clark have all taken a turn at judging the CASC. This year, the event will be judged by Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale, better known as The Milk Carton Kids, Cruz Contreras of The Black Lillies, and Texas-troubadour Radney Foster. Mr. Americana Jim Lauderdale will host the competition and Mark Bumgarner will return as emcee for the finalist contest taking place at MerleFest’s Austin Stage at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 26.
The following piece was originally published in the April 2019 issue of Raleigh Magazine:
For the uninitiated, MerleFest wasn’t named for Merle Haggard, although the country legend has performed at the top-rated Americana roots festival over the years. MerleFest, now synonymous with its mix of traditional, roots-oriented music from the Appalachian region, was named for another musician, Eddy Merle Watson, son of the late, great guitarist, singer and songwriter Doc Watson.
A 2.5-hour drive from Raleigh, MerleFest’s 2019 headliners—The Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile, Wynonna & the Big Noise, Dailey & Vincent, Tyler Childers, Keb’ Mo’, Sam Bush, The Earls of Leicester, Peter Rowan, Amos Lee, The Milk Carton Kids, Steep Canyon Rangers, Scythian and The Del McCoury Band—will no doubt draw music fans to the campus of Wilkes Community College in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
One of the best things about attending MerleFest, whether you’re there for the first time or the 15th, is all of the “new” acts just waiting to be discovered as you wander among the festival’s 13 stages. In between the headliners’ sets on the main Watson Stage are myriad opportunities to check out lesser-known acts among the 80-plus artists set to perform.
Here are six reasons why you should make the short trip to the annual musical homecoming event, which marks the unofficial kickoff to the region’s outdoor music festival season.
The fifth annual MerleFest Band Competition will take place from 11 a.m to 3:30 p.m. on the Plaza Stage on Saturday, April 27.
This year’s band competition finalists include Shay Martin Lovette (Boone, NC), Pretty Little Goat (Brevard, NC), None of the Above (Piedmont Triad, NC), Brooks Forsyth (Boone, NC), Alex Key and the Locksmiths (Wilkesboro, NC), Massive Grass (Wilmington, NC), Redleg Husky (Asheville, NC), and The Mike Mitchell Band (Floyd, Virginia).
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