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Category Archives: Fundraiser


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Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, I’m With Her, Balsam Range, Molly Tuttle, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Del McCoury among headliners at Wide Open Bluegrass 2019

From the good folks over at the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA):

NASHVILLE — ​Organizers ​of this year’s ​PNC presents Wide Open Bluegrass on ​Sept. 27-28 i​n downtown ​Raleigh, North Carolina, ​have announced the full list of performers, and performance schedules, for the annual festival.

The free Wide Open Bluegrass festival – part of the I​nternational Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA)’s ​five-day ​World of Bluegrass ​event,​​ sponsored by ​Chiesi USA​ – brings bluegrass into the community, and introduces the music to thousands of new fans every year, with more than 100 performers on seven stages along Fayetteville Street.

Performers include a broad mix of local, national, and international talent. Stages include the Youth Music Stage – situated on the outdoor plaza at the Convention Center – and the Dance Tent, which features clogging performances, participatory square dances, and late-night open dancing Friday and Saturday nights.

In addition to the seven stages of Wide Open Bluegrass, performances at Raleigh’s Red Hat Amphitheater will be open to the public for free, as well, subject to venue capacity. A limited number of reserved seats in prime sections of the venue are still available for purchase, to ensure admittance for every performance. More details about the festival can be found online at worldofbluegrass.org/wide-open-bluegrass, or on the festival app, available for free download via your app store.

PNC returns, for the seventh year, as the presenting sponsor for the two-day Wide Open Bluegrass festival: “PNC’s support of Wide Open Bluegrass allows festival goers free access to all stages and makes this festival even more special,” said Jim Hansen, PNC regional president of Eastern Carolinas. “As the presenting sponsor for the seven years that Raleigh has hosted Wide Open Bluegrass, we are pleased that this event has become a flagship music festival and adds to our vibrant cultural scene. We at PNC look forward to celebrating a great weekend of bluegrass in downtown Raleigh.” Continue reading →


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Appaloosa Roots Music Festival announces final lineup for fifth anniversary

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.

Book tickets and accommodations at appaloosafestival.com.


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Shay Martin Lovette of Boone, N.C., wins MerleFest 2019 band competition

Past winners include Ashley Heath and Her Heathens, Fireside Collective

Boone, North Carolina-based musician Shay Martin Lovette found himself in good company late Saturday afternoon during MerleFest.

A perennially favorite of those interested in seeking out new music, the MerleFest Band Competition pits up-and-coming artists against each other in a competition that plays out live on The Plaza Stage near Lowe’s Hall on the Wilkes Community College campus.

This year’s band competition finalists included Lovette, 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).  

Once the last note of a fiddle string drifted away, the guitars were stored in their cases and the judges had cast their ballots, it was announced that Lovette had won the competition and the opportunity to play on the festival’s coveted Cabin Stage in a prime-time performance slot in front of more than 10,000 Merlefest fans, following blues great Keb’ Mo’ and preceding bluegrass legend Sam Bush.

Lovette and his band performed “Heat Lightning,” “Wherever You Roam,” and “Parkway Bound” in the competition. When they hit the Cabin Stage, they added two new songs, “First Day Here” and “Promenade.”

Learn more about Lovette at www.shaymartinlovette.com.

Lovette joined the ranks of other talented band contest winners who include Ashley Heath and Her Heathens (2018), The Trailblazers (2017) and Fireside Collective (2016).  

For the uninitiated MerleFest is a celebration of Americana, bluegrass, folk, roots, blues, country, gospel and more music that the late, great Deep Gap musician Doc Watson would qualify as “traditional plus” music. During the four-day festival, MerleFest also offers a songwriting competition — Chris Austin Songwriting Contest — for up-and-coming songwriters to have their music heard by Nashville songwriters.


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Steep Canyon Rangers shine at MerleFest 2019 with ‘North Carolina Songbook’ debut

MerleFest 2019 attendees received a special treat on Sunday afternoon when the Steep Canyon Rangers hit the stage.

Perennial MerleFest favorites, the band, whose members mostly hail from Brevard, North Carolina, has been affectionately dubbed “Steep” by their fans. And those fans were not disappointed by the band’s special set, titled “North Carolina Songbook,” a tribute to this state’s vast musical heritage.

When Gov. Roy Cooper introduced the band he noted that the state is recognizing 2019 as the “Year of Music.” In a nod to Cooper’s initiative, the band performed one-off set of covers by North Carolina artists, which included, appropriately, Deep Gap native and MerleFest founder the late, great Doc Watson’s “Your Long Journey,” a beloved tune written by his wife, the late Rosa Lee Watson, as well as a haunting rendition of Chapel Hill native James Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James.”

The band said in a release, “The influence of North Carolinians can be heard in almost every genre of popular music from Earl Scruggs to John Coltrane. Many of them worked in textile mills by day and played music with friends and family on the weekends. Some were virtuosos who packed up their influences and took the world by storm. All were, like us, a product of the music and people they grew up with in Carrboro, Jacksonville, Eden, Tryon… every corner East to West.”

Doc Watson soaked up and shared more of this state’s music and played fiddle tunes, blues, jazz, country, rock ‘n roll, and everything in between. This has been Doc’s lasting legacy for the Steep Canyon Rangers, and the band said they were excited to share the North Carolina Songbook for the very first time on Sunday afternoon at MerleFest.

MerleFest, in a release, said it is pleased to partner with Come Hear NC, a promotional campaign of the North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources and the North Carolina Arts Council, to celebrate 2019 as “The Year of Music,” a designation Cooper announced in November of 2018. MerleFest, honoring its locale, has programmed over 35 artists who currently call North Carolina home, each artist representing a different aspect of the state’s great musical history. Come Hear NC was designed to celebrate North Carolinians’ groundbreaking contributions to many of America’s most important musical genres — blues, bluegrass, jazz, gospel, funk, rock and everything in-between.


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MerleFest 2019 Chris Austin Songwriting Competition winners announced

From the good folks at MerleFest:
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.

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Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance Spring 2019 lineup features Lukas Nelson and Promise of The Real, Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba

From the good folks over at Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival:

Our line-up is always carefully crafted to showcase national, regional, and local acts that span multiple genres. This spring Lukas Nelson and Promise of The Real will headline with their rocking Americana and country roots in what promises to be electrifying performance. We welcome back the West African and funk sounds of Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba and our bluegrass buddies Driftwood. Local rock favorites Arson Daily almost burned down the Grove Stage last year with their high energy set so you know we had to get them back.

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MerleFest announces finalists for 2019 Chris Austin Songwriting Competition

From the good folks over at MerleFest:
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.

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Raleigh Magazine: MerleFest Grass Roots

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.

Read more here.

 


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MerleFest announces 2019 band competition finalists

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).
Past winners include Ashley Heath and Her Heathens from Asheville (2018), The Trailblazers (2017) and Fireside Collective (2016).

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MerleFest 2019 announces lineup for Late Night Jam hosted by Chatham County Line

This just in from the good folks over at MerleFest:
MerleFest, presented by Window World, is proud to announce the 2019 lineup for their beloved Late Night Jam.  Sponsored by The Bluegrass Situation and hosted by Raleigh’s own Chatham County Line, this year’s Late Night Jam will feature Molly Tuttle, Jim Lauderdale, The Brother Brothers, Donna the Buffalo, Presley Barker, Ana Egge, Steve Poltz, and more.

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