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Musings on folk, Americana, country, bluegrass and newgrass


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Consider this before cancelling: MerleFest has more than $12 million regional economic impact

WILKESBORO, NORTH CAROLINA —  MerleFest organizers are agonizing over whether to cancel the music festival that attracts some 80,000 Americana fans honoring the legacies of the late, great Doc and Merle Watson. The deliberations are in direct response to Gov. Roy Cooper’s Thursday announcement about limiting crowds to fewer than 100 to stop the spread of coronavirus.

MerleFest officials wrote on the website Thursday: “We will be issuing an official statement concerning MerleFest 2020 by the close of business on Friday, March 13. Thank you for your patience and support.”

In the meantime, let’s take a look at the economic impact this music festival, which for the past 30 years has acted as the unofficial kick off to the music festival season, has on the region, keeping in mind this does not include music and merchandise sales for the artists, etc.

In 2019, MerleFest reported the following economic impact on the Wilkes Community College; Wilkesboro; and surrounding Wilkes County.

For the uninitiated, WCC closes down its campus during the last full week of April to become home to MerleFest.

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MerleFest to host its 20th year of Acoustic Kids Showcases in 2020

From the good folks over at MerleFest:

WILKESBORO, NORTH CAROLINA — Over the past two decades, hundreds of young musicians have taken part in the Acoustic Kids programming at MerleFest presented by Window World. This year—the showcase’s 20th anniversary—young musicians from the MerleFest audience will once again step on stage and perform in Andy May’s Acoustic Kids Showcases. Some participants are just learning to play their instrument, some play just for the fun of it, and some go on to international renown. Put on by long-time music educator and accomplished multi-instrumentalist, Andy May, Acoustic Kids is open to any musicians ages 16 or younger who register online before March 15.


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Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes to kick off NCMA 2020 Concert Series

From the good folks at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) :

RALEIGH — Summer concerts and movies have been a North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) tradition for two decades, and we’re excited to launch another season of great music and entertainment. Our venue—the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr., Theater in the Museum Park—is situated in the heart of the Museum campus amid gardens, meadows, woodlands, and sculpture.

Presented with Cat’s Cradle, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes will perform at 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 26. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Nü Mangos will open the show. Continue reading →


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MerleFest, IBMA favorites Scythian return to Lincoln Theatre on Feb. 27

Raleigh, put on your dancing shoes because the boys of Scythian are coming back to town on Thursday, Feb. 27.
They have rocked the dance tent at the annual International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) for years, kept First Night Raleigh attendees warm and festival goers on their feet as perennial favorites at MerleFest and Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, among many others.
Named after Ukrainian nomads, Scythian (pronounced sith-ee-yin) plays immigrant rock with thunderous energy, blending Irish-Gypsy-American string-rock, clever storytelling, catchy songwriting and humor, beckoning crowds into a barn-dance rock concert experience.
These Celtic rockers will bring their all-ages, high-energy show back to Raleigh’s Lincoln Theatre, 126 E. Cabarrus St. Tickets can be purchased at this link. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
Chapel Hill singer-songerwriter Jonathan Byrd will take the stage before Scythian. Byrd has been called “a folk singer with the heart of a rock ‘n’ roll band.” Byrd is a preacher’s son, a Gulf War veteran and an award-winning songwriter from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, known for literary, outsider songs that have become campfire favorites. The Chicago Tribune called Byrd “one of the top 50 songwriters of the past 50 years.”

Scythian features tunes with gypsy, Celtic, bluegrass and Americana influences just in time to provide an appropriate warm up for St. Patrick’s Day. The band’s entertaining stage presence, band camaraderie and audience interaction captivates from the first note. Powerful vocals, fiddle, guitar, accordion, upright bass, drums are just a taste of the myriad instruments the quartet brings to its raucous stage causing iHeart Radio to state, “Scythian has reinvented folk rock in America.” And The Washington Post has called Scythian, “Washington D.C.’s most energetic and eclectic band.”


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Eighth annual Red Wing Roots Music Festival announces full lineup


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Sam Bush, Charley Crockett, Amythyst Kiah and Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters Cold Mountain Music Festival 2020 lineup

From the good folks at the Cold Mountain Music Festival:

Cold Mountain Music Festival is proud to announce the lineup for its fourth annual event happening June 5-6, 2020 at the picturesque Lake Logan Conference Center in Canton, North Carolina. Grammy-winning newgrass pioneer Sam Bush Band will headline the weekend-long retreat, with additional appearances by fast-rising alt-country sensation Charley Crockett, West Coast folk-rock outfit Blitzen Trapper, critically acclaimed troubadour Amythyst Kiah, plus regional powerhouses Futurebirds, Sierra Ferrell, and more. Continue reading →


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Will Overman releases romantic single just in time for Valentine’s Day

A little more than a year ago, Will Overman was living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The singer-songwriter wrote on Facebook that he was jobless, raising a puppy and cut off from his support system in his adopted hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, where he had recently graduated from the University of Virginia. He was also confused.

Fast forward 12 months and Overman finds himself in a completely different place, literally and figuratively.

He is married to his dream woman, his puppy is now a dog, and he has a day job that not only supports him and his little family but also his music career. He and his wife, Janey, just bought their first house just outside Charlottesville.

“I am back in Virginia surrounded by a community I love and am pursuing music harder and with more joy than ever before,” he wrote on Facebook on December 31, 2019. “2019 was a year of growth and realization. I am sure 2020 will have its struggles, but I say bring it on. A new album, bigger tours, greater goals, and a whole decade of promise lie ahead thanks to your support. So here’s to you and Happy New Year!”

As promised, today Overman released his first new single of 2020, “Something To Hold,” which, appropriately, as it is Valentine’s Day, is a love letter to his wife.

“I wrote this song for and about my favorite person and partner, Janey Gioiosa,” he wrote today on Facebook. “Without her this song would have no words, no cover artwork, and honestly my catalog of songs would be about a quarter of the size it is now.”

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MerleFest announces final lineup additions for 2020 festival 

This just in from the good folks over at MerleFest:

MerleFest, presented by Window World, is proud to announce the next round of artist additions for MerleFest 2020, which will be held April 23-26. Greensky Bluegrass, Mavis Staples, Paul Thorn, Cane Mill Road, Sweet Potato Pie, The Barefoot Movement, Nefesh Mountain, and Smitty and the Jumpstarters will be joining the annual homecoming of musicians and music fans on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Greensky Bluegrass: “There’s this great duality to our band,” reflects Greensky Bluegrass mandolinist vocalist and songwriter Paul Hoffman. “We’re existing in a few different places at once. We’re a bluegrass band and a rock band. We’re song-driven and interested in extended improvisation.” Formed in 2000 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Greensky Bluegrass kicked off their career playing living rooms and open mic nights across the Midwest. By 2005, they were touring nationally, and by 2006, they were playing the first in a long series of appearances at the annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Bandmates Hoffman, Bruzza, dobro player Anders Beck, banjoist Michael Arlen Bont, and upright bassist Mike Devol spent most of the following decade on the road, fine-tuning a live show modeled not after the toned-down production of traditional bluegrass music, but the full-on spectacle of rock. Greensky Bluegrass will perform Friday night on the Watson Stage. Continue reading →


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Yarn, Josh Shilling and Lizzy Ross to headline annual Arts at the Rives opening party on Jan. 25

Despite the total and tragic loss of the historic Rives Theatre in a fire in February 2019, the show must go on and the Arts at the Rives opening party concert promises to be as entertaining as ever!

This show will take place at Forest Park Country Club in Martinsville, Virginia. For $125 per ticket, you will receive entry to this show, which includes open bar (beer, wine, liquor) and catered dinner, as well as a Season Pass to the 2020 Rives On The Road concert series. The concert series will feature at least 4 more shows over the course of 2020. The revenue generated by Season Pass sales helps us offer world-class programming throughout the 2020 year. There is no better way you can support live music in MHC than attending this show!

Party-only tickets are available now for $75. These tickets include the concert, open bar and catered dinner at the show.

Dinner menu: Salad, lasagna (meat and veggie options), grilled chicken breast, red potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, two deserts.

Roots rockers Yarn will join forces with piano ace Josh Shilling and vocalist extraordinaire Lizzy Ross (Violet Bell), as well as a full horn section, to recreate the music of Van Morrison. This same set was a huge hit at the 11th annual Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival in May 2019.