General admission is free and taster tickets to get beer samples in the VIP tent are available at www.theshindig.net.
Hope to see you out there!

General admission is free and taster tickets to get beer samples in the VIP tent are available at www.theshindig.net.
Hope to see you out there!

The Shindig, “Music For Your Beers,” returns Nov. 3, 2018, to Clayton, North Carolina. This event always features a great musical lineup and this year is no exception.
More than 25 craft beers will be available along with nine bands, including Scythian, Yarn, Jon Stickley Trio, Fireside Collective, Dangermuffin, and Forlorn Strangers, on two stages.
General admission is free and taster tickets to get beer samples in the VIP tent are available at www.theshindig.net.
I have no idea how the North Carolina Brewers and Music Festival, which combines two of my favorite things, hasn’t hit my radar until now. Maybe it’s because it’s located at 4431 Neck Road in Huntersville, just north of Charlotte. Or maybe it’s because the organizers just never thought to reach out to me since it began in 2011, from what I can gather from the website.
It’s certainly not because of the music, or the featured breweries.
The Shindig festival advertises itself as “music for your beers.” The event, set for Saturday, Nov. 4, in downtown Clayton, North Carolina, certainly has something for music lovers — nine bands on two stages — and for beer lovers with more than 13 beers on tap from local craft breweries.
Musical acts include The Black Lillies, Yarn, Dangermuffin, Acoustic Syndicate, Forlorn Strangers and many more for free!
A limited number of VIP Tickets are available at theshindig.net
I had the pleasure of catching the Forlorn Strangers, a foot-stomping, Nashville-based string quintet, at the Lincoln Theatre in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, a few weeks ago when they opened for Celtic rockers Scythian at an International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Wide Open Bluegrass preview show for its upcoming festival Sept. 29-30.
It also turned out to be a preview show for Scythian’s Appaloosa Roots Music Festival set for Sept. 1-3 in Front Royal, Virginia, at which both Scythian and Forlorn Strangers are set to perform. And Front Porch Fest fans will be happy to know they can catch Forlorn Strangers at the festival on Sept. 3 in Stuart, Virginia.
If you can hardly wait for Sept. 26-30 and the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) World of Bluegrass Festival and PNC’s Wide Open Bluegrass, the weekend festival on Sept. 29-30 in downtown Raleigh that takes place during the IBMA event, you’re in luck.
You can catch two of the Wide Open Bluegrass acts — MerleFest favorite Celtic roots rockers Scythian and Nashville’s Forlorn Strangers — at a “Save the Date” party beginning at 9 p.m. on Saturday, July 15, at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh. This all-ages show will also serve as a CD Release Party for Scythian’s newest album, “Dance All Night.”
Once again, Spirithaven Farm in Stuart, Virginia, will be filled with sweet sounds of music Labor Day weekend. The ninth Front Porch Fest will take place Aug. 31 – Sept. 3, 2017. This family-friendly weekend celebrates music and art on the front porch to the Blue Ridge mountains, thus the name.
Carolina Roots MusicFest is a two-day celebration of diverse music styles performed by outstanding national, regional and local performers including The Black Lillies, The Waydown Wanderers, Forlorn Strangers, The Ragbirds, Time Sawyer, Josh Daniel / Mark Schimick Project, Amigos, Cordovas, The Broad Pickups and Coddle Creek.