One of the constants at MerleFest is that it will rain. Sometimes it’s just a few drops and sometimes it’s a downpour, but as someone who has attended this premiere outdoor (mostly) festival that celebrates all types of music faithfully for more than two decades, I can promise you that something will fall from the sky and this year was no different.
Photo by Pixels on Paper Photography
Another constant at MerleFest is Jim Lauderdale, who made his 29th appearance this year. You can always find Lauderdale, a native North Carolinian, performing on one stage or another as well as jumping in to jam with The Waybacks during the popular Album Hour or just walking around the Wilkes Community College campus on his way to or from another set chatting with other musicians or fans.
This year Lauderdale released his 39th album — yes, you read that right 39th — called “The Birds Know” with The Po’Ramblin’ Boys at MerleFest on April 24. Lauderdale kicked off Friday’s festivities on the Creekside Stage with tunes from his new bluegrass album as well as his 38th album, Country Super Hits Volume 2, which he released in March.
It’s not the first time the Americana legend has teamed up with IBMA Award-winning torchbearers The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. “The Birds Know” is a follow-up to 2023’s “The Long and Lonesome Letting Go” which also featured The Po’Ramblin’ Boys.
The countdown is officially underway as MerleFest, presented by Window World, makes final preparations for its 38th annual festival taking place April 23-26, 2026, on the campus of Wilkes Community College. This year’s event marks highly anticipated performances by 27-time GRAMMY winner Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Old Crow Medicine Show, Charles Wesley Godwin, and Blackberry Smoke, plus a very special edition of the beloved Late Night Jam with Grand Ole Opry, hosted by Old Crow Medicine Show.
Tickets for the MerleFest Late Night Jam with Grand Ole Opry are available now at the box officeand online until sold out. With Old Crow Medicine Show as the house band, the Late Night Jam is sure to turn into a full-fledged jubilee –– an Opry-inspired showcase built on collaboration,spontaneity, and deep musical roots. With a rotating cast of guests including Charlie Starr, Willie Watson, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Maggie Rose, and more, the night promises the kind of once-in- a-lifetime moments that define MerleFest.
Festival goers can also catch Old Crow Medicine Show across multiple special performances throughout the weekend, including a full-album set of O.C.M.S. and Big Iron World featuring special guest Willie Watson on the Watson Stage (Friday, 9:00-11:00 p.m.), as well as a special acoustic Hillside set (Saturday, 1:30-2:15 p.m.). The fan-favorite Album Hour returns to the Hillside Stage on Saturday (3:15-4:45 p.m.), hosted by The Waybacks.
Additional programming highlights include the Docabilly Blues Blowout at the Walker Center (Friday, 3:15-4:00 p.m.), featuring appearances by Amelia Day, Jim Lauderdale, Uwe Kruger, and more. Download the official MerleFest mobile app to start planning your weekend and ensure you never miss a beat. The WCC Foundation is thrilled to continue the Silent Auction this year, featuring the convenience of online bidding and the chance to view items in person throughout the festival.You can browse and place bids before and during the festival — all without missing a beat of the music. This year’s auction will showcase an even greater variety of distinctive, high-quality items, and the 50/50 Raffle is back for another exciting year! Proceeds support the SAGE (Supporting Academic Goals for Education) First Year Experience program, empowering students to start strong and achieve their goals. For more information or to bid now visit merlefest.org/silent-auction.
MerleFest 2026tickets are available now. For general admission passes, Late Night Jam tickets, and more, please visit merlefest.org/purchase. Save by purchasing advance tickets before April 22.
Listen up: The 22nd rendition of the Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance held in the bucolic, rolling hills of Chatham County, North Carolina, just a short drive from Raleigh or Greensboro, is set for May 7-10, 2026.
Headliners for this year’s event, hosted by festival founders Donna the Buffalo, include returning acts Rising Appalachia, Chatham Rabbits and Jim Lauderdale, among many others.
Holiday Ticket Special through January 19 4-Day Admission = $139* 4-Day Youth (13-15) Admission = $72* *PLUS APPLICABLE FEES
The lineup includes IBMA favorites Balsam Range, Jim Lauderdale, The Tray Wellington Band, Unspoken Tradition, Hank Pattie and the Current, Stillhouse Junkies and other bluegrass greats. It also features rising stars in the Americana world like Sunny War, Shinyribs, Palmyra, Town Mountain and the Susto String Band, plus gospel bands from the Black Church traditions of Eastern North Carolina.
The Rialto Theater in Raleigh’s Five Points neighborhood is having a BOGO sale over Labor Day Weekend that starts at 10 a.m. on Aug. 30 and ends at midnight on Sept. 2 for tickets to upcoming concerts including Joan Osborne, Cowboy Mouth, Jack the Radio, Phil Vassar, The Brothers Comatose, Jim Lauderdale and many more.
MerleFest, presented by Window World, has announced the initial lineup for its 36th annual event, taking place April 25-28, 2024, on the campus of Wilkes Community College. Leading the breadth of can’t-miss performances this year are Grammy-winning rogue-folk ensemble Old Crow Medicine Show (celebrating both their 25th anniversary and nearly 25 years since their MerleFest debut in 2000), Red Dirt stalwarts Turnpike Troubadours, decorated blues-rock duo The Teskey Brothers, and recently reunited bluegrass sensation Nickel Creek. MerleFest favorites Steep Canyon Rangers, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, The Earls of Leicester, and more are also set to appear. View the initial lineup below. Additional artists to be announced in the coming weeks.
MerleFest 2024 tickets are available now. For general admission passes, as well as patio seating, reserved seating, camping, parking, and more, please visit merlefest.org/purchase.
MerleFest 2024 will welcome Old Crow Medicine Show, Turnpike Troubadours, The Teskey Brothers, Nickel Creek, Steep Canyon Rangers, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, The Earls of Leicester, Shinyribs, Peter Rowan, Scythian, Donna the Buffalo, Jim Lauderdale, Kruger Brothers, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Chatham County Line, Chatham Rabbits, John McEuen, Willi Carlisle, Adeem the Artist, The Sensational Barnes Brothers, The Waybacks, Alexa Rose, Andy May, Ashes & Arrows, B. Townes, Banknotes, Buffalo Nichols, Carol Rifkin, Charles Welch, Flattop, Goldpine, Gravity Check Juggling, The InterACTive Theater of Jef, Jack Lawrence, Jake Kohn, Jeff Little Trio, JigJam, Joe Smothers, Josh Goforth, Kyshona, Laura Boosinger, The Local Boys, Mark Bumgarner, Mitch Greenhill & Mitch’s Kitchen, Nefesh Mountain, Palmyra, Pete & Joan Wernick, Presley Barker, Roy Book Binder, The Silent Comedy, T. Michael Coleman, Them Coulee Boys, Tony Williamson, Uwade, and Wayne Henderson. For artist performance dates, visit merlefest.org/lineup.
MerleFest Volunteer applications are now open. As a volunteer, participants will receive free entry to the festival for the entire day of their shift, free parking, and shuttle, and 10% off camping at River’s Edge Campground. Most importantly, volunteers will be supporting a major fundraiser for Wilkes Community College. Please visit merlefest.org/volunteer to sign up before the April 13th deadline.
Applications to be a MerleFest vendor are also open. Vendors are carefully selected to provide a variety of quality and unique goods for every MerleFest fan. Included in the vendor fee is the cost of your tent, tent setup, fire extinguisher, gutters, table, chairs, lightbulb for nighttime illumination, on-campus security, as well as general admission passes for the entire festival and one on-campus parking pass. Simply put, it’s a great deal! Please visit merlefest.org/vendors to apply now before the application window closes on January 15th.
From the good folks at IVPR: When he came to ask about making an album, we were seriously blown away,” says C.J. Lewandowski, mandolinist of Grammy-nominated bluegrass outfit The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. The “he” mentioned above? Well, that’s Mr. Americana, himself, Jim Lauderdale. “It was really validating—Jim Lauderdale calling us to do a bluegrass album,” says Lewandowski. “We must be doing something right,” says one of the genre’s most promising young torchbearers who saw Lauderdale perform many times throughout his upbringing in Missouri.
On Sept. 15, the makes-perfect-sense pairing of Jim Lauderdale and The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys will release The Long And Lonesome Letting Go, a twelve-song LP of all-new Lauderdale co-writes—half of which was written with Po’ Ramblin’ Boys guitarist Josh Rinkel. Other co-writers include 10-time IBMA Award winner Becky Buller, North Carolina old soul Joe Newberry, well-traveled producer/songwriter Jimmy Ritchey, and rising young guns Logan Ledger and Alex Leach. Whether as co-writer, bandleader, master of ceremonies, or musical ambassador for musical styles or states, Lauderdale has been one of Americana music’s all-time great collaborators. And The Long and Lonesome Letting Go stands as one of the best collaborative works in his 36-album discography.
Today, Lauderdale and The Po Ramblin’ Boys shared the album’s lead-off track, “Long And Lonesome Letting Go,” another co-write, this time with prolific writer and seasoned multi-instrumentalist, Bob Minner. Joining the already-stacked lineup is one more unmistakable voice; that high tenor of Bluegrass Hall of Famer Del McCoury. “I felt like that song ought to kick off the record, and somebody in Po’ Ramblin’ Boys said, ‘You know, Del would sound great on this,’” Lauderdale says. “Of course! So we reached out and luckily he was available. It didn’t feel right to just have him on the chorus, so he and I switch off a few lines in the verses. I’d never gotten to record with Del before, so that was a real treat.”
Fans can hear the uptempo heartache of “Long And Lonesome Letting Go” right now at this link or at No Depression where “Long And Lonesome Letting Go” is in their Bonus Tracks column.
Jim Lauderdale and The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys will both be headed to this year’s IBMA World Of Bluegrass conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, performing The Long And Lonesome Letting Go tunes together as well as separate sets of their own original songs. For more information, please visit worldofbluegrass.org.
“The Long And Lonesome Letting Go” Tracklist:
Long And Lonesome Letting Go (2:43)
She’s On A Different Train (2:31)
I’m Only So Good At Being Good (4:13)
You Fell Off The Face Of The Earth (2:51)
Last Resort (2:50)
Ghost Of A Rose (3:51)
Darkness Is The Other Side of Light (2:41)
If I Could Only Get My Heart To See (2:20)
That Was When We Were Together (2:40)
A Better Place (2:36)
She’s The Light (3:31)
Drop The Hammer Down (2:35)
Jim Lauderdale Tour Dates:
AUG 26 SAT Tønder Festival Tønder, Denmark
SEP 1 FRI Four Corners Folk Festival Pagosa Springs, CO
SEP 2 SAT Lulu’s DownstairsManitou Springs, CO
SEP 3 SUN Jim Lauderdale w/Songs From The Road Band Denver, CO
SEP 10 SUN Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion Bristol, TN
SEP 14 THU The Barn Columbus, MS
SEP 15 FRI Duling Hall Jackson, MS
SEP 17 SUN Docie’s Dock Fort Walton Beach, FL
SEP 20 WED Vine Grove Bluegrass Festival Vine Grove, KY
SEP 29 FRI IBMA Bluegrass Live Raleigh, NC
OCT 5 THU Suwannee Roots Revival Live Oak, FL
OCT 5 THU Boot Barn Hall at Bourbon Brothers Gainesville, GA
OCT 12 THU Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival Waycross, GA
OCT 17 TUE Jim Lauderdale live at People’s Brewing Lafayette, IN
NOV 10 FRI 04 Center Austin, TX, United States
NOV 11 SAT Jim Lauderdale with special guest Tony Ramey Richardson, TX
NOV 16 THU The Franklin Theatre Songwriter Series: Sierra Hull, Jim Lauderdale, Bobby Tomberlin, & Lillie Mae Franklin, TN, United States
NOV 17 FRI Jim Lauderdale LIVE Paducah, KY, United States
FEB 4 SUN Outlaw Country Cruise 2024 Andover, FL, United States
FEB 15 THU Tractor Tavern Sunny Sweeney Seattle, WA, United States
Po’ Ramblin’ Boys Tour Dates:
AUG 26, 2023 Bower’s Mansion Bluegrass Festival New Washoe City, NV
AUG 31, 2023 SamJam Bluegrass Festival Piketon, OH
SEP 1, 2023 Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival Woodstown, NJ
Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion music festival is an electrifying music experience that features the very best roots music. Held annually in September in historic downtown Bristol TN/VA, the three-day music is amped to the beat of Appalachia’s past, present, and future. The Festival digs down deep into the roots of the traditional Appalachian sound and lifts its branches to new heights. It all happens in the heart of the Birthplace of Country Music.
From international superstars, including Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Rosanne Cash, Shania Twain and Taylor Swift, to contemporary North Carolina artists, such as Rhiannon Giddens, Rissi Palmer and Kasey Tyndall, “The Power of Women in Country Music,” coming to the North Carolina Museum of History from the GRAMMY Museum® in Los Angeles, highlights the past, present, and future of country music’s greatest female trailblazers.
This empowering exhibition will be amplified with a special concert series, author series, family events and activities and more. Tickets are available at this link: Purchase tickets!
“The Power of Women in Country Music” will take visitors on a journey through the history of women in country music, from the early years and post–World War II to the emergence of Nashville as a country music mecca and to female country artists becoming international pop sensations. The exhibit will feature artifacts, such as instruments and costumes, and special content from a diverse roster of 70 female country artists.
Be sure to save these dates for our Southern Songbirds concert series too, emceed by legendary North Carolina native Jim Lauderdale:
musicreporterblog 