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 15th anniversary of Hopscotch Music Festival, North Carolina’s premier indie and experimental music festival, returns to the heart of downtown Raleigh on Sept. 4-6, 2025.
The festival will kick off at some of Raleigh’s most beloved and iconic stages, including City Plaza and Moore Square, The Pour House, the Ritz and many more.
Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson unveiled “Marching Jaybird,” on March 3, the latest single from from their forthcoming album of North Carolina fiddle and banjo music, “What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow” (out April 18 on Nonesuch Records). The song finds the duo revisiting a recording by influential guitarist and singer Etta Baker, one of their musical heroes and a key inspiration for making this new album. Produced by Giddens and Joseph “joebass” DeJarnette, the new album see’s Giddens and Robinson playing 18 of their favorite North Carolina tunes: a mix of instrumentals and tunes with words. Many were learned from their late mentor, the legendary North Carolina Piedmont musician Joe Thompson, one of the last musicians of his era and his community to carry on the southern Black string band tradition. The two also recorded outdoors at Thompson’s Mebane, N.C., home, as well as the former plantation Mill Prong. They were accompanied by the sounds of nature, including two different broods of cicadas, which had not emerged simultaneously since 1803, creating a true once-in-a-lifetime soundscape.
The members of Scythian, a Celtic rock band known for bringing legions of MerleFest fans to their feet since 2007, may call Virginia home, but North Carolina comes in at a close second.
And their upcoming touring schedule is reflective of why the Old North State feels like coming home for the current foursome made up of brothers Alexander Fedoryka (Vocals, Fiddle, Mandolin, Harmonica) and Danylo Fedoryka (Vocals, Guitar, Accordion) along with Ethan Dean (Vocals, Upright and Electric Bass, Percussion, Guitar) and Johnny Rees (Vocals, Drums, Percussion).
The classically trained Fedorykas grew up on the Ukrainian folk music of their ancestors and bluegrass, while Dean was raised on the greats of 60’s and 70’s folk-rock. Lafayette, Louisiana native Rees brings a Cajun beat to the Celtic-Americana fusion giving Scythian yet another dimension to keep audiences entertained and moving.
Scythian had its most prolific year in 2020 with more than 1,000 hours of live streams held during the Covid lockdowns, the release of two new albums (Roots & Stones and Quaranstream: The Album) and four new music videos. But you have to catch their live show to understand why The Camel City Dispatch said of one of their Merlefest performances: “[Scythian gives] no quarter in their quest to entertain and bring a joy to their music that gives it an irony-free, wide open feel of manic possibility. The playing is technically brilliant, but it is the energy that carries the day.”
Scythian, which means “nomad” in Ukranian, has been described as fusing Celtic and Americana music with thunderous energy into what the band’s members call “immigrant rock.” Check out the following links to catch one of the band’s upcoming N.C. shows.
Learn more abou the band in a story I wrote about them that was published in The Huffington Post.
“One of our favorite places to play, and it ALWAYS sells out months before we get there, we’re BACK at the Reeves Theater! Grab your tickets ASAP because this place sells out faster than Taylor Swift Concert,” the band says on its website.
“We couldn’t be more excited to return to MerleFest for another incredible year! There’s nothing like the energy and camaraderie of this iconic festival. Join us as we turn up the fiddles, kick up the tempo, and dive into a set that celebrates the heart and soul of MerleFest. Get ready to sing, dance, and make some new memories—see you there!”
From the good folks at WRAL: Ketch Secor, founder of Old Crow Medicine Show, shares his deep connection to North Carolina, where the band first found its roots and inspiration.
Though he grew up in Virginia and now lives in Tennessee, Secor says his heart is in North Carolina.
“I look to those mountains for my inspiration and my heart really,” the founder and frontman of Old Crow Medicine Show told WRAL on Thursday, Oct. 24. “If your heart is really for the western mountains in North Carolina, it’s broken now.”
Old Crow Medicine Show started playing together more than 25 years ago and got it’s first break on the streets of Boone.
“Old Crow Medicine Show met Doc Watson, the granddaddy of all pickers on the street corner right out in front of Boone drug on King Street in Watauga County,” Secor said. “So that was sort of my encounter with the roots, with the traditional music makers of North Carolina.”
Perhaps most well-known for the song “Wagon Wheel,” Secor wrote along with Bob Dylan’s lyrics, Old Crow garnered much inspiration from the mountains.
“The southern highlands are really the region that that that, you know, without without them, there’d be no rock and roll, there’d be no country music,” Secor said. “It’s really quite sacred to us. You know, if you love song, American song is really at at its peak, up in those jagged peaks.”
Many places that have meant so much to Secor and his bandmates were forever changed by Hurricane Helene.
“The little town of Beach Creek that we lived in in Avery County, North Carolina, has had terrible, irrevocable damage, the place where we’re supposed to play this weekend, Spruce Pine in Mitchell County, North Carolina. I mean, Mitchell County has just been devastated,” Secor said.
Secor has been on the ground in the mountains, helping deliver supplies and seeing the damage for himself. He says the recovery is just beginning.
“We need to remind folks that that the the hard work really is what’s ahead,” he said.
He also wants you to know you can support Western North Carolina on Sunday, Oct. 28, and have fun doing it by checking out the band on stage at Red Hat Amphitheater during the Music for the Mountains benefit concert. WRAL is a proud sponsor for this event. Joining Old Crow will be Chatham County Line, B.J. Barham of American Aquarium and more.
“I want you guys to come out there bring bring your dancing shoes and your wallets,” Secor said.
The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) 2024 Momentum Awards, sponsored by Campbell University School of Law, were presented on Wednesday during the World of Bluegrass convention in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. Jaelee Roberts served as host and Master of Ceremonies during the luncheon. A number of the band of the year nominees gave toe-tapping performances including DownRiver Collective, Jackson Hollow, Jake Leg, JigJam and The Price Sisters.
The following awards are given to artists and those in the business of bluegrass during the early years of their career. The purpose is both to recognize special talent on the way up, and to give a boost to their efforts at this crucial stage. And the winners are:
Band of the Year – DownRiver Collective, a group of Belmont University alumni out of Nashville, Tennessee
Bluegrass is back in Raleigh beginning Tuesday with IBMA’s World of Bluegrass featuring the annual Business Conference, award shows, showcases, the Ramble, free music on stages spread across downtown on Friday and Saturday and of course, the headliners at Red Hat Amphitheatre.
Beginning Tuesday, the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Official Showcases are the premier platform for introducing talent and new music to the bluegrass community during IBMA World of Bluegrass®. Each selected showcase act will perform at least twice during the week — typically once during the IBMA Business Conference and once at an IBMA Bluegrass Ramble venue.
All emerging bluegrass bands, as well as established bands with new music or new personnel, are encouraged to apply. Thousands of bluegrass fans fill six venues throughout Downtown Raleigh over three nights to catch the newest in bluegrass music!I
Hopscotch 2024 kicks off with a VIP party on Wednesday, Sept. 4. The VIP only schedule follows:
Wednesday, Sept. 4
Hopscotch Music Festival + The Rialto Present
The dB’s
Doors: 7:00pm | Show: 8:00pm
Hopscotch VIPs can claim up to
two (2) complimentary tickets to the show!
Click the link below and select the “General Admission – Hopscotch VIPs” ticket. Enter the email address used to purchase your Hopscotch VIP passes in all lowercase.
Remaining tickets will be available to the general public beginning Saturday 8/31 for $22 + applicable taxes and fees.
This show is at The Rialto.
THURSDAY, September 5
Where: Landmark Tavern | 117 E Hargett St
When: 4:00pm – 6:00pm
Food: Provided by Raleigh Times
Presented by: Come Hear NC, Merge Records, Dash Media
Friday, September 6
Where: Natural Science | 2409 Crabtree Blvd #126
When: 4:00pm – 6:00pm
Food: Provided by Local’s Seafood
Presented by: Levitate
SATURDAY, September 7
Where: Jimmy V’s Osteria & Bar | 420 Fayetteville St
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.
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