The Venue

Nearly seventy-eight years after Earl Scruggs first joined Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Chubby Wise, and Howard Watts on stage at the Grand Ole Opry—and defined bluegrass music as we know it today—the music is still thriving.  To a large extent, the continued success of the bluegrass genre is due to the hundreds of bluegrass festivals…

Begins in the Heart of Appalachia Wherever you put your chair at Blue Highway Fest, you can see the mountains surrounding the small town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where their first-ever bluegrass festival took place in early October of 2022. The view is not only scenic, it reminds you at all times of the…

The Challenges of Running and Starting a Bluegrass Festival After over thirty years of attending bluegrass festivals, more than once we have heard the saying, “Friends don’t let friends start bluegrass festivals.” While it is meant playfully, we wondered if there is some truth in it and decided to look at the complexity of starting…

Finally Takes Place with Potential for the Future Intact The Earl Scruggs Festival has been in the works for years now, yet the pandemic reared its ugly head and the hard decision to postpone it for two years in a row was made. Many music festivals had to shut down for at least one year…

Photos by Kevin Slick “I think it’s the 50th anniversary of Rocky Grass and Craig Ferguson is always looking for ways to respect tradition while also welcoming new audiences,” says Nick Forster. “And he was just steadfast in his commitment. He just said, ‘Look…we have to have Hot Rize. We cannot do the 50th anniversary…

Hartford Memorial Festival Welcomes Back Crowds Following Two-year Interruption A two-year hiatus because of COVID-19, and a change of venue, did little to hinder the 10th Annual John Hartford Memorial Festival in Springville, Indiana. Nearly 2,000 people—including spectators, band members, vendors and staff workers—were present at the event, held from June 1 to June 4 at…