There are numerous live music festivals and venues throughout North Carolina, Virginia and beyond on tap to help you celebrate the official kickoff of summer over the upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend. Following are a few highlights. If I've missed one, please feel free to post in the comment section.
Blue Ridge Music Center Summer Concert Series, Galax, Virginia
May 28
Saturday is the opening show of Summer Concert Series at the Blue Ridge Music Center featuring Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based Mipso, a bluegrass, Americana favorite I discovered at MerleFest last year. The band's evolving musical style blends classic four-part harmonies and traditional Appalachian country and folk sounds with jazz and pop to create a new musical texture and terrain. Shadowgrass, a talented group of bluegrass musicians, ages 11 to 15, opens the show. The music starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15. The series runs through Oct. 15 and will feature such acts as Steep Canyon Rangers, Dori Freeman, Carlene Carter, Bryan Sutton, The Church Sisters and Lonesome River Band.
Learn more at http://blueridgemusiccenter.org/5-28.htm
Eighth Annual Rooster Walk Music and Arts Festival, Axton, Virginia
May 26-May 29
With a 151-acre music venue in the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Rooster Walk near Martinsville, Virginia, is a favorite with families and music lovers alike. This year's headliners include Lettuce, Sam Bush, Perpetual Groove and The Revivalists, as well as more than 40 other bands and musicians. The multi-day festival offers food, arts and crafts vendors, children's activities, camping, craft beer, wine and cider, laser tag, a six-hole disc golf course, Tuff Strutter 5K, guided float trips on the Smith River and more.
Learn more at http://roosterwalk.com/
6th Annual Chantilly Farm Bluegrass & BBQ Festival, Floyd County, VirginiaMay 27-28
The sixth annual Chantilly Farm Bluegrass & BBQ Festival at the beautiful Chantilly Farm in Floyd County, Virginia, has been called one of the region's hottest bluegrass and mountain music festivals. It's the home festival of MerleFest regular and awar- winning Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice. Other acts include Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Lonesome River Band, The Church Sisters, Volume Five and Commonwealth Bluegrass Band. The festival features a variety of food available from vendors, RV and tent camping facilities, arts and crafts vendors, antique tractors, children's activities, hiking trails, kite flying, jamming opportunities and more. Attendees are encouraged to bring an instrument for impromptu jam sessions.
Single-day passes for Friday, May 27, are $25 advance/$30 at gate; Saturday, May 28, $30 advance/$35 at gate; Kids 12 and younger are free. Camping charges are separate.Learn more at http://chantillyfarm.com/wp/
The Howling Craft Beer and Music Festival, Abingdon, Virginia
May 27-28
The Howling Craft Beer and Music Festival features Dave Eggar, Yarn and DJ RYZ on Friday.
Friday night's events are at the Howling Wolf Brewery, 350 Park Street, beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday's event is at the Southwest Virginia 4-H Educational Center, 25236 Hillman Highway. Saturday kicks off with The First Annual Wolf Hills Brewing Co.'s The Howling 5k, registration at 8, race at 9. The Overmountain Brewers Homebrew Competition will be from 11 a.m. to noon and gates open at 1 p.m. Camping is available for an additional charge.
Music on Saturday that begins at 3 p.m. will alternate between the Crowgey Cabin side stage and the Main stage: JP Parsons, Pointer Brothers, Bombadil, Backup Planet, Adam Bolt and Friends, Annabelle's Curse, The Comet Conductors, Dangermuffin, Indighost and The Districts.
Organizers say they are proud of the lineup with a mixture of genres, local acts, brewery alums and national touring artists. "In particular, we are so excited to host The Districts. Their passion for their music is contagious. They are going to rock."
Learn more at http://wolfhillsbrewing.com/event/the-howling-craft-beer-music-festival/Ninth Annual DelFest, Cumberland, MarylandMay 26 - May 30
DelFest returns to the Allegany County Fairgrounds in Cumberland, Maryland, over Memorial Day weekend. The festival runs for four days with Late Night Shows, On-Site Camping, Kid's Area/Activities, Artist Playshops, a Bluegrass Band Competition, Food and Drink, Arts and Crafts and much more!
Tickets on sale at https://goo.gl/gaxWNR
2016 Lineup: The Del McCoury Band, The Travelin' McCourys, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Greensky Bluegrass, Railroad Earth, Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, Sam Bush Band, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Wood Brothers, The Infamous Stringdusters feat. Nicki Bluhm, Jerry Douglas Presents The Earls of Leicester, Keller Williams, O'Connor Band feat. Mark O'Connor, Sierra Hull (Artist at Large), Rock My Soul feat. The Fairfield Four and The McCrary Sisters, Elephant Revival, Aoife O'Donovan, Joe Craven & The Sometimers, Cabinet, Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers, Dale Ann Bradley, Fruition, Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, Hot Club of Cowtown, Henhouse Prowlers, Steve Poltz, The Dustbowl Revival, The Brothers Comatose, The Broomestix, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, The HillBenders, Dre and The Collective, The Lil' Smokies, Pert' Near Sandstone, Mipso, Driftwood, The Railsplitters, Grand Ole' Ditch and The McCoury Brothers.
Learn more at http://delfest.com/Gears and Guitars, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
May 21-29
"Gears and Guitars," is being held this week and weekend in downtown Winston-Salem in conjunction with the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic. The festival features a variety of acts including The Band Perry, jam band O.A.R., Gin Blossoms, Better Than Ezra and Sister Hazel, among others. Tickets for tonight's 7 o'clock show at Bailey Park featuring the country stars Jana Kramer and The Band Perry are $35. Better Than Ezra With Sister Hazel perform at 7 p.m. on May 28 at Bailey Park and Cracker will perform with O.A.R. in Bailey Park at 7 p.m. on May 29.
Learn more at http://www.gearsandguitarsfest.com/