Mavis Staples & Band @ Merlefest 2021 Every spring, the Blue Ridge Mountains come alive with the sounds of homecoming. Musicians and fans flock to the small town of Wilkesboro, North Carolina for MerleFest – a celebration of roots music founded in honor of legendary guitarist Doc Watson’s late son Eddy Merle. The festival was…
Deep in the ancient mountains of North Carolina, the first strains of classic country music echoed through the hollows.
Appalachian Hand Weaving in our Working Museum Crossnore Weavers Studio Step back in time at Crossnore’s Weaving Room, where a century-old tradition of Appalachian craftsmanship lives on. In this cozy stone cottage, now a National Historic Site, local women once spun yarn that wound up in the White House and homes across the country. Today,…
Avant Garde in a Remote, Pristine, Pastoral Setting The setting for Black Mountain College was idyllic, on 600 acres of meadow surrounded by the Blue Ridge. In this pristine pastoral setting, the college’s short-lived experiment produced a remarkable history during the 24 years it thrived. Back in 1933, a group of idealistic educators dared to…
Mississippi rail worker turned country crooner is considered by many to be the prime “influencer” of the country genre.
Minstral of the Appalachians – Bascom Lamar Lunsford Bascom Lunsford was born in 1882 into a musical family on the campus of Mars Hill College, where his father taught. Surrounded by the rural mountain life of western North Carolina, Bascom grew up steeped in traditional music. His great-uncle sawed up a storm on the fiddle…