The inaugural Earl Scruggs Music Festival, scheduled for September 4-5, 2020 in Mill Spring, North Carolina, is still moving forward in these uncertain times. Festivals everywhere have been hard hit by a summer of cancellations and an atmosphere of uncertainty, but we all will need to gather again soon. In the meantime, the Earl Scruggs Music Festival is proud to present A Month of Mondays, a series of lively livestreamed interviews between the festival’s artistic director Steve Johnson of SJ21 Music and select performers from the festival. The interviews will stream at 8pm EDT each Monday from May moving into June and will be livestreamed via the festival’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/earlscruggsfest/
Monday, May 4 - The Barefoot Movement
Monday, May 11 - Darin & Brooke Aldridge
Monday, May 18 - The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
Monday, May 25 - Unspoken Tradition
Monday, June 4 - Jerry Douglas of The Earls of Leicester
North Carolina native Steve Johnson comes from deep in the bluegrass tradition himself. He was the artistic director of MerleFest before helping start the Earl Scruggs Music Festival, and has been the manager for much loved North Carolina artists like The Steep Canyon Rangers, Chatham County Line, and more. “This an opportunity to stay connected,” says Johnson, “at a distance, during these interesting times of social distancing. Interestingly enough, this format may provide more access to the artists for the fans than perhaps they would have even during a festival or event appearance. We feel it’s a great way to make something fun and different happen for everyone during these times and we’re very grateful these artists have agreed to be part of the series.”
More Info on the Earl Scruggs Music Festival:
The Earl Scruggs Center and WNCW are proud to announce the inaugural Earl Scruggs Music Festival, coming September 4-5, 2020 to Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, NC. Celebrating the legacy of an American music legend, the Earl Scruggs Music Festival will bring together artists from bluegrass, Americana, blues, and many other roots music genres to celebrate the pioneering vision of Earl Scruggs. Few other artists in American history have had such an impact as Scruggs. His work in 1946/47 with Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys and later with Flatt and Scruggs helped create an entire genre of music. His banjo playing was so fresh and different for the time that it was christened the “Scruggs style” of banjo and is still the most prominent banjo performance style in the world. The Earl Scruggs Music Festival will pay homage to Scruggs’ groundbreaking vision in the setting of the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, NC, a short distance from Scruggs’ birth region and the home of the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, NC. The Festival will be a benefit for the Earl Scruggs Center and Isothermal Community College.
Full List of Artists:
Old Crow Medicine Show, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Ricky Skaggs, The Earls of Leicester, Junior Brown, Acoustic Syndicate, Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown, Rebirth Brass Band, Jim Lauderdale, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Dom Flemons, Radney Foster, Blue Highway, Dale Ann Bradley, Chatham County Line, The Barefoot Movement, The Po' Ramblin' Boys, Unspoken Tradition, Chatham Rabbits, and Anna Lynch.