MerleFest, the largest folk music festival in the US. Ever been?

[Lex]

I'm going this year and was wondering if any of you Loungers have ever been? :hi:

This year Elvis Costello, Allison Krauss and Donna the Buffalo will be there, plus great Blues musicians too. 13 stages of music.

The festival is hosted by legendary guitar player Doc Watson and is named for his son, Eddy Merle Watson . . . The four-day-long festival was founded in 1988 and now attracts more than 80,000 participants, making it the largest folk music festival in the United States.

MerleFest offers a generation and genre crossing mix of traditional and contemporary roots music, bringing together the very best of Bluegrass, contemporary acoustic, blues, folk, old time, Cajun, jazz, and singer-songwriter musics. Artists can often be enjoyed in on-stage jam sessions featuring unusual combinations of musicians, such as Sam Bush and Gillian Welch with the Waybacks and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead in 2006. Other artists who have performed on MerleFest's twelve stages over the first 19 years have included Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Earl Scruggs, The Kruger Brothers,John Prine, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Donna the Buffalo, Natalie MacMaster, Vassar Clements, Hot Tuna, David Grisman, Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris, Jerry Douglas, Del McCoury, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Howard Armstrong, and Tony Rice.

www.merlefest.org

[ms liberty]

1. I don't know if I qualify as a "Lounger" yet, but...

I imagine when mr liberty finds out that Alison Krauss and Del McCoury are both going to be at Merlefest Saturday night, he'll very much want to go! We only live about 30 - 45 minutes from Wilkesboro, so we usually wait til closer to Merlefest weekend to decide.

[Lex]

2. I had no idea the music festival was so big and have so many great acts!

I hope mr liberty gets to go! :hi:

We are in Durham so it'll be a bit further away for us. We are staying at a mountain place about 50 minutes away from Wilkeboro. Looking forward to it all.

Any tips for a first-timer would be appreciated!

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. The Waybacks!

Those dudes are nuts — creatively nuts. On "Way Live," there's a tune called "Mind Your Own Business" that morphs into an off-key, sort of lethargic version of "Dueling Banjos," then into an acoustic version of "Purple Haze" — but with these lyrics:


Green Acres is the place to beee!

Farm livin' is the life for meee!

Land spreadin' out so far and wiiiide!

Keep Manhattan — just gimme that countryside!


:rofl:

[Flaxbee]

4. holeee crap, my husband and I had NO IDEA it was being held

one particular weekend, and we decided to go investigate Boone, NC, as a potential relocation place. Boone is about 20 miles from Wilkesboro. Needless to say, we couldn't find a hotel room within about a 75-mile radius around Wilkesboro. We didn't go to the Merlefest that time, we just turned around and went back to Virginia, but now that we live in NC, we might consider it this year.

Have a great time! Let us know what you think...

[Lex]

6. Yes, all the hotels and campgrounds are full to the brim

that weekend.

I'll give you a review and let you know how it all went. :hi:

[Nicole]

5. No, but I wish I could go!

Looks like a great time will be had by those who do.

Enjoy! :)

[wildhorses]

7. yes, i have been

:bounce:

it always rains though:shrug:

[hippywife]

8. It's too far for us

on a limited budget but it sounds like a great fest. A-1 lineup all the way!

[Radical Activist]

9. I wish I was in the area this year.

Its always a great time.

[hippiechick]

10. Looks like a smaller, less Rock n Roll Bonnaroo ..

... and Bonnaroo is always a kick ass time!!

IIRC, Nickel Creek is reuniting for Merlefest. I'd go just to see them together again!


:applause:

[hippywife]

11. Be sure to catch

the Duhks if you get a chance. They are fabulous! And I second what Oedipus Rex said about the Waybacks.

Have fun! I'm so jealous. :cry:

[enigmatic]

12. One of my big regrets is that I haven't

They've always had a great lineup each year, and I'd love to go..