Merlefest 2024

Rhapsody in Bluegrass: 36th Merlefest celebrates the legacy of music in the mountains

Is it possible to recreate the misty-eyed magic, the j’en sais quoi that is associated with the big little music festival nestled in the foothills of North Carolina year after year? In all of our humanity, niggling doubts seep into the subconscious when making the pilgrimage. Setting up camp. Lumbering with camping chairs and backpacks bulging with enough “necessities” to maintain reasonable comfort in fickle outdoor conditions for 12 hours straight. Sunscreen and emergency rain poncho–smart festivalians pack both. Standing in line for a shuttle: a school bus for music-hungry adults. Making do with portable facilities for days. Will it really be worth it this year?

But then the boy scout leader aka bus driver says, “Welcome to Merlefest!” as he deposits his mature wards who are eager to relive their childhoods (or much cooler versions thereof) at the edge of the Wilkes Community College campus. A girl scout blows bubbles while another hands out programs. Cheerful volunteers with sensible sun hats welcome and direct the way through security where backpacks are gingerly massaged in passive search for contraband.

Serious attendees with general admission tickets know not to be distracted by the tantalizing rows of vendor wares initially, in spite of every variety of tie-dyed clothing swinging in the periphery. There will be time to peruse later after the folding chairs have been placed strategically behind the reserved seats at the Watson stage. 

First, to power walk past the picking tents, bluegrass and “anything goes.” Then not be distracted by the mountain of sand the color of Carolina clay where Sandy Feat artists are busy sculpturing their annual transient masterpiece. Round the bend and resist the temptation to stop at the play-and-rest area that looks like the backyard party of an affluent friend. Checker board and bean toss games invite, situated next to adirondack chairs and the red Southern railway car. 

After the focused mission, chair placement, is accomplished, there is a time for visiting the expo and merchandise tents, adjacent to the food and shade tents. The expo tent is a candy store for always-instrument-hungry musicians. Guitars, banjos, and fiddles outnumber humans, but a part of Merlefest’s charm manifests itself right away: sitting in one of the booths, idly strumming a guitar, is Uwe Kruger, of the Kruger Brothers. And he’s accessible, smiling, chatting up wide-eyed fans as if they are all neighbors that happened by,

On the first day of the festival, only the primary stages, Watson and Cabin, are in action, presumably to allow festival-goers time to ease into what will become a 12-stage circus.  Eighteen-year-old Presley Barker, who has been playing at Merlefest since he was 8, opens the festival on the Watson stage, followed by veteran bluesman Roy Bookbinder on the adjacent Cabin stage. Dan Tyminski is introduced next as “the George Clooney of bluegrass,” due to providing Clooney’s vocals for “O Brother Where Art Thou.”

When Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway take the stage, Tuttle says, “I was 18 or 19 when I first came to Merlefest. I entered the Chris Austin songwriting contest and actually won, so I got to play it on that side stage right there with my dad, who came with me.”

Many of the musicians mark time with Merlefest, and they’re eager to talk about it being their first, like a special rite of passage, or recount the time they shared the stage with Doc Watson himself. The festival fabric has become almost like a bride’s trousseau, with something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, crossing genres, stretching the definition of“bluegrass but remaining true to the original goal of including “traditional plus” music. One moment Merlefest might find Josh Goforth and Laura Boosinger playing a Carter family tune, and the next, Molly Tuttle’s band breaks into the Rolling Stones’ “She’s a Rainbow.”

A favorite aspect of Merlefest is the opportunity to be introduced to performers new to you, like the Langan Band from Scotland, who play “a meat-based vengeance ballad” about a leg of lamb being stolen during a gig. Or the Irish band JigJam, which includes a guitar player with back-swept red hair they call “the Irish Elvis Presley.” Or Willi Carlyle singing a story song, “Tulsa’s Last Magician,” reminiscent of Harry Chapin’s style. Or Brandy Clark, offering women a voice in “The Day She got Divorced.” Or the energy of Old Crow Medicine show, who credit Watson for discovering them. Or headliners like the Australian Teskey Brothers, or Turnpike Troubadours from Oklahoma.

Or Larkin Poe, sisters who first played Merlefest in 2005, then as the Lovell Sisters. From the stage Rebecca Lovell says, “The future depends on being able to look into the past. Thanks for working so hard to preserve something so special.”

And in the vein of preserving the past, Merlefest makes a point of including musicians who have long-standing reputations, like the Kruger Brothers, Sam Bush, and others who played alongside Watson. The Earls of Leicester grace the Hillside Stage, outfitted and playing according to the Flatt and Scruggs tradition. 

Peter Rowan and the Walls of Time Band demonstrate that even though they’ve been around a while, they can still surprise. The band takes to the Walker stage with Rowan wearing what appears like a crocheted chef’s hat, proving he is at a stage of his career where he may do as he pleases.

Saturday’s band competition begins with Martin County’s “Screamin’ Bridge” bluegrass band taking the stage, opening with their self-titled ballad based on local lore. While “Florencia and the Feeling” is declared the winner, all the participating bands take home a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Saturday afternoon’s famed Hillside Album Hour draws crowds covering every inch of the hill’s grassy incline, requiring mountain goat dexterity. After clues, teasers, and speculations of Jimmy Buffet, this year’s Hillside Album, performed by the Waybacks & Friends, is Stevie Wonder’s 1973 Innervisions.

On Sunday, Chris Thile, performing with Nickel Creek, says, “This is the 30 year anniversary of when I played here before. I got to play ‘Amazing Grace’ with Doc Watson. He was exactly like a musician should be–so open, so encouraging–a definition of a human being who listens.”

From the Watson stage Lukas Nelson, the young man with the old-and-instantly-recognizable voice. He speaks of flying from California the previous night and just landing right before playing: “But you woke me right up. It’s like coming into a magical land. You guys are lucky.”

Béla Fleck and My Bluegrass Heart, a supergroup of musicians, begin a song and 15 minutes later, they haven’t stopped for a breath. Their “Deliverance”-meets-Carnegie-Hall style apparent in “Rhapsody in Bluegrass” is no metaphor stretch, as they performed in the legendary venue a week after Merlefest.

When Roy Dobbins offers a Sunday morning devotion from the Creekside Stage, where Doc Watson played for the last time in 2012, he shares Watson’s testimonial: “I’d rather be remembered as a decent human being than a flashy guitar player.”

From the Hillside Stage, host James Beard offers his description of the festival: “Merlefest is all about family. We celebrate the legacy of Doc and Merle Watson. We celebrate the legacy of families who have played music in the mountains. We know North Carolina is not the epicenter of music, but during Merlefest, we really think it is.”

So was Merlefest 2024 able to deliver the festival’s trademark brand of “music, moments, memories”? Borrowing again from Béla Fleck’s Grammy winning album: You bet your bluegrass heart.

• • • 

Originally published in the Daily Reflector on May 11, 2024.

more Merlefest ’24 photos by Donna Davis