PHOTOS BY PIXIE HOCKER AND JACK THORNTON WORDS BY PIXIE HOCKER Earl Scruggs Music Festival kicked off their fifth year of music this pa...
PHOTOS BY PIXIE HOCKER AND JACK THORNTON
WORDS BY PIXIE HOCKER
Earl Scruggs Music Festival kicked off their fifth year of music this past Labor Day weekend! Several rain delays weren’t enough to stop a weekend full of bluegrass music. The crowd was full of fans in ponchos and rain jackets, ready for music and whatever weather came with it. When thunder put a pause on the stages, bands like Murphy Campbell took no hesitation to jump off-stage and grab some acoustics, keeping the music going.
We were excited to see Lindsay Lou perform on stage, with the rain giving the audience a very memorable performance. Her album Bluegrass Women, released on August 14th, featured many talented female musicians. The highlight of the album is its performances of classic, women-penned bluegrass songs. During Lindsay Lou’s performance at ESMF, Alison Brown came on stage to show what it means to be a Bluegrass Woman.
Earl Scruggs Music Festival felt like home to us. We were able to talk to some folks at Restring Appalachia, which is a nonprofit that has replaced over a thousand instruments that were lost by musicians during Hurricane Helene. We live in Boone so it was great to see the festival highlight a nonprofit doing amazing work related to a natural disaster we experienced. When talking to the founder, Nicholas Edward Williams, we found out that he was also performing at the festival. His band, Pickers Anonymous, really stood out to us, inspired by traditional folk and old-time country music.
As two Appalachian State Alumni, we were ecstatic to see Jacoozy on the lineup. I saw Jacoozy live for the first time my sophomore year at a house show in the Boone area. We both run our own house show venue presently, so we were stoked to get to talk to Jacoozy about the evolution of Boone house shows and the evolution of Jacoozy. We know how positively intense the Boone music scene is, and it was pleasing to report to Jacoozy that some things never change.
Jacoozy has played quite a few festivals this season, and they explained that festivals are a great way for them to broaden their audience. They also informed us that they are touring out west this upcoming spring and are very excited to play shows in places they haven’t before. Most notably, Colorado. The Jacoozy boys are also very excited to record their sophomore album later this fall. These are songs that they have been playing on tour, and now that the band has worked out all the kinks, they are ready to record. The band’s main focus is their sound live, so they were intentional to tour these songs before having them available to stream.
Earl Scruggs Music Festival’s fifth year showed us that rain or shine, nothing can stop a fiddle from playing a tune. With so many talented musicians, you can’t help but feel like coming back next year. We know we’ll be back and hope to see you next year too!
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- PIXIE HOCKER
Pixie Hocker has loved music for as long as they can remember and has gone to more concerts than she can count. Pixie is the Music Director at her college station 90.5 WASU-FM and hosts a weekly specialty show at Boone Area Community Radio.
Read Pixie's posts here.
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