MerleFest is an annual "traditional plus" music festival held in Wilkesboro, North Carolina on the campus of Wilkes Community College. The festival, which is held the last weekend in April, was hosted by Grammy Award winner Doc Watson prior to his death and is named in memory and honor of his son, Eddy Merle Watson,[1] who died in a farm tractor accident in 1985.
History
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Doc Watson (photo by Austen Millkulka)
The festival, founded in 1988, is the primary fundraising event for Wilkes Community College and attracts crowds exceeding 79,000 in number, making it one of the largest music festivals in the United States as well as the 3rd largest tourist attraction in the state of North Carolina. The music is spread across 14 different stages and four days, which promises non-stop excitement for festival goers. Its annual economic impact on northwestern North Carolina exceeds $10 million and the festival has contributed nearly $9 million to Wilkes Community College.
MerleFest offers a mix of traditional and contemporary roots music, a music blend that Doc himself named "traditional plus." It brings together Bluegrass, contemporary acoustic, blues, folk, old-time music, Cajun, jazz, country, Celtic, Americana, rock and singer-songwriter music. Artists can often be enjoyed in on-stage jam sessions featuring unusual combinations of musicians, such as Bob Weir, formerly of the Grateful Dead singing with Sam Bush and Gillian Welch with the Waybacks.
Other artists who have performed on MerleFest's 14 stages over the first 24 years have included Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Earl Scruggs, The Kruger Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, John Prine, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Donna the Buffalo, Natalie MacMaster, Vassar Clements, Hot Tuna, Joe Smothers, David Grisman, Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris, Jerry Douglas, Del McCoury, Junior Brown, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Elvis Costello, Howard Armstrong, Randy Travis, Lyle Lovett, The Doobie Brothers, Robert Plant and the Band of Joy, Sharon Gilchrist, The Avett Brothers, Tony Rice, Francois Vola, Emory lester, Old Crow Medicine Show, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, Zac Brown Band, Dierks Bentley, Linda Ronstadt, Levon Helm, Taj Mahal, Bruce Hornsby, Cadillac Sky[2] and Vince Gill.
See also
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to MerleFest. |
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