The Blue Ridge Music Center Winter Music Series

February 5 at 6 PM - Winter Concert,  The Blue Ridge Music Center : Art + Sound. For this concert The Blue Ridge Music Center will be working with the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art. $18 advance general admission, $28 VIP (reserve seating & letterpress poster) or $23 door, $33 VIP. Held at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC.

Lonnie Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity, manifest in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and sound. His music and lyrics are improvised on the spot and morph and evolve with every event, concert, and recording. 

For Kentucky-born cellist and composer Ben Sollee, music and activism often intertwine. He has toured by bicycle, spoken about sustainability at festivals, and worked on a collaborative album to bring awareness about mountain top removal strip mining in Appalachia. With it all, his musicianship shines through. The New York Times wrote Sollee's "...meticulous, fluent arrangements continually morphed from one thing to another. Appalachian mountain music gave way to the blues, and one song was appended with a fragment from a Bach cello suite, beautifully played."

Blue Ridge Music Center Summer Concerts in Full Swing Featuring the Church Sisters this Weekend

July 25, 2015 Blue Ridge Music Center Concert - The Church Sisters and Pike City Bluegrass. Musical phenoms The Church Sisters and Pike City Bluegrass take the stage this Saturday. These young groups have been heavily influenced by the fertile musical heritage of the Galax area (Grayson and Carroll counties), and are carrying forward those living musical traditions while adapting them with unique and youthful spins.

Twin 18-year-old sisters Savannah and Sarah Church of Galax are known for their angelic, tradition-steeped Blue Ridge Mountain harmonies. They are backed by a band featuring some of the region's best instrumentalists, including guitarist Josh Pickett (No Speed Limit), mandolinist Spencer Strickland (Kenny & Amanda Smith Band, Virginia Luthiers Band), and bassist Jacob Eller (No Speed Limit, Sierra Hull).

photo courtesy of the Blue Ridge Music Center

The Church Sisters are featured in great company with Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, and Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers on the recently released double-disc Orthophonic Joy: The 1927 Bristol Sessions Revisited. The albums are a recreation of the historic 1927 Bristol Sessions, often described as the "Big Bang of Country Music," when the Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers were first discovered. Click here to read about The Church Sisters in Relish entertainment magazine.

Pike City Bluegrass is a group of young adults from Hillsville who love to pick a variety of music from bluegrass to new grass to gospel. The band is comprised of Karissa Hayden on bass and lead vocals, Becca Miller on fiddle, Tony Hicks on guitar, and Zeb Hicks on banjo. Pike City's accomplishments include first place at the Fries Fiddlers Convention and fourth place at the Galax Old Fiddler's Convention. The group has opened for The Travelers at the Blue Ridge Film Festival at the Historic Buchanan Theatre in Virginia and Ralph Stanley 2 at the Historic Rex Theatre in Galax.

The Blue Ridge Music Center Summer Concert Series is performed rain or shine. You are welcome to bring your own picnic basket (NO ALCOHOL (please) and encouraged to bring a lawn chair. Phone ticket sales through BRPF Office end at Noon on Friday and are available online up to 12 hours before the concert. The Galax Smokehouse serves BBQ, sides and drinks at each concert. Check the website for details about the performers and concerts.

Blue Ridge Music Center Final Concerts for 2014

October 4, 2014 at 4 PM - The Harris Brothers   and  Kitty Amaral and The Stray Cats.  The Harris Brothers are what you might call songsters. They can draw from a vast repertoire of American traditional music - "Americana" is often used to describe their style, but the Harris Brothers just call it music. Their sound is heavily influenced by traditional blues and Appalachian mountain music, jazz, country, and rock n' roll. No matter what the Harris Brothers play, be it originals or old favorites, they have a special way of making the music their own; it's stripped down, intense, and real, with no gimmicks.

Reggie and Ryan Harris were born into a musical family in the foothills of western North Carolina and have been playing and singing since they were children. For the last 17 or so odd years they have honed their skills as a duo, performing everywhere from honkytonks to popular festival stages. They most often perform with just an acoustic guitar, a bass, vocals and an old suitcase used for a kickdrum, with Reggie sometimes switching to fiddle, banjo, or electric guitar.

Kitty Amaral began fiddling at age five in Southwestern Virginia. She formed the band "Kitty & the Stray Cats" with her mentors in Old-Time Music in recent years. She has a unique collection of songs and tunes ranging from Southwestern Virginia and the Carolina Appalachians to Oklahoma, Ozarks, and beyond. The band includes; Donna Correll on bass, Kyle Dean Smith on banjo and Harrol Blevins on guitar with occasional guest artists on the mandolin. The band shares unique songs and tunes which may otherwise be lost from recent repertoire lists, as well as many favorites still popular today.

October 11 at 4 PM - The Steep Canyon Rangers  and  The New Spring Valley Boys.  You won't want to miss The Blue Ridge Music Center's 2014 Concert Season Finale with Grammy Award Winning Bluegrass Group The Steep Canyon Rangers and guests, The New Spring Valley Boys. 

Come early for a special Pre-Show Music and Mingle Artist Reception sponsored by Creek Bottom Brews of Galax. The Pre-Show Reception will be held in the breezeway of the Music Center beginning at 2 PM. Only 100 tickets will be sold for the Pre-Show Reception, so be sure to get yours early.

• Pre-Show Music Mingle Artist Reception will feature beer (provided by Galax VA's own Creek Bottom Brews), wine, and heavy hors d'oeuvres. All included with ticket purchase price. 

• Tickets for the Pre-Show Music-Mingle Artist Reception are $50 (includes a reserve seat at the concert) and are on sale now. For tickets call the offices of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation at # 866-308-2773 x 245. 

• Individual concert tickets are $20. 

• Ticket Package (Concert Ticket + Pre-Show Reception Ticket ) is $50.

• Concert tickets can be purchased through the online website box office www.BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org/10-11.htm or by calling the offices of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation at # 866-308-2773 x 245.

The Steep Canyon Rangers are an American bluegrass band from Brevard, North Carolina. In 2013 their album Nobody Knows You won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. The previous year, their 2012 collaboration with Steve Martin, Rare Bird Alert, was nominated for the same award.

The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awarded Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers Entertainer of the Year in 2011. In 2008, the band received nominations from the IBMA for Album of the Year and Gospel Performance of the Year. The Steep Canyon Rangers have been nominated for the 2014 IBMA Awards, this time in the Instrumental Record Performance of the Year category, for the song "Graveyard Fields," written by mandolin player Mike Guggino, from the bands most recent album release Tell The Ones I Love. The Steep Canyon Rangers recently partnered with the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and Bonesteel Films to protect Graveyard Fields, one of the Blue Ridge Parkway's most treasured spots.  

The Asheville-based bluegrass band and the film company have created a public service video to help the foundation with its fundraising efforts to complete an improvement project at Graveyard Fields, located at Parkway Milepost 418 near Asheville and Brevard, as well as other projects along the Parkway. The PSA appears online at www.brpfoundation.org/GraveyardFields.

The band's instrumental, "Graveyard Fields," accompanies scenes of the spot along the parkway. The band's mandolin player, Mike Guggino, wrote the song for the groups' latest album, Tell The Ones I Love.

The Blue Ridge Music Center is operated by The National Park Service, and the Music Center's programming is coordinated through a partnership with the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.  The Music Center is located north of Boone NC at Milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, 700 Foothills Road in Galax VA.

Blue Ridge Music Center Concert Tonight Features Dom Flemous

June 7, 2014    Blue Ridge Music Center Concert Dom Flemons   Hear the "American Songster," pulling from traditions of old-time folk music to create new sounds. Having performed music professionally since 2005, Flemons has played live for over one million people just within the past three years. As part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, which he co-founded with Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson, he has played at a variety of festivals spanning from the Newport Folk Festival to Bonnaroo, in addition to renowned venues such as the Grand Ole Opry.

The concert begins at 7 PM. $10 for adults, Children 12 and under free. For information on all shows and tickets call: (276) 236-5309 x112 or purchase online. 

Bluegrass Gospel at The Blue RIdge Music Center

August 24 at The Blue Ridge Music Center - Two bluegrass gospel-bands, the Gospel Plowboys and Travis Frye and Blue Mountain, take the stage at the Center.  

Travis Frye and Blue Mountain is a multi-generational bluegrass band that honors the Appalachian roots of the music while adding a modern twist. With members spanning from North Carolina to South Carolina, the band incorporates spirited fiddle and banjo tunes along with modern selections from country, bluegrass, and gospel traditions, as well as original material.
The band has performed on historic radio and television shows such as The Merry-Go-Round in Mount Airy, North Carolina, the Blueridge Backroads in Galax, Virginia, and PBS's Song of the Mountains in Marion, Virginia. They have also had the honor of playing for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway at Appalachian State University and the Blue Ridge Music Center. Members include Kernersville's Travelin' Travis Frye, host for The Afternoon Show on WPAQ radio, on guitar, Hunter Motts of Spartanburg, SC, on banjo, Henry Mabe of Walnut Cove, NC, on fiddle, Mount Airy's Tim Frye, host of Mountain Morning and Mountain Midday on WPAQ radio, on mandolin, and Renee Martin of Belews Creek, NC on bass.


The Gospel Plowboys are a bluegrass-gospel group that is dedicated to spreading the gospel through their music. Based out of Safe Harbor Baptist Church, in Salisbury, NC, Pastor Rick Perry has been a guiding mentor since the very conception of the group. The Gospel Plowboys include: David Murph on mandolin, vocals, John Goodson - banjo, Michael Jenkins - guitar, vocals, David Brown - guitar, vocals and Andrew Brown - bass, guitar, vocals.  The band's musicianship and three or four-part harmonies singing stand out but it is their conviction and sincerity that really shines through during their gospel performances.


The Bluegrass Gospel concert starts at 7 PM on Saturday. Gates open at 5:30 PM and tickets are $10 with Children 12 and under free. All ticket sales support the daily free programs and non-profit traditional music concert series. Advance tickets are available at the Blue Ridge Music Center, Barrs Fiddle Shop, the Galax Visitor Center, online or by calling (276) 236-5309 x112.

The Blue Ridge Music Center has mainstage concerts through September 15th in the outdoor amphitheater at the foot of beautiful Fisher Peak. Check the website for a schedule. Also enjoy free Mid Day Mountain Music 12-4 PM daily and the free Roots of American Music museum open 10 AM-5 PM daily.

Concerts are made possible with the support of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and National Park Service. The Blue Ridge Music Center is located at milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway only 10 miles from Galax, Virginia and 20 miles from Mount Airy, North Carolina. Music Center hours: 10 AM-5 PM everyday. Bring a picnic, folding chairs, your friends and the whole family! No alcohol or pets. Smokehouse BBQ available on concert nights.