Where culture meets community

Amidst all of last year’s romping, stomping, clogging and dancing during Folkmoot USA, one event may have slipped off the radar of festival attendees.

Folkmoot Festival: an international presence

The 34th annual Folkmoot Festival in Waynesville kicks off Thursday, July 20 and will again feature close to 300 performers from 10 countries eager to introduce Americans to their native clothing, culture, dance and music during almost 30 appearances across Haywood County and the surrounding region through July 30.

This must be the place: ‘Would you like to know a secret, just between you and me?’

Those who forget history, tend to...

Well, you know the rest. Nowadays, it seems each morning we awaken into another national and international crisis. Be afraid of the Russian influence on America. Be afraid of nuclear war. Be afraid of presidential and political scandals. Be afraid of the Middle East and terrorism. Be afraid of racial and social divides. Be afraid of economic depression and lack of employment.

‘Galaxy of Stars’ now ‘WCU PRESENTS’

The “WCU PRESENTS” performance series, previously known as “Galaxy of Stars” brings professional artists from around the world to the Bardo Arts Center performance hall. Season Subscriptions and Multi-Pass Ticket Packs are now available to the public; single tickets will become available Aug. 1.

Theme for a celebration: Empire Strikes Brass to headline Folkmoot ‘Sunday Soiree’

At the heart of Asheville is a funky soul. And providing the soundtrack to that carefree and self-less attitude of the city and greater Western North Carolina is Empire Strikes Brass.

‘It’s five past five and time to jive’: Moonlighting mailman’s star won’t fade

As the sun rises over Papertown one bright morning in 1958, a 30-year-old African-American by the name of Nathaniel Lowery wakes up and, like hundreds of others, heads for the mill.

Music from inside the Great Pyramid

Looking for something unique and different? Then I’ve got something for you.

Cataloochee Ranch welcomes Chatham County Line

If you want to understand the history of bluegrass music, you need to look at its entire spectrum — of sound, of intent — as one large tree. With the deep, sturdy roots that are Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Dr. Ralph Stanley, and so on, the trunk is the culmination of those roots, with each growing branch another avenue of creative possibility and sonic exploration.

Play me that mountain music

With Memorial Day right around the corner, the fun in the sun of summer in the mountains is here, ready to surprise and delight any and all.

Rivers that I’ve crossed: Unspoken Tradition rolls into Sylva

The key element of bluegrass music is the “unspoken” — in practice, in performance and in personality. 

Whether you’re 8 years old or 80, the foundation of bluegrass lies in its traditions, where knowledge and technique is passed down through the generations. That transition of wisdom is found while strumming in a field at a festival with strangers, chugging along onstage in the heat of a jam with your friends, or pickin’ and grinnin’ on a back porch with family members.

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