A beloved long-time Western North Carolina tradition, Mountain Heritage Day will spotlight its 50th anniversary from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. 

The annual festival of Southern Appalachian traditions and culture is renowned as a showcase of bluegrass, old-time and traditional music, as well as family activities, artisan demonstrations and the region’s finest arts and crafts booths with dozens of vendors. Food will also be available onsite.

“Mountain Heritage Day is a gift from Western Carolina University to the community and everyone from everywhere is welcome to attend,” said WCU Chancellor Dr. Kelli R. Brown. “This family-oriented festival shows how much we value this incredible, beautiful region we call home and its diverse culture and history.”

On the Ingles Blue Ridge Stage & Front Porch will be a wide-range of local, regional and national acts, including acclaimed bluegrass groups Sister Sadie (1 p.m.) and Balsam Range (2:45 p.m.). Between the live performances, there will also be traditional dance and clogging showcases.

The three-time winners of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) award for “Vocal Group of the Year” (2019, 2020, 2021), Sister Sadie has also taken home “Entertainer of the Year” (2020) and “Fiddle Player of the Year” (2020). With its 2018 record “Sister Sadie II,” the ensemble received a Grammy nomination for “Best Bluegrass Album”

For this week’s IBMA award show, which will be held on Thursday evening in Raleigh, Sister Sadie has been nominated again for “Entertainer of the Year,” “Vocal Group of the Year,” “Song of the Year” and “Album of the Year.”

“It’s an eclectic group of ladies and of musical tastes,” Sister Sadie fiddler Deanie Richardson told The Bluegrass Situation earlier this year. “Our home, our hearts and our souls are in bluegrass music. That’s what we love, that’s our passion, but there’s a lot of room for growth there.”

Since its inception in 2007, Haywood County’s own Balsam Range has become one of the most decorated and award-winning acts in the wide world of bluegrass music.

“The early days were full of excitement, hope, long hours and much effort — setting out-of-reach goals, building teams and strategies to achieve them,” said Balsam Range fiddler Buddy Melton. “We are told our whole lives to follow our dreams [and] dreams only die if we start looking at all the difficulties it takes to achieve them — focusing on the dream, those difficulties are merely steps that help us climb to the top.”

The outfit has taken home the following International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) honors: “Entertainer of the Year” (2014, 2018), “Album of the Year” (2013, 2017), “Song of the Year” (2011, 2015) and “Vocal Group of the Year” (2014, 2015), with Melton named “Male Vocalist of the Year” (2014, 2018) and Tim Surrett “Bass Player of the Year” (2018). 

“I remember how wonderful it made me feel when I first heard Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, then Bill Monroe, then the Stanley Brothers,” said Balsam Range banjoist Marc Pruett. “Earl’s banjo playing went straight to my 10-year-old heart and each time I get to step onstage with my banjo, I try to play with a feeling that will make others get that same spine-tingle that I got then.  There is perfection in the music ‘of the old guys’ that still moves me — I still study it and I still learn.”

Following the festival itself, Mountain Heritage Day will also host a free performance by storied Americana/folk act Old Crow Medicine Show with special guest Lindsay Lou, which will be held at 6 p.m. in the Ramsey Center in the heart of the campus.

Old Crow Medicine Show. File photo

Recently celebrating its 25th anniversary, Old Crow Medicine Show has become one of the most successful and popular Americana acts of this century and beyond.

With a sound that encompasses everything we know and love in country, folk, blues and gospel music, Old Crow, who formed in Boone in 1998, remains a beacon of melodic light. With one foot firmly rooted in tradition and the other in the evolution of tones and textures in acoustic music, the ensemble is a sonic juggernaut, especially when taking the stage in the live realm.

Kicking thing off in the Ramsey Center will be rising Nashville singer-songwriter Lindsay Lou. Originally from Michigan, Lou has become one of the most sought-after performers as of late in Americana, bluegrass and jam-grass circles. With her songbird vocal styling and intricate compositions, Lou is a soothing presence.

“Like Bob Dylan says, ‘I contain multitudes,’” Lou told Rolling Stone last year, with the publication saying “Lou is poised to be the next bluegrass queen.”

Lindsay Lou will play Mountain Heritage Day. Dana Kalachnik photo

Want to go?

The 50th annual Mountain Heritage Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

The festival is free and open to the public. For more information, updates, a full schedule of events/live music and to acquire your free tickets to Old Crow Medicine Show & Lindsay Lou, go to mountainheritageday.com.