This must be the place: ‘Beg, steal or borrow two nickels or a dime to call me on the phone’

Hello from Room 623 at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Owensboro, Kentucky. Just about six and a half hours from my humble abode in Waynesville. Russ Avenue to U.S. 276 to Interstate 40 and backroads through Southern Appalachia to get here. 

Espalin returns to Mountain Layers

Singer-songwriter Wyatt Espalin will hit the stage at 5 p.m. Sunday, March 24, at Mountain Layers Brewing in Bryson City. 

Running wild again: Jesse Iaquinto of Fireside Collective

Celebrating a decade together with a special anniversary gig this week at the Salvage Station in Asheville, Fireside Collective has become a rapidly rising force in the Americana, bluegrass and jam realms in Southern Appalachia and beyond. 

That mountain sound: 'An Appalachian Evening' celebrates 25 years

Celebrating a quarter-century this coming summer, the “An Appalachian Evening” live music series at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center in Robbinsville brings in some of the biggest names in bluegrass, old-time, mountain and Americana music.  

Labor of lust: A talk with Grammy winner, banjo phenom Kyle Tuttle

When it comes to bluegrass banjo, you’d be hard-pressed to find as vivacious and voracious a picker-n-grinner than Kyle Tuttle. 

Casting into the future: A conversation with Woody Platt

On his latest single, “Broke Down Engine,” singer-songwriter Woody Platt teamed up with bluegrass icon Del McCoury.

Fingers like lightning: A Haywood County banjo retrospective

Editor’s Note: Since first rolling into Haywood County in August 2012 to start work as the arts and entertainment editor for The Smoky Mountain News, Garret K. Woodward has been extensively documenting banjo players around our backyard.

Five strings of fury: New book spotlights Haywood banjo legends

In the mid-1960s, when Bill Allsbrook was a med school student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, he decided to pick up the banjo. 

Mountain Heritage Day

A beloved long-time Western North Carolina tradition, the 49th annual Mountain Heritage Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

Franklin welcomes bluegrass legend

Americana/bluegrass artist Darren Nicholson will hit the stage at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, at the gazebo in downtown Franklin.

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