An Underappreciated Treasure
A plea for locals, wanderers, and the weary-hearted to discover the music waiting just up the road
By Clay Hipp
Watson Stage, Merlefest, Wilkesboro Community College, North Carolina
Since I arrived in North Carolina, I have been attending a marvelous musical event called MerleFest.
It happens during the last weekend in April and began in the spring of 1988. It began very small as a celebration of Doc Watson’s son Merle, who died in a tractor accident, on the flatbed of a trailer. It was meant to be a one-year thing, but the musicians who played along with Doc’s neighbors would not let it die, and it has been an annual event ever since. It is now held on the campus of the community college, with thirteen venues spread over the campus for a four-day weekend.
I first attended in 1994 and seldom miss it. Here is my concern. My home in Winston-Salem is less than an hour away. Ever since I fell for it, I have urged, preached, to locals that they must attend.
For a variety of reasons, very few have responded positively to my plea:
Bluegrass? Ugh.
Wilkesboro? Really?
Are there crowds?
What, no alcohol? Etc., etc., ad infinitum.
Too bad.
The very first year I went, I sat with people from Ireland, Seattle, Hudson’s Bay, Canada. They were flabbergasted to learn that so few locals attended.
I was moved to try once more with a more general (and, I hope, accepting) audience.
Here is my pitch:
Last Saturday afternoon, I sat with about a thousand animated people and, over three hours, listened to, in turn:
— a young Irish duo, DUG, (guitar and banjo) who started out “busking” in front of the Burger King in Dublin. About thirty, they write most of their stuff and play Irish traditional as well. To add to their sound, one wears a tambourine around an ankle and the other drums with one foot. Engaging, and funny, and self-effacing. It felt as if we had been transported to a pub.
— a Norwegian ensemble of seven members named Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra, featuring all the usual instruments, a fine female lead, and very fine four-part harmony and mostly original songs. You can catch them on YouTube and “U” should.
— a Swiss brother act called the Kruger Brothers, who immigrated after playing MerleFest in 1997. They now live in Wilkesboro and tour worldwide. Jens plays the finest banjo you will ever hear and Uwe is one of the hottest guitar pickers around (no one else could keep up with Jens). Jens also writes long classical pieces for banjo and string quartet.
Then throw in a cover of a Bob Marley album by a San Francisco band, The Waybacks (and friends), on a hillside stage that feels like a smaller version of Woodstock, with thousands gathered at the open-air stage and on the steep slopes.
Finally, an Americana/roots band named Railroad Earth that hails from New Jersey and features an array of bluegrass instruments, percussion, and full keyboard, and call it a musical afternoon to remember (whether you come from across the world or fifty miles away).
Also one would be remiss to mention Sam Bush (one of the great bluegrass heroes), who played a set later that night as he has every year since MerleFest began (along with several others). He is certainly one of the “treasures” to be discovered and admired.
Who could turn down such a wide diversity in styles to celebrate a Carolina spring?
Do not be that person! Leave your weary selves behind.
Time is all we have—let’s spend it more wisely.
An Anecdote:
I once met a lovely woman from the Mendocino coast who worked in a tasting room of a winery and hosted a bluegrass show on a remote public radio station. When she heard where I was from she asked, “Do you know about MerleFest? I have always wanted to go.” We made tentative plans for her to come and stay with us the next spring. She called a month or so before and, with regret, revealed that she was being treated for cancer and could not come. We agreed to try the next year or the next, but it never happened. One of those great disappointments of life.
Do not put off your dreams.
Great music hath charms. Start your own tradition at MerleFest in the spring.
You will never know until you try it.
A small listening companion for the essay above:
Merlefest Favorites 2026. Click image below to open the full playlist on YouTube.
