Well the music festival season has officially begun!  Locally, the first festival of the season has come and gone with the Graves Mountain Festival of Music.  That event took place last weekend at Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, Virginia and filled the surrounding hills of Madison County with the sounds of bluegrass music over the course of the three-day event.  Next up on a regional level is one of the biggies of the summer, as the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival prepares to get underway next week down in Manchester, Tennessee with a line-up that boasts over 100 bands.

So as a way to honor the ever-growing number of music festivals popping up around the country and on a personal level, as an excuse to travel down memory lane, I thought I’d share my own account of a little music festival that took place in my own backyard (literally) on a sun and star-filled Saturday back in September of 1997 as I put words to page for the first and only Festival on the Farm. »Read More

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Now that the Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, the summer season begins to kick into high gear as many music fans begin to make their plans for a summer filled with music festivals both large and small.  Back at the end of March we highlighted a number of music festivals taking place right here in Virginia and one of the first of those festivals, The Graves Mountain Festival of Music, gets underway tomorrow (Thursday, May 29) in Syria, VA,  just a short drive north of Charlottesville.

The three-day event, which continues on Friday, May 30 and Saturday, May 31, features some of the very best bluegrass musicians performing today alongside some of the genre’s biggest legends.  A few of the artists scheduled to appear include The Steep Canyon Rangers, The Seldom Scene, Blue Highway, Dr. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, and the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band.  Single day tickets and three day passes (which include camping) are still available through Musictoday and can be purchased here.

For more info, including a complete rundown on the festival line-up click here.
For directions to Graves Mountain Lodge click here.
To view our guide to Virginia Summer Music Festivals click here.

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As the music festival season gets underway, what festival or music-related summer road trip is on the itenerary for you this summer?  Bonnaroo?  Floyd Fest?  Rothbury?  Lollapalooza?  Maybe something a little smaller and less well-known?  Let us know we’re you’re heading this summer.  Maybe we’ll see you there!

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As the calendar turns from March into April, spring begins to unfurl in full force here in central Virginia.  And with the return of spring comes a return to outdoor dining on the downtown Mall, backyard barbecues, and hiking trips into the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains. 

Spring also marks the beginning of the outdoor music festival season and in today’s Sunday Feature we remind you to leave a few weekends on your calendar open for what promises to be a jam-packed music festival season.  And here’s the kicker:  You can see it all without even leaving the Commonwealth! (almost).  We’ve got all the details after the jump:

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