CHARM CITY FOLK AND BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2016 FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival features Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Keller Williams & The Travelin’ McCourys, Steep Canyon Rangers and more
Baltimore Management Agency is proud to announce the fourth annual Charm City Folk and Bluegrass Festival at Druid Hill Park on April 30, 2016.
The lineup features country-bluegrass masters Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder; one-man jamband Keller Williams with the first family of bluegrass, The Travelin’ McCourys; North Carolina’s Steep Canyon Rangers; and mandolin sensation Sierra Hull.
Also performing are renowned Baltimore guitarist and singer-songwriter Cris Jacobs, bluegrass-American band Cabinet, Harrisburg, PA-based string band Colebrook Road, and Philadelphia-based bluegrass band Man About a Horse. Opening the festival will be one lucky winner of a battle of the bands contest. Details TBA.
New to this year’s festival is The Bluegrass Academy, where festival performers will give short lessons and discuss their music and playing techniques. As always, there will be an open bluegrass jam throughout the day.
General admission tickets for $64 and VIP tickets for $161 are currently on sale at charmcitybluegrass.missiontix.com. VIP tickets include access to a VIP tent, VIP viewing area, VIP restrooms, a separate entrance, unlimited Union Craft Brewing Beer (within reason), catered lunch, dinner and snacks, discounted festival merchandise, first dibs and half-off tickets to the official late night show and more.
For each ticket sold, the festival will donate $2 to the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens, which sits next to the festival grounds, to support horticulture education programs.
The official after party features Love Canon playing the hits of the ’80s in a bluegrass dance-party style at The 8×10 in Federal Hill. Ticketing info TBA.
Union Craft Brewing returns as the festival’s official beer vendor, and they will be joined by a variety of the area’s finest food and drink vendors.
The festival will also feature a raffle to benefit Believe in Music, a nonprofit that aims to give inner city Baltimore students a multifaceted music education.
After a sold out inaugural festival at Union Craft Brewing in 2013, the festival moved to Baltimore’s iconic Druid Hill Park for the 2014 festival. In 2015, the festival continued to grow, attracting 3,000 attendees. Founders Phil Chorney and Jordan August aim to keep Baltimore’s bluegrass tradition alive and well. Charm City can trace its bluegrass roots back to the 1930s, when Southern Appalachian musicians began migrating to Baltimore seeking work. The music they brought with them made Baltimore a bluegrass haven in the 1950s and 1960s.
Continuing in that tradition, the Charm City Folk and Bluegrass Festival has featured legends Tim O’Brien and Tony Trischka, Grammy award-winning dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas, members of the Punch Brothers as well as a variety of regional talent, including Cris Jacobs and Caleb Stein.
Follow the Charm City Folk and Bluegrass Festival on the web at charmcitybluegrass.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/CharmCityBluegrass.
