Tens of thousands of bluegrass fans and musicians are converging on downtown Raleigh this weekend for the annual World of Bluegrass event hosted by the International Bluegrass Music Association, the city of Raleigh and PineCone, the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music.
The festival features more than 100 bands from all over the world including Grammy winner Molly Tuttle, a bluegrass band from Korea, and even a guest slot by Steve Martin.
David Brower, executive director of PineCone, joined WUNC to talk about what to expect at this year's festival.
This is an excerpt of an edited transcript of that conversation. You can hear the full interview by clicking the LISTEN button at the top of this post.
There have been efforts at diversifying the festival over the last few years. How is that paying off in 2023?
"We've been working really hard to make sure that the festival reflects the community that we serve. And we think it was you'll see that when you come out to the festival because not only do you have the tried and true bluegrass performers, you've also got some exciting new young folks like an all-Black string band that's led by my colleague Tray Wellington, Jake Blount, Kaia Kater and Nelson Williams. It's a really exciting new band that's coming to the stage on Saturday night.
"You've also got the Gospel Jubilators and you've got the band that you mentioned, who are my new best friends, Country GongBang, from Korea — they're all 20-somethings. And when they're not listening to K-pop, they are just rocking out to some really banging bluegrass. I mean, they play straight ahead bluegrass, but sung in Korean. It's really exceptional."
What does it look like when you walk around downtown Raleigh during this festival?
"It's just a sea of people. And it's really common to see three generations of people from this part of the Piedmont coming together to enjoy music. All the stages of free. We're having a big square dance Friday and Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. It's just a really good time that people of all ages can come together and let down a little bit. And thanks to your brilliant weather forecasts this morning, it looks like we're going to be in good shape for the weather."
Raleigh has been the fourth home for the festival, but the IBMA is moving on in a couple of years. Is there a plan to host a similar event in Raleigh after the World of Bluegrass moves on?
"Absolutely, Eric. You know, actually, the festival has always been an activation of the local organizing committee that's PineCone, the Raleigh Convention Center and the greater Raleigh Convention and Visitor's Bureau and a sea of people from across the city of Raleigh, we're helping to produce it. So we've been doing it for the last 11 years. I really look forward to doing it again in 2025. It will have new branding, but the same spirit is going to be alive on the streets of downtown Raleigh, bluegrass, blues, gospel, soul, all kinds of good stuff free and open to the public. So we're really looking forward to continuing all of the things that we've learned."
IMBA World of Bluegrass takes place Sept. 26-30 in Raleigh, N.C.
David Brower is a former program director at WUNC.