Raleigh, NC continues bluegrass festival tradition with Raleigh Wide Open
Jason Carter at the 2025 Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival – photo © Todd Gunsher This story on the continuation of the free weekend bluegrass festival in Raleigh, NC after IBMA moved to Chattanooga is a contribution from Greg Behr. For more than a decade now, bluegrass has been part of the rhythm of Raleigh. […]
Raleigh announces 2025 Wide Open Music Festival
As the had promised to do in the event that the International Bluegrass Music Association should move its convention away from Raleigh, NC, the city, in conjunction with Pinecone, has announced a free weekend music festival downtown on the first weekend in October. The Wide Open Music Festival, which took place immediately following the IBMA’s […]
IBMA rebrands weekend festival as Bluegrass Live!
Since the very beginning, the International Bluegrass Music Association has wrapped up its annual convention and business conference with a big music party, featuring top artists in the field. With the World of Bluegrass convention occurring during the week, the follow-up festival would fill the weekend after the business was concluded. Over the years it [...] Tara’s last day at Wide Open Bluegrass 2019
Family Sowell at Wide Open Bluegrass 2019 - photo © Tara Linhardt Saturday was a jam-packed day at Wide Open Bluegrass, full of all sorts of great music from bluegrass legends, to hot new acts on the scene, and young soon-to-be rising stars. There were also some fun, family-friendly activities downtown. I noticed for the [...] Saturday images from Wide Open Bluegrass ’19
Molly Tuttle at the Red Hat for Wide Open Bluegrass 2019 - photo by Frank Baker Here are some more photos from the final day of IBMA week in Raleigh, the Wide Open Bluegrass Festival at the Red Hat Amphitheater. For the first time this year, admission to the Red Hat shows was free, at [...] Friday scenes from Wide Open Bluegrass
Billy Hurt at Wide Open Bluegrass 2019 - photo © Tara Linhardt On Friday at Wide Open Bluegrass there were so many stages going, with great music all day and much of the night, both indoors and outdoors, that there was definitely something for everyone. Some of my favorite musical acts were on the Youth [...] Delebration closes out Wide Open Bluegrass
Delebration, an all-star jam with Del McCoury, ands the 2019 Wide Open Bluegrass - photo by Frank Baker The IBMA closed out their big annual festival, Wide Open Bluegrass, with an all-star jam based around our patriarch, Del McCoury, and his very talented family. Joining Del on stage were Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Dierks Bentley, [...] College bluegrass bands at Wide Open Bluegrass 2019
Nothing highlights the explosive growth of bluegrass music among young people than the number of college programs offering instruction, and even full degree programs, in the music. The International Bluegrass Music Association will be showcasing as many as a dozen performance groups from these programs during this year's Wide Open Bluegrass events in September, presented [...] Wide Open Bluegrass now a free event!
The International Bluegrass Music Association has announced this morning that their Wide Open Bluegrass event, held each year at the Red Hat Ampitheater in Raleigh, NC, will become a free festival starting in 2019. Not just the Wide Open Street Festival, held along Fayetteville Street downtown, which has been open to the public from its [...] More photos from Wide Open Bluegrass and the Awards Show
We're continuing to go through the dozens of great photos Frank Baker took last week in Raleigh. Here are some more from the Wide Open Bluegrass festival at the Red Hat, plus a few from the Red Carpet before the International Bluegrass Music Awards. There are more yet to come, including the StreetFest downtown and [...] 