MerleFest Details 30th Celebration Initial Lineup

The 30th annual MerleFest will take place on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina April 27 – 30. Today, organizers of the long-running bluegrass festival have revealed the initial lineup for next year’s event.

Headliners for the 2017 installment of MerleFest include Zac Brown Band, Del McCoury Band, Sam Bush Band and Jerry Douglas. The Zac Brown Band will play a special acoustic set at the event. Peter Rowan, Jim Lauderdale, The Waybacks, Scythian, Banknotes and Happy Traum are also among the dozens of MerleFest ’17 acts revealed today. Look for additional lineup announcements soon.

“Throughout the years, one of the major factors that has built and sustained MerleFest,” said festival director Ted Hagaman, “is the quality of the artists and performances our guests see over the four days of the festival. People truly feel the festival is a great value. That’s probably best expressed by the fact that so many music fans and families return year after year, making MerleFest an annual homecoming every spring. We’re tremendously proud of what we’ve collectively built over the past 30 years and look forward to celebrating this milestone April 27-30, 2017.”

Early bird tickets have just been put on sale.

MerleFest 2017 Initial Lineup (In Alphabetical Order)

Alberti Flea Circus, Todd Albright, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Jim Avett, Banknotes, The BattleAxe Band, Bethel University Renaissance Bluegrass Band, Roy Book Binder, The Bluegrass Experience, Laura Boosinger & The Midnight Plowboys, Mark, “Brink” Brinkman, Zac Brown Band, Andy Buckner, Mark Bumgarner, Sam Bush Band, Chatham County Line, T. Michael Coleman, The Contenders, J.P. Cormier, Counterclockwise String Band, Dear Brother, Pat Donohue, Jerry Douglas, John Doyle, Eric Ellis, Flando Calrissian, Scott Freeman, Front Country, The Gravy Boys, The Green Grass Cloggers and Strictly Strings, Mitch Greenhill, Virgil Harden & the Appalachian Countdown, Nate Harris and Spice Creek Ramblers, Wayne Henderson, Bob Hill, David Holt, The Hook & Bullet, I Draw Slow, The InterACTive Theatre of Jef, Steve James, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, Jim Lauderdale, Jack Lawrence, Jeff Little Trio, The Local Boys, Locust Honey String Band, Lydia Luce, Claire Lynch, Bill Mathis, Andy May, Del McCoury Band, Pat McInerney, Mountain Heart, Megan Nash, Carol Rifkin and Jeanette Queen, Roanoke, Peter Rowan, Scythian, ShadowGrass, Steve and Ruth Smith, Joe Smothers, Ed Snodderly, The Stray Birds, String Madness with Mitch Greenhill, Surry Line, Bryan Sutton Band, Swift Creek, 10 String Symphony, Ken Tizzard, The Trailblazers, Happy Traum, Uncle Joe and the Shady Rest, The Waybacks, The WBT Briarhoppers, Charles Welch, Pete & Joan Wernick, Uncle Ted White, Tony Williamson