Lunsford Festival Returns to In-Person Performances at Mars Hill University

55th Edition of Mountain Music Festival Happens October 8

Mars Hill, NC (09/30/2022) — The Bascom Lamar Lunsford Mountain Music Festival returns to the Mars Hill University campus on Saturday, October 8, 2022, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. This is the 55th edition of Western North Carolina's second-longest running folk festival, and will be its first in-person edition since 2019. The Madison Heritage Arts Festival takes place at the same time in downtown Mars Hill. Admission to both festivals is free. Limited parking is available on the university campus and a shuttle service will run from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. from the Ingles supermarket parking lot on N.C. 213 (Cascade Street).

Musical performances will take place on the Lunsford Commons, traditionally known as the Upper Quad of the campus, adjacent to College Street. A highlight of the day is the 10:50 a.m. presentation of the 2022 Bascom Lamar Lunsford Award, which will be given to fiddler Bobby Hicks. The Bascom Lamar Lunsford Award has been given out since 1980 to individuals who have made significant contributions to the folk, musical, and/or dance traditions of the Southern Appalachian mountain region.

In a career spanning more than 60 years Hicks has performed with some of country and bluegrass music's best, starting with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys and including a 22-year stint with Ricky Skaggs. He also has performed with Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys, Earl Scruggs, J. D. Crowe and the New South, Porter Wagoner, and other greats. Hicks played on five Grammy-winning releases, three gold albums, and one platinum album. He was inducted into the Fiddlers Hall of Fame in 2002. Mars Hill University graduate and fellow Lunsford Festival performer Brandon Johnson will present the award to Hicks.

More than 30 performers are scheduled to participate in this year's festival. In addition to Hicks and Johnson, the lineup includes Sheila Kay Adams, Roger Howell, Laura Boosinger, Jerry Sutton, William Ritter, Sara Nell Chase, the Junior Appalachian Musicians Program, ETSU's Old Time Ramblers, and Mars Hill University's Bailey Mountain Cloggers, among others.

The Lunsford Festival features a ballad swap at which keepers of the ballad tradition share traditional ballads. Bascom Lamar Lunsford was an avid collector of ballads and many of his ballad transcriptions can be found in MHU's Southern Appalachian Archives. This year's ballad swap will take place in Owen Theatre from 1:30-3:30 p.m. and will be dedicated in memory of ballad singers Lena Jean Ray and Bobby McMillon.

The Lunsford Festival also will pay tribute to the late musicians Arvil Freeman and David Robinson.

Bascom Lamar Lunsford dedicated his life to traveling the Appalachian Mountains to find, memorize, and record the songs and dances so intimately woven into the mountain culture. He started the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville in 1928, and from there was enlisted to help start the National Folk Festival. He became instrumental in the creation of multiple festivals throughout the United States, but it wasn't until Mars Hill pharmacist Ed Howard formulated a plan to name a festival in honor of Lunsford that he ever let one of his festivals carry his name. It was only with persistence and flexibility that Howard was able to convince Lunsford to allow the festival in his hometown of Mars Hill to be named the Bascom Lamar Lunsford "Minstrel of Appalachia" Festival, and then only with the clear understanding the festival would be dedicated to authentic mountain music and dance.

For updates and information, visit the festival website at www.LunsfordFestival.com or contact festival director Leila Weinstein at (828) 689-1115 or lweinstein@mhu.edu.

About the Ramsey Center for Appalachian Studies:
The Liston B. Ramsey Center for Appalachian Studies at Mars Hill University connects the campus with the wider community to explore the history, culture, and environment of the Southern Appalachian region. The Ramsey Center preserves and provides access to resources for this study through its Southern Appalachian Archives. The Center shares Mars Hill University's commitment to local and global engagement, to service, and to experiential learning. The Ramsey Center is a proud site on the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina.

About Mars Hill University:
Mars Hill University is a premier private, liberal arts institution offering over 30 baccalaureate degrees, as well as master's degrees in criminal justice, elementary education, teaching, and management. Founded in 1856 by Baptist families of the region, the campus is located just 20 minutes north of Asheville in the mountains of western North Carolina.

www.mhu.edu

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