Annual Music in the Mountains Folk Festival

Since 1985, the Music in the Mountains Folk Festival has showcased local and regional traditional music. With your support in the way of donations and the purchase of limited-edition t-shirts, we can continue to honor performers and promoters like Sheila K. Adams and past honorees Don Pedi, Wayne Ledford, Rhonda Gouge, Bob Lominac, Bobby McMillon, Bruce Greene, Bob “Happy Feet” Aldridge, and Bill and Judy Carson.

The 2024 Music In the Mountains Festival is coming right up!

Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 14th, at Homeplace Beer Company & Hog Hollow Pizza for an afternoon of workshops, traditional craft vendors and an evening filled with Appalachian music.

Performances by:

• Suzannah Park – MC
• Old Timey musician Travis Stuart and friends
• Festival Honoree Terry McKinney and friends
• Bluegrass band White Rock Revival
• Dancers from Appalachian Performing Arts

The festivities begin at 2pm with workshop opportunities. Workshops allow festival attendees to engage with performers in an intimate setting while learning and are great for those who are looking to participate in addition to watching the performances. Our committee is excited to announce the three 2024 festival workshop opportunities.

Each workshop has a fee of $35 per participant and will run from 2-3:30.

• Harmony Singing with Suzannah Park – Register here.
• Banjo with Travis Stuart – Register here.
• Fiddle with William Ritter – Register here.

Suggested donation for attending is $15.

If you would like to be an event sponsor or make a donation directly to the event, please contact Alena Applerose, Toe River Arts Community Outreach Coordinator at alena@toeriverarts.org or by phone 828-765-0520.

2024 Honoree: Terry McKinney

This year’s festival honoree is local legend, Terry McKinney. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate his many contributions to our local music tradition.

Terry McKinney was born in Spruce Pine and grew up in Mitchell and McDowell counties surrounded by traditional mountain music, and he has been singing and playing music most of his life.

Having a dry-cell radio at home before they had electricity, “The family would gather around that old radio and listen to the Grand Ole Opry,” Terry remembers. “But that was like the pre-show,” he continues. “When it was over, they’d be excited and go to pickin’ live.” Terry and his cousins would play on the porch in the summer and in the living room during winter. His mother played guitar and piano, and she showed Terry his first chords on both instruments.

Terry was also influenced by musicians in the community and beyond through a thriving local music scene. He listened to the Carolina Barn Dance broadcast live in Spruce Pine and later the Farm Air radio program, both of which featured local and touring musicians. Terry remembers hearing the Carter Family, Bill Monroe, and Grandpa Jones, as well as local stars Clyde Moody and Scotty and Lula Belle Wiseman. Scotty and Lula Belle invited him on stage to sing with them when he was a teenager, an experience that had a profound impact on Terry. “I always give someone an opportunity if they want a chance to sing on stage,” he says.

He was an eager learner. Terry had a friend in Marion, Robert Hollifield, whose mother played like Maybelle Carter, and he remembers sitting at her side studying the way she played. Terry played at house parties with as many musicians as he could. “I wanted to get with anyone better than me, surround myself with the best I could find.” he says. “It seemed like everybody played different back then.” Years later he played with Clyde Moody, one of Bill Monroe’s early guitarists and lead singers and a Grand Ole Opry veteran. Terry studied the way Moody presented the music and worked the microphone and crowd.

Terry, like many musicians, has done other kinds of work to make a living, but music is his first love. Bands have been part of his life for many years. When he was drafted in the Army, he formed a band and played gigs in and around Newport News. On his return to western North Carolina, he played with the Gate City Ramblers for a number of years, performing in the Glenwood, then Gate City, Opry House. Terry also played with a local group, Clear Creek, for about 15 years playing traditional bluegrass. He formed a family band with his brother Jack, who plays fiddle, and Jack’s wife Arzella, and they played for about 20 years.

Come out and see Terry McKinney and friends at Music In the Mountains 2024!

2021 Honoree: Don Pedi

Read more about 2021’s event and honoree Don Pedi.