The roots of Asheville's ... and Western North Carolina's Music go back a long way... and are firmly grounded in celtic and bluegrass traditions.... but open to more modern-day influences as well.
As Asheville's population has grown in size and sophistication, so has the variety and number of performers and listeners.
There are a myriad of festivals celebrating music in the Asheville area.
Asheville Music Jamboree
"... help us create an event that mirrors the true spirit of Asheville with its picturesque scenery, unbridled talent, and limitless hospitality which has captured the hearts of poets, painters, princes and paupers alike... people have been drawn here from across the map, sharing their talents and ideas to create a cultural tapestry that's enormously rich in diversity and unrivaled beauty. May 23rd through May 25th, AMJam will embrace that diversity and beauty, inviting patrons from all walks of life to enjoy an eclectic mix of world-class entertainment and to celebrate a unique sense of community consciousness that will stay with them for a lifetime.... over 30 talented musical acts on two stages, an impressive children’s compound, full crafter’s village, food vendors, and non-profit organizations to educate and encourage social and ecological consciousness. There will be scheduled workshops, activities, and a kid’s parade, as well as spontaneous drumin’, pickin’ and playin’! ...." 3-day camping, music and arts festival taking place the 3rd weekend in May at Deerfields
Bele Chere "The Southeast's Largest Free Street Festival" 3 days end of July. Music, food and crafts in downtown Asheville.
Bluff Mountain Festival
"... some of the region's best raditional and Bluegrass Music followed by an evening Square Dance." Early June.
Echo Early Music Festival
"... Ancient music comes alive in our week-long midwinter festival and in our ongoing outreach program...." Located in Asheville
The Waybacks doing "City Boy" at the Flat Rock Music Festival. "...I'm tellin ya folks -- there ain't nothing better than down home acoustic jams
in a crusty old wooden shack with everybody stompin their feet to the raucus performances by Nash and Hood. Like what happened out here in Flat Rock, North Kakalaki. That's what we say out here in the country - North Carolina - fer you city boys!..."
Great Smokies
Craft Brewers
Brewgrass Festival
".... Each year in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina, we gather over 30 American breweries to showcase more than 100 different beers. We add a great lineup of national and regional bluegrass musicians that, in the past, has included such notables as Jimmy Martin, J.D. Crowe, The Osborne Brothers, Norman Blake, Tony Trischka, Bad Livers, Valerie Smith, Tony Furtado, Yonder Mountain String Band, and Sons Of Ralph. We also feature a variety of area food vendors and plenty of water. Put all these things together and you have the ingredients for the perfect beer day..." Takes place in September
POPAsheville
"... a 3-day, 34+ band modern music festival held at several indoor venues (including a free shuttle bus that serves as a stage) in Asheville....'
Click on each of the dozens of categories to the left to uncover what makes the Asheville area so vital, so intriguing and so, well, UTTERLY BLISSFUL!
Explore the Bliss of Asheville ...
Via Eric Weiner's new book
The Geography of Bliss
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World: ".... Asheville, North Carolina, with its idyllic mountain setting and proliferation of good restaurants and New Age healing spas, is enjoying a vogue as a happy place to live. As one newly arrived resident puts it, "A lot of people spin the globe and their finger stops on Asheville."
"....the author is correct, nice weather, affordable housing, lovely scenery, and a slower pace of life, yet an active cultural scene..."
I've never been one of those uptight literary types who thinks that you have to have actually read a book in order to recommend it to others. So I feel no trepidation in suggesting Eric Weiner's new travelogue-slash-memoir The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World The premise of the book is simple but intriguing-- here is Amazon's description:
Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness, or, in the crabby author's case, moments of "un-unhappiness." The book uses a beguiling mixture of travel, psychology, science and humor to investigate not what happiness is, but where it is. Are people in Switzerland happier because it is the most democratic country in the world? Do citizens of Singapore benefit psychologically by having their options limited by the government? Is the King of Bhutan a visionary for his initiative to calculate Gross National Happiness? Why is Asheville, North Carolina so damn happy? With engaging wit and surprising insights, Eric Weiner answers those questions and many others, offering travelers of all moods some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.
In the imaginary Netflix queue of books-that-I'm-planning-to-read, this one has just jumped to the top. By the way, why has no one started a Netflix for books? This question, and many more, I'll leave for another day.
How to Get Free Admission to Festivals -- And Enjoy "Behind the Scenes" Camaraderie If you're short of cash and still want to attend a particular music festival that charges admission, check the Volunteerspage of each of these festival websites for ways to volunteer. Many of these festivals will give you free tickets... and even free room and board (or camping) by volunteering a few hours of your time. It's a great way to make friends with kindred spirits... as well as help the festivals out by enabling them to significantly lower the cost of their manpower. Truly a win/win situation.
Some of the Music Festival Volunteer Opportunities
Bele Chere
has numerous volunteer opportunties. Chance to get free admission to paid music concerts and increase your pleasure at Asheville's longest running street festival by participating.
Brevard Music Center
"... Each summer more than 400 students... join professional musicians to eat, breathe and sleep music for seven weeks... students collaborate with faculty and guest artists in more than eighty public performances." BMC uses volunteers for "... mass mailings, landscaping, facilities maintenance, ushering at concerts..."
Echo Early Music Festival
"...Volunteers are needed in many capacities. From ticket-taking to legal consultation to stage construction, you’d be surprised how valuable your skills are...."
Flat Rock Music Festival
(Flat Rock) 3 day weekend in September. Camping available. Awardwinning bands and singer songwriters. Volunteering can earn you a way into the festival for free.
Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF)
takes place both in May and in October and has many volunteer positions available in exchange for a weekend pass to the festival and tent camping.
The Swannanoa Gathering
"...Tuition for volunteers will be waived. Volunteers will be guaranteed their first choice of class and can take others as space and time allow, as well as being able to participate in all other Gathering events...."
Discover the Bliss of Asheville ...
through These Books and Videos.
Finding Your Way in Asheville is ".... a different kind of guide book. Instead of offering glossy photos and paid insertions from big bucks advertisers, it gives you the kind of information you'd get from a best friend who moved to Western North Carolina twenty years ago. "I've discovered the greatest place for a romantic dinner," she'd say. "Just around the corner from Pritchard Park. Here, let me draw you a map." It's a selective guide in that the authors share the places they've come to love while living, working, dining out, partying, biking, hiking, canoeing and raising children in the "Paris of the South."
America's Castles: The Biltmore Estate "...the grandest of all American homes... Biltmore dwarfs all the mansions built by his illustrious forefathers... . a remarkable top-to-bottom tour of the largest home ever built in America. With its 255 rooms, the Biltmore is a monument to the extravagance and eccentricity of its owner. See footage of its construction, and go behind the scenes with the men and women who work there to learn the secrets of this incredible mansion. Get a privileged tour of rooms that are off-limits to the public, and marvel at the magnificent treasures that Vanderbilt collected....."
Biltmore Estate: The Most Distinguished Private Place "... Few people realize what effort it took to design and construct the largest private residence in the United States, but this book details it all from the breaking of the ground to the designing of the curtain rods. This book is one of the best written and most appealing architectural history books ever. The photographs and drawings in it are also to be commended. Many of the pictures offer breathtaking views of the mansion and its grounds as well as showing many vintage photographs taken at various times throughout its construction and times of residence...."
The premise of the book is simple but intriguing-- here is Amazon's description: 
