Header image: OPRY 100 Late Night Jam at MerleFest, Saturday, April 25, 2026. Photo by Kara Leinfelder.
Every year, travelers from around the nation and the world come to Wilkesboro, NC, for MerleFest. While a premier Americana festival globally, MerleFest never forgets to honor its North Carolina roots. The fest always features a bumper crop of Tar Heel talent, from up-and-coming to already legendary. And at 2026’s MerleFest (April 23-26), the beat of NC roots music’s heart was heard loud and clear, from the small stages to the big tents.
This year, Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor proved an instrumental connector of North Carolina talent, both between musicians and between the musicians and new audiences. Old Crow Medicine Show (now based in Boone), Grammy-winners and Americana standbys (“Wagon Wheel”) with twelve LPs under their belts, were discovered busking in Boone, 2000, by none other than Doc Watson himself. And this year, Secor returned the favor to Watson and North Carolina’s music fans. Secor brought OPRY 100, a celebration of the Grand Ole Opry’s hundredth anniversary, to MerleFest’s Late Night Jam. The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville is one of the most hallowed sites in country music history and has hosted everyone from Hank Williams and Patsy Cline to Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, and most every other star in the country firmament. And for Opry 100 at MerleFest, Secor procured period accurate barn backdrops and microphones. The jam turned into a night at the Opry, North Carolina-style. It featured lively sessions between Charlie Starr, AJ Lee, Maggie Rose, The Creekers, Jim Lauderdale, Donna the Buffalo, and a host of others.
The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and the NC Arts Council’s Come Hear NC Music Office were happy to represent at MerleFest 2026. DNCR Secretary Pamela B. Cashwell summed her experience at the festival: “This year at MerleFest, we were thrilled to have an America 250 NC booth and airstream so that we could share information on this important commemoration. Our presence at MerleFest helps celebrate North Carolina music and the NC Arts Council's Come Hear NC Music Office.”
Come Hear NC Music Office’s Creative Economies Music Director, Kara Leinfelder, stayed busy all festival long – documenting NC artists’ performances while making connections with new artists and strengthening ties with existing friends of CHNCMO. To hear Leinfelder tell it, everywhere you turned at MerleFest 2026, you’d run into a musician, music educator, and/or music lover showing out for North Carolina, often both a supporter of and supported by CHNCMO and DNCR.
For example, two teachers in the North Carolina Arts Council’s JAMs (Junior Appalachian Musicians) programs were in full effect at MerleFest. Musicians Carol Rifkin (Asheville) and Laura Boosinger (Asheville) both performed community building functions during the fest: Rifkin hosted the Traditional Tent showcase of mostly NC artists, extending the curatorial work she does on her radio show “The Old Porch,” while on Sunday, Boosinger ran her annual teaching session in the trad tent. The latter has also been a long-time supporter of the Come Hear NC Music Office, advocating for and contributing to its work, including emceeing past events. Her band with Mike Compton, The Knackered Ramblers, also performed during the fest. Other friends of the Come Hear NC Music Office making a splash at MerleFest included The Kruger Brothers (featured artists at DNCR initiatives Tar Heel Troubadours and the Moonshine and Motorsports concert series), Fireside Collective (Tar Heel Troubadours), and 2018 North Carolina Arts Council Heritage Award winner Tony Williamson unleashed his Mando Mania set, which also featured Deep Gap’s Liam Purcell.
Collaborations between artists demonstrated the congenial, downhome spirit of camaraderie that unites NC musicians across stages in their career. Dom Flemons, co-founder of The Carolina Chocolate Drops, played with banjoist Trey Wellington (West Jefferson) on the Watson main stage; ballad singer/2026 South Arts Emerging Artist Donna Ray Norton sang powerful duets with Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show at the intimate Cabin Stage and OPRY 100; elsewhere, informal jams sprung up in parking lots, campgrounds, and hotel rooms, underlining the vernacular, homey origins of the “traditional plus” musical celebrations at MerleFest.
As with hip-hop, in which music is just one element of the culture, at MerleFest many folk and folk-adjacent arts were on display. For example, flatfoot dancer Arthur Grimes (Boone) hoofed it on many stages during the fest, and the Spruce Pine Cloggers (Billy Jackson, Madison and MacKenzie Casteel) graced both the Cabin and Auditorium stages. Elsewhere, craft making booths let kids exercise their creativity, while The Scrap Exchange (Durham) provided tactile exploration activities for young and old. Visual art exhibits were on display on the Wilkesboro Community College campus.
As Leinfelder’s extensive notes on her activities at MerleFest detail, the North Carolina contribution to the proceedings didn’t stop with the above. For a few special days, the Wilkesboro air was suffused with Tar Heel sounds. A list of additional fine North Carolinian performances at MerleFest, while inelegant, is necessary to capture the number and variety of NC artists represented: the fresh-faced Carolina Detour (Wilkesboro, Statesville) played the Little Pickers stage and Reid West of Roaring River once, Presley Barker (Traphill) popped up for various sets, Fancy & the Gentlemen (Asheville) competed in the Band Competition, Chapel Hill’s Honey Magpie entertained the Plaza Stage, Sister Sadie (Fayetteville) performed a rousing Creekside set, and Doc Watson’s bassist T. Michael Coleman (Mayodan) made many appearance throughout the proceedings. Oak Ridge’s The Ghosts of Liberty rocked the Plaza Stage, Asheville’s Zoe & Cloyd played Creekside twice, Greensboro’s Smitty and the Jump Starters got feet tapping at the Dance Stage, as did Winston-Salem’s Mo-Grass. Charlotte’s Crystal Fountains played the Plaza Stage on Saturday, Boone/Todd’s Jeff Little Trio performed on multiple stages, as did Doc and Merle tourmate Joe Smothers. Country singer-songwriter Kyle Horton and Christian Smith of Boone played the Plaza, while Mike Compton and DNCR-alum Joe Newberry appeared as Compton & Newberry at Creekside and on the Trad stage. Then, amid fierce competition, singer-songwriting roots rocker Pressley Laton of Boone/Albermarle won the MerleFest band competition.
Perennial fan favorites like the aforementioned Old Crow Medicine Show, Jim Lauderdale (Troutman), and Steep Canyon Rangers (Asheville, Brevard) charmed multiple audiences at MerleFest 2026. Lauderdale has supported countless Come Hear NC initiatives, and most recently starred on the PBS NC/Come Hear NC Music Office co-production Shaped by Sound.
So: while MerleFest has become a national and international destination for bluegrass and “traditional plus” fans, DNCR and the Come Hear NC Music Office are proud to say that the festival remains true blue to its North Carolinian roots. So it is, and so shall it be!