The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, has announced a stellar lineup of artists for the 34 concerts of the first-ever Mountains of Music Homecoming, June 12-20 in Southwest Virginia.
Over 200 artists will perform at 34 Crooked Road Concerts located in cities and towns all across the 8,600-square-mile Crooked Road Region. 
Over the nine-day festival, Crooked Road Concerts will present an outstanding array of artists in venues across the region including Blue Highway, Seldom Scene, John McCutcheon, Lonesome River Band, Dale Jett & Hello Stranger, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Wayne Henderson & Jeff Little, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Ronnie Reno and the Reno Tradition, and Ralph Stanley II just to name a few.
By special arrangement, Cape Breton’s phenomenal Celtic band Còig, winner of the 2014 Canadian Folk Music Award’s Album of the Year, will play three concerts. Grammy and CMT award-winning violinist Mark O’Connor will perform at Marion, Virginia’s Lincoln Theatre for a taping of the nationally syndicated public television series, “Song of the Mountains.”
In addition to the Crooked Road Concerts, dozens of other concerts will showcase outstanding performers such as the Kruger Brothers as part of the Mountains of Music Homecomings’ cultural experiences. Visiting troubadours are invited to bring their banjos and guitars, pull up a chair, and become part of the sound track at over 30 community jam sessions.
This very special nine-day event features over 260 additional cultural experiences presented by local communities and organizations highlighting the culture of scenic Southwest Virginia.
“Homecomings are an annual, time-honored celebration of families, churches, and communities in the Appalachian mountains,” said Crooked Road president John Kilgore.
“For generations, folks have been coming home each year to sample the patchwork of local color and family traditions that make our small towns unique and special.”
“Our music is the heartbeat of those gatherings,” Kilgore continued. “The songs, the voices and the heartwarming lyrics have inspired musicians worldwide to draw on this exceptional heritage and style. The Mountains of Music Homecoming is an extraordinary opportunity and invitation to people from all over to come home to the magical place where this heritage music was born; to sit and spin with the best of authentic traditional artists while discovering the heart of the mountains that have shaped those sounds.”
Known internationally as a mecca of old-time, bluegrass, and gospel music, The Crooked Road connects the home places of some of the most cherished figures in American music – the Carter Family, the Stoneman Family, the Stanley Brothers, and bluegrass pioneers, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, among others – and spans a region celebrated for its beautiful landscape and seminal contributions to the nation’s art and music.
Travelers seduced by the sweet sound of all that music will also discover first-rate wineries, outstanding cycling, fly-fishing, hiking, theater, galleries and museums, community picnics, pancake breakfasts, and a wealth of unforgettable experiences to wile away the hours between concerts along The Crooked Road.
“We like to think of it as the ‘Ultimate Road Trip,’” said Crooked Road executive director Jack Hinshelwood. “With incredible music as its common thread, the Homecoming is a journey of discovery. It takes visitors to wonderful, uncommon places, knitting them into families of people who have given voice to Appalachian culture. It’s an authentic experience to sit down with the people who live there, to share songs and laugh and dance with them. This is where people make a personal connection with a unique culture that makes this place feel like home even if they don’t live here.”
Mountains of Music Homecoming will feature an exciting range of local tradition bearers and nationally known artists, many of whom will perform in their own home areas. With concerts in major venues, outdoor spaces and country stores, the festival provides guests with a unique opportunity to see many artists at home on the stages that have shaped their fame.
On Friday, June 12, Mountains of Music Homecoming will open with concerts in two Southwest Virginia locations. Bluegrass royalty Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys will take the stage at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, with other National Heritage Award masters for an unforgettable performance. In Galax that evening, “First Lady of Banjo” Roni Stoneman will join the Church Sisters and Steve Barr & The Mastertones for a live radio show broadcast worldwide on WBRF.
Tickets for Crooked Road Concerts and complete event and schedule information on all Homecoming concerts and cultural experiences are available at www.mtnsofmusic.com and are on sale now at Food City stores in Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.
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