The Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina helps visitors find traditional music in the mountains and foothills.
There are concerts, festivals and small venues throughout the state where you can hear this heritage first hand.
MerleFest
25 to 29 April 2019.
MerleFest is the state's most famous festival, attracting more than 75,000 and it is considered one of the premier music festivals in the country.
The event features artists spread across 13 stages in Wilkesboro and focuses on many types of traditional and folk music.
There is also theWilkes Heritage Museum and Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame.
Mountain Dance and Folk Festival
August 2019
Downtown Asheville stages the oldest continuing festival of traditional mountain music and dance in the country
Mount Airy Bluegrass and Old-Time Fiddler's Convention
1 and 2 June 2019
Always held the first weekend in June, this family friendly event brings together musicians and fans for two full days of competitions, jam sessions, dancing, singing, education and family entertainment.
The festival, established in 1972, is dedicated to old-time and bluegrass music, as well as dance.
It now attracts hundreds of musicians and thousands of mountain music fans.
www.mountairyfiddlersconvention.com
Additional attractions include the Old-Time Music Heritage Hall at the Earle Theatre, also home to the weekly live mountain-music radio show "Merry-Go-Round" and the annual Tommy Jarrell Festival.
Red, White and Bluegrass Festival
July 2019
Every year at the beginning of July, thousands of bluegrass fans converge on the Catawba Meadows Park in Morganton for one of the state's large music events.
What grew out of the city's Fourth of July celebration now boasts a lineup of more than 30 of the biggest names in bluegrass.
www.redwhiteandbluegrassfestival.com
North Carolina also offers opportunities to enjoy live music in more intimate surroundings.
Zuma Coffee
Downtown Marshall, bordered on the south by the French Broad River and the north by the sheer stone face of a mountain, hosts weekly bluegrass jams at Zuma Coffee.
Open Mic nights on Wednesday feature a rotation of talented local musicians in a variety of genres.
Thursday is reserved for bluegrass as Marshall resident and bluegrass pioneer Bobby Hicks leads a jam session that attracts fans and players from near and far.
The mountain music and dance event also takes place every Friday evening at the nearby Depot.
Jam Sessions at the T. M. Rickman General Store
Every Friday afternoon from May to October, the Friends of Rickman's Store holds an open bluegrass an old-time jam session on the upstairs porch overlooking the Little Tennessee Valley.
Inside, community volunteers are on hand with displays of vintage store equipment, furnishings, and local crafts.
Drexel Barber Shop
One of the more quaint musical venues on the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina is the tiny barber shop in the tiny town of Drexel.
The shop is a gathering place for Bluegrass musicians and they host a big jam session every Saturday.
Alleghany Jubilee
Every Saturday evening 100 or more dancers from around northwestern North Carolina converge upon the historic Spartan Theater to dance the mountain two-step to the music of some of the region's most popular traditional groups.
On Tuesdays, there's another bluegrass and old-time picking session with dancing.
Traditional singing
Traditional singing takes on different forms in the mountains.
Lamar Lunsford Festival
First Saturday in October.
A feature at the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Festival is the ballad and story swaps, intimate performances where audience members get a chance to get to know the singers.
Snowbird Mountain Singing
Cherokee hymn singing is a uniquely Cherokee tradition that evolved with the shape-note harmony singing tradition.
Local churches and choirs around the Snowbird Cherokee community continue the practice of singing shape-note hymns in the Cherokee language.
The largest occurs the second weekend in July at the Little Snowbird Baptist Church.