Bruce weeks performs at the 2018 Armuchee Bluegrass Festival – photo by Bobby Moore
For 35 years now, the Memorial Day weekend edition of the Armuchee Bluegrass Festival has been like old home week for pickers making the trip from rural Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. A small community north of Rome, Georgia hosts the event and an even longer-running Labor Day shindig. Both provide as good an excuse as any to hear a little picking–be it as part of the scheduled entertainment or from any number of impromptu jam sessions in the camping area.
With all due respect to the featured talents, there were no big name acts pulling up in their tour buses. Nor were there high-stakes contests breaking out onstage. That’s no slight at more ambitious events like MerleFest. It’s just that sometimes, it’s rewarding to go see regular folks, playing simply for the love of old-time bluegrass and gospel music.
