Lorraine Jordan & Country Grass at the 2025 Bluegrass in the Blueridge festival – photo © Bill Warren
Bluegrass in the Blueridge kicked off Thursday evening at the Meadowview Convention Center in Kingsport, Tennessee. Lorraine Jordan welcomed everyone and thanked the audience for joining her, and new husband, Tom, on their honeymoon! Doug Whitley handles the mc duties for Lorraine’s shows. Troy Pope is doing the sound reinforcement. Molly Moore is a dedicated volunteer helping everyone get into the show smoothly.
The evening showcased some of the young talent in today’s bluegrass world. Creekwater Collective is a group of youngsters who range in age from 13 to 16. Three of the four are already award-winning instrumentalists who call South Carolina home.
Remedy Tree is a Florida band that is becoming well known nationally. All four members sing lead, along with duets and trios. They do primarily original music, a lot of it written by band leader, Gabriel Acevedo.
Lorraine brought her Country Grass show to the festival stage. The band does country standards with bluegrass instrumentation. Lorraine plays bass in this configuration, though she plays mandolin in Carolina Road.
Professor Dan Boner brought the ETSU Pride Band to Kingsport. These youngsters are the best of the best at ETSU. Tim Stafford has been the artist-in residence this year. Students have been writing songs under his tutelage. New release, Seesaw, was written by guitarist Audrey Neel. The ensemble is rounded out with Reid Warren on fiddle, Will Potts on bass, Steven Ivey on banjo, and Ethan Church on mandolin.
Nu-Blu is a well-known band industry-wide. Daniel and Carolyn Routh have lead this endeavor for twenty years. Much of their music is original. Daniel will be broadcasting parts of the festival throughout the weekend.
Creekwater Collective closed out the day.
The future of bluegrass music is in good hands. See these young bands whenever you can. They will keep your toes tapping and put a smile on your face!
The rest of the weekend brings more great music to the stage. Join us to enjoy top shelf bluegrass music.
Support your local music venues.
