The Earl Scruggs Music Festival is asking everyone to vote next weekend in the second round of their 2026 Battle of the Banjos band competition.
Eight groups had made it through to this round of the contest, competing for a pair of performance slots on the festival stage in September, plus a $1,000 first place prize, a feature interview on WNCW, free festival passes and camping, and media promotion, plus a spot on the Blue Highway Fest stage in October.
To register, each group had to post a live video, and a panel of judges chose these eight to move on. The online voting May 5-6 will pare these down to three finalists who will go head-to-head on June 6 at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Mills River, NC. The winner heads on to the festival to claim their prize.
The second round competitors are:
- Redbud Bluegrass from Boone, NC
- Strings of Green from Beckley, WV
- The Mendenhall Sisters from Johnson City, TN
- The Blue Ridge Boys from Owensboro, KY
- The Folk Villians from Tyaskin, MD
- Billy Fortune Unit from Cincinnati, OH
- East Side Ramblers from Cary, NC
- Landon Brooks from Waynesville, NC
There are video links on the Battle of the Banjos page, so you can check out these eight artists and be ready to vote next weekend for your favorite.
You can also find out more about all that will be going on during the Earl Scruggs Music Festival, September 4-6 in Mill Spring, NC, online.
