Ben & Eric Marshall at the 2026 Nunn Brothers Bluegrass Music Festival – photo © G. Nicholas Hancock
The Nunn Brothers Bluegrass Music Festival reached its 25th year on July 24-25, 2026, in the small community of Woodville, NC, located east of Mount Airy and north of Pilot Mountain.
“Come for the music and stay for the fun,” the official slogan for the event, held true for both the performing musicians and the spectators at this year’s event.
Friday evening kicked off at 7:00 p.m. with Tommy Nichols, Mt. Airy bluegrass bassist and vocalist with the Harrison Ridge band, offering a prayer for everyone in attendance. Jamie Lowery, DJ at WPAQ Radio and MC for the Friday night show, introduced the Ben & Eric Marshall Band to start the music and fun.
Ben on guitar and Eric Marshall on bass, formerly with Carson Peters & Iron Mountain, wowed the audience with their beautiful, tight harmonies, and introduced Wes Bruner on banjo and the notable Billy Hawks on fiddle. During their second set for the evening they were joined by Austin Tate, also a former member of Carson Peters & Iron Mountain, on mandolin.
Dear MariBella & The Pigkickers out of Wilmington, NC, followed Ben & Eric Marshall and presented a varied bluegrass program which featured both bluegrass standards and their own material. The four Trakimowicz siblings (with dad, Joel, on bass) range in age from 21 to 13 and pleased the audience with numbers as varied as a rousing rendition of Muleskinner Blues and a flawless vocal performance by guitarist and vocalist AnnMari Trakimowicz of Blue, written and performed first by Texas-based singer/songwriter Bill Mack and recorded again in 1996 by LeAnn Rimes.
The Nunn Brothers & Friends, featuring Alden Nunn on fiddle, Arnold Nunn on guitar, Elijah Smith on mandolin, Levi Head on bass, and Greg Dollyhite on banjo, followed Dear MariBella and kept the audience alive with their high-energy performance of mostly bluegrass standards.
Dear MariBella & The Pig Kickers closed out the performances on Saturday night with another set of standard bluegrass numbers and a couple of original songs from their new album, which was released on August 1.
Travis Frye and Blue Mountain opened Saturday’s program at 5:00 p.m., featuring Travis Frye on guitar, Tim Frye on mandolin, Hersie McMillian on banjo, Johnny Ridge on fiddle, and Doug Joyce on bass. Tim Frye, also a DJ at WPAQ Radio, served as MC for Saturday evening.
Dear MariBella & The Pigkickers followed Travis Frye and Blue Mountain, then The Country Boys, featuring lead vocalist Johnny Joyce on guitar, Hersie McMillian on banjo, Billy Hawks on fiddle, and Doug Joyce on bass.
The next set by the Nunn Brothers & Friends had guest banjoists Travis Watts of Travis Watts & Mountain Blessings and Billy Ray Summerlin of The Wilkes Record Players join them onstage for a couple of instrumentals.
Closing Saturday night, Dear MariBella & The Pigkickers invited Levi Head to play bass with them and Travis Watts to play banjo.
In my opinion, the Nunn Brothers Bluegrass Festival is the friendliest and most laid-back bluegrass festival I’ve ever attended. Arnold and Alden Nunn and their family members go out of their way to make everyone happy and able to enjoy the event. “Come for the music and stay for the fun” was accomplished.
The Nunn Brothers Bluegrass Music Festival is held annually on the last full weekend in July at the Nunn Brothers Music Park, 354 Woodville Road, Mount Airy, NC. For more information call: 336-325-6866 (Arnold Nunn) or 336-325-9891(Alden Nunn) or visit them on Facebook.
