New this year at North Carolina’s Earl Scruggs Music Festival in late August is a talent competition they are calling Battle of the Banjos. The title is a nod to their namesake, but in fact, no banjos need be present to win.
The festival was launched to honor Scruggs, and the various flavors of music he performed or inspired, leaving the promoters a fairly wide lane in which to operate in booking talent. And they take full advantage of the fact, bringing in a wide variety of sounds and styles each year, including plenty of blugrass, of course.
Though it is a for-profit event, a portion of the proceeds are divided between The Earl Scruggs Center, a museum and community center in Earl’s birthplace of Shelby, NC, and WNCN FM, a public radio station located at Isothermal Community College in nearby Spindale, NC.
Battle of the Banjos is open to bands, artists, or solo performers in the southeastern US, who can be available at the festival on August 28-29 in Mill Spring, NC. Interested acts are asked to fill in an online registration form by June 27, with links to your social media and some of your music.
Bluegrass, Americana, folk, or roots music performers qualify to compete.
A panel of judges made up of festival organizers and professional musicians will comb through the submissions, and select 3-5 artists based on entries. Those finalists will then be judged by fans online, with the top vote getter receiving a prize package including:
- Two live performance spots during the Earl Scruggs Music Festival
- $500 cash prize
- Artist interview on WNCW
- Weekend festival passes, with tent camping
- Online promotion across social media, festival website, and email
See all the details and enter to win online.
