The Crooked Road’s Fourth Annual Mountains of Music Homecoming

The Crooked Road’s Mountains of Music Homecoming is an annual nine-day, region-wide celebration of the communities in Southwest Virginia – their traditional music, and all their many cultural and natural assets. The event includes Crooked Road marquee concerts in over 20 communities and many dozens of cultural events throughout the region.

The fourth annual Mountains of Music Homecoming will be held Friday, June 8 through Saturday, June 16, 2018. Annually, it always takes place during the nine days ending on the third Saturday in June. Each night, visitors and residents will have from two to three Crooked Road marquee music concerts in different communities to choose from. By the end of the nine days, Crooked Road concerts will be presented in over 20 different communities in outdoor and indoor venues like downtown theatres, state parks, colleges, and arts centers.

The Crooked Road region of Southwest Virginia is home to one of the richest traditional music traditions in the world. The Crooked Road concerts during the Homecoming include the finest traditional artists the region has to offer including recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship Award, the highest recognition America bestows on its traditional artists. The concerts include national and international touring artists that exemplify and compliment the rich bluegrass, old time, gospel, traditional singing, traditional dance, and other music forms that The Crooked Road celebrates.

Artists performing for the past Homecomings have included Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys, Wayne Henderson, Dori Freeman, Ralph Stanley II, Fairfield Four, Blue Highway, Ricky Skaggs, Larry Sparks, Wayne Henderson, the Earls of Leicester, Whitetop Mountain Band, Alasdair Fraser, Sammy Shelor, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Mark O’Connor, and dozens more.

Each year, the Mountains of Music Homecoming presents at least one concert that features exemplary artists from another unique musical heritage such as Mississippi blues, Louisiana Cajun, or Canadian Québécois. The 2017 Homecoming presented the music of Scotland, with concerts by one of the finest fiddlers Scotland has ever produced in Alasdair Fraser. Revered Scottish folk singer and balladeer Archie Fisher also performed in 2017.

The artist lineup for 2018 will be posted in 2018 online at http://mtnsofmusic.com/schedule-2017. This schedule will include all Homecoming concerts and cultural events. To see only The Crooked Road concerts, click on search by Type and click on “Crooked Road Concerts.”