The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys are just one of the new headline acts planned for this year’s NEPA Bluegrass Festival, slated for May 29 to 31 in Tunkhannock.
The 19th annual NEPA Bluegrass Festival will be held Friday to Sunday, May 29 to 31, at Lazy Brook Park in Tunkhannock, Wyoming County. Among this year’s new headliners are Darin and Brooke Aldrige, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, and the Wyatt Ellis Band. Venerable favorites Little Roy & Lizzy will return to the Traditional Stage at this year, while Hillbilly Biscuits and the Plate Scrapers will once again thrill fans of the Progressive Stage.
Lazy Brook Park is a favored venue among both the musicians and their fans due to its relative flatness, paved streets, shade trees, flowering shrubs, art installations, and a restored, historic pedestrian bridge that connects the main park where the Traditional Stage is located to creek side of the park where the Progressive Stage is situated. Camping is free with the purchase of a weekend pass, and the gates will open for campers on Thursday morning, May 28.
“It’s perfect for camping,” said Christa Stewart, who created NEPA Bluegrass with her musician husband Danny Stewart and personally welcomes new and returning guests back to the park at the entrance tent each year. “Danny and I look forward to seeing the music fans, who have truly become our second family, as much as we do bringing them a world-class festival experience in such a serene setting.”
Husband and wife duo Darin and Brooke Aldridge (below) have exploded onto the scene over the past decade, topping both the mainstream bluegrass and gospel bluegrass charts repeatedly and garnering top honors from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) and the Gospel Music Association. Brooke herself has been named Female Vocalist of the year four times by the IBMA. Both are proud North Carolinians who are know for their easy-going, down-to-earth connection with audiences.
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys have five IBMA nominations for Entertainer of the Year under their belts, as well as Grammy nominations. They too are newer to the scene, having started their journey together just over 10 years ago in Gatlinburg, TN with no plans to travel far from home. But, once the hits started charting, there was no stopping their rise in popularity. “We live what we play and sing about,” said bandleader C.J. Lewandoski. He and banjo player Jereme Brown and bassist Jasper Lorentzen have been joined recently by guitarist John Gooding from California and fiddler Max Silverstein from Maine, expanding the band’s age span and depth. The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys’ latest single, “Pardon Me,” was just released on March 20.
While the aforementioned artists are relatively young in their 20s and 30s, Wyatt Ellis (above) is just 16 years old and has quickly captured the attention of his peers as a sterling newcomer on the bluegrass scene. Hailing from the foothills of the Smokey Mountains of east Tennessee, his first album, composed when he was 11, debuted at number one on the bluegrass charts. He has since become a standout at music festivals across the country and has even graced the stage of the Grand Ol’ Opry, further honing his high-octane delivery of original and classic bluegrass songs. He has been cited by critics as “creating a sound steeped in tradition, yet driven by the future.”
In addition to nearly non-stop music, Patrons of the NEPA Bluegrass Festival can enjoy a wide variety of food, participate in music workshops, and shop from numerous vendors.
Tickets are $110 per person if purchased by April 15. Weekend passes at the gate are $130 per person. Day passes are also available for each of the three days of the festival but do not include camping. Interested readers can purchase tickets online at NepaBluegrass.com.