Welcome to the homepage of the Charlie Poole Music Festival. Many of today’s legends in American roots music have graced our stage – Mike Seeger, Norman & Nancy Blake, Tony Trischka, The Osborne Brothers, J.D. Crow, Bryan Bowers, Tony Rice, Alice Gerrard – all in honor of a true icon in American music, Charlie Poole. The past few years have seen exciting developments for our festival, as we hosted the official release of the critically acclaimed and three-time Grammy nominated “You Ain’t Talkin’ To Me: Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music” (Columbia Legacy) and the preview of the upcoming feature length documentary about Poole being filmed by George Goehl of Straight Six Films.

Louise Price
Marianne Aiken
Jennifer Griffin

The 2008Charlie Poole Music Festival saw a bigger crowd of campers this year, and many more participants in the competition. There were numerous comments about the very high quality of competitors at this festival. Walt Koken, of Avondale, PA, walked off Saturday night with the grand prize award of $500 in the Old-Time Three Finger Banjo contest, after stunning the crowd and the judges earlier with, according to Master of Ceremonies Wayne Seymour, “ a truly astounding” banjo rendition of "The Entertainer." Some of the other contestants were heard to ask, “Do I have to go on?” after that performance.

As always, the audience came from all over the country, but the record for the furthest distance this time goes to a couple from Melbourne, Australia. Other visitors came from Arizona, Washington state, Tennessee, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and many, many from Virginia and North Carolina.

Friday’s workshop for youth with JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians) expert Jim Vipperman found an enthusiastic group of youngsters getting their chance to try the feel of a fiddle, some for the first time.

The evening continued with a lively and well-attended concert featuring popular bluegrass and old-time performers, including The New North Carolina Ramblers, Martin & Johnson, Waking Up Tillie, Uncle Henry’s Favorites and The Freighthoppers.

Dave Freeman, founder and owner of Rebel records and also County Records (which was responsible for the 1960’s re-issue of many Charlie Poole recordings) was given a beautiful award for his lifetime work of nearly single-handedly preserving old-time music through a very thin time in years past.

On Saturday morning a youth competition culminated with awards going to Matthew Turman of Eden (First—banjo); Katy Griffin of Eden (Second—fiddle); Corey Johnson-Erday of Greensboro (Third—guitar); and Brian Blankenship of Gretna, VA (Fourth—banjo). Katy brought her pet goat, which obligingly helped mow the grass, and Corey with his sister Emily wowed the crowd on Saturday by performing a lively duet.

Saturday’s competition for adults kicked off at 1:00 PM, and the excitement grew as the day went on, even though there was an forced intermission from a blustery rainstorm. The McPeak Brothers went onstage and were well received as they performed their well-known tight harmonies and original songs. The contest soon picked up and continued until every contestant had had a chance, and at the end $5000 in prizes, rosettes, and ribbons was given out to the winners as the crowd cheered.