Black Mountain Blues festival to debut in July with '100 hours of blues' over 3 days

BLACK MOUNTAIN - A new festival will bring “100 hours of blues” to Black Mountain this summer.

The Black Mountain Blues festival is a joint effort between White Horse Black Mountain and LEAF Global Arts and will take place around town July 12-14.

Headlining acts include Sugaray Rayford, Corey Harris, Bob Margolin, Mac Arnold and Plate Full of Blues, and Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen.

The festival will be held across eight different venues in town, including The Railyard, Bush Farmhouse, Foothills Grange, White Horse Black Mountain, Monte Vista Hotel, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, The Goldfinch and Town Pump.

White Horse Director of Operations Zach Hinkle said he and local blues musician Melissa McKinney had the idea to start bringing more blues to Black Mountain, specifically through a “blues society.” Hinkle said this eventually moved into the idea for the festival.

“Then came the thought of what if we took this beautiful town that feels rustic to a lot of people, feels like it’s full of nostalgia and we layered over it a blues festival,” Hinkle said. “And not just any blues festival, a true blues festival.”

McKinney said this idea came in November of last year and planning for the festival started at the beginning of this year.

McKinney is serving as the artist curator for the festival. She said when finding artists to play at the festival she wanted to focus on finding women and also having a wide age range among the musicians. She said there will be “artists as young as 7 or 8 and artists in their 80s.”

“It was really important to me that we showcase this history while also introducing the younger generation to the history of the blues,” McKinney said.

The history of blues music is something McKinney said she wanted to focus on.

“I just want to make sure that I was featuring artists who are really respecting the history of the blues,” McKinney said. “It’s complicated as white musicians to make sure that we are honoring blues. It’s so complicated and it’s something I think that I feel like I have to check myself every day, and I still don’t know that I’m doing enough.”

With McKinney acting as artist curator, the festival also has two co-directors: Bethanie Monroe and Leigh Maher.

Monroe said the inaugural Black Mountain Blues festival is “a really exciting moment in time” for the town and could become something as well-known to Black Mountain as the annual Sourwood festival.

“I think that this is the beginning of another one of those enterprises and I think for it to be blues is especially exciting and interesting,” Monroe said.

Maher said Asheville has grown and become well-known, but Black Mountain is also growing and there is an opportunity to “define” the town as a center for arts and culture.

“There’s a culture of people interested in music and people that come to Black Mountain that have a different sensibility than the tourists that come to Asheville,” Maher said. “We want to make something that works for both the tourists and the locals.”

Hinkle said he is also hoping to make Black Mountain Blues a positive experience for visitors and locals alike.

“We’re incredibly committed to making sure that this is not just a positive experience for the ticket-buying customer, but it’s a positive experience for every single person in Black Mountain,” Hinkle said. “Whether you’re owning a business or whether you live up the street, it’s going to feel incredibly welcoming and hopefully will lead to some economic benefit too.”

While tickets are required to see any of the performances, the Black Mountain Center for the Arts will be hosting educational workshops and panels throughout the weekend free for anyone to join.

The inaugural Black Mountain Blues festival will take place July 12-14 at various venues around town. Weekend passes start at $80 and VIP passes start at $180. Children under 10 are free and discounted passes for those ages 10-17 are available.

Karrigan Monk is the reporter for Black Mountain News and Hendersonville Times-News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@blackmountainnews.com.