Welcome to the Charlie Poole Music Festival. Through the years, this event has featured many of the legends in Americana music – Mike Seeger, Norman & Nancy Blake, Tony Rice, J.D. Crowe, the Osborne Brothers, Alice Gerrard, Tony Trischka, and Bryan Bowers – as well as some of the brightest stars of today – The Carolina Chocolate Drops, the Wiyos, Uncle Earl – all in honor of a true icon in American music – Charlie Poole. And all of this special music happens in a historic place – Eden, North Carolina – the place where Poole and his North Carolina Ramblers worked in the textile mills when not out rambling and making music that would live forever.

 

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Coming Soon: The Goat Rodeo Sessions LIVE

 

 

 

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Festival Finale & Winners

Adam Hurt of Kernersville, NC, walked off with first prize in every category he entered in the Charlie Poole Music Festival last Friday and Saturday, June 10 & 11, and then captured the grand prize of $500 for three-finger banjo as well.

Despite thunder and rain both nights, all acts but one and the complete contest schedule went on as planned. The Saturday audience took refuge in their cars and were present in good numbers for the final dazzling concert featuring UNCG’s Old Time Ensemble and the Orpheus Supertones, and the exciting distribution of prize checks and ribbons.

Saturday morning’s book lectures were well attended and the “Rubber Duck “ festivities added appropriate excitement to the day.

Friday’s concert featured the Dry Hill Draggers from Floyd, VA, who had brought their own enthusiastic cheering section with them. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Kinney Rorrer by Kelly Epperson of radio station WPAQ. Many felt this was a long overdue honor for someone who has done so much to preserve the heritage of Charlie Poole. Then Kinney and his North Carolina Ramblers took the stage until Mother Nature decided to interfere, and the audience scrambled for shelter. Some found their way to Louise Price’s living room, down the hill from the park, where Riley Baugus, the last act, got to play a bit after all, with Kinney Rorrer and others.

The Charlie Poole Music Festival receives support from the Grassroots Arts Program of the Rocking ham County Arts Council, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the Tourism Authority of Rockingham County.

 

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2011 Charlie Poole Music Festival Winners

 

Youth Division

1st—Katie Griffin, Stoneville, NC
2nd—Jeremiah Jobe, Reidsville, NC

Flatpick Guitar

1st— Joey Doss, Stoneville, NC
2nd—Joshua Marlowe, Dry Fork, VA
3rd—Ethan Hawkins, Staunton, VA
4th—Cutch Tuttle, Staunton, VA


Fingerstyle Guitar

1st—Stan Whaley, Goochland, VA
2nd—Nate Lane, Columbia, VA
3rd—Cutch Tuttle, Staunton, VA
4th—Joshua Marlowe, Dry Fork, VA
5th—Donald “Bud” Henson, Whiteville, NC

Bluegrass Fiddle

1st—Adam Hurt, Kernersville, NC
2nd—Michael Giordano, Ivy, VA
3rd—Katie Griffin, Stoneville, NC

Old Time Fiddle

1st—Adam Hurt, Kernersville, NC
2nd—Lee Rudner, Greensboro, NC
3rd—Kristin Blanton, Greensboro, NC
4th—Tolly Tollefson, Greensboro, NC
5th—Michael Giordano, Ivy, VA

Clawhammer Banjo

1st—Adam Hurt, Kernersville, NC
2nd—Ken Reeser, Greensboro, NC
3rd—Susan Sterngold, Suffern, NY
4th—Nate Lane, Columbia, VA
5th—Cutch Tuttle, Staunton, VA


Bluegrass Banjo

1st—Matthew Turman, Eden, NC
2nd-- Cutch Tuttle, Staunton, VA
3rd—Casey McPherson, Stuart, VA
4th—Ronald Smith, Reidsville, NC


Grand Prize—Three-Finger Banjo

Adam Hurt, Kernersville, NC

 

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Our 2010 Charlie Poole Music Festival list of winners has been moved to the Performers page