North Carolina music festivals like Shakori Hills and MerleFest have been outlets for bands and artists of all genres to make it big. Some of the big name artists that have come through these festivals include Alison Krauss & Union Station, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dixie Chicks, Arlo Guthrie, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Carolina’s own The Avett Brothers.
The Avett Brothers, a Concord-based indie folk band, rose to the top music charts and gained millions of fans nationwide in the past few years. Bands like The Avett Brothers have performed at MerleFest in Wilkesboro, N.C. almost every year.
Many bands are scheduled to return to MerleFest 2013, including Sam Bush, Roy Book Binder and Tift Merritt. Nearly 20 performers are scheduled to play every day starting on Thursday, April 25 into the evening of April 28. This festival will provide a comfortable yet competitive environment for performers with great potential to skyrocket their careers. The same can be said for returning members of the festival community, such as Enter the Haggis.
Enter the Haggis is a Toronto-based band that kicked off their career in the early 2000s with the album “Casualties of Retail.” The band will perform April 25, and will be one of the first to perform at the festival.
The band’s unique name refers to a traditional Scottish dish, which resembles “a combination of disparate elements that hopefully come together into a palatable whole,” said Trevor Lewington, vocalist, acoustic guitarist and lyricist for Enter the Haggis.
The band’s latest album, “The Modest Revolution,” mixes rock, Celtic, blues, indie and country. But that was not always the case.
“We started off [with] pretty straight-up Celtic rock music but over the years, what we do has become more complex as we’ve added in other instruments,” Lewington said.
The tracks off the latest album proved this notion of eclecticism. Everything started to change when Enter the Haggis began touring around the United States.
Lewington said the band found “inspiration in bluegrass, Americana, country and blues,” which was later incorporated into their music.
Although other albums share elements of country and other genres, “The Modest Revolution” is intended for a much wider audience not only in sound, but in storytelling. The entire album was written and dedicated to stories within an issue of a Toronto-based newspaper.
Lewington said it’s important to recognize the power of telling stories across all mediums.
“Today, everyone's stuck in the 24-hour news-cycle,” Lewington said. “We wanted to take a snapshot of one day in history, creating a lasting impression of some stories that would otherwise be soon forgotten.”
One of their songs, “Down the Line,” was created from the obituary section and focuses on the story about the banjo player, Earl Scruggs. The song “Letters” tells the story of a couple of adventurous men in their 70s who got stranded in the desert. One of the men died and the other man, thinking he would soon follow his colleague, wrote letters to his wife. He later gave the letters to her after he was rescued.
“Over the years, many of our songs have been written based on stories of people who we know or from stories we've heard in our travels,” Lewington said. “It hasn't been a conscious decision but often the personal stories of everyday people make the best songs for us.”
Throughout their time touring festivals abroad and in the United States, members of Enter the Haggis said they are excited to return to MerleFest.
“It was amazing for us,” Lewington said. “We love the enthusiasm and energy of the crowds at Merlefest.”
This year, unlike the previous years, Enter the Haggis will perform at the Dance Tent. This popular spot is the place to be late in the evening. The Dance Tent provides fans with various workshops and dance instruction sessions as well as a chance to listen to some energetic music aimed to get people moving.
“We had great shows last year,” Lewington said. "You know people come to dance, so you have to make that happen.”
The band has the opportunity to see their favorite performers, such as the Punch Bros and David Fick. While touring and focusing on their career, the band never had the chance to see these band live.
Enter the Haggis is scheduled to perform April 25 in the Dance Tent at 10 p.m. and other times on Friday.
This year, the festival will be dedicated to the life and achievements of Doc Watson, a long-time friend and inspiration to many folk musicians. Watson passed away last May.
“We will come together as a family to pay tribute to the man and the musician who meant so much to us all,” said Ted Hagaman, the director of MerleFest, in a press release last month.
Many of this year’s activities also celebrate Doc’s legacy, such as The Merle Watson Bluegrass Banjo Contest, The Doc Watson Guitar Championship, Jam Camp and the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest (CASC), established in memory of a talented songwriter and multi-instrument musician who was killed in a plane accident in 1991. CASC, whose proceeds supports the Wilkes Community College Chris Austin Memorial Scholarship, amounts to $36,000 each year.
This year’s festival will also include a new mobile app that will allow fans to plan ahead of time and research performers before the festival starts. The app was created to provide improved customer service. It also allows audience members to preview the lineup, schedule, artist biographies, map of the festival and campgrounds, announcements, social media links and other details about the festival.
Students are invited to celebrate and experience folk music this weekend at MerleFest starting Thursday, April 25 through Sunday, April 28 in Wilkesboro, N.C.