Two voices and two guitars, writing songs that sound a hundred years old and were finished last year.
AmericanaFolk
MerleFest 2027 Lineup
Four days of roots, bluegrass and Americana on the campus of Wilkes Community College, with Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Toy Factory Project, The Avett Brothers and Wynonna Judd topping the nights.
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About MerleFest 2027
MerleFest has run on the campus of Wilkes Community College since 1988, founded by Doc Watson in memory of his son Merle, and it still books by his 'traditional plus' rule: bluegrass and old-time at the core, everything roots-adjacent welcome. The 39th edition runs April 29 to May 2, 2027, with one name over each day: Gillian Welch & David Rawlings on Thursday, Toy Factory Project on Friday, The Avett Brothers on Saturday and Wynonna Judd on Sunday.
Friday also carries Del McCoury @ 88, a set the festival is calling a Delebration for the bluegrass patriarch. Around it sits the picking MerleFest is known for: Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, The Earls of Leicester, Alison Brown, Peter Rowan and Jake Shimabukuro, with Mountain Grass Unit, Magoo and The Brudi Brothers heading the younger class. This is the first announcement, with 50 acts placed on their days, several top lines still marked to be announced, and more names due on December 7.
Expect bluegrass, folk, americana and old-time across 50 acts.
At a glance
- Dates
- – Thursday to Sunday, four days
- Where
- Wilkes Community College, Wilkesboro, NC
- Lineup
- 50 acts
- Ages
- Children 12 and under get into general admission free with a paying adult, but reserved seats need a ticket, except for children 2 and under. MerleFest is alcohol free.
- Passes
- Tickets come as 4-Day Reserved Seating, 4-Day General Admission, 3-Day General Admission and Single Day.
- Website
- Official site
MerleFest 2027 lineup & schedule: all 50 acts
Star the acts you want now. When set times drop, your schedule is already built.Browse all 50 acts
Star the acts you want now. When set times drop, your schedule is already built.
Toy Factory Project
Southern rock supergroup built by original Marshall Tucker Band drummer Paul T. Riddle to play Toy Caldwell's songs, with Marcus King and Charlie Starr out front.
Southern rock
North Carolina band led by brothers Scott and Seth Avett, pairing banjo-driven bluegrass roots with punk energy and close sibling harmonies.
Rock
One of country's great voices: half of The Judds, then three decades of solo records that let her sing even louder.
Country
Bill Monroe's former lead singer, still carrying first-generation bluegrass into its eighth decade.
Bluegrass
Bluegrass patriarch whose high lonesome tenor carried him from Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys to six decades leading his own family band.
Bluegrass
The ukulele's Hendrix, with four strings doing things four strings shouldn't be able to do.
Instrumental
Dobro player who carried the resonator guitar well past its bluegrass roots, through decades in Alison Krauss & Union Station and countless sessions.
Country
Jerry Douglas's tribute to Flatt & Scruggs, recreating the Foggy Mountain Boys' repertoire with meticulous period detail. Their debut won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.
Bluegrass
A banjo player who arrived by way of jazz and a finance career, running a record label by day and rewriting what five strings do by night.
BluegrassNewgrass
Young Alabama pickers playing traditional bluegrass fast enough to satisfy a jam crowd, with flatpicking chops and festival stamina.
BluegrassNewgrass
The father of newgrass: five decades of mandolin revolution and still the most joyful player on any stage.
BluegrassNewgrass
Banknotes
Three decades of groove-driven Americana with fiddle and accordion out front, and a following that books its holidays around them.
AmericanaRoots-rock
Flattop
Banjo player and teacher known as Dr. Banjo, a founding member of the Colorado bluegrass band Hot Rize.
Bluegrass
Flatpicking phenom from the North Carolina mountains, carrying Doc Watson's tradition in the hands of someone who grew up down the road from it.
Americana
Rev. Robert Jones
Detroit bluesman, preacher and storyteller who walks audiences through the history of American roots music with a guitar in hand.
BluesGospel
The Brudi Brothers
Three Seattle brothers who came up busking, singing old-school folk and country in close sibling harmony.
AmericanaFolk
Donegal's great traditional band: Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh's fiddle and Gaeltacht songs, four decades of setting the standard.
TradFolkIrish
Andy May
Guitarist, mandolinist and songwriter who started out in the Greenwich Village folk revival and became a Nashville teacher and producer known for his showcases for young acoustic players.
Folk
Carol Mallett Rifkin
Western North Carolina old-time and country singer, dancer and radio host who came up with the Green Grass Cloggers and played with Tommy Jarrell and Doc Watson.
Old-timeCountry
Two decades of Raleigh bluegrass instrumentation put to work on songs that owe as much to Big Star as to Bill Monroe.
BluegrassAmericana
North Carolina husband-and-wife duo trading banjo and guitar on plainspoken folk songs about home, work and family.
FolkAmericana
Flatpicking guitarist who spent decades as Doc Watson's musical partner and carries that clean, driving style on his own.
BluegrassFolk
Grammy-winning North Carolina native and Americana's most prolific lifer, a songwriter's songwriter with dozens of albums and a long bluegrass streak alongside Ralph Stanley.
AmericanaBluegrass
Joe Smothers
Guitarist and singer who was one of Doc Watson's picking partners, playing the folk and mountain songs they shared.
FolkBluegrass
Fiddler, multi-instrumentalist and storyteller from Madison County, North Carolina, raised in its ballad-singing tradition.
Old-timeBluegrass
Ken Crouse
Swiss-born brothers Jens and Uwe Kruger with bassist Joel Landsberg, pairing virtuoso banjo and guitar with ambitious writing like the string-quartet 'Appalachian Concerto'.
Americana
Venezuelan harpist Larry Bellorín and North Carolina banjoist Joe Troop trade llanera and Appalachian repertoire across harp, cuatro, banjo, fiddle and maracas.
LlaneraAppalachian folk
Western North Carolina singer and banjo player steeped in Appalachian tradition, as much teacher and archivist as performer.
Old-timeFolk
Magoo
Denver band formed in 2022, stretching bluegrass instrumentation into loose, improvisation-heavy sets.
Country
Mark Bumgarner
Asheville-area songwriter playing Southern Americana, recording from his own studio in the mountains north of town.
Americana
Guitarist, songwriter and producer who managed Doc Watson and produced several of his albums with Merle, leading his own band.
FolkBlues
Washington, D.C.-area band led by the Fedoryka brothers, playing fiddle-driven Celtic and Eastern European folk at a rock-band tempo.
FolkCeltic
Bassist who backed Doc and Merle Watson for years and later played with the Seldom Scene.
BluegrassFolk
Banjo player Laura Boosinger and mandolinist Mike Compton as a duo, two veterans working through old-time, string band and gospel songs.
Old-timeBluegrass
The Local Boys
Grammy-nominated East Tennessee band playing hard-charging traditional bluegrass with the road miles and the IBMA hardware to back up bandleader C.J. Lewandowski's claim that they live what they sing.
BluegrassTraditional bluegrass
Bay Area acoustic band that plays string-band instruments the way a rock group would, known for covering classic albums front to back.
AmericanaNewgrass
Trombonist, producer and co-founder of the Crusaders, whose horn lines helped bend hard bop toward soul and funk before his death in 2014.
Old-timeBluegrass
B Townes
Charles Welch
Jeff Little Trio
Appalachian piano trio led by Jeff Little, who plays fiddle tunes and old-time mountain melodies on the keys with a flatpicker's speed and drive.
Old-timeFolk
Mason Via
Carolina-raised singer and songwriter who toured as a member of Old Crow Medicine Show before returning to his own bluegrass songs.
BluegrassAmericana
North Carolina mandolinist with a deep traditional grounding and fast, articulate picking, also known among players for his expertise in vintage mandolins.
Bluegrass
Raleigh, North Carolina banjo player and bandleader pushing bluegrass past genre lines, a 2019 IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year.
Bluegrass
Jim Avett
North Carolina singer and songwriter in the old country and gospel mold, and the father who raised the Avett Brothers on those songs.
CountryFolk
Nashville project of bassist Scott Mulvahill and singer Laura Berens: acoustic string-band instruments played as disco and R&B, with soul vocals on top.
R&B/soul
The headliners
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings · Two voices and two guitars, writing songs that sound a hundred years old and were finished last year. Two voices, two guitars and the quietest headline set of the weekend.
- Toy Factory Project · Southern rock supergroup built by original Marshall Tucker Band drummer Paul T. Riddle to play Toy Caldwell's songs, with Marcus King and Charlie Starr out front. Marcus King and Charlie Starr playing the Marshall Tucker Band songbook.
The Avett Brothers · North Carolina band led by brothers Scott and Seth Avett, pairing banjo-driven bluegrass roots with punk energy and close sibling harmonies. North Carolina's own, headlining Saturday.
Wynonna Judd · One of country's great voices: half of The Judds, then three decades of solo records that let her sing even louder.
Up-and-comers to catch early
Mountain Grass Unit · Young Alabama pickers who stretch bluegrass toward the jam.
Chatham Rabbits · A North Carolina duo writing plainspoken folk songs about home.
- Mason Via · Back to his own bluegrass songs after a run in Old Crow Medicine Show.
Other acts worth planning around
- Del McCoury @ 88 - a MerleFest “Delebration” · A birthday tribute to one of bluegrass's defining voices.
Sam Bush · Newgrass's founding energy, a fixture here for decades.
Jerry Douglas · Dobro as a lead voice, on both Friday and Saturday.
The lineup by day
Thursday lineup (April 29)
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Peter Rowan & The Walls of Time Band, The Brudi Brothers, Donna the Buffalo, Presley Barker, Banknotes + 3 more
Friday lineup (April 30)
Toy Factory Project, Del McCoury @ 88 - a MerleFest “Delebration”, Jerry Douglas, The Earls of Leicester, Peter Rowan & The Walls of Time Band, Jake Shimabukuro + 27 more
Saturday lineup (May 1)
The Avett Brothers, Mountain Grass Unit, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan & The Walls of Time Band, Alison Brown + 26 more
Sunday lineup (May 2)
Wynonna Judd, Jake Shimabukuro, Scythian, Donna the Buffalo, Jim Lauderdale, Andy May + 9 more
MerleFest 2027 lineup FAQ
When is MerleFest 2027?
Thursday April 29 to Sunday May 2, 2027.
Where does MerleFest take place?
On the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge foothills.
Who is headlining MerleFest 2027?
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings on Thursday, Toy Factory Project on Friday, The Avett Brothers on Saturday and Wynonna Judd on Sunday.
Is the full lineup out?
Not yet. The first announcement names 50 acts, the festival's own poster still shows several slots to be announced, and it says more announcements are coming on December 7.
Are day-by-day lineups published?
Yes. Every act announced so far has its day or days, and many play more than once across the weekend. Stages and set times are not out yet.
What does 'traditional plus' mean?
Doc Watson's phrase for MerleFest's booking philosophy: traditional bluegrass, old-time and folk at the core, plus everything roots-adjacent, from southern rock and blues to Americana.
How do I find the acts I'd like?
Type a few artists you love into the finder at the top of this page. It matches them against this lineup and explains each pick.
Who plays Thursday at MerleFest 2027?
Thursday, April 29: Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Peter Rowan & The Walls of Time Band, The Brudi Brothers, Donna the Buffalo, Presley Barker, Banknotes, plus 3 more acts.
Who plays Friday at MerleFest 2027?
Friday, April 30: Toy Factory Project, Del McCoury @ 88 - a MerleFest “Delebration”, Jerry Douglas, The Earls of Leicester, Peter Rowan & The Walls of Time Band, Jake Shimabukuro, plus 27 more acts.
Who plays Saturday at MerleFest 2027?
Saturday, May 1: The Avett Brothers, Mountain Grass Unit, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan & The Walls of Time Band, Alison Brown, plus 26 more acts.
Who plays Sunday at MerleFest 2027?
Sunday, May 2: Wynonna Judd, Jake Shimabukuro, Scythian, Donna the Buffalo, Jim Lauderdale, Andy May, plus 9 more acts.
Is MerleFest 2027 all ages?
Children 12 and under get into general admission free with a paying adult, but reserved seats need a ticket, except for children 2 and under. MerleFest is alcohol free.
Are MerleFest 2027 set times out yet?
Not yet. The lineup is split by day below, and set times are still to come. The alert on this page emails you when they're out.
When is MerleFest 2028?
Not announced yet. This page carries MerleFest 2027 and will carry the 2028 edition as soon as the festival announces it.
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