Bluegrass didn’t start in Brown County.
This fiddle-, mandolin-, and guitar-intensive genre began in Appalachia as “hillbilly music.” The man who honed that rawboned style into today’s high-energy form was Kentucky-born Bill Monroe. It further came together in the 1940s, when banjo virtuoso Earl Scruggs joined Monroe’s band, putting the finishing touch on a new sound.
But it became its epicenter.
During the 1940s, country music festivals in the hamlet of Beanblossom became a regional phenomenon. In 1951, Monroe caught wind and bought the slice of forested land where they took place. There, he hosted the first Big Blue Grass Celebration in June 1967. Over the decades, the event expanded.
Country music luminaries showed up.
Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, and other big names graced the stage, along with some one wouldn’t expect at a middle-of-nowhere country concert. For instance, in 2019, an older guy in a Lamborghini arrived—none other than Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant, who told staff the festival had always been on his bucket list.
Monroe is gone, but the festival continues.
The heyday of weeklong runs and crowds in the tens of thousands has passed. Still, site owner Rex Voils reckons 5,000 will tap their toes this year to acts such as the Lonesome River Band and Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers.
You can go for a day or stay for four.
Hardcore fans, some from as far as Japan or England, camp. The venue rents cabins and RVs, as well as tent and RV-compatible spots. “For a primitive campsite for two people for four nights, you’re looking at $132,” Voils calculates.
Ticket prices are also reasonable.
A pass for all four days of the festival costs $155 per person (kids 12 and younger are free). For this, you get to see six world-class bluegrass bands play two sets each day. Tours of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame Museum and evening jam sessions are both free. Voils hasn’t raised ticket prices since he bought the place in 2019.
But don’t expect creature comforts.
You’ll find food trucks and other vendors but no VIP seating. In fact, there’s no seating at all, just a grassy hill where the audience stands, sits on blankets, or sets up their own lawn chairs.
The festival never gets rained out or even rain-delayed.
Make sure to pack a poncho or an umbrella. Old-timers will be happy to tell you what it’s like to watch an entire evening of bluegrass in the pouring rain. “Bring your sweatshirt, and bring your shorts,” Voils advises. “You just never know how the weather’s going to be.”
Be prepared to roll with tradition.
Opening day is capped, as it has always been, with a free Southern bean supper. Then the real fun begins, as performers mill around the campgrounds and jam late into the night. “There’s probably better music off the stage than there is on the stage,” Voils says.
and for plenty of history.
For instance, the rusting hulk of Monroe’s pickup truck is weathering away on the grounds. And the museum features photos from the festival’s earliest days, the stage clothes of pretty much every country star you can think of, and the case in which Bill Monroe carried his legendary mandolin. The instrument itself sold for more than $1 million and now resides in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. But the banged-up, duct-taped case lives here. Never mind that it looks like it was run over by a car (because it was, in fact, once run over by a car). It’s likely worth around $80,000 to collectors.
Hippy Hill has a story.
In 1964, Jerry Garcia showed up to the festival intent on auditioning for Bill Monroe’s band as a banjo player. He and his companions camped in the Hippy Hill vicinity, and Garcia met Monroe. But legend has it the maestro told Garcia his skills weren’t quite up to snuff, and he needed more practice. After founding the Grateful Dead a year later, Garcia did indeed get more practice. In 1975, as a side project, Garcia created his own bluegrass band called Old & In the Way. The band’s first, self-titled album is considered one of the greatest bluegrass recordings of all time.
You get a second chance in September.
The park hosts the Uncle Pen Fest September 18–20, which is a tribute to Monroe’s uncle, James Pendleton Vandiver, a fiddle player and Monroe’s musical mentor. The lineup features bluegrass bands, workshops, jam sessions, and, with any luck, crisp fall weather and the first flush of changing leaves.
Check the Brown County Music Center.
The five-year-old, 2,000-seat facility may not have the raw folksiness, but it makes up for that with air conditioning, a lack of mosquitoes, and the freedom of not having to bring chairs. The summer and fall lineup includes acts like Greensky Bluegrass, Railroad Earth and Yonder Mountain String Band, and the Del McCoury Band. It may be just the place if you want a taste of the bluegrass—but not the beans.
