Carolina Blue will lead a Bluegrass workshop for intermediate and advanced players of fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar and bass at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 21, 2020 at the Lake Erie Folk Fest. They will also present at a school program for K-12 at 10 a.m. that Friday – reservations still available.

And they headline the Saturday evening concert, also featuring Luca Mundaca, Distinguished Gentlemen of Spoken Word, and Harmonia. 7:30 pm at Shore Cultural Centre, 291 E 222nd St, Euclid, OH 44123. Tickets $15 presale thru Feb 21, $20 at the door Feb 22.

Carolina Blue is a Brevard, NC based band whose roots run deep in the tradition of Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs, while performing original material. Formed in 2007, the band consists of Bobby Powell (guitar, vocals), Tim Jones (mandolin, vocals), James McDowell (banjo, vocals), Reese Combs (upright bass, vocals) and Aynsley Porchak (fiddle), who was named Momentum Instrumentalist by the 2018 International Bluegrass Music Awards.

“We’re a 12-year overnight success,” says Powell, laughing. Three years ago Carolina Blue was playing local BBQ restaurants. But last year they played 120 shows all over the country, “at festivals and venues that we only dreamed about.”  And just this month they won in four categories at the National Bluegrass Awards, https://www.spbgma.com/, for Band, Album, Entertainer, and Vocal Group of the Year! What’s more, the International Bluegrass Music Awards has nominated them for three awards this year: New Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for I Hear Bluegrass Calling Me, and Instrumental Recording of the Year for Fried Taters & Onions, penned by the band’s banjoist, James McDowell.

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““…bluegrass comfort food. Something warm and familiar
that takes you back to an earlier time. It’s good even when
it’s average. But when it’s just right, as it is with Carolina
Blue, it can’t be beat.” — John Lawless, Bluegrass Today