Scroll down to find Bluegrass and Bluegrass-Related events in the Washington, DC area and surrounding vicinities. Verify the Dates, Times, and Admission Fees, before traveling to any of these events.
10:30 am - 6:30 pm
Takoma Park Middle School, Silver Spring Maryland
Strut your stuff at the 2023 Takoma Park Folk Festival!
Volunteer Performers needed
Sunday, September 10, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Location: the Takoma Park Middle School
We welcome all performers from Maryland, Northern Virginia, Delaware and Southern Pennsylvania
Apply at https://e.tpff.org/performerapp. The deadline to apply is June 12, 2023.
We can’t pay you, but we guarantee you’ll have a blast! (plus meal tickets, a listing on our website with links to your website, and the opportunity to become a folk hero)
10:30 am - 6:30 pm
Takoma Park Middle School, Silver Spring Maryland
SAVE THE DATE!
Reconnect with Your Community at the Takoma Park Folk Festival!!
Sunday, September 10 from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Hear the best musicians in our Region!
• Six Stages, Indoor & Outdoor, Rain or Shine
• Family Friendly
• Live Music, Craft Vendors, Great Food from around the world, Information booths, jamming, children’s activities.
The Takoma Park Folk Festival is a free annual festival featuring music from around the world on six stages in Takoma Park, Maryland. This year features a whole new lineup of performers reflecting our region’s diversity with a wide-range of roots music in a multiplicity of genres.
Location: Takoma Park Middle School & Lee Jordan Field
Details at https://www.tpff.org/
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Hank Dietle’s Tavern, Rockville MD
This month features:
Kimber Ludiker and Avril Smith of the band Della Mae
• Kimber Ludiker is a Grand National Fiddle Champion. Born of fiddle-playing parents–who met competing with each other at a fiddle contest!–this Washington state native excelled from an early age at Texas-style fiddling and went on to win multiple fiddle championships including the Washington State Championship, Colorado State Championship and the aforementioned Grand National Fiddle Championship in Weiser, Idaho. She has performed with Mark O’Connor, Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, Hanneke Cassel, and her brother Dennis, a well-known fiddle/mandolin player from Austin, TX. As a founding member of the all-“girl” group Della Mae, she is widely regarded as a pillar of the new-generation fiddle scene. She brings a good-hearted spirit and a great work ethic to the group, and we’re delighted to have her with us as much as her busy schedule permits.
• Avril Smith is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist and is widely recognized as a highly accomplished electric and acoustic guitarist and mandolin player.
Avril currently plays guitar in several touring Americana, bluegrass and alt country projects including the Grammy-nominated band Della Mae; Ms. Adventure, a trio featuring Vickie Vaughn (Patty Loveless) and Kimber Ludiker (Della Mae); and award-winning songwriter Becky Warren with whom she has toured opening the Indigo Girls.
Avril’s mastery of a wide range of styles makes her a sought-after on-stage and studio performer. She has been featured in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and has reviewed guitars for Acoustic Guitar Magazine.
Avril has performed at top venues and festivals including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (Washington D.C.), Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (Oak Hill, NY), the Birchmere (Alexandria, VA), the Knitting Factory (New York, NY), Freight & Salvage (Berkeley, CA), the Rock-n-Roll hall of fame (Cleveland, Ohio), and on the south lawn of the White House.
Avril has played with Emmylou Harris, Steve Martin, Pete Seeger, Hazel Dickens, Tom Morello, the Indigo Girls, Jill Sobule, Darol Anger, Dar Williams, and John Kadlecik, among others.
Avril plays a 2018 Bourgeois large soundhole OM acoustic guitar, a 2009 Outlier Stringed Instruments OM acoustic guitar, a 1987 Paul Reed Smith custom electric guitar and a 2006 Lawrence Smart mandolin. She teaches guitar and mandolin students in the Washington, D.C.-area and online via Skype or FaceTime.
Big Howdy
Dede Wyland – Vocals Guitar
Randy Barrett – Vocals, Banjo, Guitar
Ira Gitlin – Vocal, Bass
Tom McLaughlin – Vocals, Mandolin, Guitar
Purchase Tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/big-howdy-bluegrass-showcase-hank-dietles-tavern-tickets-705469236477?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Hank Dietle’s Tavern, Rockville MD
This month features:
Kimber Ludiker and Avril Smith of the band Della Mae
• Kimber Ludiker is a Grand National Fiddle Champion. Born of fiddle-playing parents–who met competing with each other at a fiddle contest!–this Washington state native excelled from an early age at Texas-style fiddling and went on to win multiple fiddle championships including the Washington State Championship, Colorado State Championship and the aforementioned Grand National Fiddle Championship in Weiser, Idaho. She has performed with Mark O’Connor, Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, Hanneke Cassel, and her brother Dennis, a well-known fiddle/mandolin player from Austin, TX. As a founding member of the all-“girl” group Della Mae, she is widely regarded as a pillar of the new-generation fiddle scene. She brings a good-hearted spirit and a great work ethic to the group, and we’re delighted to have her with us as much as her busy schedule permits.
• Avril Smith is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist and is widely recognized as a highly accomplished electric and acoustic guitarist and mandolin player.
Avril currently plays guitar in several touring Americana, bluegrass and alt country projects including the Grammy-nominated band Della Mae; Ms. Adventure, a trio featuring Vickie Vaughn (Patty Loveless) and Kimber Ludiker (Della Mae); and award-winning songwriter Becky Warren with whom she has toured opening the Indigo Girls.
Avril’s mastery of a wide range of styles makes her a sought-after on-stage and studio performer. She has been featured in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and has reviewed guitars for Acoustic Guitar Magazine.
Avril has performed at top venues and festivals including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (Washington D.C.), Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (Oak Hill, NY), the Birchmere (Alexandria, VA), the Knitting Factory (New York, NY), Freight & Salvage (Berkeley, CA), the Rock-n-Roll hall of fame (Cleveland, Ohio), and on the south lawn of the White House.
Avril has played with Emmylou Harris, Steve Martin, Pete Seeger, Hazel Dickens, Tom Morello, the Indigo Girls, Jill Sobule, Darol Anger, Dar Williams, and John Kadlecik, among others.
Avril plays a 2018 Bourgeois large soundhole OM acoustic guitar, a 2009 Outlier Stringed Instruments OM acoustic guitar, a 1987 Paul Reed Smith custom electric guitar and a 2006 Lawrence Smart mandolin. She teaches guitar and mandolin students in the Washington, D.C.-area and online via Skype or FaceTime.
Big Howdy
Dede Wyland – Vocals Guitar
Randy Barrett – Vocals, Banjo, Guitar
Ira Gitlin – Vocal, Bass
Tom McLaughlin – Vocals, Mandolin, Guitar