Mountain Shadow Music Festival

08/25/2026

THE 2027 MOUNTAIN SHADOW MUSIC FESTIVAL IS NOW FULLY BOOKED!
❤️ ☮️ 🎶

08/25/2026

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!
2027 Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Sunday, August 8th, 10am
Ruth Wyand

“Ruth Wyand has achieved a level of diversity that has exceeded the expectations of audiences around the world. Her guitar virtuosity is demonstrated by dynamic fingerpicking, bottleneck slide and a warm alto voice.

She is a walking encyclopedia of American music styles, playing a mix of Americana, jazz, blues, folk, country augmented by Piedmont and bluegrass clawhammer fingerpicking. Performing well-crafted instrumental arrangements of classics ranging from Doc Watson, Etta Baker, Jimi Hendrix, Leo Kottke to Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington along with her own compositions always makes a captivating show. Each song no matter how different has a firm Ruth Wyand stamp of style on it.

Ruth’s songwriting is timeless, relatable, emotionally resonant, sometimes witty, sometimes serious but always human and genuine. Her lyrics and stories along with her sense of humor will bring a smile to your face or a tear to your eye and her skillful command of the fretboard never ceases to amaze audiences of all ages.

Wyand has toured extensively throughout the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Kuwait and France and has won numerous awards for guitar and songwriting including the Gamble Rogers Fingerstyle Guitar Competition, the South Florida Folk Festival Songwriting Competition and the Hank Williams Songwriting Award.

“Ruth’s personal spirit of diversity shines through in the music she creates and performs," says MoMojo label president, Sallie Bengtson. "Her ability to blend multiple and varied musical influences into her own appealing style is an exciting addition to our growing catalog.”

“To sit and listen to Ruth Wyand is the opportunity to experience the best of Americana, Blues, Jazz, Folk along with her great style of storytelling”. ACMA (Americana Community Music Association)

The Mountain Shadow Music Festival is thrilled to have added Ruth as our Sunday morning performer! She will be a wonderful addition to our festival and joins folks like Laura Boosinger and Minton Sparks who have filled that 10am spot previously!
❤️ ☮️ 🎶

08/25/2026

Another BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
2027 Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Sunday, August 8th, 2pm
the quiet rebels

Jsa Strauss and Marc Ge**er

“With soulful voices and special skills on the guitar, we provide goosebump moments.

Marc Ge**er is a trained interior decorator, but his passion for music has already started at seven years old, when he began playing the guitar. From 1993 until today, he has played in countless bands and formations. Marc is one of the most sought-after guitarists in Switzerland. He has also been a guest musician with the Krüger Brothers. One of Marc Ge**er's highlights certainly is playing in Polo Hofer's band from 2009 to 2015. Marc travelled through the USA with Swiss Accordion Player Daniel Thürler and bassist Alfred Mosimann and recorded at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis. At the invitation, the trio played a concert at the “Carolina in The Fall” Festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. This magical performance was repeated in 2023.

Jsa Strauss trained as a florist and gardener, finding her passion for art not only in music but also in flowers and nature. Since 1985 she has been singing in various Swiss cover bands, in the folk, rock and blues genres. She is currently on the road with her partner Marc Ge**er in the Duo the the quiet rebels, the band Markus Aerni & Sweet Trouble and the Trio Răpa Roṣie with musical influences from country, folk and Americana. Markus Aerni describes Jsa on his homepage: Smooth as silk, sweet as honey.

The duo draws inspiration from greats such as the Avett Brothers, Gillian Welch, and Lacey Jane Dalton. In addition to country-folk-Americana cover versions tailored specifically for the duo and featuring beautiful vocal harmonies, the quiet rebels also perform exquisite original compositions. The pair draws particular inspiration from personal coaching by Uwe Krüger as well as their close friendship with the award-winning songwriter Tia Sillers from Nashville, who writes songs specifically for the duo.”

We are so pleased to have Marc & Jsa for our 2027 festival. This is a special treat to have this duo from across the Big Pond perform for us here at the Mountain Shadow Music Festival! Make plans now on your calendar so you don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime performance!
❤️ ☮️ 🎶 🇨🇭

08/24/2026

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
2027 Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Saturday, August 7th, Noon
Sound Councel

Sound Counsel is an award-winning a ca****la barbershop quartet based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Affiliated with the Triad Harmony Express and the Carolinas District of the Barbershop Harmony Society, Sound Council was crowned the 2017 Carolinas District Senior Quartet Champions. They perform traditional and contemporary barbershop harmony paired with tasteful humor for public and private events.
We had this fabulous group at our 2023 Mountain Shadow Music Festival and they were a big hit! We’ve tried to get some of our local venues in Statesville to host them but with no luck so we have invited them back to our festival. This IS NOT your granddaddy’s barbershop quartet! The do modern music as well, only in the barbershop style.
Sound Councel is fun and loves to interact with their audience. Please plan to come out early on Saturday to our festival to experience this truly amazing act!
❤️ ☮️ 🎶 💈

08/23/2026

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
The 2026 page with all the memories of our festival is finished! Thanks to Savy Groomer, Kim McKinney and others for some fabulous photos! Also a huge THANKS to our webmaster Jim McJunkin who has given us a beautiful website!

If you're invited, invite your firends 130 Mountain Shadow Drive Hiddenite, NC Updated 23 August 2026

08/22/2026

ANOTHER BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
2027 Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Saturday, August 7th, 2pm
“Old Folk” featuring Gary Joe Wade and Bob Barber

We typically don’t invite groups back two years in a row except for Roger W Anderson and Acoustic Citizens. This group, though, is friends with the hosts of the festival and they are giving them this special privilege. 😂 Besides, they work real cheap! 🤪
Old folk has become a popular show at Piedmont Folkways with their take on 60’s & 70’s folk music performed on acoustic guitars. They are known for their song history tidbits, sing-a-longs and harmonies and they also perform some original songs.
If you can’t wait until next August you can catch Old Folk at Piedmont Folkways on September 30th for their third regular show and then again on December 30th where they will perform “Old Folk does the Beatles”.
❤️ ☮️ 🎶

08/21/2026

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
The 2027 Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Friday, August 6th, 5pm
Thomas Garlow

Award winning, national recording artist and a baby boomer born in the hills of West Virginia, Thomas now lives in the foothills of western North Carolina. He has been playing music since he was twelve after listening to his brother’s new Chet Atkins record. During his adolescence, he worked his summers on farms in eastern North Carolina where he spent steamy afternoons drinking corn liquor (illegally) and playing the Delta and Piedmont blues with his tenant farmer coworkers.
Thomas began songwriting, seriously, when hired by a major record label in Nashville in 1970. He also worked as a session musician and backup musician and singer for several bands and solo artists over the years. Thomas released his first Album “That’s The Way It Goes” in 2015, and released his second, “Waterfalls”in April 2020, hitting #8 on the Americana and Folk Charts. Acclaimed for his mastery of the guitar, his style has been described as smooth and powerful. He is heavily influenced by his Appalachian roots and his individual experiences over the years
Thomas is accompanied by veteran bass player Skip Almond. While Skip has played in
several well-known cover bands over the years, Thomas and Skip have been
able to perform together for over 40 years.
The Mountain Shadow Music Festival is honored to have Thomas Garlow open the 2027 festival!

08/20/2026

The 2027 Mountain Shadow Music Festival
August 6th, 7pm
David Childers and the Serpents

Cathy Cash made the big announcement at Piedmont Folkways last night. David Childers and the Serpents will perform at next year’s Mountain Shadow Music Festival
“Singer-songwriter David Childers is the proverbial study in contradictions. A resident of Mount Holly, North Carolina, he’s a former high-school football player with the aw-shucks demeanor of a good ol’ Southern boy. But he’s also a well-read poet and painter who cites Chaucer and Kerouac as influences, fell in love with folk as a teen, listens to jazz and opera, and fed his family by practicing law before turning in his license to concentrate on his creative passions.
The legal profession’s loss is certainly the music world’s gain. His songs are populated by sailors, hermits, lovers and killers, facing off against fate, skeletons, good, evil, or simply the trials of everyday existence. Lust, virtue, guilt, innocence; alienation, desperation, sorrow, gratitude … he examines these conditions with such precision — combined with music that draws on folk, rock, and Cajun influences.”

David Childers and the Serpents performed at our 2024 festival and we thought it was past time to bring this amazing talent back to our stage!
❤️ ☮️ 🎶

08/18/2026

2027 Mountain Shadow Music Festival
ANOTHER BIG announcement coming soon!!
WOW!

08/18/2026

2027 Mountain Shadow Music Festival
Saturday Night Headliner, August 7th, 9pm
Chalwa

Chalwa is an Original High Country, Mountain Reggae band from Asheville, NC. This all-star line up of local musicians brings the sounds of Jamaica to the mountains of Western North Carolina.
This eight-piece band formed around 2005/2006, blend traditional Jamaican roots reggae and dub with Appalachian musical influences, featuring original tracks alongside covers of legends like Bob Marley and the Grateful Dead.
We had Chalwa in 2023 and everyone raved about them. We are especially excited about their return to the 2027 Mountain Shadow Music Festival !
❤️ ☮️ 🎶 🇯🇲