Blue Ridge Music Center Programming

Mountain music rings true at the Blue Ridge Music Center, where it is preserved, interpreted, and celebrated. 

The sounds of the fiddle, banjo, and guitar will welcome you when you visit the Blue Ridge Music Center, where the music of our mountains is preserved, interpreted, and celebrated. Cultural preservation is a core element of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s mission, and we advance that goal by supporting projects and programs at the Music Center at milepost 213 in Virginia.

However, concert ticket sales, memberships, grants, and sponsorships do not cover the costs of all the dynamic programs offered spring through fall. That's why we need your help. With a donation, you can ensure that the music of the mountains comes to life for thousands of visitors each year and a piece of the region's cultural heritage remains alive.

Projects at the Music Center that need your support are:

Music Programming 

You can ensure that the shows and programs go on at the Music Center. Generous support from individuals, sponsors, and foundations is vital to providing dynamic experiences, from the Deep Roots, Many Voices interview series focused on diversity and inclusion in American roots music to the signature summer performances from the likes of Steep Canyon Rangers, Rissi Palmer, Sam Bush Band, Amythyst Kiah, Sierra Ferrell, and many more artists.

Milepost Music

With your help, these free musical sessions on summer Sunday afternoons will share mountain music with a wider audience of Parkway visitors. Akin to the down-home Midday Mountain Music presentations at the Music Center, this series of intimate outdoor concerts will showcase local musicians playing traditional music at Humpback Rocks, Peaks of Otter, Mabry Mill, Doughton Park, and the Asheville Visitor.

Lighting needs 

  • Amphitheater: Thanks to past donor support, the Music Center now has a new lighting console and processing unit for the outdoor amphitheater stage. The second phase or updates is to replace outdated, high wattage bulbs with low-voltage LED bulbs that will be more energy efficient and better for the environment.

  • Exhibit: After 12 years, the lights in the Roots of American Music exhibit are beginning to burn out and production of the original components has been discontinued. This necessary project will replace the entire lighting system in the exhibit with custom LED lite-pads so visitors can continue to learn about the origins and pioneers of mountain music.  

  • Parking areas: Ensuring guests get back to their vehicles safely after summer concerts is key part of a great experience from start to finish at the Music Center. Concerts conclude after dark and the lighting on-site is inadequate and not fully functioning. This project will repair the existing solar lights and add of eight portable lights in key locations to improve visitor safety.  

DONATE

Learn more about the Blue Ridge Music Center.

Milepost 213
VA

The Gift of Music

Help ensure the music plays on in the mountains.

Donate

Photo by Harrol Blevins