Arts & Culture

Bluegrass Festival Coming To Raleigh In 2013

WUNC | By Gurnal Scott

Published May 17, 2012 at 6:15 AM EDT

North Carolina will host the best in Bluegrass music in a capital city festival starting next year.

Gurnal Scott: The International Bluegrass Music Association and its companion World of Bluegrass Festival will come to Raleigh for three years. The four-day event includes a business conference, a Bluegrass awards program and a weekend fanfest. Bluegrass has a long history in North Carolina. IBMA board member Cindy Baucum points to the story of the 1938 split of legendary Bluegrass duo Bill and Charlie Monroe.

Cindy Baucum: And it was in Raleigh, North Carolina when they decided to disband because Bill had a vision of a new genre of music that has become what we know today as Bluegrass.

Business leaders expect an economic impact of nearly 10 million dollars for Wake County each year of the event.

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Gurnal Scott

Gurnal Scott joined North Carolina Public Radio in March 2012 after several stops in radio and television. After graduating from the College of Charleston in his South Carolina hometown, he began his career in radio there. He started as a sports reporter at News/Talk Radio WTMA and won five Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 1997, Gurnal moved on to television as general assignment reporter and weekend anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston. He anchored the market's top-rated weekend newscasts until leaving Charleston for Memphis, TN in 2002. Gurnal worked at WPTY-TV for two years before returning to his roots in radio. He joined the staff of Memphis' NewsRadio 600 WREC in 2004 eventually rising to News Director. In 2006, Raleigh news radio station WPTF came calling and he became the station's chief correspondent. Gurnal’s reporting has been honored by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, the North Carolina Associated Press, and the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.

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