True Blue

“The old timers that played mountain music weren’t the best musicians, but they were real,” says Perry Darby, co-owner of Folly Beach’s Surf Bar and one of the organizers behind this weekend’s Charleston Bluegrass Festival at the Sewee Outpost in Awendaw. “Anyone who has ever played or listened to this style of music gets the fact that it’s very soulful.”

Fortunately, the lineup for the Friday and Saturday affair is stocked with both real talent and genuine soul, including nationally touring acts Town Mountain, The Mosier Brothers, and The Corduroy Road. Co-produced by Awendaw Green, the schedule draws from relationships fostered at the weekly Barn Jams, including local names Guilt Ridden Troubadour and Hit or Miss (of Sol Driven Train) and from the other end of I-26, with Asheville bands Underhill Rose and Pierce Edens and the Dirty Work.

“Perry kept talking about bringing some buddies down from North Carolina to pick,” explains Awendaw Green’s Eddie White, citing the dream-team co-efforts of Surf Bar and the Sewee Outpost. “We’re getting a bunch of good people together to play bluegrass music and enjoy the heck out of it.”

Friday’s schedule runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., culminating with an all-star jam, with Saturday starting bright and early at 11 a.m. and continuing well into the night. Food and drink are available (no coolers, please), and ticket proceeds benefit the Sewee Association’s Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge’s sea turtle programs.

For more info and tickets ($15 for Friday, $20 for Saturday, or $30 for both days), click here.

For additional events going on around town this weekend, click here.