Moonshiner’s Ball at Rockcastle Riverside

Moonshiner’s Ball at Rockcastle Riverside

The Moonshiner’s Ball is an annual music festival that was started in 2014 by a rag-tag group of musicians and music-loving friends, including members of the band Blind Corn Liquor Pickers. Since 2018, the fest has taken place at Rockcastle Riverside, a beautiful and secluded private concert venue and campground located in the Daniel Boone National Forest, a little over an hour southeast from Lexington, Kentucky. With an average attendance of 1200-1500 kind souls, this small, grassroots festival allows plenty of space to spread out, steal away from the crowds and commune with nature.

Meticulously curated by a team of music lovers, The Moonshiner’s Ball embraces a diverse variety of music, with the unofficial tagline “folk by day, funk by night.” We take great pride in our region, and love to spotlight our favorite Kentucky acts, but are also excited to host some of our favorite musical discoveries from well beyond our state on our two stages. Genres range from bluegrass, Americana and singer-songwriter to funk, R&B, electronica and beyond.

Beyond the music, festival features include camping, kayaking / canoeing (arrange for a paddle experience on-site!), community bonfires, tons of kids’ activities, top-shelf culinary vendors, creative arts and craft vendors, and tons of new friends you didn’t know you needed in your life. The vibe is blissful, friendly and laid-back. We’re pretty sure you’re never gonna wanna leave.

2023 Lineup includes Galactic featuring Anjelika Jelly Joseph, Neal Francis, Sierra Hull, Adia Victoria, The Brothers Comatose, Larry Keel Experience, Kelsey Waldon, Sunny War, Thumpasaurus, The Rumble, Magnolia Boulevard, Vintage Pistol, Boulevards, Happy Landing, Good Mornign Bedlam, Hot Brown Smackdown, Eric Bolander, Mama Said String Band, Jeremy Short, Driftwood Gypsy, Houseplant, Brother Smith, Nolan Taylor, Jory Bowling, Them Lasses, Hunter Flynn, Joel’s Front Porch Jam, Blind Corn Liquor Pickers.

Tickets: https://themoonshinersball.com/

Sweet Land of Liberty Music Festival

Sweet Land of Liberty Music Festival

Come celebrate your independence with your favorite regional musicians, artisans, craftsmen, and food vendors. Nestled on the banks of the Rockcastle River in Livingston KY, you’ll find one of the best campground music venues you have ever experienced, Rockcastle Riverside, the home of Trash Bash, Moonshiners Ball and returning for the third year, the Sweet Land of Liberty music festival.

2023 Lineup includes Jason Leech, Hot Brown Smackdown, Buffalo Wabs & The Price Hill Hustle, The Local Honeys, Wayne Graham, Blind Corn Liquor Pickers, The Settlement, Brother Smith, Charlie Woods & Deep Hollow, Don Rogers & THe Apostlebillies, Them Lasses, Jenn Marie & Blackwater Station, Sarah Kate Morgan, and Ethan Wayne & the Mountain Revue.

Purchase Tickets at: https://sweetlandfest.com/

Parker Hastings Album Release Party at KY Music Hall of Fame

Mark your calendars as we will be welcoming the wonderfully talented Parker Hastings Music back to the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame on Saturday, July 29th from 2PM to 4PM! Parker will be having his Album Release Party so come and help us celebrate!
Parker is our 2023 KMHOF Artist in Residence and has excited us with his talent of guitar playing, story telling, and music knowledge. Museum admission is just $5 that day and tickets will be in person. Join us as we welcome Parker Hastings back onto the KY Songbird Stage at the Hall of Fame!

Josh Turner and Mo Pitney at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center

Josh Turner and Mo Pitney at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center

MCA Nashville recording artist Josh Turner, while a multi-platinum-selling star himself, is a country music fan first and foremost. He’s even concocted his own version of Mount Rushmore conceived solely of country music legends. Turner’s “Mount Rushmore of Country Music” boasts five faces rather than four (it’s his mountain, after all) — Randy Travis, John Anderson, Johnny Cash, Vern Gosdin, and Hank Williams.

The giants carved into the granite of Turner’s musical soul form the core of his aptly titled new album, Country State of Mind. “I’ve always said that any song you hear coming from my voice, you’re going to hear bits and pieces of those five guys,” he says. “They taught me how to be Josh Turner.”

“When I was growing up, before I moved to Nashville, I was crazy about sad songs,” he says. “There has always been a part of my heart that has loved those sad, lonesome, and slow songs.”

Turner chose his guests as carefully as he did his material, selecting artists who shared his love and respect for the material. “I wanted artists I knew have an appreciation for traditional country music,” he says. Besides heroes Travis and Anderson, Turner invited Country Music Hall of Famer Kris Kristofferson to record a new version of his 1973 chart-topper “Why Me” with him. The title track, originally a 1986 hit for Hank Williams Jr., becomes a duet with fellow Grand Ole Opry member Chris Janson. The members of Runaway June take George Jones’ part on “You Don’t Seem to Miss Me,” and Maddie & Tae sing with Turner on “Desperately,” a 2004 single for George Strait and the album’s newest song. Country State of Mind also includes songs originally made famous by Keith Whitley (“I’m No Stranger to the Rain”), Waylon Jennings (“Good Ol’ Boys” Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard), and Alan Jackson (“Midnight in Montgomery”).

From the very start of his career through chart-topping hits like “Your Man,” “Would You Go With Me,” “Why Don’t We Just Dance,” and “All Over Me,” Turner has immersed himself in country music’s history and its iconic figures. After all, this is someone who, as a student at Nashville’s Belmont University, took an open gate on Johnny Cash’s property as a sign he should knock on the legendary singer’s door and introduce himself.

“The doorknob wiggles, the door swings open, and there stands Johnny Cash,” Turner recalls. “He and I both jump back, because he didn’t expect to see me, and I sure didn’t expect him to answer the door.”

Later, as the hits came, along with multiple GRAMMY, CMA, and ACM nominations, Turner joined the Grand Ole Opry. One of country music’s oldest and most hallowed traditions, the Opry once counted Hank Williams Sr., Johnny Cash, and George Jones among its ranks; now, Turner shares membership with heroes like Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, and Patty Loveless, as well as guest Chris Janson.

For nearly two decades, Turner has been one of country music’s most recognizable voices, selling more than 8.5 million units and amassing more than 2.5 billion global streams. He has never kept his reverence for traditional country music a secret, but, with this latest album, Josh Turner is definitely in a Country State of Mind.

Really, though, he always has been.

Muscadine Bloodline with Taylor Hunnicutt at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center

Muscadine Bloodline with Taylor Hunnicutt at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center

There’s a new force making major waves in country music, Muscadine Bloodline. Proud natives of Mobile Alabama, Gary Stanton and Charlie Muncaster started Muscadine Bloodline in early 2016. From the first time they took stage, Nashville started talking… so now, with two Billboard charting critically acclaimed EP’s under their belt, it’s no surprise the rest of the music world is quickly catching on. The duo’s reputation for high-energy live experiences has resulted in a schedule full of shows spanning from coast to coast. Charlie’s contemporary vocals complimented by Gary’s harmonies and masterful guitar licks make MB a powerfully refreshing mic of talent, passion, and unfiltered authenticity. Infamously undaunted by the big stage, their sound intertwines the brash irreverence of early southern rockers with the seductive quality of 90s country love songs. Captivating hooks heard in songs like “Movin’ On” and the aggressively anthemic “WD-40” stand as a testament to MB’s wide ranging music-making capability. Every song and every show is a moving experience but at the same time, unmistakably Muscadine.

 

John Conlee at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center

John Conlee at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center

John Conlee’s hits have rarely been songs that see life through the hard-fact-hiding “Rose Colored Glasses” described in his first smash record of 1978. Through all the years since, his emphasis has been on songs of the lives of everyday people — middle class, hardworking people, and those who’ve been unable to attain even that level of economic ease. He made a fresh hit again of “Busted,” when country fans might have thought Ray Charles and Johnny Cash had enjoyed the last word on that one. He had us nodding in agreement to the tough realities of “Nothing Behind You, Nothing in Sight.”

“There are more of us ordinary folks than anybody else,” says the big-voiced baritone whose hits also include “Common Man,” “Working Man,” and “Friday Night Blues.”

When John Conlee looks at love, the view includes Harlan Howard and Bobby Braddock’s searing “I Don’t Remember Loving You” — and he has no trouble singing about being on the “Backside of Thirty.”

No-nonsense John grew up on a 250-acre Kentucky farm where he raised hogs, cultivated tobacco with mules, and mowed pastures. He also worked as a funeral home attendant and mortician, and as a pop music disc jockey in Nashville before settling into a career in country music during the mid-1970s. It’s typical of John that he used the returns from that long string of No. 1 hits (four in 1983 and 1984 alone) to get back to farm life himself.

“I spend all of my off-time, what I have of it, with my family on our farm,” John explains. “I enjoy it. There’s no glamour to it. Woodworking, gunsmithing or driving a tractor requires getting grease or varnish all over you. It’s dirty work, but I like it.”

John joined the Grand Ole Opry cast in 1981. “Back when I joined the Opry, there was not a great big hoopla about a new member coming on board,” he says. “But now, we make a big deal out of it for the people that join. It really doesn’t matter to me. I mean officially becoming a member made it a great night.”

Two decades later, John still stirs the hall to the rafters with his biggest hits, as well as his more recent salute to the families of American fighting troops on “They Also Serve.”

At one time, John raised more than $140,000 — one dollar at a time — for Feed the Children from the dollar bills tossed on the stage when he sang that 1983 hit version of “Busted.” He still collects donations from fans during that song’s performance, currently channeling the money to the benefit of Wounded Warriors. John was instrumental in the formation of the Family Farm Defense Fund. He helped Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organize and entertain at Farm Aid concerts that raised more than $13 million in grants.

John maintains an active touring schedule and still records albums.  He is also a member of the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.

Blast in the Valley

Blast in the Valley

City of Mount Vernon, Rockcastle County Fiscal Court, and Mt. Vernon-Rockcastle County Tourism Commission proudly present Blast in the Valley. Live Music, Food Trucks, Kid’s Inflatables, and Fireworks will happen at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center’s Festival Field behind Baymont Inn Hotel. Event is free and will kick off at 4:00 PM.

Live Music Schedule
5:00 – 6:30 Tone Control Band
6:45 – 8:15 Spitten Image Band
8:30 – 9:45 Nic Cassetta & Company

Patriotic Concert

Patriotic Concert

Kentucky Music Hall of Fame presents the Patriotic Concert featuring the Lexington Concert Band on Friday, June 30th. Start off your 4th of July festivities with a trip of music performed with an orchestra. The event is free to attend and music kicks off at 7PM. Food Truck and concessions will be available. Bring a chair, bug spray, and sunscreen. Fun for the whole family!

 

Kentucky Blues Music Festival

Kentucky Blues Music Festival

Join the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame 2022 Inductee Tee Dee Young as he performs at the first Kentucky Blues Music Festival on June 17th, 2023.  Opening up for Tee Dee is his son, Treyvon King Band.  The show will take place in the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame Amphitheater, behind the HOF, at 2590 Richmond Street in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky.  It is free admission and open to all ages.  Gates open at 5:00 with music starting at 5:30.  Limited VIP Sponsorship packages will be available.  Bring your own chair.  Food Trucks and Concessions will be available to purchase.

38 SPECIAL WITH THE RENEGADES

38 SPECIAL WITH THE RENEGADES

After more than four decades, 38 SPECIAL continues to bring their signature blast of Southern Rock to over 100 cities a year. At each and every show, thousands of audience members are amazed by the explosive power of the band’s performance. Their many Gold and Platinum album awards stand in testament to the endurance of a legendary powerhouse.With sales in excess of 20 million, most associate the band with their arena-rock pop smashes, “Hold On Loosely,” “Rockin’ Into the Night,” “Caught Up in You,” “Fantasy Girl,” “If I’d Been the One,” “Back Where You Belong,” “Chain Lightnin’,”“Second Chance,” and more–Timeless hits that remain a staple at radio, immediately recognizable from the first opening chord, and paving the way to their present-day touring regimen. Guitarist/vocalist DON BARNES says it’s all about maintaining that intensity in their live shows. “We never wanted to be one of those bands that had may be gotten a little soft or complacent over the years. We’re a team, and it’s always been kind of an unspoken rule that we don’t slack up, we stack up. We go out there every night to win. ”Completing the team is bassist BARRY DUNAWAY, drummer GARY MOFFATT and keyboardist/vocalist BOBBY CAPPS. The most recent addition to the band is legendary virtuoso guitarist and vocalist JERRY RIGGS. Onstage, it is a celebration of camaraderie and brotherhood, a precision unit bringing the dedication and honesty to a long history of classic songs, as well as surprisingly fresh new material.

It is that steely determination that lives on in the hearts of these ‘Wild-Eyed Southern Boys. ‘Barnes adds, “This music keeps our wheels on the road. We’re a band that’s tried to stay honest with what has driven us over the years. We started out with nothing but bold determination to make our own history and to endure. Looking back now, it has been our greatest pride to have persevered and attained that level of success and longevity. For us, it’s the ultimate validation. “The magic’s still there,” adds Barnes. “It’s an emotional high for us to keep ‘bringing it’ after all these years. When those lights go down and we all walk up those steps to the stage and hear that crowd roar, it’s a real rush to the head. It feels like we’re getting ready to strap ourselves in and it just takes off from there.