RIDDLEFEST 10/24/26
Jake Blount to Headline RiddleFest
October 24, 2026
Burnsville Town Center
RiddleFest 2026: Old Songs—New Music
Traditional Voices Group is pleased to announce the lineup for RiddleFest 2026: Old Songs—New Music, which will take place on October 24th at the Burnsville Town Center. The headliner will be Jake Blount, a master of fiddle and banjo who was awarded the prestigious Steve Martin Banjo Prize in 2020 and has twice won the Appalachian String Band Music Festival (better known as Clifftop). William Ritter and his wife Sarah Ogletree will open the evening concert. Together they sing old mountain love songs and play fiddle chestnuts. Blount will lead a free seminar at 3 PM, and the concert will begin at 7. Admission to the concert is $20.
RiddleFest is produced annually by Traditional Voices Group in honor of Yancey County native son Lesley Riddle, an African American musician who contributed significantly to the shape of early country music through his collaboration with AP Carter and the Carter Family. Together Riddle and Carter traveled throughout the Appalachian Highlands gathering traditional and popular songs which they reworked into a body of music that is considered foundational to American country music. In 2024, Riddle was recognized by Folk Alliance International with their Legacy Award.
A specialist in the early folk music of Black Americans, Blount is a skilled performer of spirituals, blues and the string band repertoire, which is focused on traditional music of the southeast United States. Blount has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Newport Folk Festival, NPR’s Tiny Desk, and numerous other venues across and beyond the United States. He has presented his scholarly work at museums and universities including the Smithsonian Institution, Berklee College of Music and Yale University. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, No Depression, and NPR. His most recent album, The New Faith, is the latest installment of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings’ African American Legacy Series.
An accomplished old-time fiddler, ballad singer and musician, Bakersville native William Ritter is a graduate of Mitchell High School, Western Carolina University and Appalachian State University. “I got to know and learn from some really wonderful fiddlers, like Bruce Greene, Trevor Stuart, Alan Jabbour, Ian Moore, and I probably didn’t listen to anything but old-time music for 5 or more years,” Ritter said. Sarah Ogletree was raised in the mountains of Jackson County, NC. She started playing the fiddle when she was eight years old and has been singing in church choirs and at family reunions for as long as she can remember. William and Sarah have been playing music together for over a decade. Specializing in traditional mountain music, they perform at regional festivals and concerts, and for wedding ceremonies, dinner parties, and other celebratory occasions.
Jake Blount will lead the free seminar – Old Songs, New Voices – beginning at 3 PM. He will talk about his use of historic Black music, some of which he finds scribbled on paper scraps in obscure archives, to make his new music, in a way echoing the song-catching and -writing activities of Riddle and Carter.
The Burnsville Town Center is located at 6 South Main Street in Burnsville NC. Tickets to the concert will be available in advance at Eventbrite.com beginning September 1 or may be purchased at the door. For more information, explore www.traditionalvoicesgroup.org or contact the Burnsville Town Center at 828-682-7209, www.burnsvilletowncenter.com.