Musicians play at the Music of the Mountains Festival. Image courtesy of NPS.

GSMNP — “Music of the Mountains”, a favorite festival in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, will hold its eleventh annual celebration Friday, April 17 through Sunday, April 19. The festival tells the story of music in the Southern Appalachians through its diverse history. Performances will be held in surrounding communities and in the park, telling the story of how mountain music grew out of traditional Celtic and religious roots to become something that would be played on front porches all over the Smokies.

On Friday a concert of Celtic music by Four Leaf Peat will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend, Tennessee. General admission is $5.00. “Music of the Mountains” continues on Saturday, kicking off National Park Week in style, with a series of free performances of old-time mountain music, dulcimer, and early bluegrass during the day at the Sugarlands Visitor Center. Music will be ongoing from 10:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m.

The festival will feature two new acts this year. Tim Simek is a two time national champion on dulcimer winning the national championship for hammered dulcimer in 2011 and for mountain dulcimer in 1997. Out of North Carolina, The Freight Hoppers are a four-piece string band who has been playing Old Time music for 20 years that is high energy and fun to dance to.

Also new this year will be a Youth Picking Contest hosted by the Gatlinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. Youth ages 8 – 17 are invited to compete on either fiddle or guitar starting at 4:00 p.m. on the plaza outside of the Ripleys Aquarium of the Smokies. Registration for the contest begins at 2:30 p.m. at the same location and spots will be limited. Spectators are encouraged and the contest is free for the public to watch.

The Sunday program at the Smoky Mountain Visitor Center in Cosby, Tennessee, will feature traditional Appalachian religious music with an old fashioned community sing along from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. This event is free to the public .

“The music in these mountains tells such a wonderful story,” said park ranger Caitlin Worth. “This festival provides the opportunity to find the type of traditional music that you love and learn how the stories that the music tells connect it to this place and its people.”

Schedule of events:

April 17 - Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center, Townsend, Admission: $5.00
7:00 p.m. – Celtic Music by Four Leaf Peat

April 18 - Sugarlands Visitor Center, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Admission is Free
10:00 a.m. Boogertown Gap Band
11:00 a.m. Lost Mill String Band
12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. The Freight Hoppers
2:00 p.m. Tim Simek on Dulcimer

April 18- Plaza at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, Gatlinburg, Admission is Free
4:00 p.m. – Youth Pickin’ Contest for ages 8-17

April 27th - Smoky Mountain Visitor Center, Cosby. Admission is Free
2:00-4:00 p.m. – “Heritage, Harps and Hymns” – traditional offerings from Cocke County