Celebrate Kentucky Bluegrass Music: LouGrass : GoToLouisville.com Official Travel Source
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September 26th

LouGrass Music Series: Cane Run Bluegrass Band

September 27th

LouGrass Music Series: Backwoods Bluegrass Band

September 27th

Bourbon on the River

September 28th

Rock the Rocks: Presented by Evan Williams Bourbon Experience

September 28th

LouGrass Music Series: Hog Operation

Recurring

September 28th

Free Bluegrass Music: Hickory Vaught

September 29th

Sunday Sunset Music Series featuring, Bluegrass Group Bourbon Revival

October 3rd

LouGrass Music Series: Backwoods Bluegrass Band

October 4th

LouGrass Music Series: Cane Run Bluegrass Band

October 5th

LouGrass Music Series: Louisville Bluegrass Band

October 10th

LouGrass Music Series: Whiskey Bent Valley Boys

October 11th

LouGrass Music Series: Louisville Bluegrass Band

October 12th

LouGrass Music Series: Cane Run Bluegrass Band

October 17th

LouGrass Music Series: Song Sparrows

October 18th

Pickin' In Paristown Music Series: Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road

October 18th

LouGrass Music Series: Whiskey Bent Valley Boys

October 19th

LouGrass Music Series: Kentucky Blue

October 24th

LouGrass Music Series: Whiskey Bent Valley Boys

October 25th

LouGrass Music Series: Cane Run Bluegrass

October 26th

LouGrass Music Series: Hog Operation

November 8th

Paul Thorn

December 20th

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder Christmas

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LouGrass, Louisville’s own evolution with the music genre, continues to blossom with frequent performances by local icons, including Grammy award-winner Michael Cleveland, Hickory Vaught, the Bibelhauser Brothers and others who are often seen jammin’ around Bourbon City. To celebrate Kentucky’s roots music, Louisville’s visitors can catch LouGrass seasonally from April through October, where at least two venues each weekend will feature live, free bluegrass and bluegrass adjacent music. You may even hear a rendition of Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky” (later cut by Elvis Presley) or a cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s popular “Wagon Wheel.”

LouGrass Events

Just like Bourbon, bluegrass music was born in Kentucky, deriving from the hills of Appalachia. Kentuckian Bill Monroe, known as the Father of Bluegrass Music, helped shape the sound we know today as ‘pickin.’ Bluegrass music is full of varied rhythms and is traditionally played only on acoustic instruments. Deriving from a myriad of traditional sounds, including roots, Americana, Afro-Lachen, alt-country, blues, and jazz – Bluegrass truly has its own unique soul.

Louisville has been synonymous with the Bluegrass genre for decades, previously hosting the Bluegrass Music Association’s World of Bluegrass Trade Show and Fan Fest for eight straight years after it relocated from Owensboro, Kentucky. Louisville was also home to the Bluegrass Hotel, an informal rooming house for Louisville’s ‘grassers’ in the 1970s. The Hotel was a large Victorian-era home in the historic Cherokee Park neighborhood, owned by Harry Bickel who graciously offered rooms to bluegrass musicians in the area, serving as an organic apprenticeship for young, progressive bluegrass pickers. Guests during that period included Sam Bush, Vince Gill, Tony Rice, Curtis Burch, Bill Millet and Courtney Johnson. With a loyal audience for the authentic genre, Bluegrass festivals became commonplace, with fans often traveling long distances to see acts perform, sticking around to catch the impromptu after-party fiddling. This laid a foundation for future events like the Kentucky Fried Chicken Bluegrass Festival held on Louisville’s waterfront Belvedere, ROMP music festival in Owensboro and Poppy Mountain Bluegrass Festival in Morehead, KY.

Stay tuned to the schedule below to catch an upcoming live LouGrass performance so you can celebrate Kentucky’s authentic roots music with us. We’ll even save some Bourbon for you.

Click to print a list of free LouGrass Music Series events.

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Paul Thorn

Nov082024

Paul Thorn has created an innovative and impressive career, pleasing crowds with his muscular brand of roots music – bluesy, rocking and thoroughly Southern...