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============PRESS RELEASE===========
the 17th annual festival in celebration of the music of the late Merle Watson and his father Doc Watson. Wilkes Community College presented the event on April 29 May 2 on its campus in Wilkesboro, NC. MerleFest again drew an enormous, well behaved, and appreciative audience with a preliminary estimated total participation including volunteers and school children of 82,500. This exceeds MerleFest 2002's record 78,294 by more than 4000 and surpasses last year’s 77,359 by 5.5%. Paid attendance increased by 12% over 2003 with gains of 23% in Friday-only tickets, 12% for Saturday only, and 7% for three- and four-day tickets. Wilkes Community College will present MerleFest
2005 on April
28 May 1, 2005. Vince Gill, the Gourds, David Grisman Quintet, Hot Tuna, Indigo Girls, the Kruger Brothers, Patty Loveless, Natalie MacMaster, Nickel Creek, Tim O’Brien, Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing Trio, Reeltime Travelers, Tony Rice Unit, Savoy Doucet Cajun Band, Earl
Scruggs with
Family & Friends, the WAiFS, and Gillian Welch. A surprise appearance on Sunday
by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones with the John Cowan Band delighted the
audience. 2004 will reach roughly $15 million. MerleFest 2003 had an estimated impact of $12,286,799, a year after 2002’s record $15,045,673. Proceeds from MerleFest have permitted Wilkes Community College to make numerous capital improvements, including the Eddy Merle Watson Memorial Garden for the Senses, the Doc & Merle Watson
Theatre,
fiber-optic wiring for the campus, and the endowment of scholarships for its
students. Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, which attracted 889 entries, 95 more than 2003. First round judging from submitted recordings produced twelve finalists who competed with the following results. General Category Finalists (325 entries): First: “Granddaddy” by A.J. Roach, Oakland, CA; Second: “Talk Radio” by Michael Troy, Somerset, MA; Third: “Show Them” by Kristin Cifelli, Boston, MA. Country Category Finalists (271): First: “Forgiveness” by Sarah Hawker, Jersey City, NJ; Second: “Me and My Poodle” by Stayton Bonner, Austin, TX; Third: “No Need to Say it Again” by Justin Lute, Columbus, OH. Bluegrass Category Finalists (188): First: “Adeline” by Mike Finders, Iowa City, IA; Second: “Rockabye Dixie” by Abigail Washburn & Beau Stapleton, Nashville, TN; Third: “Dark Clouds” by Dave Wilson, Raleigh, NC. Gospel Category Finalists (105): First:
“Come By
Here,” by Laurelyn Dossett, Greensboro, NC; Second: “Always Room in His Heart”
by Rita Case, Galena, OH; Third: “A Christmas Tear” by Tommy Austin, Fall
Branch, TN. Summerrest, WV, with Brandon Davis from Independence, VA once again taking second and Philip Anania of Philadelphia, PA finishing third. William Parsons, Rock, WV, captured the Merle Watson Bluegrass Banjo Championship. Donnie Little of Claremont, NC took second with Rock Hill, SC’s Hank Smith third. 2003 runner-up Scott Pearson from Warren, PA won the MerleFest Mandolin Contest, followed by Spencer Strickland, Landsburg, VA
and, in third
for the second consecutive year, Josh Pinkham of Odessa, FL. REDGUM Audio, J D’Addario, Fishman Transducers, Sugar Hill Records, AC Phelps Mandolin & Guitar Co., WNCW Public Radio, John Pearse Strings, The Musik Room, Stelling Banjo Works, Taylor Guitars, Collings Guitars, Huss & Dalton Musical Instruments, Western Beat Entertainment, Fender Musical Instruments, Sprint, Cedar Creek Custom Case Shoppe, WUNC Public Radio, Chetola Resort at Blowing Rock, Deering Banjo Company, and Homespun Tapes. Sponsorship support reached a record $423,289,
including
both cash and in-kind contributions. Brown Show” spent two days at MerleFest. Triad TV stations WFMY-2, WGHP-8, and WXII-12 broadcast from MerleFest, as did Bristol, VA’s WCBY-5. More than a week before its Thursday start, MerleFest 2004 had received 14,612,381 impressions in more than 340 published articles in publications from 20 states and three foreign countries. Public television system UNC-TV rewarded pledges with 300 MerleFest 2004 tickets. Eighty-nine radio stations in 16 states and Canada participated in MerleFest 2004 promotions, giving away $54,900 worth of tickets to their listeners. Including media sponsorships with that total, MerleFest 2004 bartered for $134,682 worth of radio airtime, magazine, website, newspaper, and cable TV advertising. XM Satellite Radio again broadcast live from MerleFest, as did campus station WSIF-FM with underwriting
by the Mark
O’Connor Fiddle Camp & Strings Conference.
Fax:
240-250-7229).
Art Menius
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