May 13, 2024 • 22 mins
Celebrate 100 years of music in the Grove this Memorial Day weekend at the Carolina Hills Fiddle Fest. Step into the rhythm with Chase and Bethany Prevette as we look into the evolution of this storied musical landmark. Join us as Bethany tells us how the Blake family is breathing new life into the historic Fiddler's Grove, transforming it into a modern retreat that's still deeply connected to its roots. Discover how this cherished location has evolved into a buzzing hub for community events and a beacon for travelers, nestled between Statesville and Wilkesboro with easy access to wineries and Southern Distilling Company. Get ready to mark your calendars for seasonal celebrations and the inaugural Carolina Hills Fiddle Fest, an event set to echo the traditions of the past with a fresh, dynamic beat.
Unpack your fiddle, tighten your bow, and join us around the campfire for a deeper look at what it takes to pull off a music festival that's as much about heritage as it is about harmony. From the opening night with performances by the Lonesome River Band to the workshops preserving the art of shape note singing, this episode plucks at the heartstrings of musical passion. With our hosts, Chase and Bethany, you'll learn about the meticulous planning, the community spirit, and the sheer joy of hosting a gathering that celebrates the enduring legacy of music. Whether you're an old-time music aficionado or a curious newcomer, this episode is a melodious journey into the soul of Carolina's rich cultural tapestry.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're excited to be celebrating 100 years of music
in the Grove.
Tune in now to learn more.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to Discover Statesville, the show that takes
you on a captivating journeythrough the heart of one of
North Carolina's most charmingtowns.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome back everyone .
We hope you are ready todiscover Statesville, the
greater Statesville area, withus.
Today we have some fun guestsin the studio to talk about the
first annual Carolina HillsFiddle Fest.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Oh yeah, so welcome.
Today we're joined by Chase andBethany Prevett with Blake
Farms Family RV Resort BlakeFarms Family RV Resort up in
Union Grove.
So I guess, before we get intotalking about the event, tell us
a little bit about Blake Farms.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
So Blake Farms is a chicken and plant farm in North
Wilkesboro, north Carolina, andthey expanded into the
campground, which used to beFiddler's Grove, about three
years ago and made a lot ofmajor improvements.
They added a lot of campsitesthere's 64 there now.
There's a fishing pond, aswimming pond, a playground with
(01:15):
a jumping pillow, a dog park,putt-putt course.
They remodeled all thebathhouses and the office and
then they just added a countrystore a couple weeks ago.
So they've done a lot ofimprovements to the campground.
And then they also have events.
They've hosted really bigfireworks displays the last
three years, and then FiddleFest is one of our newest
(01:36):
additions.
And then they also have someevents around Halloween and
Christmas too.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Oh cool.
Well, it's a big piece ofproperty because I've been up
there for music events before,yes, which are all kind of
centered around the stage there,obviously, but if you walk on
back it's a big property.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
It goes pretty far and it joins to a farmer's field
in the very back, so there's alot of quiet, peace and quiet
out there, which is nice, verycool.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Bethany, you say the RV resort.
Has it been three years already?
Yeah, I guess, coming out ofthe pandemic, they reopened it
to the public, which, from atourism perspective, we have
loved Just this week, right now,statesville's playing host to
the Red Knights Dixie Rally andthere's close to 400 individuals
(02:24):
in town and most of them arestaying in our hotels, but some
of them had RVs and, you know,pulled their motorcycles and
they wanted to camp and they allwanted to be at your new RV
resort.
So thank you, thank you forbeing a gracious host to some of
our guests in Statesville.
We're excited about that.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Well, it's kind of in the perfect spot.
So the Speedway opened up backin Wilkesboro now and it's kind
of the perfect spot in betweenStatesville and Wilkesboro so
you can go to all of them andvisit everything that there is
in the area.
Plus there's a bunch ofwineries and all that fun stuff.
A centralized location, yeah,and I've had a lot of people
come down and visit SouthernDistilling too from the
(03:03):
campground.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, and I've had a lot of people come down and
visit Southern Distilling too,from the campground.
Yeah, and it's not just aboutvisitors and camping.
You guys have really embracedopening it up to the community.
I know we're going to dive inand talk about your fiddle fest
that you've been your amazingidea here that you've been
planning, but there's been lotsof other events Like, tell us
about.
I mean you guys are an eventvenue open up to the public?
Yes, I mean you guys are anevent venue open up to the
public.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I mean you guys have been doing some great things.
Well, they've done spring inthe Grove.
I know they've done fall in theGrove at least once there was.
It wasn't like a show onHalloween, but there was a lot
of skeletons decorated on thecampground for Halloween.
And then around Christmas theydid a big Christmas event and
they had a lot of lights thatyou could drive through.
(03:44):
And then Santa Claus was there,and they had a lot of lights
that you could drive through,and then Santa Claus was there
and they had a bunch of vendorsand the vendors are one of the
biggest part of all of theevents, because we try to get
everybody that makes thingslocally to come out and before
we started the show, josh, youwere saying how many lights did
they put out there?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
did you, or you were, you were a few million.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
I'd have to look up the post.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Well, I missed it.
I missed it this past year, butI'm not going to miss it this
year.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
And then in addition to hosting other organizations,
you know, I know like we had aBoy Scout camperee up there a
year ago.
I think it rained all weekend.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Just had one another couple weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
There.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
The Boy Scouts take over the campground.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
It didn't rain, but I think it was the same weekend
that tornado hit Wilkesboro, soa few tents went flying.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It was very windy we watched Boy Scouts chase tents
from the window.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
You guys have done a really cool thing just in the
past 30 days.
Right, you've opened up acountry store out there.
Yes, tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
So the old barn that used to host a lot of the
Fiddler's Conventions and a lotof the jamming at the Fiddler's
Conventions.
It used to be lined with all ofthe awards from years prior.
We had to make a little roomfor shelves, so most of those
are down now.
But it was completely remodeled.
They basically built a shellaround the outside of it and
(05:01):
kept as much wood original aspossible, added a really nice
metal roof and some really niceporches for people to sit on.
But it's also a coffee shop.
So the Country Store has acoffee shop in the corner, as
well as a lot of, again, localvendors.
I know Sharp's Catering is inthere.
There's local honey, molasses,gray Haven Farms, beef,
(05:25):
freeze-dried candy there's likethe bulk candy bins that you can
get by the pound, true countrystore yeah, it's got about
everything you could want yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
and so bethany texted this morning and was so
gracious to say hey, can I bringy'all a coffee?
And I thought she meant likeshe was just gonna stop at a
local coffee shop and I was likeno, no, thank you.
That's so sweet of you.
But then I thought wait aminute, maybe they have coffee.
So I texted her back and toldher to surprise us, and she
brought the perfect selections.
(05:54):
This is a berry.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
That is the berry harvest tea and that is actually
made by Full Moon Herbarium,which is another Statesville
vendor, and it's just like areally good sweet iced tea and
it's actually caffeine-free.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Full Bloom Herbarium.
Full Moon.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Full Moon, I thought she said Full.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Bloom and I thought whoa Well, kudos to you guys.
This is delicious.
Thank you very much.
I have a smoothie.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, yeah, Peach strawberry banana.
Yep, it's delicious.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
And then mine is a latte, but it is.
We use black powder coffeewhich is fairly local it's from
Moore's Soul.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, we partner with black coffee a lot yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
They've got good coffee.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, we really believe in it.
You know it takes a village andwe all need to work together so
we try not to draw boundariesand to us the greater
Statesville area is irelandcounty and beyond.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
If it needs to be just cool stuff when people
visit statesville that we wantthem to know about, so locals
too and it's nice to just beable to know well, I got my
coffee from here, I got my beeffrom here and to just be able to
support local industries andnow is the country store
maintaining pretty regular hoursyes, seven to five through the
week and 9 to 5 on Saturday.
We've talked about trying toopen up a little bit earlier,
(07:10):
but I don't know if we will.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Every day of the week .
No, not Sundays.
Okay, sorry, all right, no, butthat's amazing.
That's awesome, some solidhours.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
So tell us about we were talking a little bit before
we started the podcast aboutsort of the the storied history
of bluegrass and fiddle music inthat area.
So I guess tell us about thisfirst annual Carolina Hills
Fiddle Fest event coming up andthen maybe then we can talk a
little bit about some of thehistory of that.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
So the Carolina Hills Fiddle Fest is kind of halfway
between a fiddlers conventionand a bluegrass festival.
There is some performed musicfor people to enjoy on Thursday
and Sunday and then competitionis on Friday and Saturday.
So Fiddler's Conventions, likeI said, have started in Union
Grove since 1924, and there wasone in Statesville just a little
(08:00):
bit before that.
I want to say theirs was in1921, but Statesville doesn't
have one that I'm aware ofanymore.
But Fiddler's Conventions havelong been a way for people to
come and compete and share musicand it really helps music move.
You know people traveling andtourism, that's a more visible
(08:22):
movement.
But if you hear a song on theother side of the country you
don't really get to see how thatis moved all the way across the
country.
But Fiddler's Conventions playa big part of that and people
get to compete for prize moneyand bragging rights and there's
what is it?
$3,500, a little over that inprize money up in all the
(08:42):
competitions.
And then there's two awardsthat are named Memorial Awards
that are bigger than mostconventions have.
They're $250 each, and one ofthose is a youth award and one
is an adult award.
So we are equal opportunity foreverybody to win a little money
.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Go ahead.
This is your baby, right?
You've been planning this.
It is, yeah, countless hours.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Long nights Chase right there by your side.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
The whole, yeah, yeah , countless hours, long nights.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah and Chase is right there by your side the
whole time.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Absolutely 90% of the time, yeah, chase had to make a
few coffee runs, sometimes when.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Chase has the time he has been helping me on it.
I've been lucky enough to beable to be open in the store and
have a little extra time forthis since I started working for
the Blakes, but it's beenreally good.
The response has been great.
I've gotten I had a call from alady in Tennessee about a camp
spot last night, so response hasbeen good.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
That's professional, so it kicks off on.
So this is next weekend.
It starts on the 23rd.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Next weekend.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Kicks off on Thursday night.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Thursday night with Lonesome River Band and their
Grammy award winning artists.
They're fantastic, and we'llactually be on the stage for
about 30 minutes with theCarolina Hills Band and then
Carolina Detour, which isanother local band, and they're
a bunch of young kids.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
I just saw them at Merlefest.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
They're fantastic.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, you said you would be on the stage, are you
guys?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
playing in the band?
Yeah, we'll be playing, oh well.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
We formed a house band just because we knew that
we were going to have somebreaks during Saturday.
Judges need a lunch break anddinner break and we're like,
well you know, we don't want tojust have nothing.
So we figured let's just put aband together.
It's me, it's bethany, myself,my dad, um, and then a few other
(10:32):
family members close familymembers.
What does your dad play?
Uh, man, well, he plays abouteverything, but mainly mandolin,
really.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah when he's not hidden for our listeners who are
locals.
Um, his dad is joe prevette, uh, who used to be the bicycle
policeman in downtown stateful,for many years.
Uh, well known and well lovedbefore he retired, um, but I
knew he was a musician.
(10:59):
Musician, um, but didn't knowmuch outside of that.
But forming a house band to bea filler, that's cool.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Well, we didn't want to pick favorites out of the
competing bands to play.
So yeah, having a house bandjust keeps it neutral.
Can you all win?
No, no, we are not competing.
I don't have the time and Chaseis hosting several workshops
too.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
We might get constructive criticism or a few
tomatoes thrown at us.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I doubt it.
I bet it's going to be amazing,Chase.
Talk a little bit about theworkshops, Bethany.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
We have several, several workshops planned.
We've got anywhere from yourmajor instrument categories
fiddle, banjo, mandolin fromyour major instrument categories
fiddle, banjo, mandolin.
It's primarily to teach theyounger generation.
If somebody doesn't know how toplay the guitar, we have a guy
that will come in and just showyou the basics.
(11:59):
It's just to kind of go overthe basics, set a baseline for
everybody.
I know I can speak personally.
I'm going to be helping with aworkshop on check note singing
and another workshop on vocaland just showing people.
You know like, hey, if you'restruggling with this, you know,
try this.
I've led a choir at Mount Pisgahup in Northwood, right there at
(12:24):
the county line.
But I've led the choir therefor years now with me and um
steve suther.
We kind of go back and forth,um, but I, I use that and I've
used, uh, the things I learnedin college to kind of help
people with that vocally and theshape note singing.
That's something my family'sdone for my great grandfather
(12:45):
done it, grandfather done it.
You know it's, it's a familytradition.
But, um, I can only speak onthe shape note singing, singing
and the vocal side of things.
But we have workshopsdesignated for the youth.
But anybody, if you're 60 yearsold and say I want to learn how
to play guitar, we have aworkshop.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Never too late, never too late, do you?
Have to register in advance toattend one of those workshops or
just buy a ticket.
Come in, bring your instrumentand look at the schedule you
show up.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
They will be at the old cabin on the property.
So the old cabin has a lot ofthe old records from the
Fiddler's Convention and it'sgot the old stoves and old
tables.
It's just a vintage cabin butthere's a porch on it and it'll
just be.
You walk up to it and they'llbe on the porch teaching.
I know Clay Lunsford is doing aflat-picking guitar workshop
(13:31):
and Bob Kogut is doing abeginner fiddle workshop and
there's some more of the vocaland the shape notes.
Shape notes is a big one,though A lot of places, even if
they do have workshops, theynotes.
Shape notes is a big one,though A lot of places, even if
they do have workshops, theydon't have shape note workshops.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Shape notes has been around since the 18th century.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
Let's explain what that is really quickly, really
quickly, I'll try.
Shape notes have been.
You can do a demo if you wantto.
I'd have to draw it.
I'll tell people it's likepainting by number, but it's
singing by.
I'll tell people it's likepainting by number, but it's
singing by shape.
So you've heard the the do remi fa.
So they take that and thesolfege yeah, they, they take
(14:09):
the solfege and they assign ashape to it to and try to make
it easier and more accessiblefor people to sing.
Now, a lot of your big, bigwigs and music, call it uncouth,
they think it's kind of unized,but you get, because I've been
to several singings out towardsAsheville and you just get a
group of people together and theonly thing they want to do is
sing.
(14:29):
They've got a potluck dinnerthere, but the only thing they
want to do is sing and they singit loud and proud and it's a
magical experience.
If you're ever anywhere andthere's a shape note singing, go
.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
So it's a way of reading, it's a way of writing
music in a certain way, to whereyou're reading it.
Yeah, okay, the way.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
I explain.
It is that there, way back when, when not everybody had a hymn
book and not everybody couldread, you could still see what
the shapes were.
But it was a way for everybodyto be able to sing and not feel
left out.
And again, with the spread inmusic that spread shape notes
all over the South and madesinging accessible for all the
(15:05):
churches, oh, very cool.
Thanks for asking that question.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I was just going to sit here and think maybe it's
going to come out and that way Iwon't have to ask.
But then I was like I just needto ask Did you know?
Speaker 5 (15:14):
No, oh, okay, the book I use there's Sacred Heart
and Christian Harmony, but theone I use Christian Harmony.
The author, william Walker.
He traveled the country andcollected 15,000 hymns from
preachers, traveling preachers,choirs, and he just wrote them
down and it's a way to just makemusic more accessible for
people.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Richard, I think we need shape note workshops at the
Art Arts Council.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I was guessing that it was going to be like a way of
bending notes or something tomake them sound like.
I really had no idea, so thiswas very educational.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
I can't even read a note, so I'm learning all kinds
of things today.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Well, shape notes, you don't have to know All right
, there you go, there you go,and now do you need to buy
tickets in advance or are youable to buy tickets at the gate?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
You can buy tickets at the gate, too, with cash.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
But if you want to camp, get that in advance any
camping left.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
There's not any full hookup campsites.
There are dry hookup campsitesin the field, um in the sun,
yeah, yeah, but we do havebathhouses and dump stations, so
it's not completely um dry, Iguess, but yeah, anything in the
field, and you can also bring agenerator to the field too, so
you don't have to be completelyum no hook.
(16:19):
But yeah, there are plenty ofthose left.
I think we've got 300.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
That's just a start.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
300 tents and 59 camper spots left in the field.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
You're a tent camping kind of guy, aren't you Richard
?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I do a lot of tent camping, but I have a pop-up
camper as well.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
That'd be cool yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
That was a COVID purchase.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
There were a lot of those yeah, you can still get
camping tickets the day of too,um, but we would prefer that you
purchase them in advance so wecan plan out your spots and mark
them out in the field for you.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Logistical stuff so good ticket prices right the
whole weekend's.
40 bucks for the whole weekendis $40 or $15 a day.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
You just want to come hear Lonesome River Band.
We also have a gospel band,gaining Ground, on Sunday.
They are from Kulamie andthey're just really good
musicians.
John Powell in that band.
He's one of the band leaders.
He is normally backup for—heteaches and so he is normally at
(17:19):
the Fiddler's Conventions beingeverybody's backup for the day.
So he goes across the stage acouple hundred times normally.
I gave him the luxury job thisyear and he's going to be one of
our judges Okay, but hedefinitely has the experience
and knowledge to judge fairly,yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
So Thursday is, you know, come watch the performance
.
Yep Lone Storm River Band YepCarolina Detour.
Yep Lone Storm River Band YepCarolina Detour.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
And what's the oh and ?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
the.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Carolina.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Hills Band the house band, House band.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
And then Friday and Saturday are primarily come and
participate in workshops or justwatch the competitions.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Yep, so Friday is youth competitions and it is in
the evening, so there's stillplenty of time for kids to get
out of school and come, unlessthey just want to skip school
for the day.
But I don't condone that.
Um, this is educationalexperience, courage, yeah, yeah,
um.
But yeah, the competition foryouth is on friday evening, um,
(18:14):
and we don't cut you off untileight o'clock, so you got plenty
of time to get there, um, andthen their awards will also be
friday evening, so that they canfocus on workshops and playing
with their friends on saturday.
Saturday, during the day isadult individual competitions,
so your banjo, mandolin, allfiddle, all that good stuff, and
(18:34):
then there's also going to becraft and food vendors too, so
there's plenty of stuff to lookat while you're there, and then
in the evening we'll kick offthe band competition and then,
after the bands finish up, we'lldo the adult awards.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Very cool, and so the competition.
How does that work?
Does everybody get like you getto play a song?
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Yep, you get to play one song.
The bands get to play a couplesongs, but yeah, you get one
song.
And the way that I've had ajudge explain it to me he said
it's not necessarily alwaysabout who's the best fiddle
player, it's about who's thebest fiddle player that day.
So you know, even if you don'tthink you're the best fiddle
player, you should still comecompete, because you never know.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I know that I'm not the best fiddle player.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
You should still come compete because you never know,
I know that I'm not the best.
Well, even if you don't win,you still have an amazing day
with other fiddlers there'slevels to the prizes are there
not, even if you come in?
Speaker 4 (19:26):
third, or second place.
Yeah, almost all of thecategories.
Well, I won't say pay, butalmost all of the categories
have ribbons for up to fifthplace and pay up to third place.
Very cool.
So there are ribbons to be had.
You just got to come competefor them.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
So you might not be the best mandolin player in the
world, but you might be the onlyone there that day, so you win
first and fifth, that's true.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
There are also auto harp and dulcimer.
I think Very cool Dulcimer anddobro and those categories don't
always have a ton of peoplecompeting.
So even if you just want to bea throwaway- contestant Just off
the old Dobro.
And you can compete in twoindividual categories and a band
.
So you can compete in multiplethings and it's only $10 to
(20:10):
compete and once you go acrossthe stage you get half that back
anyway.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
It's worth it.
It's worth it.
So tell us, bethany, how do we,how do our listeners?
If they want to go online andlearn more, tell us the website.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
We're on Facebook.
You can also Google it.
It's Google-able.
And thencarolinahillsfiddlefestcom is
the best place and that's theonly place to buy tickets.
Yeah, that's the only place tobuy tickets.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, very easy to navigate.
That's how I found you, and youhave answered the phone on the
first ring every time I'vecalled.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Even if you just type in Fiddle Fest, you should be
able to find it.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, well, that's great.
Thank you so much for theefforts you guys are putting in
to bring this.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
It's really exciting.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
To bring this for the greater Statesville area and
we're excited about I'll say newbecause we haven't talked about
it yet the RV resort, thecountry store.
You guys keep doing good thingsand let us know how we can lift
it up.
Absolutely, carolina HillsFiddle Fest guys, you aren't
going to want to miss it.
We do, yeah.
(21:09):
So we want to make sure andgive special thanks.
This podcast is made possibleby the Statesville Convention
and Visitors Bureau and we lovedoing it.
We hope that you have beentuning in.
If you're a new listener,please go to statesvilleNCcom.
Click on podcast.
We are gosh, isaiah.
(21:31):
How many episodes are we in?
Thirty-three episodes in andcounting.
I'm not going to speak forRichard, but I love it so much
meeting new people, I love it somuch and learn something.
Learn something new every time,so Discover Statesville people,
statesvillenccom.
(21:52):
Until next time, thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Thank you for joining Discover Statesville.
You can email us at discover atstatesvillenccom.
Check us out on Facebook atDiscover Statesville, nc hashtag
Discover Statesville and ourwebsite, statesvillenccom.
Catch us next week as wecontinue on our journey to
uncover the hidden gems,culinary adventures,
entertainment, and to beinspired and enlightened as we
(22:17):
Discover Statesville.
We're excited to be celebrating 100 years of music
in the Grove.
Tune in now to learn more.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to Discover Statesville, the show that takes
you on a captivating journeythrough the heart of one of
North Carolina's most charmingtowns.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome back everyone .
We hope you are ready todiscover Statesville, the
greater Statesville area, withus.
Today we have some fun guestsin the studio to talk about the
first annual Carolina HillsFiddle Fest.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Oh yeah, so welcome.
Today we're joined by Chase andBethany Prevett with Blake
Farms Family RV Resort BlakeFarms Family RV Resort up in
Union Grove.
So I guess, before we get intotalking about the event, tell us
a little bit about Blake Farms.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
So Blake Farms is a chicken and plant farm in North
Wilkesboro, north Carolina, andthey expanded into the
campground, which used to beFiddler's Grove, about three
years ago and made a lot ofmajor improvements.
They added a lot of campsitesthere's 64 there now.
There's a fishing pond, aswimming pond, a playground with
(01:15):
a jumping pillow, a dog park,putt-putt course.
They remodeled all thebathhouses and the office and
then they just added a countrystore a couple weeks ago.
So they've done a lot ofimprovements to the campground.
And then they also have events.
They've hosted really bigfireworks displays the last
three years, and then FiddleFest is one of our newest
(01:36):
additions.
And then they also have someevents around Halloween and
Christmas too.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Oh cool.
Well, it's a big piece ofproperty because I've been up
there for music events before,yes, which are all kind of
centered around the stage there,obviously, but if you walk on
back it's a big property.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
It goes pretty far and it joins to a farmer's field
in the very back, so there's alot of quiet, peace and quiet
out there, which is nice, verycool.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Bethany, you say the RV resort.
Has it been three years already?
Yeah, I guess, coming out ofthe pandemic, they reopened it
to the public, which, from atourism perspective, we have
loved Just this week, right now,statesville's playing host to
the Red Knights Dixie Rally andthere's close to 400 individuals
(02:24):
in town and most of them arestaying in our hotels, but some
of them had RVs and, you know,pulled their motorcycles and
they wanted to camp and they allwanted to be at your new RV
resort.
So thank you, thank you forbeing a gracious host to some of
our guests in Statesville.
We're excited about that.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Well, it's kind of in the perfect spot.
So the Speedway opened up backin Wilkesboro now and it's kind
of the perfect spot in betweenStatesville and Wilkesboro so
you can go to all of them andvisit everything that there is
in the area.
Plus there's a bunch ofwineries and all that fun stuff.
A centralized location, yeah,and I've had a lot of people
come down and visit SouthernDistilling too from the
(03:03):
campground.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, and I've had a lot of people come down and
visit Southern Distilling too,from the campground.
Yeah, and it's not just aboutvisitors and camping.
You guys have really embracedopening it up to the community.
I know we're going to dive inand talk about your fiddle fest
that you've been your amazingidea here that you've been
planning, but there's been lotsof other events Like, tell us
about.
I mean you guys are an eventvenue open up to the public?
Yes, I mean you guys are anevent venue open up to the
public.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I mean you guys have been doing some great things.
Well, they've done spring inthe Grove.
I know they've done fall in theGrove at least once there was.
It wasn't like a show onHalloween, but there was a lot
of skeletons decorated on thecampground for Halloween.
And then around Christmas theydid a big Christmas event and
they had a lot of lights thatyou could drive through.
(03:44):
And then Santa Claus was there,and they had a lot of lights
that you could drive through,and then Santa Claus was there
and they had a bunch of vendorsand the vendors are one of the
biggest part of all of theevents, because we try to get
everybody that makes thingslocally to come out and before
we started the show, josh, youwere saying how many lights did
they put out there?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
did you, or you were, you were a few million.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
I'd have to look up the post.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Well, I missed it.
I missed it this past year, butI'm not going to miss it this
year.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
And then in addition to hosting other organizations,
you know, I know like we had aBoy Scout camperee up there a
year ago.
I think it rained all weekend.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Just had one another couple weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
There.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
The Boy Scouts take over the campground.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
It didn't rain, but I think it was the same weekend
that tornado hit Wilkesboro, soa few tents went flying.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It was very windy we watched Boy Scouts chase tents
from the window.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
You guys have done a really cool thing just in the
past 30 days.
Right, you've opened up acountry store out there.
Yes, tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
So the old barn that used to host a lot of the
Fiddler's Conventions and a lotof the jamming at the Fiddler's
Conventions.
It used to be lined with all ofthe awards from years prior.
We had to make a little roomfor shelves, so most of those
are down now.
But it was completely remodeled.
They basically built a shellaround the outside of it and
(05:01):
kept as much wood original aspossible, added a really nice
metal roof and some really niceporches for people to sit on.
But it's also a coffee shop.
So the Country Store has acoffee shop in the corner, as
well as a lot of, again, localvendors.
I know Sharp's Catering is inthere.
There's local honey, molasses,gray Haven Farms, beef,
(05:25):
freeze-dried candy there's likethe bulk candy bins that you can
get by the pound, true countrystore yeah, it's got about
everything you could want yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
and so bethany texted this morning and was so
gracious to say hey, can I bringy'all a coffee?
And I thought she meant likeshe was just gonna stop at a
local coffee shop and I was likeno, no, thank you.
That's so sweet of you.
But then I thought wait aminute, maybe they have coffee.
So I texted her back and toldher to surprise us, and she
brought the perfect selections.
(05:54):
This is a berry.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
That is the berry harvest tea and that is actually
made by Full Moon Herbarium,which is another Statesville
vendor, and it's just like areally good sweet iced tea and
it's actually caffeine-free.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Full Bloom Herbarium.
Full Moon.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Full Moon, I thought she said Full.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Bloom and I thought whoa Well, kudos to you guys.
This is delicious.
Thank you very much.
I have a smoothie.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, yeah, Peach strawberry banana.
Yep, it's delicious.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
And then mine is a latte, but it is.
We use black powder coffeewhich is fairly local it's from
Moore's Soul.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, we partner with black coffee a lot yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
They've got good coffee.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, we really believe in it.
You know it takes a village andwe all need to work together so
we try not to draw boundariesand to us the greater
Statesville area is irelandcounty and beyond.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
If it needs to be just cool stuff when people
visit statesville that we wantthem to know about, so locals
too and it's nice to just beable to know well, I got my
coffee from here, I got my beeffrom here and to just be able to
support local industries andnow is the country store
maintaining pretty regular hoursyes, seven to five through the
week and 9 to 5 on Saturday.
We've talked about trying toopen up a little bit earlier,
(07:10):
but I don't know if we will.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Every day of the week .
No, not Sundays.
Okay, sorry, all right, no, butthat's amazing.
That's awesome, some solidhours.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
So tell us about we were talking a little bit before
we started the podcast aboutsort of the the storied history
of bluegrass and fiddle music inthat area.
So I guess tell us about thisfirst annual Carolina Hills
Fiddle Fest event coming up andthen maybe then we can talk a
little bit about some of thehistory of that.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
So the Carolina Hills Fiddle Fest is kind of halfway
between a fiddlers conventionand a bluegrass festival.
There is some performed musicfor people to enjoy on Thursday
and Sunday and then competitionis on Friday and Saturday.
So Fiddler's Conventions, likeI said, have started in Union
Grove since 1924, and there wasone in Statesville just a little
(08:00):
bit before that.
I want to say theirs was in1921, but Statesville doesn't
have one that I'm aware ofanymore.
But Fiddler's Conventions havelong been a way for people to
come and compete and share musicand it really helps music move.
You know people traveling andtourism, that's a more visible
(08:22):
movement.
But if you hear a song on theother side of the country you
don't really get to see how thatis moved all the way across the
country.
But Fiddler's Conventions playa big part of that and people
get to compete for prize moneyand bragging rights and there's
what is it?
$3,500, a little over that inprize money up in all the
(08:42):
competitions.
And then there's two awardsthat are named Memorial Awards
that are bigger than mostconventions have.
They're $250 each, and one ofthose is a youth award and one
is an adult award.
So we are equal opportunity foreverybody to win a little money
.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Go ahead.
This is your baby, right?
You've been planning this.
It is, yeah, countless hours.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Long nights Chase right there by your side.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
The whole, yeah, yeah , countless hours, long nights.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah and Chase is right there by your side the
whole time.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Absolutely 90% of the time, yeah, chase had to make a
few coffee runs, sometimes when.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Chase has the time he has been helping me on it.
I've been lucky enough to beable to be open in the store and
have a little extra time forthis since I started working for
the Blakes, but it's beenreally good.
The response has been great.
I've gotten I had a call from alady in Tennessee about a camp
spot last night, so response hasbeen good.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
That's professional, so it kicks off on.
So this is next weekend.
It starts on the 23rd.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Next weekend.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Kicks off on Thursday night.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Thursday night with Lonesome River Band and their
Grammy award winning artists.
They're fantastic, and we'llactually be on the stage for
about 30 minutes with theCarolina Hills Band and then
Carolina Detour, which isanother local band, and they're
a bunch of young kids.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
I just saw them at Merlefest.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
They're fantastic.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, you said you would be on the stage, are you
guys?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
playing in the band?
Yeah, we'll be playing, oh well.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
We formed a house band just because we knew that
we were going to have somebreaks during Saturday.
Judges need a lunch break anddinner break and we're like,
well you know, we don't want tojust have nothing.
So we figured let's just put aband together.
It's me, it's bethany, myself,my dad, um, and then a few other
(10:32):
family members close familymembers.
What does your dad play?
Uh, man, well, he plays abouteverything, but mainly mandolin,
really.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah when he's not hidden for our listeners who are
locals.
Um, his dad is joe prevette, uh, who used to be the bicycle
policeman in downtown stateful,for many years.
Uh, well known and well lovedbefore he retired, um, but I
knew he was a musician.
(10:59):
Musician, um, but didn't knowmuch outside of that.
But forming a house band to bea filler, that's cool.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Well, we didn't want to pick favorites out of the
competing bands to play.
So yeah, having a house bandjust keeps it neutral.
Can you all win?
No, no, we are not competing.
I don't have the time and Chaseis hosting several workshops
too.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
We might get constructive criticism or a few
tomatoes thrown at us.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I doubt it.
I bet it's going to be amazing,Chase.
Talk a little bit about theworkshops, Bethany.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
We have several, several workshops planned.
We've got anywhere from yourmajor instrument categories
fiddle, banjo, mandolin fromyour major instrument categories
fiddle, banjo, mandolin.
It's primarily to teach theyounger generation.
If somebody doesn't know how toplay the guitar, we have a guy
that will come in and just showyou the basics.
(11:59):
It's just to kind of go overthe basics, set a baseline for
everybody.
I know I can speak personally.
I'm going to be helping with aworkshop on check note singing
and another workshop on vocaland just showing people.
You know like, hey, if you'restruggling with this, you know,
try this.
I've led a choir at Mount Pisgahup in Northwood, right there at
(12:24):
the county line.
But I've led the choir therefor years now with me and um
steve suther.
We kind of go back and forth,um, but I, I use that and I've
used, uh, the things I learnedin college to kind of help
people with that vocally and theshape note singing.
That's something my family'sdone for my great grandfather
(12:45):
done it, grandfather done it.
You know it's, it's a familytradition.
But, um, I can only speak onthe shape note singing, singing
and the vocal side of things.
But we have workshopsdesignated for the youth.
But anybody, if you're 60 yearsold and say I want to learn how
to play guitar, we have aworkshop.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Never too late, never too late, do you?
Have to register in advance toattend one of those workshops or
just buy a ticket.
Come in, bring your instrumentand look at the schedule you
show up.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
They will be at the old cabin on the property.
So the old cabin has a lot ofthe old records from the
Fiddler's Convention and it'sgot the old stoves and old
tables.
It's just a vintage cabin butthere's a porch on it and it'll
just be.
You walk up to it and they'llbe on the porch teaching.
I know Clay Lunsford is doing aflat-picking guitar workshop
(13:31):
and Bob Kogut is doing abeginner fiddle workshop and
there's some more of the vocaland the shape notes.
Shape notes is a big one,though A lot of places, even if
they do have workshops, theynotes.
Shape notes is a big one,though A lot of places, even if
they do have workshops, theydon't have shape note workshops.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Shape notes has been around since the 18th century.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
Let's explain what that is really quickly, really
quickly, I'll try.
Shape notes have been.
You can do a demo if you wantto.
I'd have to draw it.
I'll tell people it's likepainting by number, but it's
singing by.
I'll tell people it's likepainting by number, but it's
singing by shape.
So you've heard the the do remi fa.
So they take that and thesolfege yeah, they, they take
(14:09):
the solfege and they assign ashape to it to and try to make
it easier and more accessiblefor people to sing.
Now, a lot of your big, bigwigs and music, call it uncouth,
they think it's kind of unized,but you get, because I've been
to several singings out towardsAsheville and you just get a
group of people together and theonly thing they want to do is
sing.
(14:29):
They've got a potluck dinnerthere, but the only thing they
want to do is sing and they singit loud and proud and it's a
magical experience.
If you're ever anywhere andthere's a shape note singing, go
.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
So it's a way of reading, it's a way of writing
music in a certain way, to whereyou're reading it.
Yeah, okay, the way.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
I explain.
It is that there, way back when, when not everybody had a hymn
book and not everybody couldread, you could still see what
the shapes were.
But it was a way for everybodyto be able to sing and not feel
left out.
And again, with the spread inmusic that spread shape notes
all over the South and madesinging accessible for all the
(15:05):
churches, oh, very cool.
Thanks for asking that question.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I was just going to sit here and think maybe it's
going to come out and that way Iwon't have to ask.
But then I was like I just needto ask Did you know?
Speaker 5 (15:14):
No, oh, okay, the book I use there's Sacred Heart
and Christian Harmony, but theone I use Christian Harmony.
The author, william Walker.
He traveled the country andcollected 15,000 hymns from
preachers, traveling preachers,choirs, and he just wrote them
down and it's a way to just makemusic more accessible for
people.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Richard, I think we need shape note workshops at the
Art Arts Council.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I was guessing that it was going to be like a way of
bending notes or something tomake them sound like.
I really had no idea, so thiswas very educational.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
I can't even read a note, so I'm learning all kinds
of things today.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Well, shape notes, you don't have to know All right
, there you go, there you go,and now do you need to buy
tickets in advance or are youable to buy tickets at the gate?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
You can buy tickets at the gate, too, with cash.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
But if you want to camp, get that in advance any
camping left.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
There's not any full hookup campsites.
There are dry hookup campsitesin the field, um in the sun,
yeah, yeah, but we do havebathhouses and dump stations, so
it's not completely um dry, Iguess, but yeah, anything in the
field, and you can also bring agenerator to the field too, so
you don't have to be completelyum no hook.
(16:19):
But yeah, there are plenty ofthose left.
I think we've got 300.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
That's just a start.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
300 tents and 59 camper spots left in the field.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
You're a tent camping kind of guy, aren't you Richard
?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I do a lot of tent camping, but I have a pop-up
camper as well.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
That'd be cool yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
That was a COVID purchase.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
There were a lot of those yeah, you can still get
camping tickets the day of too,um, but we would prefer that you
purchase them in advance so wecan plan out your spots and mark
them out in the field for you.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Logistical stuff so good ticket prices right the
whole weekend's.
40 bucks for the whole weekendis $40 or $15 a day.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
You just want to come hear Lonesome River Band.
We also have a gospel band,gaining Ground, on Sunday.
They are from Kulamie andthey're just really good
musicians.
John Powell in that band.
He's one of the band leaders.
He is normally backup for—heteaches and so he is normally at
(17:19):
the Fiddler's Conventions beingeverybody's backup for the day.
So he goes across the stage acouple hundred times normally.
I gave him the luxury job thisyear and he's going to be one of
our judges Okay, but hedefinitely has the experience
and knowledge to judge fairly,yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
So Thursday is, you know, come watch the performance
.
Yep Lone Storm River Band YepCarolina Detour.
Yep Lone Storm River Band YepCarolina Detour.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
And what's the oh and ?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
the.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Carolina.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Hills Band the house band, House band.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
And then Friday and Saturday are primarily come and
participate in workshops or justwatch the competitions.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Yep, so Friday is youth competitions and it is in
the evening, so there's stillplenty of time for kids to get
out of school and come, unlessthey just want to skip school
for the day.
But I don't condone that.
Um, this is educationalexperience, courage, yeah, yeah,
um.
But yeah, the competition foryouth is on friday evening, um,
(18:14):
and we don't cut you off untileight o'clock, so you got plenty
of time to get there, um, andthen their awards will also be
friday evening, so that they canfocus on workshops and playing
with their friends on saturday.
Saturday, during the day isadult individual competitions,
so your banjo, mandolin, allfiddle, all that good stuff, and
(18:34):
then there's also going to becraft and food vendors too, so
there's plenty of stuff to lookat while you're there, and then
in the evening we'll kick offthe band competition and then,
after the bands finish up, we'lldo the adult awards.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Very cool, and so the competition.
How does that work?
Does everybody get like you getto play a song?
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Yep, you get to play one song.
The bands get to play a couplesongs, but yeah, you get one
song.
And the way that I've had ajudge explain it to me he said
it's not necessarily alwaysabout who's the best fiddle
player, it's about who's thebest fiddle player that day.
So you know, even if you don'tthink you're the best fiddle
player, you should still comecompete, because you never know.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I know that I'm not the best fiddle player.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
You should still come compete because you never know,
I know that I'm not the best.
Well, even if you don't win,you still have an amazing day
with other fiddlers there'slevels to the prizes are there
not, even if you come in?
Speaker 4 (19:26):
third, or second place.
Yeah, almost all of thecategories.
Well, I won't say pay, butalmost all of the categories
have ribbons for up to fifthplace and pay up to third place.
Very cool.
So there are ribbons to be had.
You just got to come competefor them.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
So you might not be the best mandolin player in the
world, but you might be the onlyone there that day, so you win
first and fifth, that's true.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
There are also auto harp and dulcimer.
I think Very cool Dulcimer anddobro and those categories don't
always have a ton of peoplecompeting.
So even if you just want to bea throwaway- contestant Just off
the old Dobro.
And you can compete in twoindividual categories and a band
.
So you can compete in multiplethings and it's only $10 to
(20:10):
compete and once you go acrossthe stage you get half that back
anyway.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
It's worth it.
It's worth it.
So tell us, bethany, how do we,how do our listeners?
If they want to go online andlearn more, tell us the website.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
We're on Facebook.
You can also Google it.
It's Google-able.
And thencarolinahillsfiddlefestcom is
the best place and that's theonly place to buy tickets.
Yeah, that's the only place tobuy tickets.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, very easy to navigate.
That's how I found you, and youhave answered the phone on the
first ring every time I'vecalled.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Even if you just type in Fiddle Fest, you should be
able to find it.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, well, that's great.
Thank you so much for theefforts you guys are putting in
to bring this.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
It's really exciting.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
To bring this for the greater Statesville area and
we're excited about I'll say newbecause we haven't talked about
it yet the RV resort, thecountry store.
You guys keep doing good thingsand let us know how we can lift
it up.
Absolutely, carolina HillsFiddle Fest guys, you aren't
going to want to miss it.
We do, yeah.
(21:09):
So we want to make sure andgive special thanks.
This podcast is made possibleby the Statesville Convention
and Visitors Bureau and we lovedoing it.
We hope that you have beentuning in.
If you're a new listener,please go to statesvilleNCcom.
Click on podcast.
We are gosh, isaiah.
(21:31):
How many episodes are we in?
Thirty-three episodes in andcounting.
I'm not going to speak forRichard, but I love it so much
meeting new people, I love it somuch and learn something.
Learn something new every time,so Discover Statesville people,
statesvillenccom.
(21:52):
Until next time, thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Thank you for joining Discover Statesville.
You can email us at discover atstatesvillenccom.
Check us out on Facebook atDiscover Statesville, nc hashtag
Discover Statesville and ourwebsite, statesvillenccom.
Catch us next week as wecontinue on our journey to
uncover the hidden gems,culinary adventures,
entertainment, and to beinspired and enlightened as we
(22:17):
Discover Statesville.
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