Does bluegrass have a place in a city like New Orleans that already has so many styles ingrained in its musical-DNA?
Regardless of one’s opinion, on Saturday, March 21st, the answer will be YES, as some of the top bluegrass musicians touring the world right now are travelling to New Orleans for the second annual Bayou Bluegrass Festival, put on by the Delta Hayride Association as a benefit for Special Olympics Louisiana.
Last year, the one-stage, single-day festival drew a large crowd, quickly confirming there would be a 2nd year. Festival organizers are fully optimistic that this year will build on that momentum.
The event takes place on March 21st at the Deutsches Haus in Mid City (1700 Moss Street), with festival grounds opening at 11:00 am, and the music goes until 8:00 pm.
Headliners include Grammy award-winning fiddle players, Bronwyn Keith Hynes & Jason Carter, and the Po’ Ramblin Boys, another IBMA-winning and Grammy-nominated bluegrass unit.
Tickets can be found on the festival's Eventbrite page. And anyone who signs up to volunteer gains entry to the festival free-of-charge (volunteer sign-up page).
The day's full lineup includes (in order of appearance):
- The Dead Magnolia String Band
- Swampland String Band
- Gina Forsythe and the Copper Roosters
- Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms
- The Po’ Ramblin Boys
- Bronwyn Keith Hynes with Jason Carter
Prior to the festival, for those interested in getting involved in the genre themselves, there will be a class taught by world-renowned mandolin player Jeff Burke on the fundamentals of bluegrass jamming. Registration for the class is open here, and it starts at 9:30 am.
Following the festival, there will be a post-fest jam at Carrollton Station, where members of bands who performed at the festival will gather to keep music rolling late into the night. That event is open to the public and starts around 9:00 pm.
You can visit the New Orleans Bayou Bluegrass Festival website for information and FAQs. The venue will also feature plenty of space to set up blankets and chairs, along with local food vendors and drink offerings. Re-entry is allowed, although outside food and drinks are not permitted.
New Orleans & Louisiana Bluegrass: A tradition that’s been around longer than expected
In an already jam-packed festival season schedule, some might wonder if a Bluegrass ought to be squeezed into the city's calendar.
Many come to New Orleans for the jazz, Cajun, and brass music, and Bluegrass might seem pretty far down the list in terms of what folks might want to hear. But a little-known reality about New Orleans is that it has a stalwart, longstanding (and thriving) bluegrass community that's gathered on a weekly basis to carry on the musical tradition for almost 20 years. The Monday Night Pickin' Party began at the Hi-Ho lounge in the Marigny shortly after Hurricane Katrina, where it remained for 17 years.
After the Hi-Ho Lounge changed ownership in 2024, the jam spent a short time in exile before moving further Uptown to NOLA Brewing on Thoupitoulas Street. At this point, the jam often brings in 20+ players and many onlookers every week. More recently, those who run the jam have begun offering periodical group lessons to help beginners and experts workshop their skills as they progress. One of the local acts performing at the Bayou Bluegrass Festival, the Dead Magnolia String Band, formed as a result of band members meeting at that jam.
The Dead Magnolia String Band opens the festival starting at 11:30 am, but is by no means the only act representing regional bluegrass. The Swampland String Band is another group comprised of Louisiana-based bluegrass Musicians. And the festival’s third act is a legendary local New Orleans-based songwriter, Gina Forsythe, and her band, the Copper Roosters.
So while Bluegrass is so often tied to the Appalachian region, when you look into the historical musical blend of Louisiana, you recognise the genre has been present in this part of the country just about as long as anywhere else. And when you look even closer, you realise that Cajun traditional music and traditional bluegrass borrow heavily from the same fiddle-driven, ancestral-ballad style music that relies heavily on a grassroots community of people who work to uphold it.
Many pioneers of Cajun and Bluegrass dabbled across these genres, Jim Smoak being one example. Smoak (born in 1934 and now currently 94 years old) is a Louisiana banjoist who formed one of the state's first bluegrass bands in 1961, the Louisiana Honey Drippers. Smoak was a peer of Earl Scruggs, played with Bill Monroe on occasion in the early 50's (Monroe is often attributed to be the father of the bluegrass genre), and eventually took his bluegrass banjo tunes across Cajun country, often merging the two very similar traditional music styles.
WWL airwaves even have their own rich history promoting bluegrass across the state. In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, Dave Nemo and Charlie Douglas hosted the Road Gang Show, which featured its own nightly “Hammer Down Bluegrass Breakdown,” a 15-minute block of uninterrupted high-bpm bluegrass.
In the 1930s, before Buegrass had officially formed as a genre, WWL also hosted Rex Griffin, who was among the first-ever to broadcast early country and bluegrass, at that time what many would call “Hillbilly music”, routinely on regional airwaves. Griffin’s songwriting was foundational in country/bluegrass lyricism, with his words influencing monumental figures in country music like Hank Williams Sr.
Now it's 2026, and almost 100 years later, Bluegrass is being served up in New Orleans and Louisiana. So consider coming out this Saturday, March 21st, to celebrate the history of a genre that you might not have realized has been growing in your own backyard.
Bluegrass... it's more of a Louisiana tradition than you'd think.
