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The festival, founded in 1988 by Doc Watson, is the primary fundraising event for Wilkes
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The music is spread across 13 different stages and four days, which provides festival visitors with a wide variety of musical venues, groups, and styles to choose from. MerleFest offers a mix of traditional and contemporary roots music, a music blend that Doc himself named "traditional plus." It
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Originally, the festival was an annual homecoming event in memory of Merle Watson. It is believed the festival got its name when a woman called asking for tickets to "Merlefest".
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Other artists who have performed on MerleFest's 14 stages over the first 24 years have included
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business and tourist revenue to Wilkes County and surrounding areas each year.
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Record-breaking crowd at MerleFest during Avett
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prior to his death and is named in memory and honor of his son,
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is an annual "traditional plus" music festival held in
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Tourist attractions in Wilkes County, North
Carolina
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878:Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum
594:"MerleFest’s Richard Watson dies Monday"
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565:List of bluegrass music festivals
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1083:Typical instruments
929:Carolina Crossroads
843:Bojangles' Coliseum
812:Kidd Brewer Stadium
716:American Songwriter
489:The Doobie Brothers
1248:Notable performers
969:Tremont Music Hall
924:The Clayton Center
902:Theaters and clubs
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417:Natalie MacMaster
413:Donna the Buffalo
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919:Cat's Cradle
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622:. Retrieved
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549:Cadillac Sky
517:Steve Martin
481:Randy Travis
469:Claire Lynch
461:Junior Brown
441:Ricky Skaggs
429:Alan Jackson
393:Earl Scruggs
385:Dolly Parton
382:
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258:Years active
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112:January 2011
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54:Please help
49:verification
46:
29:
1112:Double bass
909:The Brewery
485:Lyle Lovett
453:Del McCoury
244:Location(s)
227:world music
135:‹ The
71:"MerleFest"
1348:Categories
581:References
553:Vince Gill
537:Levon Helm
405:John Prine
328:Doc Watson
310:Doc Watson
283:.merlefest
270:Doc Watson
82:newspapers
1219:Merlefest
1139:technique
1134:resonator
1122:technique
1100:resonator
1019:MerleFest
1012:Festivals
692:MerleFest
624:April 11,
541:Taj Mahal
505:Tony Rice
342:Bluegrass
294:MerleFest
212:Americana
182:bluegrass
155:MerleFest
144:is being
18:Merlefest
1323:Category
1300:magazine
1129:Mandolin
1095:acoustic
1024:Moogfest
559:See also
519:and the
425:Hot Tuna
374:Sam Bush
366:Bob Weir
266:Founders
222:jam band
192:old-time
148:. ›
137:template
974:Ziggy's
780:Outdoor
688:"About"
320:History
276:Website
197:country
96:scholar
1330:Portal
1117:Fiddle
1090:Guitar
836:Arenas
395:, The
306:Grammy
202:gospel
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1274:Other
1157:Blues
1107:Banjo
358:Cajun
346:blues
236:Dates
207:blues
172:Genre
103:JSTOR
89:books
1167:Jazz
699:2019
674:2019
648:2019
626:2022
617:WGHP
551:and
376:and
362:jazz
350:folk
285:.org
217:rock
187:folk
75:news
281:www
58:by
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