Appearing on the Main Stage at 1:15 p.m.

Hailing from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Floyd, Virginia, Old Sledge is a traditional old time band, combining the do-it-yourself work ethic of American punk and traditional music sounds with saw-the-strings-off your fiddle hillbilly dance music. Reviving old time country and blues from the turn of the 20th Century with a young punk attitude more reminiscent of modern rock, Old Sledge represents the best and brightest of the new generation of traditional musicians from the South. Far from being urban imitators of string band music, this band hails from the heart of southern Appalachia, serving up dirt-laden tales of love, hardship, and mountain living.

“It was hard to imagine,” said the Charleston Gazette, “any one band that could appeal to an audience with such a wide range of age and styles.” Native West Virginian Chance McCoy is the award-winning front man and fiddle player, along with Long Beach, California transplant Sabra Guzman, Central Tennessee banjoist Luke Richardson, and Charlottesville, Virginia bassist Jake Hopping, formerly of King Wilkie. Old Sledge has won numerous awards for their instrumentation and vocals, including first place at the Appalachian String Band Competition, and awards at the West Virginia Fiddle and Banjo Championships.

The Barbican in London has called them “a rapidly rising star in the world of American traditional music.” The Old-Time Herald in North Carolina said, “[they] sound deeply traditional in the best and most effortless sense: they’ve listened a lot to the people who came before them, and they pay respect with every note, but the music is their own.”

They have just released a new CD, Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down.

Visit Old Sledge at OldSledgeMusic.com.