Ketch Secor with Nest of Singing Birds + Jesse Smathers

Don't miss a night of roots music at The Grey Eagle, presented by AVL Fest! This concert celebrates the legacy of the 1925 Asheville Sessions, which captured the raw, authentic sounds of Appalachia and paved the way for modern American roots music. The evening kicks off with a performance from a local Youth Band, followed by a headline show featuring a trio led by Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, along with a performance by Nest of Singing Birds and Jesse Smathers.

8 p.m. - Ketch Secor with Nest of Singing Birds + Jesse Smathers

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Asheville wrote the first chapter of America’s country music story by producing the earliest commercial recordings of Appalachian music two years before any other city. A century ago, in the heart of downtown Asheville, a mobile recording studio was set up at the George Vanderbilt Hotel to capture the voices of a region rarely heard beyond its mountain borders. Known as “The Asheville Sessions,” the 1925 recordings brought together fiddlers, banjo players, guitarists, ballad singers, and family groups. The recordings became one of the first commercial projects to preserve the musical traditions of Appalachia and helped lay the foundation for what would become American roots and country music.

That legacy didn’t fade. Today, Asheville produces stars like country giant Luke Combs and guitar legend Warren Haynes, alongside a burgeoning generation redefining music for the next century.

Explore Asheville is the presenting sponsor of “The Asheville Sessions: Celebrating 100 years of Americana & Appalachia,” a November weekend filled with concerts and events linking the groundbreaking work of 1925 to the city’s thriving modern music scene.