Bloom WNC hosts bluegrass double bill

Flower farm hosts Asheville Junction and the George and Buddy Bluegrass Band

Jessica Klarp
Guest contributor
The Valley Echo
July 20, 2022

Bloom WNC, a fresh-cut flower farm and music venue in Black Mountain, will host a bluegrass double bill, July 22, when Asheville Junction and the George and Buddy Bluegrass Band perform. Photo courtesy of Bloom WNC

Black Mountain-based specialty cut flower farm, Bloom WNC, is becoming a local favorite for laid back, toe-tapping concerts, set against a scenic backdrop. The casual, family-friendly outdoor venue will build upon that reputation, beginning at 6 p.m., Friday, July 22, when it hosts a bluegrass double bill.

Newcomers Asheville Junction will take the stage to open the evening, followed by the uber-experienced and talented Buddy Griffin, who will lead the George and Buddy Bluegrass Band, at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through the Bloom WNC website.

The George and Buddy Bluegrass Band is made up of Buddy Griffin on fiddle and his good friend George Ward on guitar. They will be joined by Derek Vaden on banjo and Jon Weisberger on bass and Nick Dauphinais on mandolin.

Ward and Griffin have been playing together since the early 1970s, back in West Virginia. Griffin went on to play with many great musicians, including the Goins Brothers, Katie Laur Band, and did session work with other artists, such as Christy Lane, Al Brumley, Mac Wiseman and Earl Taylor Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys and in iconic venues including the Grand Ole Opry.

Vaden, an Asheville-based professional banjo player who plays full time with The Larry Stephenson Band and the Darren Nicholson Band, will join Griffin and Ward on stage. Bloom regular, and multi-instrumentalist, Dauphinais, who also plays with the Larry Stephenson Band, will be on mandolin. Joining them will be Weisberger, who headlined at the Bloom fresh-cut flower farm in June, delighting the audience with his range of hit songs the songwriter has written for other artists.

Asheville Junction is a lively, entertaining, relatively new bluegrass/Americana band that has gained a lot of attention with their talent for music, tight harmonies, beautiful ballads, beloved standards, unique covers and original songs.

The band features Maria Raiti and her up-and-coming fiddle playing daughter, Tierra, Brad Pope on upright bass and Tim Comstock on mandolin. Comstock is a multi-instrumentalist who lives in the Swannanoa Valley.

Pope is an Asheville native who has played with a number of local bands, including the Lazybirds and the Scatterlings, and in clubs across the south. They will be joined at the farm by singer/multi-instrumentalist Spencer Roten.

Guests should bring a chair, refreshments and bug spray, while dogs and smoking are not permitted at the farm. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

The next Bloom concert, which will feature Zachary Warren And Dauphinais, is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 19. Tickets for all concerts can be purchased through the website at www.bloomwnc.com. For more information email abigail@farmerfloristbloom.com.