BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Western North Carolina is just a few weeks away from the 2nd annual Black Mountain Blues Festival, an arts and culture celebration of storytelling, blues music and Appalachian history.

The festival will run from Friday, Sept. 26 to Sunday, Sept. 28 in the heart of downtown Black Mountain, N.C.

Tickets can be purchased as day passes, festival passes or VIP passes at www.blackmountainblues.org/all-tickets. 50% of all festival proceeds will go to support Hurricane Helene relief efforts.

Blues music multimedia

Black Mountain Blues is a festival not only dedicated to spotlighting the power of contemporary blues music, but examining the history of the blues as a storytelling tool in Appalachia. Visitors to the festival can expect to attend workshops, watch films and engage in meaningful conversations about the blues in Black Mountain, in addition to hearing a world-class lineup of blues musicians.

“We want to make sure that we’re not just highlighting music, but celebrating and helping people understand the full culture of the blues,” said festival director Atiba Berkley.

Most of the workshops will be held at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, a community non-profit arts facility located at 225 W. State St.

Musical performances, meanwhile, will be split between three venues:

• Roseland Gardens Stage at White Horse Black Mountain, 105 Montreat Road
• Cherry Pit Stage at Foothills Grange, 120 Broadway Ave.
• Old Town Stage

“The whole thing is family friendly. We encourage people to bring kids, because it is such a great opportunity to expose them to art and culture, but also Black Mountain is such a fun and safe space that I think people can have a really good experience here,” Berkley said.

Headliners and locals

The festival will be headlined by Nik West, Robert Randolph, Chambers-DesLauriers, Eric Gales, Ra’Shad the Blues Kid and Mac Arnold, in addition to dozens of other blues musicians, including musicians from Black Mountain and the broader Western North Carolina region.

“We wanted to make sure to create job opportunities for local and regional artists, not only because they were impacted by the storm, but because often when opportunities that use as many resources as we do come to town, those resources don’t make it back into the local hands,” Berkley said. “We want to operate from the opposite way and say, ‘Hey, let’s hire as many locals as we can and I’ll make sure that they can play and get that exposure.'”

Other artists are visiting Black Mountain from the national market, granting locals an opportunity to hear musicians they wouldn’t normally get the chance to see.

“When people get to see those names and realize that they can have access to those artists, I think that that’s another way that we want to build appreciation,” Berkley said. “People have been through things and also just deserve to have a good time.”

For the full lineup of Black Mountain Blues Festival musicians, visit www.blackmountainblues.org/artists.