By Cameron Lee
May 8, 2026
The North Carolina Folk Festival has announced its biggest lineup to date, with Philadelphia-based instrumental hip-hop collective The Roots — led by Black Thought and Questlove — headlining the state’s largest free music festival, taking place in downtown Greensboro from September 18-20.
Also headlining the festival is bluegrass and Americana virtuoso Molly Tuttle, the first woman to win the IBMA’s Guitar Player of the Year (2017, 2018) and a back-to-back Grammy winner for Best Bluegrass Album in 2023 and 2024.
The three-day festival will also feature California indie folk singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham, who won the Grammy for Best Folk Album for Revealer (2022); Austin-based blues and soul guitarist and songwriter Jackie Venson; Canadian Juno Award-winning folk and country singer-songwriter William Prince; Afro-Cuban jazz group OKAN; and Susto Stringband.
There is a strong North Carolina contingent, featuring Victoria Victoria, Nikki Morgan, Abigail Dowd, Ranford Almond, Rakish, Leroy Pridgen IV, Folkknot, Tom Troyer, King M Dot, Signal Fire, Too Phat Brass Band, Emerson Bruno, Evan Blackerby, D.A.L.I.A., and Matt Laird, along with a special performance by the North Carolina A&T Cold Steel Drumline with The Gant School of Music & Jazz.
The festival traces its origins to the National Folk Festival, one of the oldest multicultural arts festivals in the country, which was hosted in Greensboro from 2015 to 2017.
That three-year run brought hundreds of thousands of visitors to downtown Greensboro and helped inspire local organizers, civic leaders, and arts organizations to establish a permanent version of the event.
The festival remains free with multiple outdoor stages and a strong focus on traditional and contemporary folk arts, including multicultural performances, educational programming, artisan vendors, and local food. It showcases a wide range of genres, including Appalachian and bluegrass music, gospel and blues, Indigenous traditions, African diasporic music, Latin American music, and international folk.
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The North Carolina Folk Festival plans to announce the remaining artists on the bill on June 2. You can find more info from their official website.
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