Organizers of the 12th annual Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival released their “early bird band lineup,” with The Infamous Stringdusters at the top of the initial band list.
The Grammy-winning progressive bluegrass band will be making its third appearance at Rooster Walk, and will be joined on the bill by Melvin Seals & JGB, Fruition, BIG Something, Yarn, The Vegabonds, Big Daddy Love and Sexbruise?.
Tickets went on sale Nov. 26 through the festival’s website, www.roosterwalk.com
RW12 will take place Thursday-Sunday, May 21-24, 2020 at Pop’s Farm, located in the rolling countryside surrounding Martinsville, Va. Rooster Walk is a 4-day festival celebrating music, art, and the great outdoors at the idyllic Pop’s Farm venue. With roughly 50 bands performing on 5 different stages, an eclectic roster of great music guides the Rooster Walk experience.
“This is a just a taste of the 40-plus-bands that will perform at the festival this year, and it’s an exciting start,” said Johnny Buck, a Rooster Walk organizer. “We can’t wait to have The Infamous Stringdusters play for the first time at Pop’s Farm; they haven’t been at Rooster Walk since back in the Blue Mountain days. Melvin Seals & JGB will bring authentic Jerry Garcia Band tunes, which will no doubt be a highlight, and Fruition is a great roots-rock band that we’ve always wanted to have at the festival. Even better, we’ve got a lot more bands to come, including the top two headliners.”
In addition to four days of amazing music, the family-friendly Rooster Walk will offer a wide variety of kids’ activities, craft beer, great food, arts and numerous opportunities to enjoy Virginia’s great outdoors with kayak tours, bike rides, yoga, a disc golf course and beautiful on-site camping.
Rooster Walk has been named one of the Top 5 festivals in the state by the Richmond-Times Dispatch. It also has been voted the region’s Most Creative Charitable Event by readers of Virginia Living Magazine. The festival was created in memory of late Martinsville natives Edwin “The Rooster” Penn and Walker Shank, who graduated from Martinsville High School in 2000 along with Buck and fellow festival co-founder William Baptist.
A portion of proceeds from the festival will be donated to local and regional charities, including Rooster Walk’s own Penn-Shank Memorial Endowment Scholarship Fund for students at Martinsville High School, and the Rooster Walk Music Instrument Program for public band programs in the local city and county school systems.
The festival is produced by Rooster Walk Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to promoting music, arts and education in its home of Martinsville-Henry County. Since 2009, Rooster Walk Inc. has donated more than $200,000 to local and regional charities.
For more info, updates or to purchase tickets, visit www.RoosterWalk.com.