Everyone is invited to join the merry band of music lovers making the pilgrimage to the Seedtime on the Cumberland festival June 6-7. Held in downtown Whitesburg by regional cultural nonprofit Appalshop, the free event features local artisans, food and performance art. Music, though, is the main attraction, with an evening Punk Show on Friday and a full main-stage lineup on Saturday.
The schedule of events includes an eclectic mix of music and performances. Traditional regional music will be well-represented. John Haywood is a repeat performer and a Whitesburg local who teaches banjo to kids and plays all kinds of music. Grace Rogers is a banjo player and songwriter who grew up in the Eastern Kentucky traditional music community. She will perform her justice-fueled folk tunes. Sarah Kate Morgan is widely respected as one of the leading experts on the Appalachian dulcimer, which she has played since she was 7 years old.
While bluegrass tunes and old-time music are the bedrock of the festival, the musical genres have broadened throughout the years to include gospel, hip-hop and punk. This year, a gamelan ensemble will play. This folk style, with roots in Indonesia, weaves complex, interrelated melodies and harmonies using xylophones, flutes and stringed instruments.
An addition to the celebration is a parade, this year led by The Knox Honkers & Bangers, a self-described “raucous, hot pink, inclusive community marching band” from Knoxville. Attendance at the Seedtime fest has been rebuilding since the COVID-19 pandemic and 2022 floods. Last year, around 300 people came out for the event, a mix of locals and visitors from surrounding states and even other countries. It serves as a homecoming of sorts when former Appalshop employees and volunteers return to the home ground to reconnect and reminisce.
“There are ways for people to get integrated very quickly, like at the jam session tent on the grounds,” said Tucker Leighty-Phillips, Appalshop’s publicity manager. “As a small regional music festival, Seedtime carries a lot of Southern charm with it, and attendees really want to know each other’s stories.”
Echoes
Back in 1987, leaders at WMMT radio in Whitesburg envisioned Seedtime on the Cumberland as an annual event portraying the depth and richness of Eastern Kentucky heritage and passing it on to new generations. The title references a nonfiction book by Harriette Simpson Arnow detailing the everyday lives of early settlers in Kentucky and Tennessee. First held in Appalshop’s theater, then in a big tent, the festival now has a permanent home under the organization’s solar-powered pavilion.
Historically, performers included master musicians and the young artists who learned from them, featuring those who defined regional heritage such as Ray Hicks, Etta Baker and Wade Mainer. The event always has reflected a mix of cultures, recognizing the foundational ways indigenous music and African music have influenced regional styles. Even as musical genres have expanded more recently, the festival has remained a celebration of place-based arts and culture. More recent performers have included Amethyst Kiah, Coaltown Dixie, the Heavenly Voices and Appalachiatari.
Carla Gover—a musician, flatfoot dancer, and songwriter—grew up in Whitesburg attending Seedtime on the Cumberland. It had a profound influence on her, exposing her to a cultural richness that transcended her Eastern Kentucky home. Alongside plays by the Roadside Theater in her regional dialect were artists from the Zuni tribe, Cherokee singers and a Southern African-American theater group from Georgia.
“Seedtime became especially important to me as a teen, when I was getting serious about pursuing Appalachian music as my career,” she wrote in an email. “It helped me see that what had been the source of stigma and shame could be the source of what made my music unique. And indeed, the banjo and ballads I learned in Eastern Kentucky and at Seedtime have been my ticket to festivals around the world as well as an over 30-year career in music.”
Reverberations
While it has a local focus, Appalshop ensures Seedtime performers have a national and international platform for their work. Festival performances are broadcast live on WMMT 88.7 FM to audiences in four Appalachian states and conveyed to the world online. They have provided material for two national radio series. Banjoist and singer Morgan Sexton, after performing at Seedtime, recorded an album on Appalshop’s June Appal record label and starred in a documentary.
While some performers have been world renowned for their craft, others have a smaller reach just in their own communities. They are chosen based not on their commercial success but on their importance to regional culture. Organizers prioritize inviting up-and-coming local and regional artists, especially for the punk show, motivating young musicians and creating performance opportunities for them.
“We try not to use Seedtime to define the regional arts scene, but instead, the regional arts scene defines what happens at Seedtime,” Leighty-Phillips said. “We want to be on the front lines of showcasing alternative perspectives of Appalachia and keep an open mind about what regional art looks like. Seedtime has lasted almost 40 years because it is constantly evolving and offering something new.”
New Studio
Appalshop’s new WMMT 88.7 studio, just down the road from the main stage at 253A Main Street, will host an interactive visual and audio art show during the festival. The previous studio was destroyed in the 2022 floods. The station has operated out of a modified recreational vehicle on a temporary basis for more than three years, staying on the air during a crucial time. The new, permanent location has a communal exhibit and gathering space that will present the display.
To see previous Seedtime performances online:
Walker Calhoun, Cherokee singer/banjoist of Qualla, North Carolina, 1993, Beaver Hunter’s Dance, youtube.com/watch?v=DCuJscgRJ9I&t=1s
Etta Baker, 1997, African-American guitarist, “Never Let Your Deal Go Down,” youtube.com/watch?v=0KH-hp8uMcg
Morgan Sexton, 1993, banjo/singer, “Little Birdie,” youtube.com/watch?v=SjZI12xFDOM&t=2s
Seedtime on the Cumberland, 91 Madison Avenue, Whitesburg
Friday, June 6: Evening Punk Show, time TBD
Saturday, June 7: Main stage shows on the hour from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For more information, visit appalshop.org/seedtime, RSVP at the Seedtime on the Cumberland Facebook Event page, or contact seedtime@appalshop.org.