Bluegrass Concert to Benefit Dollywood Foundation Wildfire Scholarship Fund

A lineup of bluegrass music’s top artists is scheduled to perform Feb. 10-11, 2017 in Pigeon Forge with proceeds from ticket sales to benefit the Dollywood Foundation Wildfire Scholarship Fund.

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, the Grascals, Flatt Lonesome, and Volume 5 will take the stage on Friday, Feb. 10. The Lonesome River Band, Barry Bales & Friends, Newtown, Dave Adkins Band, and Jimbo Whaley & Greenbriar perform on Saturday, Feb. 11, during a two-night bluegrass celebration to benefit those affected by recent wildfires in East Tennessee.

“For these stellar artists to step up and donate their time and talents to support Sevier County families is beyond belief,” said Leon Downey, executive director of the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism. “This two-night music event will help ensure that Sevier County students receive scholarship funds and that’s an important investment in the students’ future—and ours.”

“As an East Tennessee native, I’ve been especially moved by the mountain tough spirit of my neighbors in the aftermath of this event,” said Lawson. “I am excited and humbled to participate in this two-night bluegrass celebration offering relief and support for some well-deserving folks.” Lawson was born in Kingsport, Tennessee, and resides in Bristol, Tennessee. Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver is a member of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Hall of Fame, seven–time IBMA Vocal Group of the Year Award winner and has four Grammy Award nominations for best bluegrass album.

General admission tickets are $30 per person for each concert, or a two-concert ticket is available for $50 per person (ticketing service and handling fees not included). Tickets go on sale Wednesday, Jan. 18, at knoxvilletickets.com or at the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism offices (open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.) located at the LeConte Center, 135 Jake Thomas Road. For more information, please visit http://mypf.social/smokymtnstrongbluegrasscelebration.

Dolly Parton established the Dollywood Foundation Scholarship Fund to provide support for Sevier County students to attend the university of their choice. The scholarship fund includes the Dolly Parton Scholarship, awarded annually to a student at each of Parton’s native Sevier County’s five high schools. In November 2016, the fund presented the One Million Children Scholarship, a special $30,000 scholarship awarded to a two-year-old Imagination Library participant to commemorate the literacy program’s achievement of a monthly enrollment of one million children. The Wildfire Scholarship will provide financial aid to students whose homes were lost to the fires.

Sevier County firefighters and first responders along with families currently participating in the My People Fund distribution will be special guests at the concerts.

Friday’s concert begins at 5 p.m.; Saturday’s show starts at 4 p.m. (doors open an hour prior to each concert).

The concert is sponsored by the City of Pigeon Forge and the LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge with talent provided by Moonstruck Management. Sound and lighting is donated by Blue Ridge Sound; Stellar Visions and Sound is donation staging. Catering is provided by Bullfish Grill. Other sponsors include the Sevier County Economic Development Council. WDVX radio is the official media sponsor.