Denton Bluegrass and Country Music Festival

 

Wednesday May 6 2026

I don’t know why I procrastinated until the last minute, but I worked two full days getting the house ready to leave and the RV ready to transport us on another journey. It’s not like I didn’t know the trip departure date was right around the corner, I made some of our reservations back in February. Besides the normal departure check list, I had to add to our irrigation system. Besides the lawn, we irrigate our blueberry patch and flush the birdbath every morning. The new addition is for tomato plants and some flowers, both which are being grown in pots. It required its own control system because of the different water requirements. I don’t use big box store irrigation plumbing, it’s cheap junk from China and doesn’t hold up well, plus the Chinese don’t seem to adhere to any standard plumbing size. I use PEX tubing, its tough stuff and I have the tools and a stock of fittings. It just makes everything easier for me. I even fabricate my own spray heads, each sized for its assigned job.

Alls well in the back yard

At 9:20 am this morning, only 20 minutes past our planned departure, we pulled away from our home. The house is secure, security cameras tested, the neighbors notified and my friend Doug the retired policeman is on duty checking the house and securing our mail.

The RV is ready, all systems checked and operational, all the food and our clothing packed aboard. The Silver bullet is running strong and our lingering apprehension to tow with it has subsided. After the latest rear axle problem, 150,000 miles on the odometer, we wondered if it was time to retire it from towing the RV.

Our route is the dark blue line

Anyhow todays drive is only about 160 miles and by 12:30 we arrived at our destination in North Carolina. We are at the Denton Farm park just west of Asheboro for the Malpass Brothers Bluegrass and Country Music Festival. Four days of good music by many different musical groups. 

Of course, what’s a road trip without a little drama. At these music venues, camping is way down on their priority list. The worst of them turn into muddy quagmires when it rains. Here at Denton Farm Park the RV’s are parked in a wooded hilly grove of trees. The sites are mostly unlevel, ours was 7.5 inches low on the driver’s side and about nine inches high from  front to back.. That may not sound like much, but it’s pretty high when you’re trying to pull it up onto a makeshift ramp. If building a ramp with the available equipment I had wasn’t enough, it started raining. Not just a light shower, I was setting up the RV in a deluge of rain! It ended well enough, the RV is level and secure, I looked like a drowned rat

I'm going to have to take more blocks!

Our spot at the Denton Farm Park

The weather cleared after the downpour and we were able to do some exploring around the park. The festival doesn’t officially start till Thursday but travelers can check in on Wednesday to set up RV’s and claim their seat in the pavilion. If you don’t pay to have a seat in the reserved section, starting at noon on Wednesday you reserve your seat by placing a cushion or blanket on a seat in the open section. This works surprisingly well; I’ve never seen an argument about who’s seat is who’s.

Claiming our seats

At the same time as the seat claim, they have an open mike program on the stage. It’s not really open mike, they do have a schedule, but the entertainers are amateur players and are not paid. For them it’s exposure and experience, for us its an extra day of music.

One of the amateur groups on open mike night 

After dark, it started raining again and it seemed to rain all night. It’s hard to tell sometimes, we’re parked under the trees and water drips from the leaves for a long time after the rain stops. It’s safe to say it rained off and on all night, the ground is still wet this morning and rain drops are still falling on the roof. Temps will only be in the mid to high 60’s today so jeans and sweatshirts will be the dress code.

Speaking of clothing, one of the dilemmas we face when packing for a trip is what season is it where we’re going. Spring comes early in the south and often we leave wearing shorts and drive to the mountains where it is significantly cooler or down right cold.

Thursday May 7 2026 Malpass Brothers Festival (day2)

This morning we went over the schedule of musical acts and decided on which performances we would sit for today. Each day of the show, the performers do two sets, one mid-day and a 2nd show after the supper break. Depending on how much we liked the act and what other plans we have we pick and chose who we will see. Sometimes once is enough and the good ones we will see both of their performances. The first act we would see today was the Gospel Plowboys and I must say, I enjoyed the Plowboys much more than I thought I would, good old time religion. 

Gospel Plowboys

We then drove to Asheboro to have a late lunch at a favorite restaurant there. The American Roadhouse did not disappoint. We both had the senior plate of baby flounder, French fries, Cole slaw, and hush puppies for $8.99. The stop for gasoline on the way back to the farm park was not as pleasant, 19.7 gallons at $4.249 for a total of $83.78. ouch! 

Kody Norris Band

  

We got back just in time to see the Kody Norris show. I remember the first time I saw them years ago, I thought he was a bit of a ham, or corny. I think I got that impression because of the matching flamboyant costumes that the group wears. I describe it as a throw back to the 50’s when all musical groups regardless of genre wore costumes. My initial view of them is totally unfounded, they are one of the best groups out there. I’m going to call them a  crossover genre because they play Bluegrass, early Country and classic Gospel.

Denton Farm Park camping area

There was a supper break after the kody Norris show and we went back to the RV because of the inclement weather.  Steady rain came and lasted into the evening. We waited for it to stop before going back to the pavilion. The weather has not been the best for this festival so far. The roads through the park are packed gravel and have a skim of mud on them in places, not enough to sink in but definitely a slipping hazard. There hasn’t been any sun between the showers to dry anything out or warm the air. They are also dark at night. According to weather.com radar, the rain should be past us a little past seven, but with a chill in the air we will dress warm for the evening show. 

Kody Norris 2nd show

Malpass Brothers

We saw the Kody Norris band again and an hour and a half show by the Malpass brothers. Two very different shows, but we enjoyed both of them. The Kody Norris performance includes the three genres I discussed earlier.  and the Malpass brothers show is classic country with comedy skits between the brothers.

Friday May 8 2026

With twelve different bands, plus another four on amateur day, you may be wondering how we decide which bands to see and which to pass. Even though we know nothing about some of them, it’s easier than you think. Youtube! Everyone who has a career in music or dreams of one, has videos on Youtube. It’s very quick and easy to preview them online then pick which ones we sit for. Why not sit through them all? Try sitting on a wooden bench for three and a half days!

Pisqah Covered bridge near Asheboro NC

We started our day today with a short road trip to the Pisqah Covered bridge. Built in 1911 it is one of only two historic covered bridges left in North Carolina. Interestingly, the other North Carolina covered bridge is probably the only original. In 2003 the Pisqah bridge was washed away in a storm. In 2004, 90% of the original woodwork was recovered by volunteers and the bridge was reassembled. Is it a restoration or a new bridge made of old wood, you decide.

Grascals Bluegrass group

On our return to the Farm Park we had enough time to eat lunch at the food court before sitting for a band we had never heard of. In the Bluegrass genre, Grascals has been together for twenty+ years. Currently there are two original members and four with varying years with the group. I thought they were pretty good; I think Millie would rate them as ok. Next, we saw a singer /song writer named Olivia Jo. Her band had no name, I assume they are studio musicians. I liked her ok, but not enough to see her again. The Malpass Brothers, I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve seen them perform. They are very polished professionals who sing country classics that you can hum the music even if you’ve forgotten the words. They use the same format in their shows, mixing comedy with the music, but changing it up enough that it is different each time you see it. Chris Malpass is the lead singer, but recently Millie and I both prefer hearing his brother Taylor. He signs in the style of Charlie Pride and his renditions are music worth listening too! I’ll rate them as excellent, bravo Taylor!

The Malpass Brothers, Chris on right, Taylor on left

Friday evening set.

Sister Sadie Bluegrass group

We saw a group of young ladies called Sister Sadie. The six girl band was better than the Youtube video of them I previewed. Next we sat through the third performance of the Malpass Brothers. As I said before they change up each show to make it a little different. On this set they brought out a young girl of maybe 14 years old. Not a professional musician she had sat in on a Jam session the night before and they were so impressed by her banjo picking they had her play two songs with them. Sorry, I have no pictures of the young banjo player. The second off script performance involved Taylor in a painting competition. 

Laura Ashley Live Art

Laura paint her portrait upside down

The painting competition was actually a planned event to raise money needed to refurbish the steam locomotive that pulls several passenger cars around the farm Park. A woman named Laura Ashley has a program (Laura Asley live art) where she does these 15 minute painting competitions. The paintings are then auctioned off to raise money for worthy causes. 

Taylor Malpass left the stage as the crew set up for the dueling paint brushes. When he returned, he was in costume as Bob Ross the landscape painter who had a show on PBS years ago. In this contest they were to paint portraits of Elvis Presley. To give the amateur a slight chance in the competition, Laura paints her portrait upside down, the painting, not her. I think there is also some cheating, I suspect Taylor’s canvas had a faint paint-by-numbers sketch on it. Laura painted diligently and her Elvis easy to recognize. Taylor hammed it up, but in the end he did have a picture that vaguely, very vaguely resembled the King of Rock and Roll. 

Laura's 15 minute painting of Elvis

After the competition they asked the audience if there was an auctioneer in the house. Two people responded and were invited to be guest auctioneers. Taylor's was sold first for $350. Ashley's went for $700. I was surprised they went for that amount, but what do I know about art!

The last act of the evening was a tribute performance called “Always Loretta. The actress looked and sounded like Loretta Lynn and the band was the actual group that toured with the original Loretta. By this time of night my brain must have been shutting down because I don’t recall the actresses real name or the name of the band. Maybe they never told us that information, I don’t know. 

Loretta Lynn Tribute show 

Saturday May 9, 2026

We decided to skip the morning set of performances. We would see them in the evening set and that would be enough. We drove to Asheboro and browsed through three thrift stores and a Bin Store. Minimal purchases were made. Afterward we went back to The American Roadhouse for lunch. We both had Chicken sandwiches and French fries and sweat tea. it was a Saturday special for $8.49 and mighty good eating.

American Roadhouse $8 lunch

We went back to the pavilion for the final performances of the festival at 5:30. First up was Deeper shade of blue, a bluegrass band with we’ve seen once or twice at different venues. Next up was Southern Legacy, another bluegrass group of 5 guys, very similar to Deeper shade of blue.

Saturday night crowd

Supper break

Hosts of the Denton Farms bluegrass and country music festival, the Malpass Brothers appeared for their 5th performance of the festival. They had several guests during the show, during the set up for their act I noticed a little girl take her place on stage. She is Chris Malpass’s daughter and she strummed her miniature guitar along with the band. 

Look at the tiny guitar player in the back

Chris Malpass's daughter

Chris singing to his daughter

At one point in the show Chris brought his daughter to the front and seated her on a stool, he then sang a lovely song about his love for her. Afterwards he stood her up and asked her if she would like to do something for the audience, to which she nodded yes. He handed her a microphone and asked what she was going to do. Now, mind you, this is a 3-year-old, she promptly replies, “I’m going to say my ABC’s backwards.” “Ok” said Chris “go ahead”. She turned her back to the audience and in this backwards position said her ABC’s, all 26 of them from A to Z! You had to be there; it was cute!

Michele Voan Capps

Michelle Capps and Leona Williams sing with the Malpass Brothers

Michele Voan Capps a country musician in her own right, she is also the widow of the very famous guitarist Jimmy Capps. She sang a couple songs with the Malpass brothers, and was joined by singer/song writer Leona Williams who also sang with the group.

Riders in the Sky

The last act of the festival was the cowboy band, Riders in the sky. This group has been together for over forty years and this performance was number eight thousand and something, I didn’t catch the exact figure. Their act was a well-rehearsed routine of short comedy skits between their repertoire of old cowboy classics. They did good job, they made me smile and reminisce the old cowboy tv shows I watched on Saturday mornings. But, I have to ask, why were they included in this country and Bluegrass festival? It just seemed out of place to me. Just my opinion of course.

That's all from the Bluegrass festival