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The Hazel Dickens Song Contest Accepting Submissions!
The Hazel Dickens Song Contest celebrates the life one of the Baltimore/Washington region music’s most beloved bluegrass songwriters.
Entries for the Mike Auldridge Instrumental Composition Contest winners will be announced on Nov. 11, 2026!
The Mike Auldridge Instrumental Composition Contest honors the life and musicianship of one of America’s greatest bluegrass players.
Applications Orrin Star Scholarship award will be accepted between Sept. 7th and Nov. 16th 2026!
The Orrin Star Scholarship honors the memory and generosity of a remarkable man, who lived in the DC area for most of his career and who was a friend to many in the bluegrass community. Orrin gained notoriety as a champion flat-picker and went on to enrich many of our lives with the warmth and humor of his performing and teaching.
Applications for the $500 award are accepted every year, beginning in the fall. Look for the announcement on the home page. Meanwhile, the program description is at https://dcbu.org/the-orrin-star-scholarship-program/
One important aspect of DCBU’s mission is to promote music education. We offer an instructor directory so students can locate teachers in their local area for in-person instruction. Additionally, since so many great musicians teach online classes, we’re now posting information for instructors wherever they are located. To sign-up as an instructor fill out the form by selecting the link below. Your submission will be reviewed and added to our directory within a few days.
Gunston Arts Center, Arlington VA
Pinkey Swear Productions is reviving the play Bell Wringer, a bluegrass musical by local playwrights Seth Alcorn and Karen Lange. The show won Best Musical at Capital Fringe in 2023 and it’s coming back just in time for spooky season. Bell Wringer is an irreverent retelling of the legend of the Bell Witch, the haunting tale of a family menaced by a mischievous sorceress in the smokey mountains of Tennessee.
Bell Wringer plays October 22 to 31, 2026, at Gunston Arts Center, Theater Two, 2700 South Lang St, Arlington, VA. Performances are Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 PM. Tickets are $30 and available online. A Halloween party will follow the closing performance on Saturday, October 31.
Mullin’s 1847 Restaurant, Moorefield West Virginia
Lucketts Community Center, Leesburg VA
The Burnett Sisters Band brings a fresh, energetic take on traditional music to the Lucketts stage. Folks can’t get enough of this 2025 IBMA Momentum Band of the year nominee. The band is hard to pigeonhole: a hard-driving bluegrass number may be followed by an old-time fiddle tune, a Hank Williams song, or a fiery flatfooting dance number. Tickets are available at https://luckettsbluegrass.org or at the door.
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