How Chattanooga Has Become The New Home Of Bluegrass Music

This past week the World of Bluegrass took over the streets of the Scenic City and had a massive impact on the culture and growth of the community in Chattanooga.

The week kicked off with a large conference held downtown at the Chattanooga Convention Center that featured keynote addresses, panels, workshops, and networking opportunities for industry professionals.

Each day of the conference from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., famed bluegrass legend Jim Lauderdale taught Tai Chi to eager participants and spoke a bit about his place in the community. The experience was an exhilarating warm-up for the week of bluegrass to come.

One of the other highlights of the conference was a powerful keynote address on September 16th by Billy Strings in conversation with Tom Power, host of Q on CBC Radio One. Strings focused on the importance of tradition within the bluegrass community while also speaking on feeling unwelcome when first joining it, encouraging the inclusion of new voices and artists who don’t fit into a neat box.

He went on to discuss his life on the homefront as a child, dealing with poverty and addiction in his household. His speech was profound and set a tone for bluegrass in 2025, one that champions its new sounds while reflecting on tradition and roots.

Strings was nominated for and won Entertainer of the Year for the fourth time at this year’s IBMA Music Awards show, hosted by Steve Martin and Alison Brown. Other big winners from this year’s 36th annual awards show included Alison Krauss, who won her fifth Female Vocalist of the Year award. Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland took home Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Collaborative Recording of the Year.

This year’s Hall of Fame class includes The Bluegrass Cardinals, Hot Rize, and Arnold Schultz, with Schultz making history as the first Black musician ever inducted since the honor was established in 1991.

From September 16th to 18th, there were the Bluegrass Ramble showcases, where emerging juried artists with new music or emerging acts played twice throughout the week, once at the conference, and again at multiple different local venues around town, including Hi-Fi Clydes, Barrelhouse Ballroom, Songbirds, and The Comedy Catch.

On the third night, September 18th, the rambles featured a “Chattanooga Edition,” dedicated to local bluegrass talent to help elevate their music and position within the scene. The rambles not only highlighted our local venues but also showcased our homespun bluegrass talent, putting local Chattanoogans on the map.

Following the conference, Bluegrass Rambles, and the awards show was the IBMA Bluegrass Live music festival, from Friday, September 19th, to Saturday, September 20th. The two-day festival had performances scheduled across Miller Park, Miller Plaza, and Patten Square.

Some of the headlining acts included 2025 Grammy Award winners for Best Folk Album, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, alongside major bluegrass acts like The Infamous Stringdusters, The Wood Brothers, Sierra Hull, and Alison Brown, to name a few. The festival was chalked full of cool fan experiences too, as well as multiple food, drink, and arts and crafts vendors. The experience was both laid back and high energy, in the best of ways.

Prior to their performance this past Saturday, The Infamous Stringdusters’ banjo player, Chris Pandolfi, spoke to The Pulse about the Grammy Award-winning band’s place in the bluegrass world, the difference between traditional and progressive bluegrass, and their excitement for the festival.

The band is also celebrating twenty years of making music together with a new album out January 3rd of next year, entitled 20/20, featuring twenty songs. Their latest single, “Dead Man Walking,” dropped on the 19th of September.

“We’ve all grown so much in the last 20 years, as artists and as humans. That life experience is the engine that drives our songwriting, so in some way we have more to say than ever, and our abilities as songwriters and players continue to evolve and hopefully improve. When the band was incubating, over 20 years ago, we would make the trip to IBMA as individuals to jam and connect with other people in the bluegrass world. Coming back this year to be a part of Bluegrass Live is such an honor.” mentioned Pandolfi.

When discussing blending elements of progressive and traditional bluegrass and the new wave of artists doing so, Pandolfi suggested that his band too is on the forefront of that exploration.

“We let the music lead the way. Some songs call for a more traditional treatment, while others lend themselves to more progressive exploration, but we always try to let it happen organically. Bluegrass is undoubtedly the common thread between us, but pushing the envelope and developing an original voice are also shared goals.”

When discussing their love for Chattanooga, Pandolfi referenced the city as being very special to them.

“We have some great memories from really early on as a band, playing smaller shows in Chattanooga. We got our start in Nashville, so we were right down the road. But we’ve also had a few great shows at 3 Sisters Fest and a few other spots. It’s a great music town.”

With the IBMA World of Bluegrass announcing that Chattanooga will be returning for the massive week-long event until 2027, the Scenic City is officially on the map as the home of bluegrass, and the future looks quite promising.

The Infamous Stringdusters photo by Daniel Milchev