Americana & Folk Festival at Hagood Mill

Musicians of this area have long contributed to folk music. Hagood Mill selects and showcases one of the greatest Americana and folk musicians of all time. We pay homage to their life and musical career and call it “an old-time, get-down tribute.” This year, we honor 2017 Nobel Peace Prize recipient and American music icon Bob Dylan.

Join us on June 17 as musicians of the South Carolina Upcountry and other special guests perform a live tribute to this world-renowned artist, poet and musician at Hagood Mill’s annual Americana & Folk Tribute Festival.

Dylan's lyrics incorporate a wide range of political, social, philosophical and literary influences. His words and style defied existing pop music conventions and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the performances of Little Richard and the songwriting of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson and Hank Williams, Dylan has amplified and personalized musical genres. His recording career, spanning more than 50 years, has explored the traditions in American song—from folk, blues, and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing jazz and the Great American Songbook.

This year’s program will feature Steve McGaha, Jennifer Goree, J. Michael King, Becky Stoval and Freddie Vanderford performing an eclectic list of Dylan favorites as well as others you may have never heard before. This tribute will also bring several special guests to the stage, performing their own renditions of favorite Dylan and Dylan-inspired tunes. We will have a limited number of “open stage” slots available to musicians, storytellers and those who want to pay tribute in their own way to this phenomenal artist who, quite literally, has become known within the musical and literary world as the “Voice of America." Open stage sign-ups are on a first-come, first-served basis. This live show begins promptly at noon and will come to a close around 3:30 p.m.

There will be much more to see and do on June 17 as we host a variety of folk life and traditional arts demonstrations. There will be blacksmithing, bowl-digging, flint knapping, chair-caning, moonshining, broom-making, basket-making, pottery, quilting, spinning, knitting, weaving, woodcarving, bee keeping, hearth cooking, metal-smithing, leather-working and more. You can ask questions of the artists and make a purchase of their Traditional Arts to take home.

The Centerpiece of the Hagood Mill historic site is the water-powered 1845 gristmill. It is one of the finest examples of nineteenth century technology in the Upcountry and operates just as it has for the last century and a half. The mill will be running throughout the day. In the old mill, fresh stone-ground corn meal, grits, and wheat flour will be available. In addition rye flour, Basmati rice flour, oat flour, oatmeal, popping corn meal, and grits, organic yellow corn meal and grits, and buckwheat flour are produced and may be available. Hagood Mill cookbooks and a variety of other mill related items are also on sale.

So head on out, grab a plate of great food on site from Tom’s Tasty Café or Meat’n in the Middle (taco food truck) and enjoy a fun-filled day on our ancestral grounds. This will be a very special Third Saturday at the Hagood Mill Historic Site – a day that is sure to create lasting memories for you and your loved ones. A day at the mill is a day well spent.

The Hagood Mill Historic Site is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. all year long. The Hagood Creek Petroglyph Site is open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The mill operates, rain or shine, with a major festival the Third Saturday of every month.

The Hagood Mill Historic Site is located three miles north of Pickens off Highway 178 W or 5½ miles south of Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway 11 off Highway 178 East at 138 Hagood Mill Road.

For additional information about performing, vending or demonstrating opportunities during this event, please contact Hagood Mill at (864) 898-2936.