This story comes with a soundtrack from Brandon Johnson of the Madison County Arts Council. Enjoy.

HOT SPRINGS, N.C. (828newsNOW) —

Bluff Mountain Music Festival began three decades ago as an act of rebellion.

It originated as a protest against deforestation, Madison County Arts Council executive director Brandon Johnson explained.

“Close to 30 years ago now, the forest service had a plan to log [Bluff Mountain] and build some access roads in. There were people who loved it as it was,” Johnson said. “The festival was started as a way to create awareness for this forest service plan and stop it, ultimately.”

The 27th annual music festival will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, June 15 on the site of Hot Springs Resort and Spa, 315 Bridge St. in Hot Springs. The festival is free to the public.

The event will feature a silent auction, which benefits the Madison County Arts Council. There will also be local artists, craft vendors and food tents in attendance.

The festival will feature largely local old-time mountain musicians. The 12 acts range from traditional string band music to clogging dance troupes. The event is being held in honor of the late Appalachian musician Betty Nance Smith, who was fond of singing mountain ballads.

“The Madison County ballad tradition is huge,” Johnson said. “That’s one of the things I think we’ll really highlight this year.”

Many of the ballads that will be performed have been passed down from musician to musician for years.

“Most of these ballads are even older kind of things. There are people here who have been singing these for nine generations,” Johnson said. “The people that sing them, they’re mostly the people who have grown up in that tradition, heard them sung in the womb kind of thing, and continue it. It’s really a form that’s owned as much as it can be by the performers, because it’s part of who they are.”

Even three decades on, Johnson said that the music festival remains a unifying force for the Madison County community.

“The people onstage you’ll see are people who have been doing this for a long time or people who are young and growing up in this tradition,” Johnson said. “I think the music is really a lifestyle kind of thing, for the most part. It’s the way people grew up. It’s the way people socialize and gather with friends.”

Bluff Mountain Music Festival invites all friends to gather, socialize and listen to the music this weekend.