Music Is All Around At Dollywood’s Harvest Festival

• Guest Author

This blog was written by Entertainment Manager Roger White.

Autumn leaves aren’t the only thing filling Dollywood during the Harvest Festival presented by Humana – the joyful sounds of a seemingly endless variety of entertainment returns to delight guests as well. As the season shifts from summer to fall and daylight dims, guests will “fall” in love with live music, which takes center stage and brings vibrant sounds parkwide to complement the other endless autumn delights that fill this festival.

This year's Harvest Festival offers entertainment for everyone to enjoy. With live performances from more than 140 artists, the festival showcases a diverse range of sounds, styles, genres and instrumentations, ensuring there’s something to get every guest involved in this showcase and variety of entertainment.

Dollywood once again welcomes some of the top names in Gospel music to the Harvest Festival, including The Isaacs, The Inspirations, Triumphant Quartet, Jeff and Sheri Easter, 11th Hour and A.R.M.D. Vasilios. Other talented quartets including The Down East Boys, LeFevre Quartet, Legacy Five and Emmanuel Quartet also will take the Dollywood stage to offer some musical inspiration.

Country music will echo through the mountains during the fall festival, featuring Grand Ole Opry member Mandy Barnett, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Lee Roy Parnell and legendary country artist T.G. Sheppard. Returning to our Park’s stage where her performance career began is Grammy-winning artist Suzy Bogguss, who showcases her country and Americana roots through powerful storytelling. Americana artists like Jim Lauderdale and Sunny Sweeney also are featured on our Harvest Festival stages.

Rising country artists Cody Webb, Jada Cato, Jessica Willis Fisher, Rockland Road and Paige King Johnson are making their mark not only on Music Row but also in the Smokies and on the Park’s stages. East Tennessee’s own Zach McNabb will deliver unique renditions by legendary artists including Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, all while staying true to his distinctive sound and style.

The Pines Theater will host The String Revolution, a group known for their mesmerizing fusion of jazz, rock, classical and world music, infused together to create captivating records.

Dollywood’s Harvest Festival wouldn’t be complete without the best that bluegrass has to offer – with performances from Rhonda Vincent and The Rage, Special Consensus, Alison Brown and Authentic Unlimited. Bluegrass bands such as Williamson Branch, The Baker Family, and Kenny and Amanda Smith will create memorable entertainment for guests through their soulful harmonies and entertainment.

Dollywood’s talent scouts ventured across the globe and returned with an amazing lineup of special international guests for the Harvest Festival including Ireland’s JigJam and New Zealand’s queen of country,Tami Neilson. The music-rich provinces of Atlantic Canada send a lot of talent to the festival this year, as Dollywood presents the New Brunswick bluegrass of New Harmony, teen fiddlers The Lumber Jills, New Brunswick’s Acadian dance band Beauxmont and Prince Edward Island’s Inn Echo.

The “NightTime at the Back Porch” series continues in 2024 with artists including Ruby Leigh from The Voice, YouTube sensations Colt Clark and the Quarantine Kids, New Orleans’ fiery fiddler Amanda Shaw, and the hottest band on the Nashville independent scene – The Woods.

This abbreviated list of the Harvest Festival’s guest artists is by no means complete, nor does it mention Dollywood’s fabulous core performances like those by the Kingdom Heirs, the Smoky Mountain String Band, Wild Roots, the Tones and Forever Country.

Click here to find full line-up of live music performances at Dollywood’s Harvest Festival.