BluegrassRoadTrip.com

Bluegrass has always been music built on movement—between towns and tents, borrowed fiddles and borrowed time, tradition and the next idea waiting to happen. And if there’s a modern map to that movement, it lives at BluegrassRoadTrip.com, the official online directory for bluegrass festivals across the United States.

At the center of that map is Amy Ricci, who didn’t set out to build a digital institution. She stepped in because something worth keeping was about to disappear.

“Originally it was called Bluegrass Circle, and that started in 2012,” Ricci said. “Corey Hemel, who promotes the Outer Banks Bluegrass Island Festival, started it with a friend. He put the website together, opened a store, and ran the festival—but he got really busy and was going to let it go.”

Ricci wasn’t having it.

“I told him, ‘No, don’t do that. It’s too good of an idea.’ In 2018 he asked if I wanted it, and I said yes. I took over the business and renamed it Bluegrass Road Trip.”

The name change wasn’t branding—it was direction.

“His idea was a circle of bluegrass people, businesses, and festivals,” she said. “My idea was Bluegrass Road Trip—using the site to plan your road trip to festivals.”

That concept now anchors one of the most comprehensive bluegrass resources in the country, built not on automation, but on persistence.

“Maintaining an accurate calendar is very time-consuming,” Ricci said. “I go to each festival’s website and verify the dates directly. Right now, the site is updated through the end of May. I started June, but many festivals hadn’t posted their dates yet, so I stopped and waited.”

Accuracy, for Ricci, also means confirming survival.

“I also have to make sure a festival is still running,” she said. “After COVID, a lot of festivals folded. That’s one of the hardest parts—going to a website and realizing it’s gone.”

Her research extends beyond festivals to the artists themselves.

“I check artists’ tour schedules—traditional bands and progressive bands—to see where they’re playing,” Ricci said. “If there’s a festival listed that I don’t already have, I add it. I want to make sure everyone is included.”

BluegrassRoadTrip.com isn’t built from a desk alone. Ricci is out in the field—tent up, stickers in hand.

“I go to festivals, set up a table, talk to people, and give out stickers,” she said. “I tell them, ‘If you know a festival I don’t have listed, email me and I’ll add it.’”

She’s clear about the site’s limitations—and its honesty.

“There’s a note on the site reminding people to double-check details,” Ricci said. “I’m human. This isn’t an AI thing.”

In December, Ricci made a leap that turned a long-running passion into a full-time commitment.

“I worked for GSK Pharmaceuticals for 26 years,” she said. “In December, I left my job. Now I’m building a better office, working on the online store, and putting more emphasis on Bluegrass Road Trip because I finally have the time.”

Financial sustainability is still evolving.

“I’ve been using money from my job,” Ricci said. “What I’m working toward is compensation from promoters and bands for featured links and listings. That’s part of what I’m building now.”

But community—not monetization—remains the site’s backbone.

“I go to as many festivals and shows as I can,” she said. “I live near Raleigh, so I’m close to a lot of venues and festivals. Since leaving my day job, I hope to travel farther—to Kentucky, Tennessee, and beyond.”

That freedom has deepened long-standing relationships.

“The first festival I ever went to was the Outer Banks Bluegrass Island Festival in 2012,” Ricci said. “I met Corey [Hemel] in person in 2014, and we became instant friends. He gave me flyers and asked me to hand them out at festivals. That led to meeting promoters, bands, and so many people in the community.”

After more than a decade, the biggest shift hasn’t been technological—it’s cultural.

“When I started, it was the same festivals every year,” Ricci said. “There weren’t many new ones. After COVID, everything changed. Festivals started appearing and disappearing much more frequently.”

That change has pushed Ricci toward documenting festivals as experiences, not just listings.

“When I go to a festival, I try to show what it’s really like,” she said. “Is there camping? A pavilion? Is it covered if it rains? I take photos, make reels, and add them to the site so people can see if it’s something they want to attend.”

Sometimes, those experiences veer delightfully off the map.

“One midnight jam had black lights, and people were marked with designs that glowed,” Ricci said. “Everyone was glowing—it was so much fun.”

Another involved floating mushrooms over a crowd.

“He tied giant inflatable mushrooms to fishing rods and had us walk them over the audience,” she said. “I thought, ‘Where else do you see something like this?’”

Increasingly, the answer is BluegrassRoadTrip.com—now approaching four and a half million total site hits and supported by a Facebook community of more than 73,000 followers.

And then there’s Roscoe.

“He sat on my desk for years,” Ricci said. “I brought him to festivals, and people started asking for him. Now he’s kind of the mascot.”

It’s fitting. Bluegrass thrives on personality, presence, and showing up.

BluegrassRoadTrip.com isn’t just a directory—it’s a working archive of how bluegrass actually moves through the world. One road at a time. One festival at a time. One person deciding that something worth loving is also worth maintaining.

Go take a look at everything they are doing at www.BluegrassRoadTrip.com