No Bull, Just Bluegrass

In a world filled with so much phoniness, simple and honest things often shine. For bluegrass musician and festival creator Caleb Bailey, his new endeavor already shows ample evidence of being one of those rare things. It’s 100-percent genuine. It’s no B.S.

The “No Bull…Just Bluegrass Festival” – now in its second year – tells you in its title that it’s about genuine, down-home fun. Bailey and his band – Paine’s Run – host this music fest that will be held this year on July 2-4 in Rockingham, Virginia.

“We have an open-air hoop barn with a sawdust floor,” Bailey said, of where the stage is set up. “The idea of ‘No Bull’ spun off of no ‘B.S.’ It’s just bluegrass. There’s no bull$&*t in the barn that day; it’s just bluegrass,” he laughed.

“Last year was our inaugural,” he explained. “The first year we had people like Lonesome River Band…Junior Sisk…I go at it full-throttle,” he laughed. He said his goal was to focus the lineup in a more traditional direction. 

He said last year there were 500 attendees per day, and for this year, “we’re about on target to double ticket sales.”

“People are billing it as one of the fastest-growing bluegrass festivals,” Bailey said. A two-day event in 2025, the fest has added a day and 2026 is now a Thurs-Saturday, three-day affair. As any event organizer can attest, that’s pretty impressive results for a first-year fest. Aside from the stellar lineup last year, what other factors explain this level of success?

“I think there’s just a general excitement about this festival that was generated organically,” Bailey explained. “There’s good sound…it’s open air, but not in the sun…and there’s so much stuff to do within our area. We’re just about in the middle of everything.”

Bailey said not only is it shaded due to the barn, but the seating area also has “A/C cooling fans we set up inside to make a cross-breeze.”

The site has 52 hook-up camping sites that are unfortunately already sold out for this year’s event, but Bailey said there is “ample rough camping opportunity” onsite on approximately 7 acres.

This year’s lineup is another slate of familiar performers, including Rhonda Vincent and The Rage; Larry Sparks; Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road; Volume Five; Hammaville; Backline; Larry Efaw and the Bluegrass Mountaineers; Shannon Slaughter Band; Blue Range; Tony Holt and the Wildwood Valley Boys; Blue Ridge Thunder; and Hammertowne. Of course, Caleb Bailey and Paine’s Run will also play a 45-minute set each day of the festival. The main MC will be bluegrass radio personality, Michelle Lee.

Once the day is done, for those staying overnight, there’s an additional treat that’s not uncommon when bluegrass friends come together.

“Last year we had some really great organic jamming,” Bailey recalled. “That happened every night, and it was really good.”

For those coming from out of town, Bailey said there is a lot to do in the surrounding area. He said Rockingham County has caves and caverns, plus multiple Civil War battlefields. He said Skyline Drive is 30 minutes away, and there’s a lot of fun to be had on the George Washington National Forest hiking trails. There are also several vineyards in the area, and hotels located just five minutes away from the festival grounds.

“Probably the most people we had were from out of town,” Bailey said, adding that they came from all over: North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, and even Florida.

“For the first year, I was pretty tickled with it,” he summarized. “I know it’s kind of a dying breed, but I kind of like that we might have kept an art form alive. There’s some kind of reverence in that.”

Nobulljustbluegrassfestival.com.