Head to folk gatherings and performances, community jams, and folk music schools to experience the traditional music of Northern Appalachia in Pennsylvania.
Appalachian culture threads through cities and coal towns, mountains, and river valleys of Pennsylvania. It stretches through metropolitan Pittsburgh, the Monongahela Valley, and the Laurel Highlands, across the Allegheny Mountains, and through the mountains of Central Pennsylvania.
Throughout this landscape, traditional music is alive in bars, community jams, and schools for folk music, still played, taught, and passed along. Though your mind might immediately go to the banjo, Appalachian music isn’t a single sound—it’s diverse, encompassing old-time string band music, bluegrass, gospel, and music shaped by the folk traditions of African American communities, as well as the fiddle and ballad traditions of European immigrants.
Here are some of the best places to hear and learn about traditional music across Pennsylvania’s slice of Northern Appalachia, from folk festivals and community gatherings to workshops where you can learn to pick a banjo or strum an Appalachian dulcimer yourself.
Calliope – Pittsburgh
Calliope is at the center of efforts to preserve and celebrate folk music in Pittsburgh, as the arts organization—celebrating its 50th anniversary season this year—holds a bevy of workshops to teach traditional music, sponsors old-time jams for community members, and hosts incredible performers sharing their craft. Here’s how to get involved with the happenings at Calliope.
Calliope School of Folk Music
Calliope School of Folk Music holds regular classes in a wide variety of folk instruments, from fiddle and clawhammer banjo to harmonica and Appalachian dulcimer. The school offers a non-competitive environment, with plenty of classes for beginners. Class terms are eight weeks and run in fall, winter, and spring, with shorter workshops also mixed into the schedule.
Calliope Jams
One of the easiest ways to get involved with Calliope is to join a community jam. These jams bring together musicians of varying skill levels to create music in a fun, low-commitment environment. A multitude of different jams are held throughout the area; check out the Calliope site to learn about different jam opportunities, such as the old-time jam at East End Brewing in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood, a lively gathering held on the second Wednesday of each month, or the bluegrass jam held on Tuesdays at Starlite Lounge in Blawnox.
Calliope Concerts
In addition to getting involved with music making yourself, you can also attend concerts sponsored by Calliope. The nonprofit presents intimate folk and roots concerts at the Roots Cellar in Shadyside as well as regular concerts at community venues in the Pittsburgh area, such as the New Hazlett Theater on the North Side, the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, and other spaces.
Northern Appalachian Folk Festival – Indiana
The Northern Appalachian Folk Festival in Western Pennsylvania’s Indiana is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Northern Appalachian culture. The fest celebrates not just traditional music but also art, food, and other folk traditions.
The folk festival traditionally took over the streets of downtown Indiana with live music and festival fun, but it’s operated on a smaller scale since the festival founder died in 2025. The 2026 incarnation in September included a fiddle, banjo, guitar, and mandolin contest as well as a bluegrass jam.
Follow the NAFF Facebook page to see what’s planned for 2027.
Listen to Samuel Preston Bayard’s field recordings online
Samuel Preston Bayard was a renowned folklorist and musicologist who spent decades working in southwestern Pennsylvania. He began collecting folk tunes, primarily from fiddlers and fifers, in the late 1920s, initially transcribing them by hand before he began making field recordings in the 1940s. Bayard’s collection is housed at Penn State in State College as the Samuel Preston Bayard papers.
Penn State digitized and published Bayard’s recordings for online access, and you can listen to them on YouTube. It’s remarkable listening to real music—and the back-and-forth between the musicians and the collectors—on recordings that were made as early as 1948—nearly 80 years ago!
Snappin’ Bug String Band performances
Bayard’s collections have inspired generations of folk musicians, including Pittsburgh-based band Snappin’ Bug, which has helped preserve and share the traditional music of southwestern Pennsylvania. The group brings to life tunes collected by Bayard on fiddle, banjo, fife, guitar, and upright bass, with members also teaching traditional music throughout the region.
You can check the Snappin’ Bug Facebook page for the group’s calendar of upcoming performances, with public concerts taking place in Western and Central Pennsylvania. On Nov. 7, Snappin’ Bug will perform at Pine Grove Hall near State College in a show called “Samuel Preston Bayard: The Music He Saved.”
Laurel Hill Bluegrass Festival – Somerset
The Laurel Hill Bluegrass Festival in Western Pennsylvania’s Somerset is an annual, free festival that takes place at Laurel Hill State Park. Visitors can look forward to a handful of different bands playing both traditional and modern bluegrass, folk, and old-time music throughout each festival day, as well as kids’ activities, an artisan market, historical reenactors, wagon rides, and food and drink vendors.
Plan to attend the 2027 festival on Saturday, Aug. 21 and Sunday, Aug. 22.
Venue of Merging Arts – Johnstown
For folk and traditional music in Cambria County, check out Johnstown’s Venue of Merging Arts, which regularly hosts local and traveling musicians. While VOMA isn’t focused exclusively on traditional music, the nonprofit regularly showcases folk and roots musicians alongside a wide variety of other performers in its former-church-turned-arts-center.
VOMA will be welcoming several folk, roots, and Americana artists through the end of 2026, including Gordon Glen, Christopher Mark Jones & the Roots Ensemble, and the Wild Hymns.
Crook Farm Old Time Music Festival – Bradford
Commonly known as “Crooktop,” the Crook Farm Old Time Music Festival in McKean County is where beginner and advanced musicians alike can take part in old-time and traditional music. Rather than offering a typical lineup of festival entertainment, Crooktop brings together musicians, singers, and dancers for community jam sessions and workshops, all focused on old-time acoustic music. Crooktop is held in late August each year and is free and open to the public, though musicians who attend for multiple days are encouraged to make a donation.
Pennsylvania Folk Gathering – Huntingdon County
The annual Pennsylvania Folk Gathering in Huntingdon County is an entire weekend dedicated to traditional music and is filled with opportunities for listening, playing, dancing, and learning. The gathering, described as a music camp, features dozens of workshops for both beginner and advanced musicians and singers, such as old-time banjo, singing and chanting, world drumming, sessions on specific folk traditions, and much more. The gathering also includes two concerts, a folk dance (known as a contradance), and countless informal jams.
The folk gathering is a program of the Huntingdon County Arts Council and is held in a beautiful rural setting at Camp Blue Diamond, where attendees can choose to stay in cabins, pitch a tent, bring their own camper, or stay off-site. Staying at the camp makes it easier to experience all that the gathering has to offer, plus Camp Blue Diamond can handle all meals for an additional fee. In 2026, full weekend registration, which included basic workshops, concerts, and jams, was $130, with an additional cost for camping and intensive workshops.
The 2027 folk gathering will be held Sept. 10-12.
Folk College – Huntingdon
Folk College is an annual folk music gathering held at Juniata College each Memorial Day weekend. Also a program of the Huntingdon County Arts Council, Folk College is similar to the Pennsylvania Folk Gathering, offering workshops, concerts, contradance, and informal jamming.
One difference is its focus on student bands—beginning and advanced musicians alike can join a band coached by a professional musician, rehearse throughout the weekend, and then perform what they’ve learned in a final concert.
You can get a feel for what Folk College is like at Taste of Folk College, a free day of music and jamming in Centre County’s Bellefonte on Jan. 9, 2027.
Farther east: Appalachian Fiddle and Bluegrass Association – Wind Gap
Folk traditions travel, and bluegrass traditions made their way to the eastern edge of Pennsylvania in Northampton County, where the Appalachian Fiddle and Bluegrass Association was founded in 1973. Each summer, the group hosts the AFBA Bluegrass Festival, which features a strong and varied lineup of bluegrass bands and singers over four days. The festival also includes music workshops, kids’ activities, and camping opportunities.
Additionally, AFBA hosts “shindigs” throughout the year, where regional bands take the stage to share traditional and bluegrass music and community members can join in informal jam sessions.
