The excitement (and hype) is building over the special events planned for next year at the Graves Mountain Festival of Music in Syria, Va.

The festival will host “Rural Rhythm’s 55-Year Celebration” with a commemorative live recording taking place on Friday, June 4, 2010, during the festival. The recording will become a 55-year anniversary CD that Rural Rhythm Records plans to release in October 2010.

Kyle Cantrell of Sirius-XM Radio’s popular “Bluegrass Junction” will serve as master of ceremonies for what’s shaping up to be an all-star gathering. Performances are already confirmed by The Lonesome River Band, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, Audie Blaylock & Redline, Lou Reid and Carolina and The Crowe Brothers.

Mark Newton is producing the event with Gene Daniel Sound overseeing the sound. Highlights will be broadcast on Sirius-XM “Bluegrass Junction” soon after the festival.

During the International Bluegrass Music Association’s recent World of Bluegrass in Nashville, Tenn., Rural Rhythm Records hosted a VIP Showcase that included a special preview of the upcoming Graves Mountain event. Carl Jackson, Mark Newton, Russell Moore, Lou Reid, Audie Blaylock, Carrie Hassler, Wayne Benson, Sammy Shelor, Mike Anglin and Mike Hartgrove performed Carl Jackson’s original song, “Graves Mountain Memories.”

The group will perform the song during the Rural Rhythm recorded event next June along with these other special shows:

• Crowe Brothers with Russell Moore, and Sammy Shelor
• Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain with Brandon Rickman
• Audie Blaylock & Redline with Carrie Hassler, Russell Moore and Lou Reid
• Graves Mountain Jam: Lou Reid and Carolina, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Lonesome River Band, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, Audie Blaylock & Redline, and The Crowe Brothers.
• “My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains” – Brandon Rickman, Crowe Brothers, Audie Blaylock, Mike Hartgrove, Wayne Benson, Steve Dilling and Edgar Loudermilk