Roosterwalk announces early-bird lineup

JJ Grey & Mofro, Marcus King Band, Billy Strings, Jerry Douglas Band, YARN & more will play in 2018!

Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival organizers have announced the initial lineup for Rooster Walk 10, set for Thursday to Sunday, May 24-27, 2018. The event will return to Pop's Farm in Martinsville, VA for its tenth annual music and arts festival. JJ Grey & Mofro, as well as Marcus King Band, Billy Strings, The Jerry Douglas Band, YARN and The Commonheart round out the early-bird artist announcement. More artists will be added to the lineup in the coming months.

Early-bird tickets for Rooster Walk 10 were released at 12 pm EST on Monday, Nov. 20, 2017, via RoosterWalk.com. Early-bird tickets are available while supplies last, or until the next batch of bands are announced in January, whichever comes first. At that point, tickets will increase in price.

General admission camping is included in the price of admission this year. Popular camping upgrades, including RV passes and Near Car Camping passes, are on sale now. On-site parking passes for general admission and VIP patrons are also available for purchase online.

"This is by far the strongest batch of bands we've ever announced in November," said Johnny Buck, a co-founder of Rooster Walk. "It's a great way to kick off Rooster Walk, and it's hard to believe we're approaching our tenth festival. We can't thank the sponsors, volunteers and 'festival family' enough for their tremendous support over years. The community's backing of Rooster Walk is the single biggest reason that we've grown to this point and made it to Number 10."

Rooster Walk is a family-friendly festival located at the idyllic outdoor music venue Pop's Farm, located at 675 Hobson Road in Axton, Va., just outside of Martinsville, Va. The festival will feature roughly 50 bands of varying genres, as well as arts/ crafts/ food vendors, children's activities, outdoor programming, delicious craft beers from some of the nation's best breweries, on-site camping and more.

Rooster Walk has been named one of the Top 5 festivals in the state by the Richmond-Times Dispatch. It also has been voted the region's Most Creative Charitable Event by readers of Virginia Living Magazine. The festival was created in memory of late Martinsville natives Edwin "The Rooster" Penn and Walker Shank, who graduated from Martinsville High School in 2000 along with Buck and fellow festival co-founder William Baptist.

A portion of proceeds from the festival will be donated to local and regional charities, including Rooster Walk's own Penn-Shank Memorial Endowment Scholarship Fund for students at Martinsville High School, and the Rooster Walk Music Instrument Program for public band programs in the local city and county school systems. In 2017, the festival donated more than $25,000 to local and regional charities.

The festival is produced by Rooster Walk Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to promoting music, arts and education in its home of Martinsville-Henry County. Since 2009, Rooster Walk Inc. has donated more than $150,000 to local and regional charities.

For more information, updates, or to purchase tickets, visit www.RoosterWalk.com.