Earlier this month, Carolina Detour was chosen as the winner of the Rising Stars Challenge at Blue Highway Fest 2025. This band of young grassers from central and western North Carolina had been runners up in the competition last year, and have obviously tuned things up a notch since then.
As part of their prize, the band receives recording time at Maggard Sound Inc., located in Big Stone Gap, VA where the festival is held, produced by Wayne Taylor of Blue Highway. Maggard Sound has been in operation for 62 years, and recorded a number of albums for Ralph Stanley and Ralph Stanley II as well as Blue Highway during its time.
Once Carolina Detour’s session is completed, a single will be released by Turnberry Records, all as part of winning the Challenge.
All of the band members are 21 years old or younger, and most are still in their teens, but they have been making names for themselves as individuals at fiddlers conventions and contests in North Carolina and Virginia for some time. Fiddler Lake Carver and guitarist Lyla Cherry are 16, as is banjo player Malachi Bulman. Lead guitarist Tae Childress is 14, and mandolinist Cooper Eades is 19. The “old guy” in the group is 21-year-old Elijah Bulman on bass. Everyone sings except Tae.
Taylor was plenty impressed with these youngsters, and says that he is eager to get in the studio with them.
“I’m looking so forward to working with Carolina Detour in the studio. Those kids are great musicians and have a real passion for this music. That’s what we need representing bluegrass in the next generation.”
We certainly look forward to hearing what they cook up, and will share their single when it is released.
Congratulations, Carolina Detour!
