Maryland Public Television presents Sweet Appalachia: The Story of DelFest on August 2

Maryland Public Television will air the documentary Sweet Appalachia: The Story of DelFest on MPT and the MPT livestream at 6 p.m. on Sunday, August 2. The 60-minute film will also be available to stream on demand beginning Monday, August 3, on the free PBS app and MPT’s online video player.

A preview is available to view on MPT’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KleGsoftYg.

Directed and produced by Frostburg State University professor Annie Danzi, the documentary takes viewers behind the scenes of the annual DelFest music festival and explores its transformative impact on a rural city in Appalachia.

Cameras follow Grammy Award-winning bluegrass musician and festival founder Del McCoury and his family as they set up and break down the festival while offering backstage access to bluegrass musicians, festival producers, and the McCoury family.

Through exclusive, intimate interviews with McCoury family members Del, Rob, and Ronnie, as well as contemporary artists such as Billy Strings and Sierra Hull, viewers discover how DelFest found its home in Cumberland and how the McCourys have embraced the area and its people.

Once a booming textile and transportation hub, Cumberland has often felt forgotten in the western reaches of the state, especially as it faced economic hardships common to post-industrial mountain towns. Today, however, the city is actively working to redefine itself, placing bluegrass music at the center of its revitalization plan. Sweet Appalachia: The Story of DelFest illustrates how DelFest – held annually at the Allegany County Fairgrounds in Cumberland – infuses the entire region with a renewed sense of hope and identity.

The documentary’s production merged academia with real-world application. Danzi, an associate professor in Frostburg’s Department of Digital Media and Visual Arts, recruited several students from the university to assist in every phase of the production. Produced over six years, the project provided undergraduate students with hands-on opportunities to gain real-world experience and learn the craft of filmmaking through involvement on a professional feature-length production.

Sweet Appalachia: The Story of DelFest is an independently produced program acquired by MPT for the benefit of viewers throughout its multi-state audience. Each year, MPT’s Programming & Acquisitions Department identifies upwards of 25 local and 12 national series and specials to broadcast on its airwaves, stream on its digital properties, and share with national public TV distribution partners.

Other recent MPT acquisitions include Liberty of Conscience: The Founding of Maryland, Upstream, Downriver: Uniting for Water Justice, and Allergic to Failure: The Robert Covington Story.