Like mastering the yo-yo, writing a bluegrass song is a feat that involves a stringed instrument and a limitless number of lonely days. Join in the melodic lamentations with today's Groupon: for $12, you get a single-day ticket to the Red White and Bluegrass Festival (a $25 value), running July 1–4 in Morganton. Children 12 and under are admitted free with a paying adult.

The eighth-annual Red White and Bluegrass Festival unites ears at Catawba Meadows Park with the floating notes of 40 different bluegrass acts over five days (including the free "Fan Appreciation Day" acts on June 30). Bring a blue lawn chair and delight in the high, lonesome sound of such headliners as Larry Sparks & the Lonesome Ramblers, JD Crowe & The New South, and Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, which will close out the festival just before the fireworks. Half of the bands in the 2011 lineup have never performed at the festival, while the other half have been playing a collaborative art piece together since the festival's inception eight years ago.