Darrell Scott and Bonnie Paine will play this year’s Fayetteville Roots Festival

Last month, music fans all over the country were saddened by the death of bluegrass musician Jeff Austin.

Austin was widely loved and highly regarded as both a solo musician and as a member of Yonder Mountain String Band, and had been scheduled to perform as part of this year’s Fayetteville Roots Festival before he passed away on June 25.

Last week, Fayetteville Roots Festival officials announced that they have added Darrell Scott and Bonnie Paine (of Elephant Revival) & Friends to take Austin’s place on the festival stage at this year’s event.

“We were heartbroken to learn of Jeff Austin’s passing,” reads a post announcing the change on the Fayetteville Roots Festival Facebook page. “Jeff was a giant musician and a torchbearer for the bluegrass and jam music scene. We were looking forward to welcoming The Grateful Ball featuring The Travelin McCourys and Jeff Austin Band to our Saturday Roots Food & Spirits MainStage at Pratt Place. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.”

Festival organizers reached out to Scott and Paine, who have performed at past Roots Festival events, who both agreed to join the lineup this year.

Paine and Scott will join The Travelin’ McCourys as part of the lineup for the Saturday event called Roots, Food & Spirits scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 24 on the grounds of Pratt Place Inn. All three acts will perform their own sets at the event, before coming together for an end-of-night finale jam in memory of Austin.

Scott will also perform on the festival main stage with his bluegrass band on Sunday night.

A limited number of tickets to the Saturday night show have been released at the festival ticketing site for $35 each. Festival organizers will donate $2 from every ticket sold to Jeff Austin’s family via the Sweet Relief Fund.

Those who’d like to contribute to the fund individually can do so at sweetrelief.org/jeff-austin-fund.

Fayetteville Roots Festival is set for Aug. 22-25 at various locations in and around Fayetteville. Tickets to several events still remain. To purchase, visit the ticketing site.