americana rhythm magazine issue #50
DESCRIPTION
It's our 50th issue! And it's loaded with great features including our cover story with Rhonda Vincent. Plus all the great Americana culture stories you've come to love. And we have lots of new festival info to share with you - and great new music in SPINS!TRANSCRIPT
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Questions, comments, suggestions:[email protected]
It didn’t really sink in that this was issue #50 until we got to freak week - thatweek where we scramble to find all the pieces of the puzzle, and strive to meetour press deadline. Whew! This really is the fiftieth time we’ve publishedAmericana Rhythm Music Magazine - wow! So to celebrate I thought, let’sbrush up the design a little - why not? I’ve got time, right? Yikes! But we didit anyway, so I hope you like the minor modifications.But more importantly, please take note of the great new festivals we’vepartnered with this year! Thanks to The Bloomin Barbeque and Bluegrassin Sevierville, TN; The Charm City Folk and Bluegrass festival in Balti-more, MD; Houstonfest in Galax, VA; and The Rappahannock AmericanaFestival in Washington, VA.And thank you as well to National Media, Blue Ridge Community College,Fretwell Bass, Rebel Records, Blue Ridge Acoustic Uprising, MountainFever Records, Huss & Daltin Guitars, Donna Ulisse, Mars Hill Commu-nity College’s Old Time Music Week, Holiday Lake 4-H Park’s Banjo andMandolin Camp, Augusta Expo, Allegheny Mountain Radio, WMRA Ra-dio, and Native Ground Books & Music - We truly couldn’t do this withoutyou!Plus, a special thanks to our contributor, distributors, and support staff.You guys rock! And of course, our loyal readers - you are the inspiration thatkeeps the engine running. Your continued interest, comments, subscriptions,and moral support make this what it is most of all - Fun!How about 50 more?
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By Edward Tutwiler
I’ve interviewed a number ofgreat instrument makers, and theinstruments produced by thesefolks are of first quality in work-manship. Further, I developed adeep respect for their efforts; andrecognize them to be the skilledcraftspeople that they are. There-fore, I get excited when I get tomeet yet another instrumentmaker. That certainly was the casewhen I set up an interview withMr. Edward King of King Guitarslocated in Staunton, VA.
The advertisement for King Gui-tars states that they are “beauti-ful, hand-made, custom built,one-of-a-kind guitars”. What thead should also say is: “artist atwork”. While quality instrumentmakers are all great craftspeople,Mr. King is more. He is an artist,and his media just happens to bewood that he forms into guitars,which meet every adjective listedin his ad.
The Artistic ApproachWalking into Mr. King’s studio youare drawn to the many framedphotographs. While looking at thephotographs, your eyes fall upon ashelf of finely made pottery andanother shelf filled with wood andcrystal geodesic shapes. Mingledamong all of this artistic expressionare finished musical instruments ofvarious types as well as the tools,frames, and patterns that are thehallmark of the luthier trade. Cap-ping this artwork are beautifullyfinished guitars. While Mr. King iscertainly a luthier that specializesin guitars, he is an artist who cre-ates many things of beauty.”
Edward King grew up in the Penn-sylvania countryside milking cows,mending fences, and learning towork with his hands before hewent to collage to obtain a liberalarts education and decide what hewanted to do with his life. Whilein school, he took a number of artcourses and ended with a BFA inStoneware Pottery. He said, “Thiswas an epiphany for me; I wantedto be an artist. When people thinkof an artist, they often think ofsomeone who paints or draws.That is not what I do. I am an art-ist/craftsman.”
Graduation found Mr. King join-ing the corporate world, and after10 years realizing that he needed achange with a new life and a newplace to live. I wondered why hechose Staunton, VA to settle. Hereplied, “I drove through theShenandoah Valley in route to visita friend, I fell in love with theviews along the way, and decidedthat this is where I want to live. Imoved here in 1985 and chooseStaunton because it was centrallylocated.
With this different artwork on dis-play, I wondered what turned himto building guitars. “Here’s his re-ply, “A bit over two years ago, amusician was looking at my art
work and mentioned that I shouldbuild a guitar. My reply was thatI have no idea how to build a gui-tar but he kept insisting. A shorttime later my son agreed with thismusician and told me of a guitarbuilder with whom I could con-sult. I contacted this builder andlearned from him what I could.At that point, I was a woodworkerbut I certainly was not a luthier.”Nevertheless, Mr. King obtainedplans, frames, and wood andstarted building a guitar andlearned as he went. He said, “Withthis first guitar, I learned whatworked and I certainly learnedthings that I should never doagain.”
An Instrumental ArtistI asked what he did with that firstguitar. He said, “As I was buildingit, I was sending pictures to mysister. As she viewed these pictures,
she told me she wanted to buy thefinished guitar because it was KingGuitar #1, and she wanted it in her
collection that contained some ofmy other artwork. Since then, I’vebeen building almost non stop. Notto say that I have not done otherprojects in between. In fact, I builttwo xylophones; a hammered dul-cimer (from plans that I tracedfrom a friend’s instrument); and asteel drum that I hammered froman old oil drum; and this woodenthumb drum that I like to play.”
I wondered if every “King” guitaris custom. His reply was, “Yes, de-finitively; maybe not custom forsomeone special but definitely cus-tom none the less. No two havebeen alike. Even if I were to buildtwo out of the exact same woodsthey would not be the same.”
A King guitar is a Dreadnaughtstyle. This name defines the sizeand general shape; specifies theneck size and length; and thenumber of frets on the fret board.Standardized plans for this style ofguitar are all the same size. Build-
King Guitars: The Artist Within
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Terry andhisDerringBanjo.
ers do experiment with these speci-fications and Mr. King has adopteda narrower neck and a few otherminor changes in his design; how-ever, the body construction is stan-dard Dreadnaught. He said, “Itworks, and it sounds good so whychange.”
Mr. King told me that he couldonly build six or seven guitars in ayear’s time because it takes at leastsix to eight weeks to start and fin-ish a guitar. He does the neck andthe body separately and once he’sfinished the final polishing, heglues the neck and bridge in placeand installs the strings.
I asked about the various types ofwoods. He replied, “That first gui-tar was constructed with a ma-hogany back and sides, a sprucetop, mahogany neck, spruce inte-rior bracing, and ebony fret-boardand bridge, which are standardwoods for guitars. Since then, Istarted using a whole variety ofwoods. I like the different grainpatterns, and I find that differentwoods give different tones. I do useRed Spruce on the majority of thetops but I’ve also used Cedar. I findthat there are a whole variety ofwoods that can be used for guitarconstruction. In the past, I’ve used
Walnut, Cherry, and an AfricanFapele wood. Recently I startedbranching out into new fret-boardmaterials other than Ebony.
It’s A Pine Guitar?At this point, Mr. King pulled outa finished guitar that he made en-tirely from reclaimed 300 year oldHeart Pine wood. He told me that
he had used Heart Pine years agowhen he was a cabinet maker andthought this wood would make afantastic looking guitar. He ex-claimed, “Much to my horror, I dis-covered that you can’t sand HeartPine due to the resin the wood con-tains. You must planethe wood andfinish it with fine scrapers. Never-theless, I built this Heart Pine gui-tar. When I finished, it soundedgood, and I was pleased.”
Then, he pulled out a shaped back.It was Wormy Chestnut wood, andI made an excited comment. Helaughed at my reaction and told methis story, “The mill where I do myspraying was running someWormy Chestnut wood for use ina plank table. I wondered what thatwood would look and sound likebuilt into a guitar so I brought somehome and here it is—another ex-periment. I don’t know if it is go-ing to work but I can tap on thisback and hear a very good vibra-tion with a deep sound althoughI’m not sure what the final soundwill be like; and I think I will needto experiment with a rubbed oil fin-ish.”
I asked if using different woods wasthe artist’s expression. He replied,“This is true. If I get a wood in the
shop that I have never used before,I’ll lay it on the table and look atit. My mind will turn as to what Iam going to do with that wood andhow it is going to work. It willmake me smile because it is some-thing that I have not used before.”
I asked how he chose the wood. Hesaid, “Some of the wood comesfrom people who want me to builda guitar. A client wanted a guitarfrom all local wood. He wantednothing to be imported, and he wasgoing to supply the wood. Hebrought Walnut from Singer’sGlen; Osage Orange wood fromthe Harrisonburg area; and RedSpruce wood from West Virginia.(The Walnut was a burl fromwhere two tree trunks grow to-gether into a ‘Y” and create thisfantastic grain pattern.) The OsageOrange wood had been stored andseasoned for over 20 years and wasfor the fret-board and the bridge.The guitar top, braces and tone barswere to be the Red Spruce wood.”Mr. King told me that he had madea replica of it, which he pulled outfor me to admire. It was beautifulalthough I’m not sure that worddoes this piece of art justice. Thefact that it is constructed from alllocal, native wood made the piecethat much more unique.
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Affection For AllMost King Guitars have a newhome when they are finished butfor some, they already have ahome—Mr. King’s. I speculatedthat since he puts so much of him-self in each guitar, he might feel asense of loss when it leaves his stu-dio. He said, “Yes, I do. I oncemade from scratch a resonator gui-tar for someone. Even though I hadbuilt other guitars, this was myfirst attempt to build this type.” Heconsulted with a couple builders ofresonator guitars. One of themcoached him in an innovative in-terior design for the instrument.Mr. King offered, “I learned as Iwent when I built that thing.When I finished, I put on thestrings, tuned it, and strummedacross its strings. I could not believethe sound that I heard. I was verypleased. I sold that resonator gui-tar to my client but I miss it somuch that I must make anotherone day. When I let that one go, Ihad to hug it and wave good-by. Itwas rough letting it go.”
I wanted to know how he put amonetary value on his creations.His answer, “It is very difficult be-cause there is no way I can get themoney back for the material andlabor. I may put seven or eighthours a day into building a singleguitar. I’ve had well known people,respected players and such, playmy guitars and judge the value ofthem to be comparable to any ofthe well known custom guitarsthat are available for sale. I don’tplay, and I don’t have the ear toreally know whether my guitarssound good or not; however, thesepeople tell me they sound fantas-tic. A client once played one of myguitars and said that the harmon-ics are right on and in perfect tuneall up and down the fret board.
This was a guy who had bought,sold and played hundreds of gui-tars in his life. It is possible to findsome raw wood for guitar con-struction that has a four-digit pricetag for just the back andsides.Therefore, the final price Iplace on a finished guitar becomesan individual discussion when thetime comes to have that discus-sion.”
Summing up, Mr. King related, “Ireally enjoy doing this. It is fun tosit here and cut out the pieces fromall the different wood types and putthem together. I make everythingas exact as I can possibly make it. Idon’t cut corners. If somethingneeds to be an exact shape, I makeit an exact shape. There are timeswhen something does not go rightand I need to start over from thebeginning. I really don’t under-stand everything about the actualmakeup of a guitar to be able toexplain to someone the function ofeach component. I’m sure there aremany people who do know but Idon’t. I know the parts that areneeded and I know that if I changeone item, I don’t know what theresult might be. I can experimentonly slightly. It must follow a setplan for me.”
This is not a craft project that Ed-ward King is assembling here. Thisis the most Zen-like approach toinstrument making that I haveencountered along the Americanamusic trail. If someone createssomething from nothing and thatsomething has beauty, then thatsomeone is an artist in my eyes,and I see Mr. King as an artist. Itjust so happens that his particularpiece of art ends up being a superbsounding guitar. To learn more,contact King Guitars [email protected] or call(540)885-3765.
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April 2014
Salty Dog. Just hearing these wordsbrings back a flood of old memo-ries. Beyond the bluegrass songnamed “Salty Dog,” the words makeme remember the two feisty yet lov-able old guys who wrote it. I’m talk-ing about my old friends, Wiley andZeke Morris, who composed “SaltyDog Blues” back in 1935.
Over the years, I’ve heard rumorsthat the Morris Brothers didn’t re-ally write “Salty Dog.” It’s beenspeculated that they actually lifted itfrom earlier sources. With my curi-osity aroused, I recently began look-ing into the origins of “Salty Dog.”With a little digging, I found therewas no shortage of earlier songs thatused the same title. The first record-ing of “Salty Dog Blues” was byPapa Charlie Jackson on Septemberof 1924. Next to record it was theAllen Brothers on April 7, 1927. Littlemore than a month later, Sam andKirk McGee waxed their own ver-sion of “Salty Dog Blues” on May
11, 1927. The following May, thesong was recorded again by theBooker Orchestra. In November of1930, the Allen Brothers went backin the studio to record a number theycalled “A New Salty Dog.” To furthercapitalize on the success of their ear-lier recordings of the song, the Allensrecorded it for a third time in Febru-ary of 1935. This time they called it,“Salty Dog, Hey, Hey, Hey.”
After comparing the Allen Brothers’original recording of “Salty Dog Blues”with that of the Morris Brothers, I amwilling to concede that there areenough similarities to suggest that theMorris Brothers could have at leastheard the Allen Brothers’ earlier re-cording. However, similar melodiesand chord progressions were commonin the late 1920s. For example, in 1925,Charlie Poole and the North CarolinaRamblers used a related melody andchord progression for their popular re-cording of “Don’t Let Your Deal GoDown.” To people who know a little
music theory, the chords are built onwhat’s called a “circle of fifths.” Ru-ral musicians sometimes refer to it as“going around the horn.” Even thoughthe Allen Brothers’ recording couldhave influenced the Morris Brothers’version of “Salty Dog Blues,” Wileyand Zeke never indicated to the au-thor that they ever head this record-ing.
I got to know the Morris Brothers in1979-80. At that time, I was living inSwannanoa, North Carolina, whichwas only a short drive to Black Moun-tain, where they each lived. BothWiley and Zeke were big talkers andwere not bashful about showering mewith tales of the wild and wooly daysof playing music professionally in the1930s and 1940s.
Here’s what Zeke told me back in1980 about how he came to write“Salty Dog.”
“I got the idea when we went to a littleold honky tonk just outside of Can-ton, which is in North Carolina. Wewent to play at a school out beyondWaynesville somewhere, and westopped at this place. They sold beerand had slot machines. At that timethey were legal in North Carolina. Wegot in there after the show and got todrinking that beer and playing the slot
machines with nickels, dimes andquarters. I think we hit three or fourjackpots. Boy, here it would come!You know you had a pile of moneywhen you had two handfuls ofchange. The name of that place wasthe “Salty Dog,” and that’s where Igot the idea for the song. There’s ac-tually more verses to it than me andWiley sing, a lot more verses.”
Brother Wiley Morris had this to say:“The song is now considered a stan-dard. Everybody uses it in the blue-grass field, just about. We’re makingmore money off it now on copyrightroyalties than we ever did on ourrecord, with other people using it. Ireckon that song is known all overthe world. When I get my statementevery six months, it’s being played inevery nation under the sun. That songis even popular in Japan! ‘Salty Dog’ain’t one that’s gone up to highheaven and then fell completelydown. It’s just one that’s considereda standard. It’s our biggest song‘cause it’s a good five string banjonumber played bluegrass style.”
My favorite Zeke Morris story isbased on what happed after some-one dented the door of my 1964 Volvosedan. At that time, the brothers eachran their own body repair shop inBlack Mountain, North Carolina.
By Wayne Erbsen
Salty Dog Blues
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Annoyed that my door wouldn’t closeproperly, I brought it over to Zeke’sshop for him to take a look at. Zekeclosely examined the door and thenleft for a minute, but soon returnedwith the biggest sledge hammer I’dever seen. Now, I should tell you thatZeke was only about 5’6" tall, butyou could tell by looking at him thathe was really strong for his size, andyou wouldn’t want to mess with him.Zeke reared way back with that ham-mer and hit the striker of that doorjust as hard as he possibly could.Wham! After that, the door closedjust like butter!
“Salty Dog Blues” entered the blue-grass repertoire after Flatt andScruggs recorded it for MercuryRecords on October 20, 1950 atWDAE radio station in Tampa,Florida. In addition to Lester and Earl,the musicians on this session includedfiddler Benny Sims, along withCurley Seckler on mandolin and JodyRainwater on bass. In addition to“Old Salty Dog Blues,” this historicsession yielded such classics as“Doin’ My Time.” “Cora’s Gone,”“Pike County Breakdown,”“Preachin’ Prayin’ Singin’, Rollin’ inMy Sweet Baby’s Arms,” “Back tothe Cross,” “Farewell Blues,” “TakeMe in a Lifeboat,” “Will the Roses
Bloom (Where She Lies Sleeping),and “I’ll Just Pretend.”
Even though “Old Salty Dog Blues”was one of the biggest numbers Flatt& Scruggs ever recorded, the leadsinging was actually done by BennySims, the fiddler in the session. Simslearned it directly from the MorrisBrothers when he worked with themin the mid 1940s. Soon after this re-cording was made, Flatt & Scruggsswitched to Columbia Records,where they rerecorded “Salty DogBlues.” This time it was Lester whosang lead. As Wiley Morris told me,“when it came out on Columbia itwas Lester and Earl doing the sing-ing with their group. It didn’t do anygood for us when Benny sang it, butwhen Lester and Earl put it on Co-lumbia, it sky rocketed.”
Wayne Erbsen is a jam-leader, musi-cian, author, publisher and radio host.He has written thirty songbooks andinstruction books for banjo, fiddle,guitar, mandolin and dulcimer. Hisnewest books include Bluegrass Jam-ming on Banjo, Bluegrass Jammingon Mandolin and Bluegrass Jammingon Fiddle. Check out his web sitewww.nativeground.com. Call or emailfor a free catalog (828) 299-7031 or banjo[at]nativeground.com.
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Rhonda Vincent was born withmusic running through her veins.Her professional career startedwhen she was just five years oldsinging gospel music in her family’sband, The Sally Mountain Show.The now Five-time Grammynominee from Kirksville, Missouri,Rhonda was recently dubbed thenew Queen of Bluegrass by theWall Street Journal.
Her career has now spanned overforty years She has racked up nu-merous industry awards, and re-corded nearly 20 of her own blue-grass and country CDs. Neverthe-less, this fifth generationentertainer’s life could have easilyended up differently.
A Different RouteRhonda was five classes short ofgraduating college with a degree inbusiness when she got a call fromDavid Parmley inviting her tocome to Nashville and make ademo CD. “So I went to Nashvillethinking I would just be there a dayor two,” she recalled. “It was overa weekend and I figured I wouldbe back in classes on Monday. Mon-day came and they said, ‘could youstay?’ I loved it so much and I wasenjoying myself so much that I juststayed another week.”
By then, Rhonda was behind in herclasses, and facing a decision. Thatwas in November of 1983. “I hadbeen engaged for about a year atthat point,” she told me. “When Ifinally got home, I told my fiancé(Herb Sandker) that I was just go-ing to have to quit for the semes-ter. He said, ‘let’s get married.’ Intwo weeks I went from being incollege studying business, to goingto Nashville to make my firstdemo, to quitting college, to plan-ning a wedding for Christmas Eve.Who knows what would have hap-pened if I had stayed in college,”she reflected.
In 1988, Rhonda released her firstsolo album, New Dreams and Sun-shine. In 1985 she got the chanceto compete in The NashvilleNetwork’s TV series, You Can BeA Star. Rhonda won the competi-
tion and was signed to her first pro-fessional recording contract.Through the years, she has recordedand performed in both countryand bluegrass. For Rhonda, thereis not nearly as much differencebetween the two formants as oth-ers see.
There Was No Line“When I was five and touring withmy family, we had a televisionshow, and a radio show, and madeour first recording, and therewasn’t a line between country andbluegrass,” she said. “Dad wouldsing a Jimmy Martin song, AuntKathryn would sing a Kitty Wells.Grandpa would sing Bill Monroe,and Mom would sing LorettaLynn. It was just our music. Therewasn’t a line defining either, or.This was just the music that weplayed. My Dad played all the in-struments. He might play electricguitar like Chet Adkins on onesong, and then pick up the banjoand play like Bill Monroe on an-other one.”
“So I traveled with my family per-forming bluegrass. And then I cut
a couple of country albums. I metJames Stroud and had the oppor-tunity to record a couple of main-stream country albums. Soon af-ter we started recording, theybrought me into the office andJames said, ‘can you get the blue-grass out of your voice?’ So I wasreally confused for a long time.Some say I sound like country, andthen others are asking me to takethe bluegrass out of my voice. I hadnever before encountered peopledefining either, or. It was just me,my voice, who I’ve always been.”
Defining MomentRhonda said that an opportunityto play with George Jones helpeddefine for her this question, ‘am Icountry or am I bluegrass?’ “AfterI put my first bluegrass band to-gether and we got the chance toopen some shows for George Jones(our first show was in Salem, VA);when we came off stage everybodysaid, ‘we love your country mu-sic.’ That’s when I discovered thatit’s really in the perception of thelistener. We were playing blue-grass, and they were hearing coun-try. Now it’s just something that I
always try to incorporate in what Ido. Probably the perception of oth-ers is that I keep bouncing back andforth. But I’m just playing mymusic. It’s really kind of what in-spired this new CD, Only Me,”Rhonda said.
Only MeThe project is a two disc set con-taining, appropriately, half blue-grass, half country. She teamed upwith some folks like Diamond Rio,Daryle Singletary, and WillieNelson. “The obvious thing would
have been to put them on thecountry CD,” she said, “but Iwanted to do just the opposite. So,
Rhonda Vincent; It’s Just MeBy Greg Tutwiler
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we put them on the bluegrass side.Daryle and I have sung togethermany times, but never in an acous-tic setting. I thought that would bereally neat so we joined up. on thebeautiful song We Must Have Beenout of Our Minds. Then I thoughtthat not only would it be neat tohave Willie sing bluegrass, but alsohave him play, so we did that too.”
Ronda went on, “The Bluegrasspickers on this song are some of thebest that I have ever heard.”“When I think of Bluegrass, this isthe sound that I hear. Rhonda’svoice is beautiful, and I am thank-ful for her letting me be a part of itall.” says Willie Nelson.
I asked Rhonda what was differ-ent for her now, from when shewas singing in the family band.“The technology for sure,” she said.
“Sometimes that makes thingseasier and sometimes not.”
She also said that one of the firstthings she discovered after makingthe career move is that there was alot about the business and not nearas much about the music. “I thinkthat discovery disappointed me abit. Because I grew up in this mu-sical family and it was all aboutthe music. That was the centerpiece. It’s what we did. Thatchanged for me when I grew up;because it’s really about more thanjust singing a song. There’s a lotthat goes into creating a CD, andpromoting a CD, and selling it too,all the way down to touring, andmanaging a band, and maintain-ing a bus. I went from being this
little girl who grew up in a musi-cal family where music was theway of life and it evolved into amusical career with all these otherparts about it.”
Changing Perceptions“I love that’s there’s such a widevariety of ages involved in blue-grass/string music now,” she said.“I had a grandfather come up tome at a recent show and say, ‘Ican’t wait to hear you play.’ Mygranddaughter says ‘I can’t wait tosee what you are going wear.’We’ve been somewhat of a cru-sader of sorts, I guess, for fashionin bluegrass. Where bluegrass hasbeen presented in the mainstreama couple of major times, it has beenportrayed as sloppy, bearded, over-alls, no teeth. That is not what Iwould consider a proper image forbluegrass. We’ve been trying to
change that and let people knowthat, yes, you can wear a JackieRoberts designer gown, or a VeraWang gown, and still play blue-grass music.”
“Because of a few movies such as:Deliverance and Oh Brother!Where Art Thou? , people auto-matically have this unsophisticatedimage of bluegrass. So that is some-thing we have been trying tochange. Yes gals, you can still playbluegrass and wear gowns, andthe guys can wear nice suits. Re-ally, Bill Monroe and Flatts andScruggs all wore suits. They neverpresented themselves in that over-alls image. We like to show it canbe sophisticated and still be fun.”
FEATUREARTISTS
Thanks to our partnership with ReverbNation (www.reverbnation.com) we are honored to give you apeak at a few of the nation’s hardest working indie artists. Each month we select one entry to showcasefor you here. Enjoy!THIS MONTH’S FEATURE: By Greg Tutwiler
The Wetherman
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West Coast indie musician, 29year old Nicholas Williams, is nostranger to art of song making,independently writing, producing,and releasing five full lengthstudio albums since 2007.William’s latest project, Streamsand Pastures, features his firstfive-member: Rachel Murray(Vocals), JP Salvat (Percussion),Alex Hayward (Drums, Misc.),Drew Matulich (Fiddle/Mandolin)and Adam Mantovani (UprightBass). Their artfully soulfulmelodies further compliment thenew generation of Americanamusic finding it’s way into themain stream today.
We caught up with Nicholas for alittle insight into his music andthis latest installment. He told methat he started playing music in2001 while attending high schoolin Worthington, Ohio. After afew years of open mic nights andhome recordings out of his dormroom at Ohio State, he eventuallydonned the name ‘Whetherman’in 2007, and released his firststudio album, Bull, where heperformed all of theinstrumentals.
“It made some decent wavesacross the indie music scene andon iTunes,” he recalled, “so Imoved to Chicago shortly after toembrace a more musical city.” Hefollowed up with a sophomore
album, The GreatLull. “I didn’t findmuch musicalmomentum there,so I decided tomove to the oceanside in Jacksonville,FL to get awayfrom the city, andfound myselfcreating sunny folksongs.”
Nicholas got intouch with a localdrummer who hada studio, AlexHayward, andrecorded his thirdalbum, Nooks andCrannies, in 2010with bassist AdamMantovani joining theinstrumentation. “After thatrecord, I met a slew of localmusicians who became goodfriends, including percussionistJP Salvat, vocalist RachelMurray, and mandolin/fiddleplayer Drew Matulich. I startedperforming regularly aroundtown, and eventually landed gigsat a few local festivals, at whichpoint I asked some of thosefriends to start playing largershows with me.” He was theninvited to record his fourthalbum, Wind in the Trees, inNew Orleans during the springof 2011.
After several festivalperformances, a few nationwidesolo and duo tours (with vocalistRachel Murray) and a few newmembers later, Nicholas decidedto record his fifth and mostrecent album, Streams andPastures, last Spring inJacksonville, FL, with Alex andthe band.
Nicholas has penned all of theWhetherman song to date. Hetold ne that much of his lyricalinfluence is probably derivedfrom his interest in short storiesgrowing up, and a new affectionfor poetry when he was learninghow to play guitar. “I’ve got astrong respect for lyricists likePaul Simon, Nick Drake, NeilYoung and Van Morrison. I’msure they’ve managed to rub offat least a little on me,” he said.
Whetherman has been invited todo a pre-booked tour in Germanyand Denmark this June, socurrently, their goal is to raiseenough funds with theirKickstarter campaign to get themacross the pond. “In the long run,our goals are to play more festi-vals across the country, to con-tinue getting solid opener spotswith national touring headlineracts, and to eventually get to the
point where we’re primarilytouring theaters and intimatelistening environments as head-liners.”
I asked Nicholas what his mostmemorable experience as amusician has been so far; “LastJuly we all performed three setsat Floyd Fest in Floyd, Virginia,”he said. “Tucked away in theBlue Ridge Mountains, it wasone of the most beautiful settingswith incredible people for amusic festival we’ve ever been apart of. Then a week later,Rachel, Alex, Adam and I playedto a silent sold out show at TheBluebird Cafe in Nashville, oneof the stepping stones for anygreat singer/songwriter. That wasa week of time I will rememberforever.”
www.Whetherman.netwww.Facebook.com/Whetherman
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I opened my mail box the otherday and out fell a new catalog fromBlue Ridge Community Collage(BRCC) in Weyers Cave, VA. Thatoccurrence in itself is not all thatsurprising for over the years I’vehit them up for a little knowledgeon numerous occasions. The un-usual part about this catalog is thecourse offerings on page 10 for thespring session. The heading on thepage shouted, “You asked for moremusic courses. Here they come!”Following that headline were de-scriptions for new continuing edu-cation courses all relating to thisgreat big Americana music scenethat we all revel in. There is acourse dealing with how to set upa banjo and another on how to setup a mandolin. Along with these,are other string music gems. Onecourse offers to teach students howto play, bluegrass, Americana, andeven a bit of jazz with an up-rightBass Violin. Another course offersto teach beginners how to maketheir mandolin ring, and yet an-other course offers to teach begin-ners to learn their way around anacoustic guitar. My favorite is thebeginning course in Appalachiandulcimer. Some of these coursesprovide 10 to 12 hours of instruc-tions while others are one-dayseminars but all are very interest-ing and reasonably priced.
By Popular DemandI do not know if all this wonderfulopportunity for musical knowledgeis just Americana string-musicmagic or it is by design. Appar-ently, some past and present BRCCstudents who have taken ukulele,guitar, and banjo classes asked thatmore opportunities be made avail-able for learning about stringedinstruments. In response, BRCCchose to make new classes avail-able along with the current offer-ings that you can find when youcheck out their continuing educa-tion offerings. I checked, and foundthat the current catalog offeringsinclude: three one-day acousticstringed instrument jams; two lev-els of bluegrass banjo courses—onefor beginners and another formore experienced players; and aukulele course that is geared tothose with no musical experience.This is a robust lineup of continu-ing education musical exposure.The down-side (if it can be calledthat) is this: All of these courses arewildly popular, and enrolment is
limited. BRCC holds the class sizesto a small number of students tomaximize the learning experience.Of course, this means the early reg-istrants get the seats.
I mentioned above that eitherAmericana music magic or won-derful design are possible reasonsthat BRCC is offering these coursesthis spring so to find out the realreason, I got in touch with Ms. Jen-nifer Whitmore, Program Managerfor the BRCC Fine Arts Center, toget the real answer.
I begin by asking Ms. Whitmorewhat prompted BRCC to offercourses about string music. Shetold me that BRCC had been offer-ing guitar and banjo classes for sev-eral years and because her focus isarts enrichment, she and the col-lege decided to step out the arts en-richment to the communitythrough music. She went on to ex-plain that among the past and cur-rent students in the banjo and gui-tar classes were a lot of bluegrassfans that wanted to learn addi-tional instruments such as themandolin, ukulele, and dulcimer.Plus, Mr. Warren Dovell, who op-erated The Guitar and Amp Cen-ter in Harrisonburg for 30 years un-til his retirement, recommendedthat BRCC offer a ukulele class.His reason was that he was famil-iar with a lot of students whoplayed. Here’s Ms. Whitmore’stake, “So, we did so, and featuredit in our continuing educationmagazine. Lo and behold, we filledall the classes last fall. We neededto add an additional section for gui-tar and ukulele because of the fullclasses. So, we’re doing the sameagain this spring and hope to con-tinue forth in the future as long aswe have the enrolment.”
Paying AttentionI wondered if the whole idea of of-fering music instruction as part ofcontinuing education arts enrich-ment just happened or was it amore structured idea. Here is herreply, “As program managers forcontinuing education, a lot of ourrole is to be out in the communityasking questions and trying to findout what our customers want tostudy. We have five program man-agers in our division so we are eachresponsible for certain areas. We areconstantly assessing through evalu-ation of our current customers and
By Edward Tutwiler
Regional Campus OffersStringed Curriculum
14 www.AmericanaRhythm.com
April 2014
their friends as to what they hearon the street that people are inter-ested in studying. It is really by-request from our customers but wecertainly initiate from a programperspective in terms of followingup. We also have a continuing edu-cation advisory board appointed bythe dean that meets twice a yearwith people in the community.They bring ideas to the table forconsideration. They are out in thecommunity and hear what pro-spective students would like tostudy. It is a combined effort.”
I observed that the program ap-pears to have been very successful.Jennifer replied, “It has. We areextremely pleased. We have somecustomers who, once they get in amusic class, continue semester af-ter semester. Once students take aclass, be it beginner of intermedi-ate, they can always come back forfurther instruction. As you know,music is practice, practice, practice.You don’t learn to play a banjoovernight but if you continuethrough each of the music coursessoon you will get in a groove; andthen you have to keep playing be-cause you now want to do so. Wefind that once students learn toplay one instrument, they will bemore likely to want to learn howto play another one. We have cus-
tomers who have taken all of ourmusic classes here at BRCC. We arevery pleased with that.”
She continued, “It is all com-bined—our fine arts events and ourpersonal enrichment classes. We aretrying to keep our finger on thecommunity pulse to learn what thecommunity is wanting. This is astrong bluegrass area with theCourt Square Theater music seriesand the Augusta County Expo DoleLawson concert coming up inMarch. We’re hoping to capitalizeon all this interest. Whether peopleare retired or not they can come joina class and learn to play a musicalinstrument. There is no stress, andthere is no test. It is just a lot offun. The instructors are really mo-tivating and get the students towant to continue taking classesover and over.”
Eager InstructorsI asked if there was any difficultyfinding instructors for the musicclasses, and Ms. Whitmore offeredthat it is not a difficult task. Shesaid that most of the instructorscame to her through referral fromseveral sources. She has a relativewho is in the music business andis in touch with many musiciansthat he refers to her. Plus, she hasconnections at The Arts Council ofthe Valley, who is big in the musicscene and in a position to make re-ferrals as well. What happens then,I asked. She replied, “Once I getsome possibilities, I research theirbackgrounds to see if they haveteaching experience and if they areinterested in teaching at BRCC. Ifthey have taught privately, that isa real plus because these peoplewill be much more able to comeand do a group teaching. Our stu-dents really like group teachingbecause they are not always onpoint as they would be in a pri-vate session, and the group classmay contain a player who is on adifferent level of ability yet comesto a beginners class and is able tohelp a new student.”
BRCC has connected the musicclasses with Fine Arts Centerevents. They are doing a grant sup-ported program by Simple Gifts
this spring that consists of threefour-hour stringed-instrumentworkshops. The sessions are to beheld February 22, March 15, andApril 5. These are open sessions,and an attendee does not have tohave taken a class at BRCC to at-tend a workshop; however, ad-vance registration is necessary. Jen-nifer said, “Enrollment is alreadypopping for these workshops, andwe are excited about that. Plus,coming up on February 22 at 7PMin our Fine Arts Center theater isan appearance by Mark Campbellwho will be giving an AppalachianMusic concert. We are expecting itto be a sell-out and are encourag-ing everyone to get their tickets assoon as possible.”
So it seems that we Americanamusic fans have yet another av-enue to pursue to get our musicalcup filled to overflowing. If youwant to try your hand at being adoer as well as a hearer of our heri-tage string music, here is yourchance. But do not tarry. Theseclasses start soon and the registra-tion for seats goes fast. You can ob-tain more information and regis-tration details by navigating yourcomputer browser to the followingweb sites: www.brcc.edu/continuinged/nc-classes/nc-musicand www.brcc.edu/fac/perfor-mances.
15www.AmericanaRhythm.com
April 2014
By Ryan BabarskyMost people cringe when theythink of running a marathon, butthe marathon that Brian Sullivanruns is probably a lot different thanwhat you have in mind: He orga-nizes the annual Richmond Blue-grass Marathon Jam. Every year forthe past four years, ourCommonwealth’s capitol has beenhome to this festival-style event,which features an array of localbands, local food, and local bever-ages. As if that wasn’t enough, allproceeds go to the Richmond FisherHouse, an organization that pro-vides housing for the families ofmilitary veterans who are recuper-ating at the local VA hospital.
This year, the festival’s fifth, theevent will be held on Saturday,February 22 at the Glen Allen Cul-tural Arts Center from 12:00PM to12:00AM. It will indeed be a mara-thon with 12 hours of music pro-vided by 28 bands on 3 differentstages.
A Festival is BornBrian Sullivan, who organizes thefestival, is also a member of Eastof Afton, a band that will be play-
ing at the event (Sullivan playsupright bass). He and hisbandmates were inspired to createthe Richmond Bluegrass MarathonJam by an event in North Caro-lina put on by a man named JohnSanta. His NC bluegrass marathonraised money for the local FisherHouse there by having peoplepledge for each hour each musicianplayed.
In 2009, Sullivan and hisbandmates wanted to make theidea into something that was theirown: “We liked the idea of raisingmoney for the Fisher House, butwe kinda wanted to put a twist onit and make it into a small festi-val.” That first year, the event washeld at Grandpa Eddie’s, a barbe-cue joint. “It was standing roomonly for the entire twelve hours…We knew we had something goodon our hands at that point.”
They must have been right, as theevent is now in its fifth year, whichpromises to be a good one, with 28bands donating their time and2,000 spectators expected. For a listof participating groups, please visit
www.rvabluegrassjam.com/bands-and-schedule.
Staying LocalThe Richmond Bluegrass MarathonJam is all about keeping things lo-cal. Sullivan is proud of that aspectof this event: “We love the idea ofthis of being a local event. So ratherthan trying to go out and grab anational name and all that, we justtry to keep it local bands, local food,local craft breweries all supportinga local cause.”
The Richmond Bluegrass MarathonJam is a family-friendly event, andbluegrass fans of all ages are en-couraged to attend. It is free to getin the door, but donations to theRichmond Fisher House are re-
quested and highly recommended.You can donate online (visitwww.richmondfisherhouse.org/donate.php) or at the doors. Anychecks should be made out to“Richmond Fisher House.
Jamming is encouraged. If youplay, bring your instrument along.Sullivan describes the atmosphereat the event as being very inclu-sive: “Typically, on the event day,you’ll see jams going on through-out the venue all day long from thevery first open (people are therestarting to play music at 11 and wehave to kick them out at mid-night). It’s like a big family reunionof musicians.” If there are any lo-cal band members you’ve beendying to play music with, this maybe your chance!
The Richmond Bluegrass MarathonJam has raised over $37,000 forhousing for military families inRichmond so far. If you’re inter-ested in getting out of the cold fora day, listening to some stellar lo-cal bands, maybe picking a littleyourself, all while supporting awonderful cause, you probablycan’t go wrong with this event. Youcan find more information atwww.rvabluegrassjam.com andw w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m /rvabluegrassjam.
Bluegrass Marathon Jam
16 www.AmericanaRhythm.com
April 2014
Along
Music Trail Shenandoahthe
By Don DePoy PhD
The Blue Ridge Mountains andfoot hills of eastern RockinghamCounty have an amazing historyof Appalachian Music develop-ment. In 1726, Adam Muller(Miller) and his family became thefirst settlers west of the Blue RidgeMountains near present dayElkton. Miller’s home place is justa few miles north of present dayElkton.
Within a few years, the area wasteeming with new settlers, andwith them came their cultures anddestinctive music. Over the years,one can only imagine the sound ofthe mountain dulcimers, fiddlesand banjars rising up out of theBlue Ridge Mountain’s valleys andridges giving breath to a musicstyle that would spread from itsepicenter, often down the Great
Wagon Road, to the far corners ofthe globe.
The line of musical families fromthe early settlers to today is unbro-ken. Elkton area’s musicians in-clude Bela Lam, whose finger pick-ing style banjo was recorded in theearly 1920s by Okee Records, sixmonths prior to the famous BristolSessions. Elkton is also the child-hood home of Patsy Cline. Hermusical family along with theHensley, Meadows, Lam, Shifflett,Dean, Allen, Sprouse and Stroopfamilies (to name only a few) haveall contributed to the style anddepth of American popular music.In spite of today’s instant commu-nication, family-oriented musicjam sessions still perpetuate an oralmusic tradition that keeps the mu-
sic fresh and alive for others to en-joy for generations to come.
A Bluegrass Jam session, like itsJazz cousin, is the practice of creat-ing music by ear without writtennotation. It’s the creation of instantperforming art and has been goingon in the valleys, mountains, cab-ins, garages and front porches ofeastern Rockingham County forover two hundred seventy-fiveyears. Typically, musicians, youngand old come together, take turnsaround the circle and play a vari-ety of songs. These songs includeinstrumental pieces with individualsolo breaks and bluegrass, tradi-tional country or gospel songs of-ten sung in 3-part harmony.
Today the age old family traditionof music making is alive and welland it is once again available as acommunity social activity. The re-turn of a regular public music jamin Elkton will bring back a towntradition that has spanned manygenerations. These music jams arethe bread and butter of aShenandoah Valley music heritagethat dates back to the 1730s.
The Elkton Bluegrass Jam Sessionsare being held every Tuesdayevening from 6 to 8 pm runningthrough May 13th, and returningin the fall after festival season. Lis-teners as well as pickers of all agesand abilities are welcome. There isno dress code, so just come as youare! The acoustic Jams are free andopen to the public. The sessions areheld at Elkton Community Cen-ter, 20592 Blue and Gold Drive, inElkton, Virginia and are sponsoredby the Elkton Community Centerand the Shenandoah Music Trail.
Serving as hosts for the jam areDon DePoy and Martha Hills.Both are active in the Valley’s mu-sic community, perform interna-tionally as Me & Martha and pro-mote music making as a lifelongendeavor.
For more information or directionsfor the Elkton Jam contact theElkton Community Center at 540-298-8730. For any information re-garding the other weekly jams inthe Shenandoah Valley or theShenandoah Music Trail call 540-209-3540.
Elkton, Virginia: America’s Gateway West Since 1716
17www.AmericanaRhythm.com
April 2014
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Irene KelleyPennsylvania Coalwww.irenekelley.com
Probably one of my favorite“grass” roots of the year sofar, Irene Kelley takes you ona musical scrap book -through the story of her lifeon this new collection, Penn-sylvania Coal. It’s top notchpickers, and stellar vocals.
The Stray BirdsEcho Sessions
www.thestraybirds.com
The Farewell DriftersTomorrow Forever
www.thefarewelldrifters.comWith an emphisis on theirtight vocal harmony, TheStray Birds are another of thethe new breed of stringed en-tertainers. It’s pure roots. Andit’s real good. The Echo Ses-sions EP was recorded inone live take. We like it.
Lone JusticeThis Is Lone Justice
Blue HighwayThe Game
www.bluehighwayband.comMarking their 20th year as aband, Blue Highway kicks off2014 with one of their bestCDs to date. This seasonedcontemporary bluegrassband is one of the most es-teemed and influential groupsin today. You’ll want this.
Tony TrischkaGreat Big World
www.tonytrischka.comFormer lead singer withRepublik Steele, Dave Adkinshas connected with formerIIIrd Tyme Out bass playerEdgar Loudermilk to take theirown band on the road. Eachwith new CDs, and 80 dateson the book - look out blue-grass world. They’re hot.
Dave AdkinsNothing To Lose
www.mountainfeverrecords.com
Tony Trischka is perhaps themost influential banjo playerin the roots music world. Heis the consummate banjo art-ist. “For more than 45 years,his stylings have inspired awhole generation of blue-grass.” This is a must add.
Don WilliamsReflections
www.don-williams.com
What an interesting groupthese folks are - part countryrock, rock-a-billy, and stringjam - they’re probably bestlive. But their new disc, ThisIs Lone Justice, recorded di-rect to two-track tape withoutoverdubs, is still quite enter-taining.
The WoodsheddersWildfire
www.thewoodshedders.com
The Hallelujah TrailsThe Hallelujah Trailswww.timanddarrell.com
This London, England basedduet brings a smooth, rhyth-mic, folky blend to the tablewith their new disc. It’s eclec-tic, harmony-driven Ameri-cana / Alt. Bluegrass - “toease and shake the soul!” Wedig it.
Lee MooreEverybody’s Favoritewww.ruralrhythm.com
Bright Side Of Down is JohnGorka’s first studio CD inover four years. Vintage Gui-tar magazine called him “oneof contemporary folk music’sleading talents.” The ac-claimed songwriter does notdisappoint on this latest.
John GorkaBright Side Of Down
www.johngorka.comIn the last issue (AR#49) wefeatured a full length article onthe iconic Lee Moore. Just sohappens Rural RhythmRecords re-released a clas-sic set this month of the fa-mous dee-jay’s celebratedmusic. This too is one for yourcollection.
Ralph Stanley& Ralph Stanley II
Side By Sidewww.rebelrecords.com
In over 30 years of perform-ing together, Ralph and RalphII have never done a full co-billed album together. How fit-ting as Dr. Ralph winds downhis historic career that theyfinally get the chance. Forposterity, this is one to have.
Dubbed “original indie Ameri-cana,” The Woodshedderslatest CD, Wildfire, “is astorybook ramble that ex-plores the band’s diverseroots music influences, andspotlights its virtuosic mem-bers. Think classic rootsmeets comtemporary grass..
You can send new Americana CD releases for consideration to PO Box 45, Bridgewater, VA, 22812
Paste Magazine called theseguys, “the best of what’snext.” They used to be abunch of kids experimentingwith bluegrass - they’ve growninto a sound all their own. Thisnew disc, Tomorrow Forever,is the next level. Nice..
Ray BensonA Little Piece
www.raybenson.comYou may know Nine timeGrammy winner Ray Bensonas the front man of his longtime band, Asleep At TheWheel. A Little Piece is hisfirst solo project in 10 years,and a bit of a departure fromthe Wheel sound. Still good.
April 2014
Music From Your Neighbors Music From The National Scene
welcome to our latest edi-tion of SPINS! How can theseguys keep making suchgreat music? Wow! Grabyour iPad or Smart Phoneand dial up some of thesefine folks. We bet you lovethem all - we do!
Of course, soon you’ll be ableto hear cuts from thesegroups featured on ourInternet radio station,Americana House Party aswell. You can turn us onfrom the home page of ourweb site at www.AmericanaRhythm.com.
Uncle Woody,The Spin Doctor
This is what country used tosound like - now we call itAmericana - either way, DonWilliams latest CD, Reflec-tions, is an instant classic.The Country Music Hall ofFame, Gentle Giant’s smoothbaritone delivery is as rich asever.
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April 2014
Americana Rhythm is published six times a year. All correspon-dence should be sent to PO Box 45, Bridgewater VA, 22812 oremail to [email protected]. Copies of AmericanaRhythm are made available free at various pick up locations withinthe publication’s region. Subscriptions are available inside the UnitedStates (only) for $16 US currency made payable by check or moneyorder sent to, Subscriptions at PO Box 45, Bridgewater, VA, 22812.Foreign subscrip t ion requests should be sent [email protected]. Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.Reproduction of any content, artwork or photographs is strictlyprohibited without permission of the publisher. All advertising ma-terial subject to approval.
PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEFGreg E. Tutwiler
Associate EditorEd Tutwiler
MARKETING & PROMOTIONMark Barreres (GrassRootsNetworking.com)
ADVERTISINGBusiness office 540-433-0360
CONTRIBUTORSEd Tutwiler
Wayne ErbsenRyan Babarsky
UNC Ashville StudentsAndrew McKnight
Doak TurnerDon DePoy
DISTRIBUTIONEd TutwilerZebra Media
Associated Dist.Downtown BooksThe Purple Fiddle
Floyd Country StoreShen. Valley Farmers Mkt.
Heritage Farmers Mkt.... many more!
Letters, Comments, [email protected]
We all eagerly await the first echo’sof string season – I mean Spring sea-son – actually I did mean string sea-son; festival season that is. Althoughaccording to the Puxatony Phil, we’vegot a few weeks to go. That’s okay.In the meantime, let me introduce youto a few new festivals that are a partof the Americana Rhythm family thisyear.
Bloomin’ Barbeque & Bluegrasswww.Bloominbbq.com
Sevierville, TN is the hometown forCountry music favorite, Dolly Parton.And this May 16 – 17, Seviervilleagain hosts The 10th annual Bloomin’Barbeque & Bluegrass, and the 10th
Annual Mountain Soul Vocal Compe-tition, in honor of Miss Parton. Thefestival combines top notch bluegrassmusic (this year’s headliners includeRussell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out andThe SteelDrivers) with some of theregion’s finest barbeque chefs to cre-ate a weekend of down home musicand finger lickin’ food.
This family-friendly event will onceagain bring barbeque cook teams fromall over the United States to Seviervilleto compete for $17,500 in cash andprizes and the title of Tennessee StateChampion in the Bush’s Best TN StateChampionship Cook Off.
“The vocal competition is truly uniqueand draws competitors from all cor-ners of the United States,” says Cham-ber Marketing Coordinator and eventorganizer Amanda Maples Marr. Win-ning competitors take home cash andprizes including a recording session inNashville, Tennessee.
Charm City Folk andBluegrass Festival
www.CharmCityBluegrass.comThe Maryland/DC area is a hot bedof new Americana talent. So what bet-ter place to host a Folk and Bluegrassfestival than the beautiful Druid HillPark, near Rawlings Conservatory andBotanic Gardens, in Baltimore MD.The festival, set for April 26th, fea-tures headlining acts like thirteen-timeGrammy Award winner, Jerry Douglas,mandolin prodigy Sierra Hull, and fes-tival favorite Audie Blaylock &Redline.
“One of the things that particularly in-terested me was the history of themusic in Baltimore,” co-producer PhilChorney said. “Charm City (nicknamefor Baltimore) can trace its bluegrassroots back to the 1930s, when South-ern Appalachian musicians began mi-
grating to Baltimore seeking work. Themusic they brought with them madeBaltimore a bluegrass haven in the1950s and 1960s.The first bluegrassband to play Carnegie Hall was fromBaltimore, folk revivalists New LostCity Ramblers, and were founded bya Baltimore musician Del McCoury.Del got his big break after meetingbluegrass godfather Bill Monroe inBaltimore.
The festival will be raising funds forBelieve in Music, a Living Classroomsprogram that gives under-served Bal-timore City students a multifacetedmusic education; and donating a por-tion of the proceeds to the RawlingsConservatory and Botanic Gardens atDruid Hill Park.
“Baltimore is an amazing place with apassion for live music and good beer,”Phil said, “and we wanted to createan event that year after year can show-case the best that these genre’s ofmusic can offer while highlighting thebest Baltimore has to offer in terms offood, brew and scenery.”
Houstonfestwww.HoustonfestGalax.comMay 2 – 3 marks the next installmentof Houstonfest held at Felts Park inGalax, Virginia. The event is dedicatedto the musical and service legacy ofHouston Caldwell who tragically diedin a motorcycle accident April 30, 2010.
At the young age of 18, Houston wasan accomplished banjo player, volun-teer fireman, member of the UnitedStates Army Reserve, and highly re-spected in both the music world andthe community.
“It is indeed a privilege to be a part ofthe culmination of countless hours ofplanning and work that exemplifies thededication, service and loyalty of manyvolunteers, numerous partners andsupporters of HoustonFest”, saysDebbie Robinson who serves as theDirector of HoustonFest. “ Clearly thegenerous outpouring and participationof so many members of the bluegrassand oldtime music community speaksvolumes for the high regard held forthe festival’s namesake. While we allcontinue to miss Houston and pro-foundly feel his loss, it is obviousthrough this festival that he continuesto inspire many.”
In addition to the more than 25 bandsthat will perform this year, a specialarea entitled Camp Houston will bededicated to youth music, workshopsand jam sessions. Panel discussionswill feature highly respected scholarsin the music field, and regional arti-sans will display and demonstrate theircraft.
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