August 2011

FREEMusic Culture of the Shenandoah Valley, Central Virginia, Blue Ridge, Piedmont, South West,Virginia Highlands, and beyond

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PLUS:v CD Profilesand Reviews. . . and More!

PLUS:v CD Profilesand Reviews. . . and More!

TommyShawTommyShaw

IN THIS ISSUE:v Orange Blossom Parkv Up And Comingv Fiddle Speakv Virginia Honors

IN THIS ISSv Orange Blossv Up And Comingv Fiddle Speakv Virginia Honors

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Americana Rhythm is published six times a year. All correspondenceshould be sent to PO Box 45, Bridgewater VA, 22812 or email togreg@americanarhythm.com. Copies of Americana Rhythm are madeavailable free at various pick up locations within the publication’s re-gion. Subscriptions are available inside the United States for $15 UScurrency made payable by check or money order sent to Subscriptionsat PO Box 45, Bridgewater, VA, 22812. Foreign subscription requestsshould be sent to greg@americanarhythm.com. Copyright 2008. Allrights reserved. Reproduction of copy, artwork or photographs is strictlyprohibited without permission of the publisher. All advertising materialsubject to approval.

PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEFGreg E. Tutwiler

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTSEd Tutwiler

Jacenta TutwilerLisa Tutwiler

MARKETING & PROMOTIONMark Barreres (GrassRootsNetworking.com)

ADVERTISINGGreg Tutwiler

Business office 540-433-0360

CONTRIBUTORSEd TutwilerKaye D. Hill

Wayne ErbsenRyan Babarsky

UNC Ashville StudentsAndrew McKnight

Doak TurnerBecky AllenScott Perry

DISTRIBUTIONMark BarreresDavid LaFleurNate SparksEd Tutwiler

Doug WilliamsStuart Thomas

Floyd Country StoreLetters, Comments, Suggestions

greg@americanarhythm.comwww.americanarhythm.com

5 Celebrating The Past

10 Looking Ahead

Table Of Contents

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14 Valley Fest

Questions, comments, suggestions:greg@americanarhythm.com

Okay, so it’s hot now. You know whatthat means; The festivals are in fullswing. There are oodles to take in thissummer - check out the fest calendar. Didyou know July is Virginia Bluegrass month? TheGovernor said so. And to celebrate, there is acommerative festival July 4th weekend in Luraymarking the celebration of the very firstbluegrass festival in the country.We tracked down a little info on a festivalof old; The Orange Blossom Parkbluegrass festival. Take a nostalgic tripwith us as we remember the early years.As usual, the SPINS section features someof the best releases of the summer, CDs you’llwant to add to your collection. And when you get achance, check out our new artist feature, Americana Music Profiles,and on the web at www.AmericanaMusicProfiles.com.

Greg Tutwiler, publisher

Check out our new musicProfiles web site!

www.AmericanaMusicProfiles.com

Listen to our streaming radiostation, 24/7/365. Click the radio

button from our web site,www.AmericanaRhythm.com12 The Great Divide

16 Festival Capitol18 PRESERVATION

2220 FEST GUIDE

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By Edward Tutwiler

More years ago that he’d care to ad-mit, the owner and publisher ofAmericana Rhythm Music magazineworked in a Waynesboro, VA printshop that printed posters and flyers fora popular bluegrass festival park northof town. Recently, when we here atAR became aware that this was the50th anniversary of the very first blue-grass festival to ever be held anywhereand that it was held in Luray, VA, heremembered his print shop experi-ence. Since that print shop experiencewas in the mid to late 1970’s thatmeans this bluegrass park for whichhe printed flyers was close to beingone of the pioneer events of that era.

The name of the festival park that wasthe subject of this print shop experi-ence was the Orange Blossom Blue-grass Park. It was located on PurpleCow Road, just off of US-340 nearDooms, VA, and just south ofCrimora, VA. If the name Crimoraseems familiar to you, that is becauseit is the birthplace of legendary old-time musician, Mac Wiseman. Andyes, if you are counting, this was thefirst ever bluegrass festival to be heldin Augusta County of Virginia accord-

Festival Gone Bying to a newspaper clipping from thatera that described the event.

I recently spoke to Al Wimer and toPam and Duane McLaughlin concern-ing the Park and got them to remem-ber all that they could. Mr. Wimer wasone of the founding members of thePark; Pam was close friends of theArey family; and Duane sometimesworked the gate for the festivals.

Which Came FirstThe Orange Blossom Park was thecreation of three men: Mr. Jim Or-ange, Mr. Bill Arey, and Mr. AlWimer. Orange was a local residentbut worked as a union official in DC.Arey and Wimer both worked at theWaynesboro Dupont plant. Whatthese men had in common was JimOrange’s bluegrass band, The OrangeBlossoms, in which they all played.This was a band of some local andregional fame. The Orange Blossomsband was formed in the late 1960s.Original members were: Jim Orange,Al Wimer, Alvin Breeden, Robert

Worley, and Shorty Hickman. It wasa very good band, and in its day wonsix out of seven state championships.Wimer described its style as tradi-tional bluegrass. Here’show he put it, “Jim was aMonroe fan, and he’d goreal high when he sang.”

How It HappenedHere’s how Mr. Wimer re-members the festival parkgetting started. “The waythis thing got started iswe’d just come back froma bluegrass festival andwere sitting in Bill Arey’syard. We just decided rightthere that we should havea festival of our own.” The first hurdlethe group faced was convincing thelocal Augusta County Board of Super-visors that a festival was a good thingto have. Here’s how Wimer remem-bers that, “After we decided to try tohave a festival, we had to go to thecounty to get permits. That was a littlebit of a hassle because at that time all

people knew about were rock festi-vals, you know, Woodstock and all.The Supervisors didn’t want any ofthat. They’d give us a permit for onefestival at a time for a year or two.Then later they’d give us a permit forthree festivals at a time. Of course, wehad to form a corporation with the

three of us.” That corporation wasOrange Blossom Enterprises Inc. andit consisted of Bill Arey, President,Jim Orange, Vice President, and AlWimer, Secretary/Treasurer.

Although Bill Arey had land availablethat they could use for the Park, the

continued

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guys had to start from scratch to build everythingthat was needed. Mr. Wimer showed me a faded pic-ture of the park with the stage area front and center.He looked at the picture a second, and then said, “Ibuilt that stage. That’s almost completely my work.”They laid our the park in a wooded corner of BillArey’s pasture field. They placed the stage at therear center of the location and used the center treearea for the festival seating. Surrounding the stageand festival seating area was a camping area arrangedin a horseshoe shape. Pamtold us that the folks luckyenough to be camping on thefront row could sit in theircampsite and see the stageand hear the music. The Or-ange Blossom Park trulywas a family affair with themen running the festival andtheir wives, Jo Wimer, CecilArey, and Nina Orange, run-ning the concession stands.Along with some volunteers,these three families ran thewhole operation.

The First TimeThe first gathering at the fes-tival park was a talent con-test held on June 3 and 4 of1972. The second gatheringof the year was a three-dayfestival held in mid Augustof 1972, and the third festival was a two-day eventheld in mid October of 1972. Every year thereafterthe Park hosted three festivals a year. From the veryfirst festival, the master of ceremonies was Mr. LeeMoore. Moore was a well known radio personalityand entertainer from radio station WWVA in Wheel-ing, WVA. (Some old time valley residents mightalso remember Lee Moore as a live-music performerof country music on WSVA radio in Harrisonburg,VA in the1950s.)

Pam remem-bers that thefestivals fea-tured one bigna me-ba ndbooked in fora Saturdayperformance;several re-g i o n a l l yknown bandsfor one ormore days,and local talent for the whole weekend. Of course,Jim Orange and The Orange Blossoms played allweekend. There were many big name groups thatperformed at Orange Blossom Park over the yearssuch as: Bill Monroe; Jim and Jesse; The OsbourneBrothers; Ralph Stanley; The Lewis Family; and ofcourse Mac Wiseman. Also, many young musiciansplayed at Orange Blossom Park who later went onto gain fame in the bluegrass field.

In the Park’s hay-day, these festivals drew upwardsof 800 to1000 attendees. As to the cost to attend oneof these events, Al said that the first festival cost $7,and Pam said, “As well as I remember, the chargewas never more than $15 for the entire weekend.”

All Good ThingsAl Wimer needed to pull out in the late 1970’s be-cause the work involved with both playing in theband and helping run the three multi-day festivalseach year started to take its toll on his day job; how-ever, the other men continued to run the Orange Blos-som Park until they decided to end the festivals in1983. Orange and Arey finally stopped because of acombination of reasons. Times and musical tastes

were changing of course, butafter 13 years of three festi-vals a year, they had otherinterests they needed to pur-sue. As Pam put it, “I think,they just got to the place thatthey needed to have morefamily time.”

Jim and Nina Orange and Mr.Arey have all now passedaway, Mrs. Arey lives in anassisted living facility; andthe festival park has revertedback to the pasture land thatit once was all those yearsago. Al and Jo Wimer stilllive in Staunton, and theyfondly remember the festivalthat they helped start all thoseyears ago.

In closing, Al Wimer told me,“I don’t remember any interesting stories about thefestivals but I do remember it was a lot of hard work.It was a nice bluegrass festival park—one of the bet-ter ones, I think. When we set the thing up, we wentby what the supervisors recommended we do. Wehad nice outdoor facilities and good camping withall electrical hookups. Just to be on the safe sidewe’d hire off-duty deputy sheriff officers to patrolthe area. If anybody got unruly we’d set them out.We didn’t ever have any problems.”

Here is how Ms. McLaughlin summed it all up, “Itwas a very popular festival, and people came fromaround the state to attend it. It was well run and wellpatrolled. It was a very friendly festival—not onlythe people who promoted it but the people who at-tended it as well. It became much like a family event.When they announced that they were going to stophaving the festivals, people were crying. It was be-cause everybody had become so close with eachother. Even today when my husband and I run intopeople that once attended that festival either as lis-teners or as performers, I never hear anyone say any-thing negative about that festival. Everybody has saidthat it was one of a kind.”

There we have it folks another leaf of the Ameri-cana onion peeled back. This time so you could learnsomething about another first in bluegrass historyfrom a time really not so long ago—at least, not forfolks with hair the color of mine.

Bluegrass festivals happen everywhere all the timenow but once upon a time they were somethingunique and special and a few folks are still aroundwho can remember how special they once were.

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By Wayne ErbsenThe Language Of The Fiddle

Listening to a great fiddler playhis or her instrument is certainlyone of life’s great delights. But lis-tening to a fiddler talk can be abewildering experience if you arenot acquainted with the languageof fiddling. Over the years, fid-dlers have developed their ownslang, so here is a dictionary ofsome of the common words usedby fiddlers, along with theirmeaning. The next time you talkwith a fiddler, sprinkle in some ofthese words and watch their re-sponse.

Air - A slow tune meant forlistening, not dancing.Barn dance - An old-time danceheld in a barn.Bass-The lowest pitched stringon a fiddle.Beating straws - Playing rhythmwith straws or sticks on thefiddle while the fiddler isplaying.Black Mountain Rag tuning - C#A E A (from high to low).Bluegrass fiddle - Longbow

fiddling that’s highly improvisedwith elements of blues, jazz,swing and old-time.Bob Wills - Legendary Texasfiddler, the father of WesternSwing.Brag fiddlers - Popular fiddlers.Breakdown - A fast fiddle tunedesigned more for show than fordancing.Bull fiddle - Bass.Catguts - Strings.Clawhammer - Rhythmic old-time banjo style produced byhitting down on the strings.Clifftop - Appalachian StringBand Festival in Clifftop, WestVirginia.Counter - The D or third stringon a fiddle.Coarse string - Bass string onthe fiddle.Coarse part - Lower part of atune.Crooked tune - A tune with anodd number of measures.Cross tuning - A non-standardfiddle tuning.

Cross key - See cross tuning.Cross-eyed tuning - Fiddlin’Arthur Smith’s term for crosstuning.Devil’s box - Fiddle.Devil’s riding horse - Fiddle.Dischord tuning - To retune intoa non-standard tuning.Double Shuffle - Fancy bowingused on songs like “OrangeBlossom Special.”Double stop - Playing two noteson different strings at the sametime.Drone - Playing an open note onthe fiddle at the same time youplay a melody note.Drunk as a fiddler’s clerk - Verydrunk.Fiddlededee - Nonsense.Fiddle-faddle - To fuss withtrifles. Nonsense.Fiddle-footed - A wanderer.Fiddler’s Grove - Ole TimeFiddlers and Bluegrass Festivalin Union Grove, N.C.Fiddlers news - Old newscarried by wandering fiddlers.

Fiddlesticks - Sticks or strawsused to play rhythm on thefingerboard of the fiddle.Fine strings - Upper two stringsof the fiddle.Fine part - High part of a fiddletune.Flat footing - Clogging.Four potatoes - The four shufflesat the beginning of a fiddle tunethat sets the rhythm.Frog - The part of the bow thatholds the hair near the handgrip.Frolic - An old-time party.Galax - The fiddlers conventionin Galax, Virginia.Georgia shuffle - Fancy bowwork such as heard on “OrangeBlossom Special.”Gig - A paying music job.High bass - When the G string istuned up to A.High bass and counter - Cross Atuning E A E A (From highest tolowest).Hillbilly music - Named for anold-time band called “TheHillbillies” led by Al Hopkins

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While in the area please visit our other local attractions

that first recorded January 15,1925.Hoedown - An old-time instru-mental tune played at squaredance tempo.Hornpipe - An old Englishdance tune that was playedmore slowly than a reel.Italian tuning - Standard tun-ing.Jam - An impromptu musicsession.Jam sessioning - Coined byfiddler Ralph Blizzard.Jig - An Irish tune in 6/8 or 9/8time or an 19th century minstreltune in 2/4 time.Kick off - How a bluegrassfiddler starts a tune or song.Lazy enough to be a goodfiddler - A bum.Lick - A short musical passageor a bowing pattern.Long bow fiddling - A style ofbowing using many notes perbowstroke.Mean fiddle - Hot fiddling, as in“He plays a mean fiddle.”Mean as a fiddler’s bitch -Rather mean.Mount Airy - Bluegrass and OldTime Fiddlers Convention inMount Airy, N.C.Not enough to dust a fiddle - Apaltry amount.Oh fiddlesticks! - Oh shucks!Pick up - A truck. Someone you

meet in a bar. The notes afiddler plays that lead into thefirst beat of the tune.Reel - A lively dance tune in 2/4or 4/4 time. A dance done inlongways formation.Rocking the bow - Going backand forth between two adjacentstrings.Rosin - Sticky substance madefrom pine tree sap which isrubbed on the horse hair ofthe bow to help grab the strings.Sawing - Bowing.Sawmill key - Where the fiddleis tuned AEAE.Scotch time - A jig as used byfiddler Woodrow Boone fromMadison County, N.C.Schottische - Mid 19th centurydance tunes played somewhatslower than reels.Second fiddle - Harmonyfiddler. Taking a back seat to amore dominant person.Shuffle - Rhythmic bowingconsisting of three strokes: long-short-short.Stick - Bow.Straaaaaaaaangs - Southernpronunciation for strings.Thick as fiddlers in hell - Plenti-ful or crowded.To hang up your fiddle - To dieor quit.Tommy Jarrell - Legendary old-time fiddler from Toast, N.C.

Triplum - The A string on thefiddle.Turn around - A short musicalphrase used as an intro or be-tween a chorus and a verseof a song.Twin fiddling - Two fiddlesplayed in harmony.Vibrato - The quavery soundproduced by wiggling a fingerthat’s pressing down a string.Waltz - A tune and a dance in 3/4time.Weiser - National Old TimeFiddlers Contest and Festivalheld in Weiser, Idaho.Wires – Strings.

“The Language of Fiddling” is takenfrom Wayne Erbsen’s book, Old-Time Fiddle for the CompleteIgnoramus! which is available fromNative Ground Books & Music, 109Bell Road, Asheville NC 28805.(828) 299-7031.www.nativeground.com Email:banjo@nativeground.com Contactus for a complete catalog of blue-grass and old-time music songbooksplus instruction books for banjo,fiddle, guitar, mandolin and dulci-mer.

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It’s not everyday that you walkinto a small, nearly unknown lo-cal venue to find a young, ener-getic band donning fiddles, ban-jos, guitars, and upright basses,singing four-part harmonies, andmoving their audience to tears.But such a group exists in our ownCentral VA (lucky us!), and theycall themselves Belle Star.

Belle Star is a four-piece groupthat plays a wonderful mix of old-time, country, and folk covers, aswell as original material inspiredby the genres they love. (ErinJohnson - guitar, fiddle, vocals,Lee Johnson - upright bass, gui-tar, vocals, Joe Overton - fiddle,banjo, guitar, vocals, and PeterWinne - guitar, banjo, vocals). Themembers met via several differentavenues, including the Nashvillescene, various old-time festivals,blood-relations (Erin and Lee arecousins), and Charlottesville’smusic scene.

After having known each otherseparately for some time, thegroup came together this past Oc-tober to form a band, which hasbeen gigging actively in the areasince December. The men in theband reside in Charlottesville, VAand the lone lady Erin lives inKeezletown, VA (Not far fromHarrisonburg).

Young Old-TimeMuch of Virginia’s music culturereserves old-time, folk, country,and bluegrass for an older crowd,but Belle Star is proof that youngergenerations are happy to follow intheir forbears’ giant footsteps. Allthe members of the band are intheir mid-twenties, but they are allable to channel the legends theyworship: “Hank Williams, BuckOwens, Web Pierce, Ray Price,

A Rising StarBy Ryan Barbarsky

Dave Evans…” while still main-taining an original sound.

How do young people today getinto these “older” types of music?Lee and Joe were both raised inTennessee, where country, blue-grass, and old-time are part of ev-eryday life. Lee claims that “downthere, you have to know a Gchord, a C chord and a D chordto get your driver ’s license.”Many young musicians grow upwith it, but don’t develop an in-terest in playing it until later on,often because of some kind ofcatalyst. For instance, Joe was“never really interested in learn-ing to play until [he] got into highschool” when one of his cousinsgave him a mix with bluegrass onit. Pete stumbled into old coun-try and bluegrass while tracingthe roots of the rock and old R&Bartists he loved: “I would nerd-

out on stuff, and read a lot aboutmusic and really dig deep and seewho people’s influences were andwork my way back.” Erin andLee’s parents were musicians whoplayed in a bluegrass band: “It wasalready in our family.”

With these varying musical back-grounds, these four young multi-instrumentalists have formed aband with what can only be de-scribed as a magical sound that atonce tugs on your nostalgicheartstrings and whets your appe-tite for the new. It can be challeng-ing to try to synthesize a varietyof influences, but Pete thinks it isa constructive challenge: “I thinka constructive obstacle that wehave to work with is the fact thatwe are trying to draw from a lotof different influences… we’re al-ways changing hats.” Joe agrees:“I think we have a breadth that alot of folks don’t.”

A Belle Star ShowA live Belle Star performance is areal treat. They have been playingin smaller venues across CentralVA, and often play completelyunplugged (occasionally they useone microphone). At one of theirshow, the thing that immediatelybecomes apparent is the fact thatthese kids have a real love and re-spect for the tunes they are play-ing, and, luckily for the audience,that enthusiasm is infectious.

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Summer 2011No one band member is the front-man or the center of attention fortoo long. Erin describes the band’sgoal thusly: “I think we focus onbeing a tight band in general.Rhythm is really important to us.”Lee adds to that: “Technical dis-plays of virtuosity don’t seem tobe our primary focus. We’re nottrying as much to impress peoplewith a lick as we are trying to geta feeling across.” Another thingthat makes their live show somuch fun is the fact that theyswitch instruments so frequently.On occasion, they even aren’t surewhich instrument they’re sup-posed to be playing!

But it’s their big, tight harmoniesthat really set them apart fromother groups, young or old. Eachband member sings, and many oftheir songs feature two, three, andfour-part harmonies. Notably,they’ve mastered the art of balanc-ing and blending, which makesfor pure ear-candy.

At a Belle Star show, you can ex-pect to hear a great mix of coversand originals. They have manyinfluences, one of the biggest be-ing Dave Evans, a traditional blue-grass player who hails from East-ern Kentucky. Pete describes Daveas “a living legend, maybe not bystatus, but definitely by quality.”

They also play Hank Williams,Buck Owens, Willie Nelson, andseveral other legendary greats.Erin has a great way of describingwhat a band’s influences are:“When I think of influences on aband, I think of a whole band sit-ting around listening to music.”

Where They’re HeadedAs of right now, all of the bandmembers in Belle Star work day-jobs while playing music when-ever and wherever they can.There are plans in the works forthem to do some recording this

year, possibly in Central VA, pos-sibly in the Nashville area. They’realso hoping to do some travelingand to gig as much as possible.

The band has varying levels ofhopes in terms of one day beingable to make a living playing mu-sic, but right now their main fo-cus to develop their original ma-terial, work on their set in general,and to gig as much as they can.While Joe and Pete want to be ableto make a living by only playingmusic, Erin hopes she can main-tain a balance in her life betweenmusic and her interpreting career:

“I’m the kind of person who wantsto be involved in lots of differentthings throughout my life.”

They’ve only been gigging for afew months so far, so the road infront of them is as long as theywant it to be.

Catch Them AroundYou can catch a Belle Star show atany one of several small venuesin Central Virginia. They play theBlue Moon Diner and The PigeonHole in Charlottesville, and NewYork Flying Pizza and the LittleGrill in the Harrisonburg area.You can also find band membersbusking on The Downtown Mallin Charlottesville or jamming atany number of local music festi-vals.

Online, check them out atwww.reverbnation.com/bellestaror on Facebook or YouTube. Theyhave several new videos up foryour viewing and listening plea-sure. These four friends will leaveyou with the same smiles theywear while they play. You’ll seethat this quote from Lee Johnsonis accurate: “We come to this mu-sic with a sincere love for it, andwe try to approach each song withthat in mind.”

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International Folk Allience Conference

As a youth of the 70s and 80s, Ilived the boyhood dream of beingin a rock band. From late in highschool to the first few years of mycollege days, I played bass in sev-eral rock and pop cover bands.One of our favorite groups tocover was Styx. I wore out a copyof the Grand Illusion LP (That’s“long playing record” for thosewho don’t remember the vinyldays.). The guitarist in our bandloved practicing the solo licksfrom Styx guitarist and singerTommy Shaw.

As I got older and my musicaltastes ripened for the rich Ameri-cana sounds that I love to listento today, my collection of albumswent into storage, the bass guitarstared collecting dust. Marriageand kids pursued, and the oldrock and roll days went into se-clusion. Or so I thought.

Imagine my surprise when anadvanced copy of Tommy Shaw’snew CD showed up on my deskone day. To be honest, I had for-gotten that Styx as a band was ac-tually back together. So I assumedthis was a new rock solo project.No! It wasn’t! It was bluegrass!Yes, bluegrass; and good blue-grass too. I couldn’t believe it. Oneof my rock and roll hero’s hadcaught up with me in the form ofa new bluegrass CD. (Notice theLP is now gone.)

I decided I had to hear this storystraight from the top. So as uswriter types do, I tracked downTommy’s publicist on facebook(no more rotary dial phones ei-ther) and lined up an interview. Ihad a great time talking withTommy, reminiscing, and findingout about how he ended up in thebluegrass business, and what heplanned to do with his new cre-ation.

Not So Rock ‘n RollGrowing up in Montgomery Ala-bama in the early 1960’s, the AMradio waves carried the sounds ofthe Grand Ole Opry, into the backseat of a 1958 Chevy where ayoung Tommy Shaw “lost - andfound - himself in every note.”Those songs and stories comingover the radio set the tone for hismusical journey.

While Tommy Shaw’s greatest vis-ible achievement has been as the

The Great Dividesinger and guitarist for one of rock‘n roll history’s biggest bands,those musical legends and melo-dies of days gone by lay etched inhis memories of simpler times.Plus, the desire to always be ex-panding his musical horizons led

to a new chapter in his music ca-reer in the songs and stories foundon his bluegrass debut, The GreatDivide.

“Even when I was little, I could tellwhen somebody was good andwhen they weren’t. And in coun-try music there was always somany talented musicians. As akid, I was fascinated by countrymusic and the Grand Ole Opry.But I loved all kinds of other mu-sic too. I loved Buddy Rich andSammy Davis Jr. on the EdSullivan show. All of those earliermusical contributions were part ofthe landscape for me and reallyleft an impression on me as ayoung child,” Tommy told me.That older music still has an effecton him too. “Just last night mywife and I wound up spending theevening watching the old Flatsand Scruggs TV shows on NetFlix,” he said. “I was amazed athow good and really entertainingit was.” The experience even in-

spired Tommy to dig out a violinfrom his studio that was once a giftto his wife in order to add to hisrepertoire of stringed influences.“I brought it back in the house,and actually, I’m starting to getsome notes on it,” he laughed.

Musical Expansion“It’s so nice to feel like I’m tenyears old again, and learningsome new things on some newinstruments for me,” Tommynoted. “There’s still a lot to learnon the guitar, but the bluegrassreally awakened the possibility tobe able to play some songs onthose other instruments.”

Tommy said that Styx was reallythe first ever true rock band thathe had been in. All through hishigh school days he played moresoul and lounge music. From thetime he was 13 his parents wouldlet him go off and play music witha guy that lived around the cor-ner from their house. “This guyled the Troy State Universitydance band. And his mother wasa police woman, so my parentstrusted me to go out under theircare to play weddings, barmitzvahs, and lounges and con-certs,” he recalled. “If I could fake

my way into a band, I would. I hada pretty good ear, so it was prettyeasy to figure out where I was sup-posed to be. While my friendswere listening to Led Zeppelin Iwas listening to Nancy Wilson,and Buddy Rich. So I learned tobe a rock guy later on.”

So getting into bluegrass musicisn’t really much different thananything else Tommy has done.

It’s a way to expand his musicalinfluence. “It’s that I just had amuch longer stretch in Styx thananything else,” he said. But itwasn’t exactly a pre-calculatedplan to create a bluegrass album.“It sort of found me, I didn’t findit,” he surmised.

Making The Music“The first song that Brad and Iwrote, I’ll Be Coming Home” (ac-tually the last song on the album);that vocal you hear is actually thedemo vocal. I have this resonatorguitar that has a very distinctsound. I picked it up one day andplayed this rift on it – kind of anAmericana sounding melody –and this song just burst forth. Weended up doing the demo thatday, and minus a few touch ups,the song on the album is the waywe laid it down. That song satthere and we listened to it overand over, realizing ‘that’s reallygood.’ And so we came back a fewmonths later and wrote “Afraid To

By Greg Tutwiler

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Love.” Same thing; the song reallyturned out great. So we knew wehad to keep going.”

“We worked on it for six years,”he said. “I needed it to breathe andtake my time with it. As a new-comer, I put myself at the feet ofsome of the best bluegrass play-ers in the country to learn fromthem. I wanted to make an authen-tic album that captured that feel-ing I had as a kid, listening tothose songs and feeling as if theywere speaking directly to me.”

“Putting this album together itwas like being in the Led Zepplinof bluegrass,” Tommy recalled.“These guys had Bill Monroe sto-ries, Johnny Cash stories; all thesepeople that to me are these leg-endary characters that I never hadthe opportunity to meet. Herethese guys have real life stories.And the musicianship is just as-tounding. For the song “Get OnThe One,” I wrote that lick neverreally thinking how a dobroplayer might play it, and then RobIckes just cranks out this lick; I hadto go out and have him show mewhat he was doing. I wish I had avideo of it. Little things like that.Watching Sam (Bush) pick up thefiddle and play on one of thesongs was amazing.”

Brad Davis was Tommy’s link tothe bluegrass world. He was ableto work the schedule to get allthese great musicians together tohelp with the CD. Appearing aregreats like Alison Krauss, JerryDouglas, and Dwight Yoakam.“We had four days booked, andtwo and half days in we prettymuch had it finished, that’s howgood these guys are,” he said.

MoonlightingOf course all of this is going onwhile Styx is still on the road andmaking records. “I’ve always hadother interests though,” he said.“I’ve never really been content tojust be in the band. But what hap-pens though is when I go back toStyx, it improves what I do theretoo. I’ve made some great stridesgoing back and playing Styx mu-sic that I hadn’t made in a longtime.”

And as the band gears up for a 22date European tour with Yes, find-ing time to explore this new loveof bluegrass could be quite a chal-lenge. “I hope we get to tour withthis record. The response has beengreat. It’s just trying to fit it all inthe schedule. You know, I have toput a band together too. The

people on the record all have theirown gigs.”

Tommy played two sets at theGrand Ole Opry with his newmusic recently. “The Opry is myearliest memories of a big show,that big variety show on the ra-dio. WSM has this sound. What-ever the compression and EQ theyuse, the mics; whatever it is, thereis this distinctive sound thatcomes from their production. AndI found myself there at WSM, andthey were playing my music andthey were talking about me onthat show, and it was such a sur-real moment. It was like some-thing out of a dream to be theredoing that. I’ve done a lot of coolthings in my career, but that onreally had me by my childhood.And then to go play the show; I’mnever nervous about being onstage, but that one made me alittle nervous. I wanted it to begood. But I went out there, andwithin the first twelve bars of“Back In Your Kitchen” I could seethat it was going to be fine.”

The Response“I was expecting like one giantgroup huh; like when a dog cockshis head, ‘what’? Instead, I’ve got-ten the best reviews for this al-bum, more than any other albumI’ve ever made with Styx, DamnYankees, solo, anything. The mu-sic has done the testifying for me.I always knew if it could just bejudged on its merits that youcouldn’t really fault it. I’ve spenta lot of time and trouble to makethis as genuine of a record as pos-sible. I enjoyed every minute of it,and I think that comes through.”

From the press material comesthis very appropriate conclusion;“Shaw’s lifelong journey as asongwriter is not unlike the arc ofthe stories he tells on The GreatDivide. Like the stories in hissongs, his own story spans gen-erations, as his songs have left anindelible impression on listenersfor four decades. His own storyis one of discovery and re-discov-ery throughout a distinguishedcareer, in which he hasn’t fearedrisk for the sake of growth. Andhis own story is one of coming fullcircle – finding his way home -after 40 years, and fully reconnect-ing with the music that set him onhis path as a child in Alabama.”

From my observation, this was agreat side trail for Tommy, and Ican wait to catch a live show withthis music. It’l be a good one.”

14

Summer 2011

For music lovers of all sorts, theShenandoah Valley Music Festival isthe place to hear the unique sounds ofa Shenandoah Valley summer. Oppor-tunities this year include 14-timeGrammy award winner Ricky Skaggsand his band Kentucky Thunder witha new touring show; Bluegrass won-ders Dailey and Vincent and Béla andThe Flecktones, the original lineup.

At the Festival in Orkney Springs,Ricky Skaggs will throw open his trea-sure chest of more than three decadesof his country and bluegrass hits andshare them at his only summer stop inVirginia on Friday, July 22, the open-ing night of the Festival season.

“I think fans will really love the factthat I’m taking a full country band outon the road… we’ll be able to do those[songs] with the country sound andthen do the ‘blazing bluegrass’ thatwe’ve been known for since ’97, andthen do those new songs from Mosaic.I think it’s going to be a great show,”Skaggs explained.

Festival President Dennis Lynch saidhe jumped at the chance to book thenew show. Skaggs and KentuckyThunder made their first visit to theFestival in 2008 with a straight blue-grass show and the public loved it.Having the mix of country and blue-grass with one of the country’s mosthonored roots musicians will open theFestival up to an even bigger audi-ence.

Red Hot BluegrassDescribed by The New York Times as,“…the most celebrated new bluegrassact of the last few years” Dailey andVincent will perform at the MusicFestival on August 12. Lynch saidhe’s been trying to sign Dailey andVincent for the past few years, but he’sbeen unable because the duo’s sched-ule fills up so fast.

“I’d talk to their agent in Septemberfor a summer date, and they’d onlyhave a few weekends left,” he said.The Festival caught a good bouncewith the bluegrass pair this year. Theyare appearing in Orkney Springs, inroute to a gig the next day at LincolnCenter’s 28th Annual Roots ofAmerica Music Festival in New York.

Banjo LegendThe legendary Béla Fleck and TheFlecktones will close the Festival sea-son on September 4. Thegroundbreaking banjo player/com-poser/bandleader has reconvened the

original extraordinary lineup of hisincredible combo. Far from being awistful trip back in time, they’ll beplaying tunes from the new albumRocket Science – some of the band’smost forward thinking music of theircareer. Howard Levy is on piano andharmonica and brothers Victor andRoy “Futureman” Wooten on bass andpercussion/drumitar.

This Grammy Award winning groupknown for their unique sound of blue-grass, fusion, and jazz brings a dis-tinctive sound to the Music Festivalthis year. Béla Fleck and TheFlecktones will be playing the finalnight of the Music Festival on Sep-tember 4.

Steeped in HeritageWith it’s origins 49 years ago, theShenandoah Valley Music Festivalwe’re strictly as a symphonic concertpresenter, but as the years passed theselection of music grew and changedalong with the Valley and the public’stastes in music. Now, the MusicFestival’s reputation is built upon aseason that includes 8-10 evening con-certs that feature a great diversity ofmusic symphonic-both pops and clas-sical, country, bluegrass, folk, jazz,and more.

These afore mentioned great artistsand five more will all play in the beau-tifully rustic open-air pavilion on thegrounds of the historic OrkneySprings Hotel. Now part of the ShrineMont Retreat and Conference center,this national historic landmark main-tains a relaxing secluded atmosphereperfect for the outdoor concerts. Au-diences can enjoy the performancesfrom either reserved pavilion seatingor the expansive lawn area where pic-nics are encouraged.

The Festival’s lineup this summer alsoincludes 1964…The Tribute, calledby Rolling Stone, “the best BeatlesTribute on Earth”; two symphony con-certs by the Fairfax Symphony Or-chestra, and John McCutcheon andCatie Curtis. With great featured art-ists like these, the Shenandoah Val-ley Music Festival is a one of a kindconcert experience and a true Valleytradition. It is one summer event notto be missed.

For more information about thisseason’s lineup, ticket prices, and gen-eral information, visit the Festival’swebsite at www.musicfest.org or call(540) 459-3396.

Valley Festival, 49 And CountingBy Ariana Shirzadi

15

Summer 2011

Curley Weaver

Written by UNC Asheville students enrolled in the Liberal Studies IntroductoryColloquia, “The Art of the Blues” (Fall 2005) and “Jazz and Blues in AmericanCulture” (Fall 2003) Supervised by Project Advisor: Bryan Sinclair.

“Influenced by ragtime, country string bands, traveling medicine shows, and popu-lar song of the early 20th century, East Coast Piedmont Blues blended both blackand white, rural and urban song elements in the diverse urban centers of the South-east and mid-Atlantic region. In contrast, the Delta blues style of rural Mississippi isbelieved to have less of a white influence, as it was produced in a region with ahigher concentration of African Americans. Although it drew from diverse elementsof the region, East Coast Piedmont Blues is decidedly an African American artform. The Piedmont blues style may even reflect an earlier musical tradition than theblues that emerged from the Mississippi Delta.” http://toto.lib.unca.edu/sounds/piedmontblues/

East Coast Piedmont Blues

By Robin Zieber and Rebekah Anderson, UNC Asheville Student

Curley James Weaver was bornto Jim Weaver and SavannahShepard of Newton County,Georgia on March 25, 1906. Hegrew up on the farm of a cousin,Tom Brown, at Liviston Chapeljust outside Porterdale, Georgia.He later moved with his parentsto Almon, a small community onthe Atlanta side of Porterdale.The area was rich in its musicaltraditions. Named James after

his father, he led a relativelyprivileged life as the son of awell-respected pianist and gui-tarist. Savannah was known as“Dip” to her friends and playedpiano in her church and knewenough guitar to teach the chil-dren of her friends Mary andCharlie Hicks. Their two sonswhich she taught along with herown son are better known asBarbecue Bob and LaughingCharlie Lincoln. Although theHicks boys were a few yearsolder than Curley, they managedto form a musical group that in-

cluded harmonica player EddieMapp. Weaver had an easy dis-position and made friends eas-ily.

Weaver also learned from othermusicians besides his mother inthe very musical NewtonCounty and surrounding areas.It has been said that he learnedfrom or was heavily influencedby Judd Smith, Nehemiah

Smith, Blind BuddyKeith, Spencer Wright,Robert Hicks, and BlindWillie McTell . Weaverhad a close friendshipwith the Hicks brothersand Eddie Mapp. Whenhe was nineteen he movedto the Atlanta and reallybegan his career. Some ofhis other musical friendsincluded Buddy Moss,Buddy Keith, HarryJohnson, JohnnieGuthrie, Eddie Anthonyand Blind Willie McTell.He was prized for abilitiesas an accompanist as well

as a performer in his own right.He help a series of addresses inAtlanta but never forgot to visitfamily and friends. He movedaround from girlfriend to girl-friend and supported himself asa laborer and by playing on thestreets and at social events.

In October of 1928, BarbecueBob was able to get Weaver re-corded with Columbia. He cuttwo sides under his own name.“No No Blues” is very much inthe style of Barbecue Bob. He

Continued on page 17

16

Summer 2011

Up here on the mountain we callWise County the festival capital ofSouthwest Virginia. Now beforefolks from the rest of the regionlight their torches, grab theirpitchforks and head for Wise; letme tell you why.

The county is unique in its loca-tion and how it grew. There aresix towns, Appalachia, Big StoneGap, Coeburn, Pound, St. Paul andWise and the City of Norton. Allof these communities came intobeing because of early explora-tion, coal mining or the railroadsthat served the mines. The Appa-lachian Mountains in the areawere some of the last placessettled and remained isolated wellinto the 20th Century. A result wasfolks became very good at enter-taining themselves. Thousands ofpeople from multiple culturescame to Wise County after theCivil War to work and theybrought their heritage, culture,and music, with them.

The CatalystHard, dangerous work madepeople more than willing to let offa little steam when they had the

chance, and each town and City,developed festivals that revolvedaround their particular take onwhat was a good time. Folks whosettled in Appalachia (the onlytown in the AppalachianMountains that carries thatname by the way) have theCoal/Railroad Days Festi-val which celebrates coalminers and railroadersAugust 3-7. Big Stone Gap,celebrated in AdriannaTrigiani’s books, the South-west Virginia Museumhosts the Gathering in theGap music festival eachMemorial Day weekend;the Tri-State Gospel Sing-ing Convention (more than75 years running) features greatgospel music; Big Stone Celtic onAugust 20 celebrates our Scots-Irish heritage; and Home CraftDays which is held the weekendof Oct. 14-16 is one of the longestrunning festivals in Virginia.

Coeburn, which birthed Jim andJessee McReynolds, holds theGuest River Rally Sept. 2-5. TheCity of Norton, which claims DockBoggs as a favorite son, cranks up

the Best Friend’s Festival June 14-19 and the Dock Boggs FestivalSept. 9-10. Pound’s Heritage Daysis Memorial Day Weekend as isDr. Ralph Stanley’s Hills of Home

Festival right over the border inDickenson County. St. Paul has itsClinch River Days festival June 2-4 which celebrates that marvelousriver and music at the Clinch RiverFarmers Market every Saturday.Wise has its Guitars andGlasspacks concert and car showAugust 13 and the Famous FallFling October 7-9 and is planninga number of other concerts in itsnew Big Glades venue

All of these festivals feature themusic of the mountains, regionand beyond. Each festival com-bines music, the craft of local arti-sans and local features into a va-riety of combinations that literallyhas something available for abouteveryone.

That’s A BunchSo, let’s see, that at least 14 festi-vals in about 16 weeks betweenMay 28 and the end of October.Oh, and then there is the Virginia/Kentucky Fair June 6-11 and theBattles at Wise Civil War reenact-ment the weekend of July 8-9. Allof these events are just a part oflife along the Crooked Roadwhich runs through the heart ofWise County. There are events ineach of the coalfield counties ofthe Heart of Appalachia andenough entertainment of all typesin these mountains to keep justabout anyone busy. Let’s just saythat up here we like a good partyand that is why we say WiseCounty, The Festival Capital ofSouthwest Virginia; Mountains,Music & More. For more informa-tion go to our website attourism.wisecounty.org. or callthe Wise County Office of Tour-ism at (276) 328-2321.

Virginia’s Festival Capital By H. W. “Bill” Smith

17

Summer 2011

did not stay with Columbia butmoved on to record with manydifferent studios. In May of 1929Weaver, Mapp, and Guy Lumpkinrecorded in Long Island City,New York, for QRS. Mapp andLumpkin recorded one solo each,backing each other. Mapp alsobacked Weaver on his side of hisrelease.

The deaths of Eddie Mapp andBob Hicks along with the break-down and subsequent incarcera-tion of Laughing Charlie Lincolneffected Curley strongly. He re-mained to long-time associate ofWil l ie McTell . He suppl iedbackings for Ruth Wills and LillieMae and was a member of record-ing groups The Georgia Brownsand The Georgia Cotton Pickers.

Curley began to suffer eye prob-lems in the late 1950s and movedback to be with relatives. By 1959Weaver had completely lost sightin the one eye which has alwaysbeen poor and the sight in theother was fast deteriorating. Hedied on September 20, 1962 inAlmon while staying with hishalf-brother. He was buried in aquiet rural churchyard in Almon.

Curley’s daughter Cora MaeBryant was born in NewtonCounty in 1906. She continues inher father’s tradition as a bluesmusician. “She’s out spreadingthe word about her father andkeeping hi s memory alivethrough her own music. Cora Maeis a living, walking blues legend.”

During a moving and emotionalevent at the Gibson/BaldwinShowroom in New York City onMay 23rd, Rosanne Cash an-nounced the list of 2011 Ameri-cana Music Association Honors &Awards nominees. A culturalcrossroads of groove and grit,Americana music is the home ofspit-polished tradition and origi-nal risk takers, and the artiststapped for the 2011 AmericanaMusic Association Honors andAwards reflect the genre’s multi-generational emphasis on storyand soul.

Elizabeth Cook and Robert Plantlead the pack with three nomina-tions each: Cook’s Welder wastapped in the Album of the Yearfield, while her “El Camino”earned a Song of the Year nomi-nation. Robert Plant and the Bandof Joy will compete for Duo/Group of the Year, while their ef-fort Band of Joy received an Al-bum of the Year nod. Both Cookand Plant are also up for Artist ofthe Year.

Two recent New/Emerging Artistof the Year honorees are fulfillingthat award’s prophecy: 2009 re-cipient Justin Townes Earle gar-nered two nods, including Albumof the Year for Harlem River Bluesand Song of the Year for thealbum’s title track, while lastyear ’s winner Hayes Carll re-ceived taps for Artist of the Yearand Song of the Year for “KmagYoyo.”

The Civil Wars and Mumford andSons each earned nominations inboth the New/Emerging Artistand Duo/Group of the Year cat-egories, while Buddy Miller alsosecured two nods: Artist and In-strumentalist of the Year.

The Album of the Year field alsoincludes Lucinda Williams’Blessed, while the Song of the Yearcategory is rounded out by TheDecemberists featuring GillianWelch’s “Down by the Water.” TheAvett Brothers are up for Duo/Group of the Year—an honor theband took home in 2010—whileSarah Jarosz, Will Kimbrough,Gurf Morlix and Kenny Vaughanwill all also compete for Instru-mentalist of the Year.

The cornerstone ofthe Americana Mu-sic Conference andFestival, the 10thAnnual AmericanaMusic AssociationHonors & Awardsceremony is sched-

uled for Thursday, October 13 atthe historic Ryman Auditorium inNashville. Americana music hasalways been about cherishing his-tory even as it pushes boldly for-ward, and the Americana MusicAssociation’s decade of song andcamaraderie embodies that bal-ance.

Americana MusicAwards

Set For October 2011

18

Summer 2011

As we get further along in time;and the people in our society thatdo the remembering for us be-come fewer in number; it becomesmore and more important thatfolks get together to record thoseremembrances. That is where his-torical associations become impor-tant. Such organizations are nei-ther for the founding generationwith it’s first hand memories noreven the following generation thatheard the stories second hand toldby the source. No, the formal gath-ering of history is for the succeed-ing generations so they will notforget.

Certainly, the existence of home-grown mountain music predatesany modern memory, and thenames of forgotten performerswho fiddled and strummed awayon cabin porches all up and downthe Appalachian mountain rangeare lost in the mists of time. Morerecently, in the early 1920’s aboutthe time of radio and recordedmusic’s rise as mass rural enter-tainment, string music and theperformers of such rose to thelevel of professional and that iswhere this story begins.

Uncle EdIn 1947, a music performer knownas “Uncle” Ed Silverman reachedout to his circle of music lovingfriends and fellow performersproposing the idea of forming anassociation that would preservethe memories of the genre of mu-sic then known as country music.Among those called upon to helpform this association were formerGovernor of Virginia, the Honor-able William Tuck and Mr.Watkins M. Abbitt a former Con-gressman. The result of the gath-ering was the creation of the Vir-ginia Folk Music Association(VFMA). The formulated goal ofthat organization was to have anindependent organization thatwould promote and preserveVirginia’s heritage music. The Vir-ginia Folk Music Association waschartered on March 26, 1957 as anon-profit, volunteer organiza-tion.

The VFMA is governed by a vol-unteer board of directors whoelect officers that form an execu-

tive board. The VFMA missionhas never changed from that setforth by its founders— “To pro-mote and preserve Country, Blue-grass and Gospel music”; or in thewords of the present leaders, “themusic of our heritage—VirginiaFolk Music”.

Forming The HallIn 1973, the VFMA formed the Vir-ginia Country Music Hall of Fame.Since that time, decision makerswithin the association have in-ducted many famous and accom-plished performers into that Hallof Fame. Running down the list ofinductees one reads name afterfamous name of Virginia Ameri-cana string music performers suchas: Mac Wiseman (1977); TheStanley Brothers (1978); TheStoneman Family (1986); JimmyDean (1997); Charlie Waller (1998);and the list goes on. In 2000, theVFMA created a Special Recogni-tion Award. The next year, theystarted monthly music jams andin 2002 created the Heritage Mu-sic Youth Scholarship. The SpecialRecognition Award is an annualaward that recognizes the manyVirginia musicians who pursuethe promotion of Virginia’s heri-tage music yet never attain fameand fortune in that pursuit. TheVFMA monthly jam provides aplace for the public to join musi-cians. It is a movable feast whoselocation changes but the fun neverdoes. At these jams, great and notso great musicians join togethermonth after month united in theirlove for the music. They join toplay, learn and fellowship. Evenold-time music is well representedat these jams. Virginia’s HeritageMusic Youth Scholarship offersawards and stipends to deservingand talented Virginia youths.

Doing It AllFrom its early beginnings, theVFMA became a true pioneer ofcountry and bluegrass music fes-tivals and, with the assistance andlobbying efforts of Governor Tuck;the VFMA was later sanctioned asthe only organization to hold theofficial State Championship Con-tests. To this day, the VFMA re-mains the only organization in thestate of Virginia sanctioned to doso. At first, there was only one

Preservation andRecognition By Ed Tutwiler

19

Summer 2011

contest that organizers later sepa-rated into a bluegrass division anda country division. The 2011 Vir-ginia State Championship blue-grass contest is planned for Sep-tember 18, 2011 at the ChesterfieldCounty fair grounds. This is the54th year for this contest.

As a music festival pioneer, theVFMA has put on some very fancyshows and produced radio andTV coverage with music contestssecond to none. In the year 2000,the VFMA exposed the bluegrassfestival to the world via the powerof the internet. More recently, in2009, the VFMA introduced a highquality five dollar a day BluegrassFestival. As the VFMA board ofdirectors came to realize, the con-tests and Hall of Fame alonewould not assure the continuationof the VFMA, thus the bluegrassfestival has become an importantfund generator.

Looking BackThe latest step forward for theVFMA has been the establishmentof the VFMA Museum located atthe Chesterfield County Fair-grounds in Chesterfield County,Virginia. The Museum’s GrandOpening is from 3:00 to 7:30PM onJune 11, 2011. The acquisition of abuilding to house items of inter-est, pictures, and other memora-bilia; and the compilation of ma-terials principal to the Virginiafolk music scene, is the result of a10 year struggle that includedhard, persistent work by theVFMA board of directors, by loyalsupporters, and through the gen-erosity of one generous VFMAsupporter. The materials and ex-hibits housed in the Museum areeither owned or have been placedthere on loan by Hall of FameMembers and other music lovers.

It seems that the preservation ofour musical heritage is in goodhands at the VFMA; and as thoseof us who have that first and sec-ond hand knowledge of its mod-ern beginnings begin to fadeaway, we can be assured that theknowledge itself will not.

See www.vafolkmusic.org or youmay contact Sigrid Williams at 804347.2925, for mor info.

Spring 2011

PopsStonemanPopsStoneman

List Festival Event Hereinfo@AmericanaRhythm.com

JUNE

Graves Mountain FestivalJune 2 - 4, 2011

Syria, VAwww.gravesmountain.com

Blue Ridge Old Time Music WeekJune 5 - 11, 2011

Mars Hill, NCwww.mhc.edu/oldtime

Clinch Mountain Music FestivalJune 10 - 12, 2011

Gate City, VAwww.clinchfest.net

Virginia Blues & Jazz FestivalJune 10, 2011

Warm Springs, VAwww.garthnewel.org

Galax Leaf And String FestivalJune 10 - 11, 2011

Galax, VAwww.galaxfestival.com

Maury River Fiddler’s ConventionJune 17 - 18th, 2010

Buena Vista VAwww.mauryriverfiddlers.com

Wayne C. Henderson Music FestivalJune 18, 2011

Mouth Of Wilson, VAwww.waynehenderson.org

Bluegrass In The Blue Ridge WeekJune 19 - 25, 2011

Mars Hill, NCwww.mhc.edu/bluegrass

Music In The Mountains FestivalJune 22 - 25, 2011Summersville, WV

www.aandabluegrass.com

Grayson Co. Fiddlers ConventionJune 24 - 26, 2011

Elk Creek, VAhttp://www.ecvfd.net/home/grayson-county-

fiddler-s-convention

Rockahock Bluegrass FestivalJune 16 - 18, 2011

Rockahock, VAwww.rockahockbluegrass.com

Virginia Mountain Music FestivalJune 17 - 18, 2011

Tazwell, VAwww.sw.edu/VMMF.htm

Bluegrass In SedaliaJune 23 - 25, 2011

Sedalia, VAwww.sedaliacenter.org

JULY

Wayside Bluegrass FestivalJuly 6 - 9, 2011

Stuart, VAwww.waysidepark.com

All Good Music FestivalJuly 14 - 17, 2011Masontown, WV

www.allgoodfestival.com

Tazewell Old Time A BluegrassJuly 8 - 10, 2011

Tazewell, VAwww.craborchardmuseum.com

Old Time Banjo FestivalJuly 16, 2011Alexandria, VA

www.oldtimebanjofestival.com

Mineral Bluegrass FestivalJuly 14 - 16, 2011

Mineral, VAwww.aandabluegrass.com

Floyd Fest XJuly 28 - 31, 2011

Floyd, VAwww.floydfest.com

AUGUSTBluegrass In The Blueridge

August 4 - 6, 2011Luray, VA

www.bluegrassinluray.com

20

Appalachian String Band FestAugust 3 - 7, 2011

Clifftop, WV (304) 558-0220www.wvculture.org/stringband

75th Old Fiddler’s ConventionAugust 8 - 13, 2011

Galax, VAwww.oldfiddlersconvention.com

Oak Grove Folk Music FestivalAugust 5 - 7, 2011

Verona, VAwww.oakgrovefestival.com

Stoney Creek Bluegrass FestivalAugust 12 - 13, 2011

Greenville, VAwww.stoneycreekresort.net

Mountain Music FestivalAugust 12 - 14, 2011

Waynesboro, VAwww.waynesborodowntown.org

Blue Ridge Mountain Music FestAugust 13, 2011Wintergreen, VA(434) 325-8292

www.wintergreenperformingarts.org

Central VA Family Bluegrass Fest.August 18 - 20, 2011

Amelia VAwww.ameliafamilycampground.com

Vinton Old Time Bluegrass Fest.August 19 - 21, 2011

Vinton, VA(540) 345-8548

Mr. Bs Bluegrass BluwoutAugust 26 - 28, 2011

Ladysmith, VA(804) 449-6350

www.mrbspark.com

Highland JamAugust 26 - 27, 2011

Elkins, WV(304) 642-2351

www.highlandjam.com

Summer 2011

21

Find out how your band and/orCD can be the next

Americana Music Profile!www.AmericanaMusicProfiles.com

Summer 2011

The Rock River GypsiesThe Rock River Gypsies werelong-suffering with a form ofmusical multiple personalitydisorder, adhering to the tradi-

tional forms of bluegrass andjazz within the same musicalsentence. With their new album,At long last, they have forged asound for themselves, whilepaying homage to those tradi-tions which wrought them: Alittle more Rock ‘n’ Roll, a littlemore Soul.

Hailing from Charlottesville,Virginia, the Gypsies have grownfrom a bar band whose goal wasto get the joint flat-footing, to aregional act who still wants tosee you dance. Every member ofthe Gypsies contributes his orher unique voice both in harmo-nies and in songwriting, and theresult is a rollicking pastiche ofbluegrass, rock, and jazz thatnever fails to entertain.

Performing together for six yearsnow, the Gypsies originally metat informal jam sessions at TheCollege of William and Mary.They are anticipating the releaseof their first full-length album inMarch of 2011.Genre: Bluegrass Rock n’ RollContact the band:www.rockrivergypsies.comtherockrivergypsies@gmail.com

25 year old Troy Lindsey fromEast Wenatchee, WV is the quint-essential rolling stone. Don’t thinkhe’s just another traveling musi-cian. As a helicopter mechanic, hetravels around the world trainingpeople and servicing machines.That experience has afforded hima unique perspective of the world,and his soulful response is thedriving force behind his music.

The back of a country church inWyoming was the birth place ofTroy’s musical career. At fourteen,a country preacher gave Troy threeguitar lessons and he’s had aguitar in his hands ever since.

Waylon Jennings, AC/DC, TheStones, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylanall influenced the young Lindseyand he matured as a artist. In 1991Troy enlisted with the US MarineCorps and was stationed in Hawaiiwhere he got his training as amechanic in helicopter aviation.That career led him around theworld.

In one of the fastest paced,stressed-out countries of theworld, Korea, Troy started to puttogether his first album, “Out ofTime for People Without Time.”He had a laptop, a cheap Italianguitar, and a microphone that hetaped to a vacuum cleaner handle.Several of the recordings fromthose sessions alone in his apart-ment in Jeonju, Korea were usedfor the first album.

Immediately after the release ofhis first album, Troy began workon the second. This one would beall done in studio, with the angelictones of his daughter, KristenMcCamey on backing vocals and afeature “Tell It Like It Is”.www.troylindsey.comtroylindsey@hotmail.com

Troy Lindsey

22

Summer 2011

As more and morepeople discover ARMagazine, more andmore groups and labelsare getting in touch withus - Here are some ofour favorite picks! Sometell me this is their fa-vorite page - cool! Iknow the artists like tohear that. We give youa web link as often aspossible so you can lis-ten and decide for your-self. Try iTunes too. Ifyou discover somethingyou like - tell them ARMagazine sent you!

CD Submission:Americana Rhythm Maga-zine, PO Box 45, Bridgewa-ter, VA 22812.

Frank Solivan &Dirty Kitchen

www.dirtykitchenband.comPart of the new class of blue-grass, Frank Solivan and hisband Dirty Kitchen are help-ing change the face of mod-ern grass. Their high energyapproach and is turningheads. Rob Ickes says, theyhave “the total package.

Alison Krauss& Union StationPaper Airplane

www.alisonkrauss.com

New Found RoadLive At The Down Homewww.newfoundroad.com

What do you say about thisgal that hasn’t already beensaid? The fact that she’s got12 million albums and earned26 Grammys should tell usher lastest project won’t dis-appoint. It didn’t. Impressive.

Music From Your Neighbors Music From The National Scene

GrasstowneKickin’ Up Dust

www.grasstowne.com

Sara JaroszFollow Me Down

www.sugarhillrecords.comThis 19 year o ld fromWimberly TX is back with hersecond release, Follow MeDown. The maturity of hervoice, and the depth of hersongwriting make for a wellrounded project; synony-mous of the new Americanasound.

Mavis StaplesYou Are Not Alone

www.mavisstaples.comSince 1957 Bill Emerson hasbeen pickin’ his way into his-tory; initially as a foundingmember of the CountryGentlemen. His new CD withcurrent group Sweet Dixie isa refreshing reminder that thelegends among us still got it.

Bill EmersonThe Great Divide

www.bluegrassville.com/billemersonWhen she was young Mavis’deep voice took audiences bysurprise when her dad, Pops,and her sisters would take thestage as the Staple singers.Today, she’s the Americanaartist of the year, and her newCD is excellent.

Pick A Peck OfPiedmont Pickers

www.Wepecket.comIf you’re a fan of our EastCoast Piedmont Blue article,you’ll want to check out thisgreat new collection, Pick aPeck of Piedmont Pickersfrom Wepecket IslandRecords. It’s a great collectionof traditional Piedmont soul.

Veteran grassers Alan Bibeyand Steve Gully are no strang-ers to the acoustic scene.These guys along with theirother band mates make upGrasstowne, and their latestrelease, Kickin’ Up Dust, iscatching a lot of airplay.

The WaifsTemptation

www.thewaifs.com

The GrascalsDance Til Your Stockings

Are Hot and Ravelin’www.grascals.com

Inspired by the music andimages of The Andy GriffithShow, and sponsored byMayberry’s Finest brandfoods, the latest from theGrascals is as good as therest. These guys are just thatgood.

Jim LauderdaleReason And Rhyme

www.jimlauderdale.comThis fivesome fromCharlottesville, VA have beenhard at it for some time; theyfinally get to serve up theirdebut CD; At Long Last. Play-ing what they call bluegrassrock and roll, the RRG are wellworth the listen.

Rock River GypsiesAt Long Last

www.stevemartin.com

In the 70’s growing up inNorth Carolina, Jim Lauder-dale wanted to do just onething; be a “tenor-singing,banjo-playing bluegrass mu-sician.” Some 30 years later,he’s still at it. His latest is afine record indeed.

The WoodsheddersO Dig

www.thewoodshedders.com

What do you get when youcombine American Country,Rhythm & Blues, Old Time,Bluegrass and Gypsy Jazz;The Woodshedders. Theirnew CD, O dig, is a fine ex-ample that Americana musicis just plain fun. Dig it.

This trio from Australia bringstheir brand of folk/blues/R&Bon the new studio CD, Temp-tation. It’s a groovy sound,makes you want to get up andtap your toes around a little.It’s the right mix with the rightrhythm. Check it out .

You can send new Americana CD releases for consideration to PO Box 45, Brodgewater, VA, 22812

Another of the newer grassacts featuring the seasonedvocal talents of lead singer/founder Tim Shelton. This isanother group to keep youreye on. This new live CD hasa great front row feel. Noquality lost here.

The Electric Co.Whiskey Tonight

www.theelectriccomusic.comAuthentic Americana has itsroots centered in the likes ofnewcomers The Electric Co.Good ‘ol kick back, feel goodmusic; it’s a great summerCD. The fellas from Marylandhave been hard at work withthis project, and it shows.

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Summer 2011

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