Show to be Videotaped for PBS
Bluegrass & Old-Time Concert Series
Continues Nov. 12 at Marion 's Lincoln Theatre
MARION , Va. ( November 3, 2005 ) - Song of the Mountains , a concert series featuring bluegrass and old-time music, continues Nov. 12 at The Lincoln Theatre. The series showcases the region's best musical talents, incorporating both traditional and contemporary performance styles.
Many shows are videotaped for broadcast by Blue Ridge PBS, and will later air on WBRA-TV in Roanoke , WSBN-TV in Norton, and WMSY-TV in Marion.
The National Educational Telecommunications Association has also agreed to distribute Song of the Mountains to its more than 90 PBS member stations nationwide.
Audience members and their enthusiasm for the region's music are integral to the success of the broadcasts.
The series, which premiered in May, is made possible in part by grants from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification & Community Revitalization Commission and the Appalachian Regional Commission. Additional support is provided by WMEV-FM94! and WGOC AM 640.
The shows are hosted by WGOC radio personality Tim White . Guest host for the Nov. 12 show will be WMEV-FM94's Jim Mabe.
Bands scheduled to perform for the Nov. 12 show, which will be videotaped, are: Wayne Henderson, Highway 11-W Bluegrass Band, Lonesome Will Mullins & the Virginia Playboys, The Corklickers, The Cana Ramblers, and Everett Lilly & the Lilly Mountaineers.
Wayne Henderson - National Heritage Award recipient Wayne Henderson is a musician and instrument maker who lives in Rugby , Va. His top-notch finger-picking guitar style has been enjoyed in Carnegie Hall, on three national tours of "Masters of the Steel-String Guitar," and internationally in seven nations on three continents. The annual Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival and Guitar Competition, originated in 1995, honors this "living legend."
Highway 11-W Bluegrass Band - Highway 11W is a dynamic new bluegrass band. But while the band is newly formed, its members are not new to the bluegrass scene. Frankie Elliott (lead and tenor vocals, bass) hails from a musical family. He began singing as a boy and was playing bass by age 13. He performed with his father's band, Albert Elliott and the Blueridge Partners, among others, and was privileged to play with Marty Stewart at The Carter Fold.
Other members are: Mark Marshall (tenor vocals, banjo), who began playing guitar at age 8 and banjo at 13. Mark and Frankie, both originally from Big Stone Gap, Va. , now live in Mt. Carmel , Tenn. Johnny Greer (bartione vocals, mandolin) began his musical career as a rock-n-roll drummer at the age of 15, but discovered the mandolin at the ripe old age of 33. He has enjoyed some recent success with the release of The Johnny Greer Project (Lonesome Feelin) and John Malayter (baritone vocals, guitar), a New Jersey transplant who has played this music for years. While still in Jersey , he was a part of the bluegrass band Ground Speed, named bluegrass band of the year. He began playing guitar at the age of 13.
Lonesome Will Mullins & the Virginia Playboys - Will Mullins grew up in a family of musicians, influenced from an early age by the old time banjo playing he heard in his home. Originally from Skeetrock - near Clintwood, Va., home to mentor Ralph Stanley - Will played in small bands, gaining regional recognition with the Virginia Mountain Boys, a band he headed up with partner Daniel Salyer.
Will is now backed by the "Virginia Playboys" - musicians Duran Dyutton, Tim Mullins, Jarrod Church and Randall Johnson. Like Mullins, all hail from southwest Virginia , and each is capable of playing nearly every instrument and singing harmony.
Together, their stage shows are a lively mix of hard-driving bluegrass, lonesome ballads, gospel songs and old-time clawhammer banjo.
The Corklickers - The Corklickers are an old-time string band from the mountains of northwest North Carolina . They draw their repertoire from the early country music artists, including Gid Tanner & The Skillet Lickers, Uncle Dave Macon and Earnest V. Stoneman.
Together since 1976, The Corklickers have performed at the Chicago and Kent State Folk Festivals, the Wheatlands Festival in Michigan , the Brandywine Mountain Music Festival in Pennsylvania , and at the 1982 World's Fair, among other festivals. They still perform regularly at such regional venues as The Carter Fold, Down Home, the Todd, North Carolina Summer Concert Series, Rhythm & Roots, and at The Pickin' Porch.
The Corklickers are Gil Adams and Rick Palmer on fiddles, Mark Adams on banjo, Mack Vannoy on guitar, and Rick Moore on bass.
The Cana Ramblers - From Cana , Va. , this group features father Phillip Jones - a practicing trial lawyer when he isn't playing bluegrass - and children Will, Laura Leigh and Ashley. Phillip plays lead and rhythm guitar, and lends songwriting abilities to the band. Though still in his teen, guitar phenom Will Jones has won numerous awards for his flatpicking, including several at the prestigious Galax Fiddler's Convention. He performed with Chris Thile at the Bluegrass Allstars reunion at the 2003 International Bluegrass Music Association awards show, and was also a featured performer in the 2003 Youth All-Star Band. He is featured in the Teen Scene column of the November 2005 issue of Bluegrass Now . In addition to awesome flatpicking, Will does lead singing, harmony, and carries the show with his great emcee work. Sister Laura Leigh shares lead vocals as well as harmony, and is also a blue-ribbon winner for her work on mandolin. Ashley, the eldest of the Jones kids, also performs both lead and harmony vocals, and provides solid timing on the bass fiddle.
The only non-Jones in the bunch, veteran performer Rick Allred, plays banjo. Many will remember Rick for his years playing mandolin and recording with Charlie Waller and the Country Gentlemen. He has also performed with Summer Wages, the Larry Stephenson Band, Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers, and the McPeak Brothers, and has done session work with J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas and Lou Reid, among others.
Everett Lilly & the Lilly Mountaineers - Everett Lilly is 82 years old. He was part of the legendary brother duo the Lilly Brothers. He also performed for a time with Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs and is on many of their classic bluegrass recordings. Most agree that Everett and his brother Bea played a significant role in the spread of bluegrass music to the northeast, Boston in particular, through touring and playing the famous Hillbilly Ranch. Don't miss this opportunity to hear this first generation performer!
Tickets are $15 general admission, available from The Lincoln Theatre Box Office, located at 117 E. Main St. in downtown Marion . The show will begin at 7 p.m.
For more information or to purchase Song of the Mountains tickets by VISA or MasterCard, call the Box Office at (276) 783-6093. Pending availability, tickets may also be purchased at the door.
To learn more about Song of the Mountains , including both future concert dates and broadcast schedules, visit www.songofthemountains.org
The Lincoln Theatre, a 500-seat theatre in Marion , Va. , re-opened in May 2004 following a $1.8 million renovation. Originally built in 1929, the theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places, has been designated a Virginia Historic Landmark, and is one of only three existing Mayan Revival-style theatres in America .
Once known as the "finest showplace in Southwest Virginia ," the Lincoln has been restored to its former grandeur, now fully accentuated by state-of-the-art computerized sound and lighting systems. Murals depicting American and local history line the concert hall. Both a presenting organization and a programming facility, The Lincoln Theatre is dedicated to providing quality educational and entertainment offerings for Smyth County and the tri-state area.
CONTACT: Daveena Sexton , Executive Director
(276) 783-6092 office; (276) 608-3241 cell
dsexton@the-lincoln-theatre.org |
