Music from the Crooked Road Special Event – March 27
This is a FREE event and will be first come first serve.
Saturday, March 27th – 7:00 PM
This Jefferson Center produced event will feature live music performed by musicians from the Crooked Road as well as viewings of newly produced documentaries on local instrument builders. This event will feature From Wood to Singing Guitar an Appalshop documentary film showcasing Wayne C. Henderson, the master musician and master luthier from the small town of Rugby, Virginia as well as a documentary about 82 year old fiddle maker Arthur Conner called Uncovering the secrets of the Strad. This event will also feature the Round the Mountain Artisan Network which features artisans, farms, galleries and craft venues in Southwest Virginia plus much more!
To learn more about the other events in this collaboration between Jefferson Center and the Crooked Road click HERE!
Carolina Chocolate Drops – March 31st
We are so excited to have the Carolina Chocolate Drops at the store!
Join us Wednesday, March 31st – 7:00 PM
Tickets on sale Tuesday March 9th!
$25 General Admission
Call the store at 540-745-4563
or purchase tickets online HERE!
“Tradition is a guide, not a jailer. We play in an older tradition but we are modern musicians.” —Justin Robinson
In the summer and fall of 2005, three young black musicians, Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson, made the commitment to travel to Mebane, N.C., every Thursday night to sit in the home of old-time fiddler Joe Thompson for a musical jam session. Joe was in his 80’s, a black fiddler with a short bowing style that he inherited from generations of family musicians. He had learned to play a wide ranging set of tunes sitting on the back porch with other players after a day of field work. Now he was passing those same lessons on to a new generation.
When the three students decided to form a band, they didn’t have big plans. It was mostly a tribute to Joe, a chance to bring his music back out of the house again and into dance halls and public places. They called themselves The Chocolate Drops as a tip of the hat to the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, three black brothers Howard, Martin and Bogan Armstrong, who lit up the music scene in the 1930’s. Honing and experimenting with Joe’s repertoire, the band often coaxed their teacher out of the house to join them on stage. Joe’s charisma and charm regularly stole the show.
Being young and living in the 21st century, the Chocolate Drops first hooked up through a yahoo group, Black Banjo: Then and Now (BBT&N) hosted by Tom Thomas and Sule Greg Wilson. Dom was still living in Arizona, but in April 2005, when the web-chat spawned the Black Banjo Gathering in Asheville, N.C., he flew east and ended moving to the Piedmont where he could get at the music first hand. Joe Thompson’s house was the proof in the pudding.
Appalachian Music Masters Concert & Forum
Appalachian Music Masters Concert & Forum
Presented by:
Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library Foundation
Floyd Friends of the Library
Montgomery Friends of the Library
Proudly Sponsored by:
the Floyd Country Store
One of the distinct aspects of Appalachian culture, admired and studied worldwide is its music, and our region is blessed with many acknowledged masters of the music. On Saturday, March 20, Appalachian music lovers can hear 13 of these masters in concert at 7:30 pm at Christiansburg High School. The concert evolved from a recent recording of the legendary 5-Time World Champion Fiddler, Buddy Pendleton from Patrick County. Mr. Pendleton will be joined on stage by the 12 master musicians who helped make the recording entitled “Buddy Pendleton & Friends – Gems From A Master Fiddler”.
The concert will feature many well known artists who are collaborating for the first time. They include Olen Gardner, Jack Hinshelwood, John Hollandsworth, Doug Jernigan, Larry Kirkland, Tim Sauls, Sammy Shelor, Herschel Sizemore, George Smith, Jeanette Williams, Johnny Williams, and Tyler Williams. These talented and respected musicians are all masters of their respective styles and instruments and their contributions to the Bluegrass and Old-Time music of the Appalachians can hardly be overstated. With their various talents as musicians, composers, luthiers, producers, promoters, authors and teachers, these artists have influenced thousands of aspiring musicians and music appreciators.
The recording “Gems From A Master Fiddler”was the brainchild of Larry Kirkland, the group’s bass player. Larry played bass with Grand Ole Opry star Ernie Ashworth and ran a bluegrass festival featuring Bill Monroe for many years, so he was familiar with great fiddling when he met Buddy at the famous Galax Fiddler’s Convention. It wasn’t long afterwards that he approached guitarist and fiddler Jack Hinshelwood with the idea of putting together a recording project with Buddy. As Jack says, “There was no lack of enthusiasm among the musicians that were asked to join the project, which is a testament to the respect they have for Buddy’s music”.
The credentials of these music masters are indeed impressive. Mandolinist Herschel Sizemore has a Bluegrass Instrumental Album of the Year Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association and his instrumental tune “Rebecca”has become a standard in bluegrass repertoire. Banjo player Sammy Shelor, perhaps best known as the leader of the popular Lonesome River Band, was inducted into the Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Doug Jernigan, a dobro phenom, first played with Jim & Jessie McReynolds as a teenager, and is probably best known as a member of the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. Singer Jeanette Williams’ “Thank You For Caring”recording with country legend George Jones went to No. 1 on Cashbox Magazine’s RockyGrass chart. The accolades for the accomplishments of these musicians go on and on.
The concert will feature much of the music from the recording. As Jack describes it: “A wide cross section of Appalachian music that showcases the wonderful variety present in the music. We have two hundred year-old fiddle tunes mixing with modern bluegrass standards, autoharps sharing the stage with dobros, and hornpipes taking turns with waltzes. Parlor tunes, duet vocals, four part gospel tunes, flat pick and fingerpick guitar, clawhammer and three finger style banjo – you name it, the variety is present in so many aspects.” Despite this amazing variety, the songs and tunes do have one thing in common – they have withstood the test of time to become deeply embedded in the Appalachian music repertoire. Each one is a gem treasured by people who know and love Appalachian music.
The Appalachian Music Masters Concert is being presented jointly by the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library Foundation, the Floyd Friends of the Library, and the Montgomery Friends of the Library. Proceeds from the concert will be shared by the three sponsoring organizations to help support the Library’s mission to “strengthen the community by providing individuals with access to information, experiences and ideas”. Tickets are $18 in advance (through March 13) at any Library branch (Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Floyd or Shawsville) and $20 after March 13 and at the door. For more information contact Linda Spivey at 540 382-6965, ext. 21 or visit the Library’s website at www.montgomery-floyd.lib.va.us. Don’t miss this truly unique and significant event in Appalachian music!!
New Ballard’s Branch Bogtrotters
The New Ballard’s Branch Bogtrotters’ name comes from the original Bogtrotters, the famous Galax-area band of the 1930s. From the musically rich region surrounding Galax, Virginia, and known for playing high-energy dance tunes. The group has won the prestigious first place old-time band prize at the Old Fiddlers’ Convention in Galax eight different years. Eddie Bond, the band’s fiddler, is also a fine vocalist, and he knows many of the old mountain ballads that date back to previous generations.
Dry Hill Draggers
The Dry Hill Draggers of Franklin County started with banjo player Jimmy Boyd and his brother, Billy Boyd in 1981. The group has persevered even as some members have passed on. They are popular performers at the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival every year and the Galax Fiddle’s Convention with awards in the Old Time Band category.
