Blue Ridge Sunday Night Concerts
Sunday nights are now in tune.
This Sunday,
the Blue Ridge Sunday Nights Concert Series returns to Boone, promising
three nights of hot bluegrass during the High Country's coldest months.
The first show, Jan. 10, features Grammy-nominated Barry Scott & Second Wind.
Mountain Music Machine will perform Feb. 14, and Balsam Range on March 14.
"Neither
Barry Scott or Balsam Range have ever performed in Boone or Watauga
County," said Hugh Sturgill, organizer and Mountain Music Machine
guitarist. "This will be a first for them, and the Mountain Music
Machine hasn't performed here for 30 months. Normally, when you see
bands as good as these, you're either in an outdoor event or a large
arena. It's very rare to be able to see a band of such quality in a
venue such as this."
That venue is St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Boone, a seemingly unlikely location but that's certainly well equipped for music.
"The
acoustics in that place are just fabulous," Sturgill said. "The problem
is if you filled it up with people, (the sound) was deader than a
doornail."
Until recently, the church hadn't any sort of sound
reinforcement, said Sturgill, who met with church leaders and consulted
electrical contractor Gary Trivette, also a member of area bluegrass act
Southern Accent. With Trivette's expertise, Sturgill arranged for the
installation of a JBL distributed sound system, complete with an Ashley
eight-channel amplifier and digital board, what he called "one of the
finest sound reinforcement systems installed in Watauga County."
The
new system got him to thinking. "You know what we ought to do so people
can see how good this is?" Sturgill asked himself. "Let's bring in a
couple good bands."
Sturgill may have exceeded his own
expectations. The first concert features Barry Scott & Second Wind,
whose first project was nominated for a Grammy Award. "And that just
doesn't happen," Sturgill said.
Considered one of bluegrass
gospel's most promising performers, Scott formerly sang lead and played
guitar for Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, but left in 2005 to start his
own band, Second Wind. Barry Scott & Second Wind recently released
its debut album, In God's Time, featuring eight original songs, six
covers, and vocals from renowned country artist Vince Gill.
On
Feb. 14, the series presents Watauga's own Mountain Music Machine, an
ever-changing ensemble of bluegrass professionals, including Sturgill.
"Mountain
Music Machine is an organization I put together about seven years ago,
and it entails about 50 of the greatest Blue Ridge Mountain pickers and
singers," he said. "We've done five or six projects here, and we play
all over this part of the U.S. We've not had a Mountain Music Machine
performance in Watauga County in 30 months, so I'm calling in the
troops."
Joining Sturgill are Tommy and Vickie Austin from
Appalachian Trail, mandolinist Scott Freeman, vocalist Katy Taylor,
bassist Tony Testerman, dobro player Tony Reece and banjoist Gary
Trivette.
"You'll never see the same cast of characters playing," Sturgill said.
On
March 14, Balsam Range takes the stage. Based in Haywood County, Balsam
Range consists of five members who Sturgill called "high-end
professional pickers, who decided to come off the road and stay closer
to home." However, their national prominence hasn't seemed to suffer,
with their single, "Last Train to Kitty Hawk," hitting No. 1 on
Bluegrass Unlimited's National Survey Chart in September 2009.
In
addition, Southern Accent, a well-known bluegrass and gospel act from
Watauga and Avery counties, will open each performance.
"It's
very rare to see bands of such high quality in a venue as small as St.
Luke's with sound reinforcement that's transparent," Sturgill said. "Not
only will you hear them great, but you get to watch them sweat. That's a
rare opportunity. That's the good news. The bad news is, being a very
small facility, we're limited to a number of seats available."
Only
200 tickets will be sold for each concert, and Sturgill is selling a
concert series pass for $20, which covers all performances. Individual
shows cost $10 at the door, though availability can't be guaranteed.
Doors open at 5 p.m., with the program starting at 6 and lasting till about 8:30.
"I
think it'll be a chance to howdy and shake with some of the finest
musicians in the world - world-class pickers and singers," Sturgill
said.
"When I moved here in 1981, what blew me away was the
quality of some of the better regional pickers and singers in these Blue
Ridge Mountains. It's here, it's wonderful. What draws the most people
to these mountains - other than the cool weather for the Floridians - is
the cultural fabric we have here. The thread that makes it work is the
music that comes out of these mountains - it's real, it's from the soul,
and it's many generations old. The mountains are where it's always
been, and where it always will be. It's our richest cultural fabric."
For
more information, or to purchase tickets, contact Hugh Sturgill at
(828) 262-3400 or [email protected], Gary Trivette at (828)
297-4114 or [email protected], or Paulette Isaacs at (828) 898-6828.
St. Luke's Episcopal Church is located at 170 Councill St. in Boone. For directions or more information, call (828) 264-8943.
by Frank Ruggiero