Summer Music Series Opens June 20
Posted By admin on June 12, 2009
The Todd community’s 2009 Summer Music Series will kick off on Saturday, June 20 with a return to old time bluegrass music with a group from Alleghany County.
Uncle Nave Blevins and the Cranberry Creek Boys hail from Sparta and are sure to delight the audience with traditional bluegrass and Uncle Nave’s own-brand of mountain humor.
The Summer Music Series has been around since 1999 and continues to offer a showcase for Appalachian music with some of the area’s best-known artists. The 2009 lineup, featuring seven concerts, promises not to disappoint.
Uncle Nave Blevins and the Cranberry Creek Boys will perform Saturday, June 20 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Walter and Annie Cook Memorial Park.
Concerts are held each Saturday in Walter and Annie Cook Memorial Park in the heart of the Todd Historic District from 2 to 4 p.m. Concerts will continue through July. Concert goers are encouraged to bring a chair or blanket.
This year’s schedule also includes a special Labor Day weekend concert featuring Wayne Henderson and Helen White. Henderson is a world-renown luthier from Rugby, Va., who is a National Heritage Award recipient and has toured four continents.
Others in this year’s lineup are:
Amantha Mill (June 27) — This community-oriented folk/bluegrass group from Boone presents a mixture of traditional bluegrass and bluegrass gospel, plus the sounds of western swing and country, all with matchless vocal harmonies.
Buck Haggard Band (July 4) — Five local musicians decided to focus on country music, and named their band for two of its greats — Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Buck Haggard takes you back to the Forties and Fifties when country music still sounded like its country roots.
King Bees (July 11) — Hound Dog Baskerville and Queen Bee Zamagni are no strangers to Todd, their adopted hometown. The blues duo has been rockin’ venues around the globe for more than two decades, forging a soul-stirring sound that’s all their own.
Laura Boosinger (July 18) — Boosinger is an Asheville artist whose primary focus is the interpretation of traditional music from the Southern Appalachian region. Her concerts offer a step back to a simpler time, awakening memories for the elders and gently instilling important cultural lessons for the youngsters.
Dave Haney & Lisa Baldwin July 25) — Haney and Baldwin played together as a duo for 10 years in Baldwin’s native Alabama before moving to the High Country nearly a decade ago. Their acoustic repertoire includes Baldwin’s original songs, bluegrass, traditional folk and work of contemporary artists in the genre.
All the concerts in June and July are free of charge. There is a $5 admission charge for the Saturday, Sept. 5 concert featuring Henderson and White. Children 12 and under are admitted free.
The Todd Community Preservation Organization, now in its 10th year, relies on public support to produce the Summer Music Series. One of the series’ original organizers and advocates — the late James “Crow” Parsons, for whom the stage at Cook Park is named — was insistent that the music offerings be free to the public and TCPO’s Board of Directors have tried to adhere to that ideal.
In 2008 and 2009, the Series received grant funding through the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center’s STEP program and support from Handmade in America. Publicity for the TCPO Summer Music Series is supported by a grant from the Grassroots Arts Program of the North Carolina Arts Council, a state agency, and a Community Arts Program grant from the Ashe County Arts Council.
TCPO is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
