Silver Spring, MD., — “Music From the Crooked Road: Mountain Music of Virginia” a national tour of old-time, bluegrass, mountain gospel and flatfoot dance, will embark on a 13-city Mid-Atlantic tour from April 9 – 25, 2010 that celebrates the vibrant, living musical culture of Southwest Virginia. The tour features NEA National Heritage Fellow and Appalachian guitar master Wayne Henderson, bluegrass banjo virtuoso Sammy Shelor, family old-time string band the Whitetop Mountain Band, old-time fiddle and banjo masters Kirk Sutphin and Eddie Bond and, representing the next generation of Blue Ridge musicians, the up-and-coming bluegrass band Amber Collins & No Speed Limit, and a young keeper of ancient mountain ballads and songs, Elizabeth LaPrelle.
The remarkable success of an inaugural West Coast tour in 2007, which played to sold-out houses throughout its 15-city run, spurred organizers to remount “Music From the Crooked Road: Mountain Music of Virginia” in the eastern U.S. “It’s especially fitting to bring the tour to the Mid-Atlantic and areas at the northern end of the Appalachian chain with strong cultural links to the southern mountains,” says Julia Olin, Executive Director of the National Council for the Traditional Arts. “During the half-century between 1917 and 1967, jobs brought huge numbers of folk from the southern Appalachians into the Mid-Atlantic region. It was a migration on the scale of the Dust Bowl exodus, and lasted longer. The Appalachian musicians who were a part of it inspired the folk music revival of the 1960s, and the repercussions of this great movement are still felt today.”
“Music from the Crooked Road: Mountain Music of Virginia” is produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts and presented in partnership with the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Virginia Tourism Corporation and The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. The tour has been designated a National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces program, representing the best of American cultural heritage and legacy. Performances and educational programs will be presented in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail
Winding for over 300 miles across the mountains, ridges and valleys of southwestern Virginia from the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge to the coalfields, The Crooked Road (Hwy. 58) passes through some of the most musical places on earth. For generations, the tiny rural Appalachian communities scattered along its length have produced an abundance of extraordinary traditional musicians. Keepers of an historic musical legacy with roots in the meeting of the African banjo and the European violin during colonial times, they have created and passed on old-time, bluegrass and mountain gospel sounds that have profoundly influenced the development of American music. The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Music Heritage Trail was named a 2010 Distinctive Destination in February by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Famed musicologist and collector Alan Lomax called Grayson County and its environs along The Crooked Road, “the nation’s richest breeding ground for traditional music.” Some of the artists from the region’s small communities are legendary: the Carter Family, Ralph and Carter Stanley, the Bogtrotters, Dock Boggs, and Martin, Bogan and Armstrong.
The outstanding artists appearing on this tour link the past, present and future of deeply rooted American traditions. They represent the thousands of area musicians, singers and dancers who love their home grown music, and make it every day in family kitchens, workshops, jam sessions at the local Dairy Queen, community dances, sings and musical gatherings of every conceivable variety.
“Music From the Crooked Road: Mountain Music of Virginia” Performances
- Apr 9, 2010 — Princeton, WV- Chuck Mathena Center
- Apr 10, 2010 — Pittsburgh, PA – Calliope: Pittsburgh Folk Music Society
- Apr 11, 2010 — Frederick, MD – Weinberg Center for the Arts
- Apr 13, 2010 — Williamson, WV – Tug Valley Arts Council
- Apr 15, 2010 — Reston, VA – Center Stage, Reston Community Center
- Apr 16, 2010 — Washington, DC – Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University
- Apr 17, 2010 — Roanoke, VA – Jefferson Center
- Apr 18, 2010 — Norfolk, VA – Virginia Arts Festival, TCC Roper Performing Arts Center
- Apr 21, 2010 — Owings Mills, MD – Gordon Center for Performing Arts
- Apr 22, 2010 — Philadelphia, PA – Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
- Apr 23, 2010 — Reading, PA – Miller Center for the Arts
- Apr 24, 2010 — Carney’s Point, NJ – Appel Farm Arts & Music Center
- Apr 25, 2010 — Annapolis, MD – Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts
About the NCTA
The National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) is a private, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the presentation and documentation of folk and traditional arts in the United States. Founded in 1933, it is the oldest folk arts organization in the nation. Its programs celebrate and honor arts that are deeply rooted cultural expressions – music, crafts, stories and dance passed down through time by families, communities, tribal, ethnic and occupational groups. The work of the NCTA is supported by the Maryland State Arts Council.