Thursday February 4, 2021

What will the evening be like? Here’s a description in John’s words: “I came South in 1972 to find old time banjo players. And I met loads of ’em: Roscoe Holcomb, Lee Boy Sexton, Obray Ramsey, Ola Belle Reed, Will Keys, Scott Boatright, ID Stamper, and plenty more. Through them I met fiddlers, singers, storytellers, writers, and a host of characters that lived through amazing times and events. All that together informed how I think about music and its relation to community life. It not only taught me a truckload of instruments and songs, it taught me how to tell a story, how to write a song, how to make music mean something. In this concert, I’ll do a blend of traditional songs and my own, especially those I’ve written in recognizable traditional forms. I’ll give a shoutout to those groups who continue to celebrate, teach, and honor traditional music and those that are shepherding it into our own lives and times. (Happy 50th Birthday, Golden Link!) We’ll have a bit of a campfire Q&A after the music, just like we do in person. And, who knows?, maybe we might even have a special guest or two!”