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Submitted by John Werner – Victoria.

John Werner and Garry Roberts continue their journey in search of music. Here they are in Virginia taking in more of that famous southern hospitality and hot picking.

On Sunday afternoon, we headed back up to the Grayson Highlands National Park for a ‘cookout’ and jam organised by Martha Spencer (Whitetop Mountain Band). Around 15 pickers, young and old, spent the afternoon under the shade of surrounding trees jamming, swapping tunes and generally having a laid-back afternoon.

On Monday evening, along with our hosts, Jim & Gert, we attended the Smyth County jam in Chilhowie VA, hopping up on stage for a few tunes.

This weekly jam is held at the local Lions Club, and has been running for around 10 years. The stalwart organisers, Larry & Ersel and their partners, never miss a week, and are there each Monday to help organise the many pickers and large audiences who turn up every week. At times, there may be as many as 6-7 ensembles on show, and the crowd can purchase soft drink and hot dogs while supporting their favorite locals.

Each act is put together in the back picking rooms, minutes before taking to a well-equipped stage complete with 3 condenser mics and a hook-on bass mic. Many pickers opt to hang out the back, catching up with each other, passing on knowledge, calling tunes and joking around. There is a great vibe there, with some genuinely funny banter going on, and a very high standard of playing. On this night, there were around 6 jams happening out the back, with each room’s sound washing over into the next.

Newcomers are made to feel very welcome, with every effort made to accommodate everyone who wants to perform. The night nearly always runs past its programmed 10pm finish time, and on this particular evening Martha Spencer & her mother Emily turned up, providing the dancers with a great show to close out the night.

Checkout The Smyth County Jam thorough their website for pics, video and further info, and make sure you call by if you’re ever in the region. You’ll be made to feel most welcome by this lovely community.

As they near their last few days in the USA our intrepid travelers John Werner and Garry Roberts head of to the Wayne Henderson Festival in Virginia. Their story continues:

Friday evening saw us attending the Blue Ridge Music Centre, located outside Galax on the famous Blue Ridge Parkway, for an outdoor concert headed up by local super-picker Wayne Henderson. Wayne’s ability as an acoustic finger picker is almost surpassed by his reputation as one of the world’s finest luthiers, with his hand built instruments highly sort after by guitarists around the world. A well known story has Eric Clapton waiting nearly 10 years for his turn.

Wayne and his friends further displayed why this area is a must-visit region for any musical traveler, with a variety of lineups entertaining the large crowd for an hour before Texas fiddlers extraordinaire, The Quebe Sisters, knocked everyone out with a show best described as The Andrews Sisters meets Bob Willis & The Texas Playboys. Get on line and check out the astonishing skills of these young fiddlers. I’m not sure if they sing better than they play or visa-versa!

The following day we headed to the annual Wayne Henderson Festival & Guitar Competition held at the Grayson Highlands National park at Virginia’s Mt Rogers. Each year a pre-selected group of 20 guitar pickers vie for the title, with the winner walking away with a Henderson Guitar, never to compete there again. A young fella with what sounded like 7 fingers on each hand was the lucky winner. Interspersed between the contest’s two sections were a fine selection of top Bluegrass & Old Time bands from near and far.

That evening, we ventured over to Hiltons VA to attend The Carter Fold with Jackson Cunningham (Whitetop Mountaineers) to see he and Martha perform with the family band, The Whitetop Mountain Band. Jackson and Martha, no strangers to Australian readers, play with her parents and two others in this band, continuing its 40 year tradition as one of the region’s premier Old Time ensembles.

The Carter Fold is an institution in country music circles, and every Saturday evening dancers from afar congregate with locals to tear up the dance floor to whichever live band is appearing on the night. A large venue built into the side of hill next to AP Carters original store, it has been running a variety of country music styles every Saturday night since 1974.

The Whitetop Mountain Band proved their worth, keeping the floor packed over 2 energetic sets, and I was fortunate to be asked up for couple of tunes.

In keeping with the tradition set by her mother Janette Carter (daughter of A.P), Rita Forrester wraps things up at 10pm, allowing plenty of time for folks to get home, have a good night’s sleep, and be up early for the church the next morning.

Checkout the Carter Fold’s website for further info on its origins and continuing legacy.

The mountain music of Virginia was featured in the ensemble show, Music from the Crooked Road that recently toured the U.S.

The show is sponsored by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and was a delight to see and hear with a barrage of top notch bluegrass talent that included guitarist Wayne Henderson; banjo master Sammy Shelor; The Whitetop Mountain Band, vocalist Elizabeth LaPrelle; the duet Kirk Sutphin (banjo) and Eddie Bond (fiddle) and a new generation Bluegrass band that kicked up dust called Amber Collins and No Speed Limit.

Read the full story on Guitar International.

A Night From Virginia USA at the Yinnar Hotel

Submitted by John Werner – Yinnar

Photos by Carolyn Boothman

The people of Yinnar and the surrounding district were treated to a wonderful evening of traditional old-time mountain music on last Wednesday when the Whitetop Mountaineers appeared in the penultimate gig of their third Australian tour, prior to heading off to the National Folk Festival in Canberra.

Following the warm-up set by local lads The Strzelecki Stringbusters, Martha & Jackson took the crowd on an aural and cultural journey back through the years to a different time and place. Renewing ties, originating from their 2009 appearance, they sang of heartache and misery, of murder and revenge and of love and eternal happiness through the intertwining stories of their home in Virginia’s culturally rich Blue Ridge Mountains.

Martha’s powerful vocals, supported by her deft banjo and guitar work, combined seamlessly with Jackson’s crystal clear tenor harmony to provide their trademark ‘mountain’ sound.

While Martha spent most of the first set on guitar, the crowd were treated to some great Monroe-style mandolin picking by Jackson. In the second set, Martha picked up her fiddle and introduced the crowd to Smokey The Rooster, a hand-made birthday present from Jackson, incorporating a rooster’s head for a scroll. To complete the cultural display, Martha danced up a storm to backing provided by Jackson on banjo, along with the Stringbuster’s John & Ray on double bass and guitar.

To close the show, the 13 piece Stringbuster ensemble squeezed on stage with the Mountaineers and ripped into the instrumental Angeline The Baker, and old favourites Will The Circle Be Unbroken and You Are My Sunshine, with the entire crowd joining in on the chorus.

Martha’s invitation to anyone in the crowd to ‘drop by if your ever in Virginia’ may sound like a well worn line when written, but it was delivered with absolute sincerity, and left no-one in doubt that a warm welcome awaits anyone who chooses to seek out traditional mountain music in its humble origins.

In the leadup to their concert with The Strzelecki Stringbusters in Yinnar on 31st March, Virginia’s Whitetop Mountaineers will be presenting an instrument workshop at 7.30pm in the back room of the Yinnar Community Hotel.

This is a unique opportunity for anyone interested in Fiddle, Clawhammer Banjo and Bluegrass Mandolin, to pick up some tips from these two fantastic Old-Time musicians, Martha Spencer and Jackson Cunningham of the Whitetop Mountaineers. They’ll be discussing their style in detail, providing instrumental tuition and breaking down several songs for those in attendance to learn.

Martha and Jackson are currently in the middle of their 3rd Australian tour, ending at the National Festival at Easter this year.

Tickets are $20.00 with limited numbers.Please contact John Werner on 0400 964 941 or stringbusters@bigpond.com to secure your place, for old-timey lessons direct from the USA’s richest area for traditional musicians.

National Folk Festival  1st to 5th April 2010.

There is a variety of bluegrass and old time music offerings at this years National Folk Festival.

For five days, Exhibition Park in Canberra becomes a venue filled with colour and sound. Hundreds of the world’s best musicians perform each day on more than twenty stages, offering continuous entertainment across twenty two fabulous venues.

Every day also offers a range of workshops and sessions, where you can join in the dancing, singing and playing and become part of the celebration.

The line up from the bluegrass and old time music camp this year features The Davidson Brothers, Blue Mountain Rain, Beppe Gambetta, Charlie Walden & Mike Bing, Whitetop Mountaineers, Appalachian Heaven and Bluegrass Souls.

From Virginia, USA, The Whitetop Mountaineers are returning to Australia this week for their third Australian tour. They are playing numerous festivals throughout their tour, including Port Fairy, Blue Mountains, Brunswick, Yackandandah, Apollo Bay and the National Folk Festival.

For Sydney residents there is only one opportunity to see this world class act – at The Harp Hotel in Tempe, on Tuesday the 16th March.

The Whitetop Mountaineers bring with them a new album, released in the USA only weeks ago, called Go Away With Me. Described as the real McCoy when it comes to ol’ timey music, The Whitetop Mountaineers are an act not to be missed by fans of old time, bluegrass and mountain music & dance.

Where to see them:

• 5 – 8 Mar – Port Fairy Folk Festival
• 12 – 14 Mar – Blue Mountains Folk, Roots and Blues Festival
• 16 Mar – The Harp Hotel, 900 Princes Hwy, Tempe, NSW, Ph. 02 9559 6300
• 18 Mar – Brunswick Music Festival
• 19 – 21 Mar – Yackandandah Folk Festival
• 24 Mar – Old Hepburn Hotel, Hepburn Springs, Vic
• 25 Mar – Bendigo Folk Club
• 26 – 28 Mar - Apollo Bay Music Festival
• 31 Mar – The Yinnar Hotel, Main Street Yinnar ,Vic
• 1 – 4 Apr National Folk Festival, Canberra Rock’n'Blues festival

Having already endeared themselves to many Australian audiences last year, The Whitetop Mountaineers, Martha Spencer and Jackson Cunningham from Virginia, USA,  are set return to Australia by popular demand. This year they are taking in a host of Australian dates and festivals courtesy of their Australian agent, Across the Borders, based in Melbourne.

At the 2008/09 Woodford Folk Festival, unknown and unheralded, the duo stunned and delighted audiences with their performance of American mountain music and song and dance. The group also performed to audiences in Gippsland, taking in the region’s famous Yinnar Hotel a popular acoustic music venue.

Both musicians are skilled multi-instrumentalists – Jackson plays guitar, mandolin and clawhammer banjo, while Martha plays fiddle, guitar and banjo and dnaces. They are both strong vocal performers and their close harmonies are indicative of the old time and bluegrass traditions from which they draw their repertoire.

Martha and Jackson will be appearing at the following confirmed destinations in 2010:

• 5th – 8th March – Pt Fairy Folk Festival, Vic
  
• 12th – 14th March – Blue Mountain Festival, NSW
  
• 18th March – Brunswick Music Festival, Vic
  
• 19th – 20th March – Yakandanda Folk Festival, Vic
  
• 25th March – Bendigo Folk Club, Vic
  
• 26th – 28th March – Apollo Bay Folk Festival, Vic
  
• 31st March – Yinnar Hotel, Gippsland, Vic
  
• 1st – 4th April – National Folk Festival – ACT