Mountain Voices and Strings - Steve & Ruth Smith, Randy & Deborah Jean Sheets

Blowing Rock School Auditorium (click for map)

Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 8 PM

“Celtic Music: The Appalachian Way” gives an overview of what Celtic Appalachian music is, where it came from, and how it lives on in modern times. Steve and Ruth Smith, both of Scots-Irish heritage, take the audience from the traditional Celtic music of Scotland and Ireland that migrated with the Scots-Irish into the Appalachian Mountains, through the early music of the Southern Highlands, and on to the new music being created today that is representative of the Celtic Appalachian musical heritage and experience.  Ruth plays the hammered and Appalachian mountain dulcimers with Steve supporting on fingerstyle guitar, clawhammer banjo, and vocals. Steve, who has a Master’s degree in Appalachian Studies from Appalachian State University with a major emphasis in Appalachian music and folklife, narrates this musical journey of their heritage. He is the recipient of the Cratis Williams Fellowship in Appalachian Studies. In the 1990s, Steve created, produced, wrote and hosted the weekly multi-state syndicated radio program “The Appalachian Way,” a program about the music and folklife of Appalachia.   From their website: www.steveandruth.com

Randy and Deborah Jean Sheets sing and play old-time music. These two longtime musicians have been performing together for the past twenty five years. They have roots in Grayson County, VA but now live in the Bethel community of Watauga County, NC. Steeped in the folk and old-time traditions, Deborah Jean plays guitar and sings.  Randy, a claw hammer banjo picker, is a devotee of old-time string band music.  He is also an award winning flat-foot dancer and performs regularly at the Blue Ridge Music Center (along with his 85 year old mother). This husband and wife team played for the inaugural season at the Blue Ridge Music Center at Fishers Peak along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Galax, Virginia sponsored by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (and have now become regulars there) and play every year at the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival in Ferrum, VA. They are also very excited about becoming involved in the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Festival in Bristol, VA/TN. They were asked in 2004 to appear (along with Dale Jett, Linda and David Lay) as part of the Carter Family Band to represent Janette Carter at the National Heritage Awards. This ensemble appeared together at the Library of Congress and at Lisner Auditorium on the campus of George Washington University in Washington, DC in September of 2005.  From their website: http://randyanddeborahjeansheets.blogspot.com

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