NextThreeDays: Event Display

NRCC Fiddle, Banjo & Dance Club Concert ft. The Country Boys and Larry Sigmon & Martha Spencer
Venue: New River Community College (Dublin), Dublin
Directions: Google Map Link
Organizations: New River Community College Concert Series, The Country Boys, Unique Sound of the Mountains with Larry Sigmon
Date: Saturday, November 11, 2017
Time: 6:00 - 8:30 PM
Event Types: Music
Cost: Free

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Description:
The New River Community College Fiddle, Banjo & Dance Club presents The Country Boys and Larry Sigmon & Martha Spencer for their November Concert on Saturday, March 11, 2017 in 117 Edwards Hall at the Dublin, VA campus.

The Fiddle, Banjo & Dance Club brings you a night of bluegrass and old-time music.

The Country Boys have been playing traditional bluegrass and bluegrass gospel music throughout North Carolina and Virginia for over 40 years. The present band is made up of Johnny Joyce, Tim Bowman, J. A. Midkiff, Kevin Easter, Doug Joyce and Donald Clifton.

Joyce joined the band in 1973 as the tenor singer and guitarist. Midkiff followed in 1984 as the fiddle player. In 1987, Bowman began as the banjo player and Easter became the mandolin player in 2003. Clifton, the youngest member, came on board in 2012. The band cites the Country Gentleman and the Osborne Brothers as some of their musical influences.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af0PA0M_-xQ

Larry Sigmon was born in Callaway, Virginia. His father, Lewis Eldridge Sigmon, was a locally beloved banjo and fiddle player. Larry taught himself harmonica as a child, and then moved to guitar, learning to play by backing up his father. When he took up the banjo at fifteen, it became his main instrument, and he developed a signature hard-driving, rhythmic style. Larry’s first band was the Sugar Hill Ramblers, a six-piece group that performed old time tunes and old country numbers for six years. He went on to play stints with Carl Scott and Richard Bowman until the late 1980s, when he met bassist Barbara Poole at a local fiddlers’ convention.

Larry and Barbara began performing together, winning countless ribbons in banjo, bass, and folk song competitions and playing at festivals, dances, and other concert venues. Their sound was so distinctive with just the banjo, bass, and Larry’s distinct singing, they became known as the “Unique Sound,” and gained a dedicated local following, particularly among flatfoot dancers. Larry and Barbara drew upon a repertoire of old time and bluegrass songs from Charlie Poole to Jimmy Martin and Bill Monroe, making songs their own through Larry’s strong vocals and Barbara’s double-slap bass. Throughout their eighteen-year career, the duo performed at the Carter Family Fold, the Grand Ole Opry, and mountain music festivals throughout the South, becoming one of the most popular bands in the Blue Ridge Mountains until Barbara passed away in 2008 after a long struggle with cancer.

Larry had quit performing until old-time musician and advocate Martha Spencer arrived to interview him for her online documentary project, Mountain Music Magazine. During their interview, Martha encouraged Larry to play some tunes and the “Unique Sound” was reborn.

The Unique Sound of the Mountains now features Heather Krantz on guitar and vocals, Susan Blankenship on bass and Ashlee Watkins on mandolin, guitar and vocals.

Link: https://www.facebook.com/uniquesoundofthemountains/

Admission is free however, donations will be accepted to help travel expenses for the musicians.

The jamborees are held the second Saturday of each month through April at NRCC, a Crooked Road affiliated venue.

Doors open at 5:00 pm and the music starts at 6:00 pm.

For more information, visit https://www.nr.edu/news/more.php?id=1278 http://www.nr.edu/fiddle/ or call Tim Jones at 540-674-3683.