Piano Masters in concert at Blue Ridge Music Center May 31st

News release
Published: May 29, 2008

Read the news release below

Blue Ridge Music Center
Milepost 213, Blue Ridge Parkway
276-236-5309

Summer Concert Series - Piano Masters of the Blue Ridge to perform at The Blue Ridge Music Center Saturday May 31 7:00pm

Piano Masters
Yes, there is a Blue Ridge piano style and it will be heard!  Piano master Jeff Little with guitar master Wayne Henderson will open the show.  Then a tour de force show by piano great Daryl Davis. Since he replaced Pinetop Perkins in the Muddy Waters Legendary Blues Band as a youth, Davis has toured with legends:  Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers. Google Daryl Davis for more info. The late beloved mountain-style pianist Woodie Blevins (from Baywood) will be honored. A documentary film about Piedmont blues, Blues House Party, will be shown in the Museum auditorium at 5 PM.

Jeff Little
Jeff Little is a remarkable musician, steeped in the tradition of his native Blue Ridge, yet also a virtuosic and eclectic innovator.  Little’s involvement with fiddle tunes, old time country, and rockabilly dates to his growing up in Boone, North Carolina, where his father owned a music shop.
The shop was a regular gathering place for musicians who would just stop by to pick a few tunes.  Beginning around the age of six, Jeff would regularly sit in with many of the musicians from the region, including the musician who set the national standard for picking fiddle tunes on the guitar: Doc Watson.  These influences helped shape Jeff’s approach to the piano which is based on these deep musical traditions.  But there is also an echo of more contemporary mountain tradition in Jeff’s performances.

Little’s virtuosity stems from having started playing at the age of five and having played professionally since the age of fourteen.  His lead solos much influenced by the flat-pick guitar tradition, are breathtaking in their speed, precision, and clarity.  An astounding performer, with a mouth-rack harmonica and vocals he can be a one man show.  From fiddle tunes to rockabilly Jeff has taken his traditional roots to tour around the world including performances in Sri Lanka, Oman, France, and Tanzania.  Other performances include The Smithsonian Institute, National Public Radio, Folk Masters, and The National Council for Traditional Arts “American Piano Masters.”

Wayne Henderson
Wayne Henderson’s top-notch finger-picking is a source of great pleasure and pride to his friends, family, and neighbors in Grayson County, Virginia; his guitar playing has also been enjoyed at Carnegie Hall, in three national tours of “Masters of the Steel-String Guitar”, and in seven nations in Asia.
In addition to his reputation as a guitarist, Henderson is a luthier of great renown. He is a recipient of a 1995 National Heritage Award presented by the National Endowment for the Arts. He produces about 20 instruments a year, mostly guitars; he is almost as well-known for the mandolins he has made. Doc Watson, a good friend who sometimes stops at Wayne’s shop in Rugby, VA, to pick a few tunes, owns a Henderson mandolin. He said, “That Henderson mandolin is as good as any I’ve had my hands on. And that’s saying a lot, because I’ve picked up some good ones.”
Some of Henderson’s instruments are intricately decorated but are most respected for their volume, tone, and resonance. Blues guitarist John Cephas said that Wayne Henderson “is probably the most masterful guitar maker in this whole United States.” There is a waiting list for Henderson’s guitars made up of the “famous (and not-so-famous)”.
Above and beyond his great talents as a musician and luthier, Wayne Henderson is known as a “friend to everyone” and shares his talents and knowledge unselfishly.
The Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival and Guitar Competition was established in 1995 to express appreciation for this “living legend”. A portion of the proceeds from the Festival are placed into a scholarship fund to aid local young musicians in continuing their educations.

The Blue Ridge Music Center is operated through a partnership between The National Park Service and The National Council for the Traditional Arts.
Much of the work of the non-profit NCTA is done by community volunteers and other partnering organizations like Friends of the Parkway.  The Music Center receives support from The National Endowment for the Arts with local support provided by The City of Galax, Radio Stations WBRF and WPAQ, Bogey¹s Restaurant and Pepsi.
Admission to the concert is $10 at the gate, children age 11 and under admitted free.