Rafe Van Hoy
The Birthplace of Country Music Museum, Bristol, Virginia, holds a “Songwriter in the Round” evening Thursday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. This event is in partnership with theCrooked Roadand features three songwriter-musician acts: Linda and David Lay, Sandy Shortridge and Rafe Van Hoy. Each artist/act performs three to four songs in a “round robin,” while sharing stories about the songwriting craft, their inspirations and career. Tickets are $15.
Bluegrass singer and bassist Linda Clayman Lay, better known asLinda Lay,grew up in Clayman Valley, a small community named after her family outside of Bristol, Tennessee-Virginia. She spent her early years with Janette Carter at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia. She performed with her family band before starting her own group, Appalachian Trail.
She met her husband, guitarist and singer David Lay, and they formed Springfield Exit together with David McLaughlin. Linda has toured the United States with the masters of the Steel String Guitar and was its featured vocalist and bassist.
Together with banjo player Sammy Shelor, Linda recorded“Taking the Crooked Road Home”for the Virginia Folklife Program under the direction of Jon Lohman. She has performed with singers across several genres of music, including Vern Gosdin, Carl Jackson, Bruce Hornsby, Piedmont blues singer John Cephas and master of the telecaster, Bill Kirchen.
Shortridge, a guitarist and baritone singer, is from Buchanan County in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia. She began her musical career at 10 years old and is well known after performing on area stages and beyond throughout the years. A songwriter and master storyteller, her original songs capture the cultural traditions of the region and can bring tears or a smile with equal ability.
Shortridge has made multiple recordings, which feature her compositions in carefully crafted arrangements and presentation. She is featured on a two-CD recording of 50 artists from the Crooked Road region called“A Treasury of American Music,” and her original songs have been recorded by numerous other artists.
Shortridge is a radio broadcaster with her husband, Big Al Wheetley, and they can be heard on Radio Bristol’s“The Big Al & Sandy Show”Saturdays at 1 p.m.
Rafe Van Hoybegan his music career as a songwriter, landing his first publishing contract at 17. Before moving to Nashville, he lived in Bristol, Tennessee and attended Tennessee High School. In the next seven years he would become one of Nashville’s new emerging songwriters with 10 number one songs and as many top 10 singles, along with nearly 200 cuts by other artists. In one three-year period, he had between 50 and 60 songs cut each year. During this early time Van Hoy also worked as a session musician on many hit records, and then began adding producer to his list of credits, with songwriting always as his first passion.
He has been active and successful as both writer and producer over four decades with credits in several categories and genres of music, including a Grammy Nomination, 11 BMI One Million Airplay Awards, three BMI Two Million Airplay Awards and beyond. His songs have been recorded by George Jones and Tammy Wynette (including the classic “Golden Ring”), the Oak Ridge Boys, Michael Martin Murphy (“What’s Forever For”), John Conlee, Patti Loveless, Brooks and Dunn, Reba McEntire, Leann Rimes, Fleetwood Mac, Diana Ross, Issac Hayes, Paul Carrack and a long list of others, including Trick Daddy (“I’m A Thug”). His songs have been on records selling over 150 million copies.
Van Hoy loves working in all styles of music and continues to stay current creating music in many formats. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2023.
