The Crooked Road, Virginia's Heritage Music Trail, has announced the third annual Mountains of Music Homecoming full event line-up, including concert schedules, artists list and cultural events on the new Homecoming website. Information and tickets to all 22 Crooked Road concerts and three specially created Feastival culinary based-events are available at www.mtnsofmusic.com.
Mountains of Music Homecoming is the signature music and cultural event of The Crooked Road, taking place over nine days, June 9 -17, throughout 19 counties in Southwest Virginia. It combines Appalachian food, culture, arts, crafts, adventure and a Who's-Who of bluegrass, old-time, gospel, folk and traditional music. The 2017 Homecoming features Ricky Skaggs, Mark O'Connor, Ralph Stanley II, Larry Sparks, Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser, Wayne Henderson, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Sammy Shelor, Archie Fisher and many more.
Crooked Road executive director Jack Hinshelwood is excited about this year's events. "I think anyone who attends the concerts this year will come away with an even greater appreciation for just how rich the musical traditions of this region are" he says. "And the cultural events also open the door to amazing experiences in communities throughout The Crooked Road region," he says. "The Homecoming is an opportunity to experience one of the world's richest music traditions in the place where it was born, performed by the some of the country's most extraordinary heritage musicians."
Steve Smith, president and CEO of leading sponsor Food City said, "We're proud to operate in many of the communities along the Crooked Road, making our partnership with the Mountains of Music Homecoming a natural fit. We have some of the finest music you'll find anywhere right here in Southwest Virginia, and we're excited to be a part of showcasing it."
Remarkable voices have always been a key component of past Homecomings, but this year The Crooked Road features some of the greatest singers in the bluegrass, gospel and ballad traditions.
"Our theme for the 2017 Homecoming is "The Year We Sang,'" says Hinshelwood, "and the concerts will feature some of the region's most inimitable voices, as well as singers, songwriters and interpreters of traditional music from near and far. We'll explore ballads and experience the songs that have brought people together for hundreds of years in an utterly authentic and tangible setting. We'll honor great talents that are no longer with us, and listen to the future with a new generation of captivating voices."
To celebrate these traditions, ballad singers from Ireland, Scotland, England and America perform in three concerts and one workshop during the Homecoming, providing an international perspective on this ancient art form.
More song-focused marquee concerts at the 2017 Homecoming feature performances by beloved Scottish folk singer Archie Fisher and heritage ballad singers Elizabeth LaPrelle and Sheila Kay Adams. Dr. Ralph Stanley, one of Southwest Virginia's greatest voices ever, is honored in two Stanley Brothers tribute concerts featuring performances by Ralph Stanley II, Ricky Skaggs, Larry Sparks and the Clinch Mountain Boys.
"The Crooked Road region is also a hotbed of old-time music and we decided to bring together some of the finest old-time musicians from across the region for a concert that celebrates all the aspects of old time music," says Hinshelwood. "It's called appropriately "The Crooked Road's Old-Time Music & Dance Spectacular' and the artists present it all - ballads and fiddle/banjo duets from pioneer times, Carter Family music, banjo contests, flatfoot dancing, and energy pumping old-time string band music."
Each year the Homecoming features a specific musical tradition besides its own, and this year the Homecoming spotlights the music of Scotland with Alasdair Fraser, one of the finest fiddlers Scotland has ever produced, along with skilled cellist Natalie Haas. These performers in addition to the Scottish ballad singers make for a great sampling of a music and culture that has profoundly shaped the music and culture of The Crooked Road region.
Find tickets, schedules, guides and information at the newly-updated Mountains of Music Homecoming website at mtnsofmusic.com. For more information, contact The Crooked Road at 276-492-2409.
