The first ever Spencer Strickland’s Mandolin Festival, hosted by the Patrick County Music Association, will be held Nov. 2 in Stuart, and the donation fee is waived for all veterans.
“We wanted to do our part to honor those who serve or have served, and we decided that waiving the donations for our veterans is one way to let them know we appreciate them,” Denny Alley, organizer of the PCMA, said.
Strickland builds and sells mandolins worldwide and will have some of his instruments on hand at the festival, Alley said, and added that this show will be among the PCMA’s largest.
Alan Bibey, named 2019 Mandolin Player of the Year by the IBMA, will headline the event.
“We are fortunate to have Alan. He’s a top caliber entertainer,” Alley said, adding that Bibey won the SPBGMA “Mandolin Performer Of The Year” award in 2007, 2009 and 2010.
He also won the IBMA “Instrumental Album of the Year” in 2001, “Album of the Year” in 2006, “Recorded Event” in 2012 and SPBGMA “Album of the Year” in 2008, according to online reports. Bibey’s solo project “In The Blue Room” was voted “Top Instrumental Album” by County Record Sales. The 2004 BlueRidge project, for which he wrote the title track, was nominated for a Grammy. He also was included in the Mel Bay book “Greatest Mandolin Players of the Twentieth Century.”
Bibey has continued to make a name for himself as one of the most creative and technically gifted mandolinists in bluegrass and acoustic music after first hitting the scene in the early 1980s. An original member of the ground breaking bands such as The New Quicksilver, IIIrd Tyme Out, BlueRidge, Bibey has spent the last eight years with the band Alan Bibey & Grasstowne, according to Alley and online reports.
In early 2004 the Gibson Company put into production the Alan Bibey Signature line of mandolins, reaffirming his status as one of the most influential mandolin players in bluegrass and acoustic music history. Some of his most recent accolades include numerous #1 albums and songs, including his writing and performance on the latest Alan Bibey & Grasstowne singles, “Cold Dark Ground” and “This Old Guitar and Me.”
“We have plenty of other top-notch players lined up too,” Alley said of Vince Bullins, Nick Goad, Ron Inscore, Darrel McCumbers, Spencer Strickland “and maybe a few other surprises.”
Because the event has a different focus and includes younger performers, “we’re hoping to bring in a new generation of people” to enjoy the show, Alley said. ”It’s a big festival with a lot of close-knit guys who have always played together. It’ll be a real treat.”
Harrison Ridge kicks off the lineup of performers at 5 p.m., Alley said, adding doors open at 4:30 p.m. “so you can come early and get a good seat.”
The event, sponsored by Olde Mill Music & Sound, in Mount Airy, N.C., will be held on Saturday, Nov. 2 in the Rotary Building, which is located at 420 Woodland Drive, Stuart.
Concessions will be available for sale at the event.
Admission is by donation.
