The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, has announced the 3rd Annual Mountains of Music Homecoming’s 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 culinary-based Feastival events are now available at www.mtnsofmusic.com.
Mountains of Music Homecoming is the signature music and cultural event of The Crooked Road, scheduled for June 9 through 17, throughout 19 counties in Southwest Virginia. It combines the best of Appalachian food, authentic culture, arts, crafts, adventure and a veritable Who’s-Who of bluegrass, old time, gospel, folk and traditional music.
The 2017 Homecoming will feature such luminaries as 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.
The free 76-page Official Homecoming Guide will be available at all Virginia Welcome Centers, at Southwest Virginia public libraries, and at Southwest Virginia branches of New Peoples Bank, Bank of Marion, and Union Bank & Trust. The Official Guide can also be viewed and downloaded from the website at mtnsofmusic.com
The Mountains of Music Homecoming is made possible through the generous support of the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission, Appalachian Regional Commission, Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development, Virginia Tourism Corporation, Virginia Commission for the Arts, Food City, and Blue Ridge Beverage.
The theme for the 2017 Homecoming is ‘The Year We Sang.’
“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,” said Jack Hinshelwood, Crooked Road executive director. “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 will perform in three concerts and one workshop during the Homecoming, providing a remarkably international perspective on this ancient art form. The Blue Ridge Institute at Ferrum College will present an impressive cast of ballad singers on June 9, including Aoife Clancy from Ireland, John Roberts from England, Norman Kennedy from Scotland and Bobby McMillon from North Carolina. The focus on great singing will continue with artists like Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, who have set the standard for great bluegrass and gospel harmony singing for decades. Influential new voices like Amythyst Kiah and Dori Freeman, who are raking in accolades from music critics nationwide, are also presented this year.
2017 song-focused, marquee concerts at Mountains of Music Homecoming will 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, will be honored in two Stanley Brothers tribute concerts featuring performances by Ralph Stanley II, Ricky Skaggs, Larry Sparks and the Clinch Mountain Boys.
For more information, contact The Crooked Road at (296) 492-2409.
