Date
Saturday, July 2, 2022 - 7:00pmLocation
Five Mile Mountain Road presents an authentic old-time experience reminiscent of the music once heard at dance halls and theaters in days gone by, from the old-time sounds of Charlie Poole and the fiddle music of Clark Kessinger, to first-generation bluegrass music and original arrangements of western swing, to ragtime and jazz. The origin of Five Mile Mountain Road came from the meeting of fiddler Billy Hurt, Jr., and guitarist Brennen Ernst while in the band Karl Shiflett & Big Country Show. Hurt and Ernst immediately discovered a common love for old music, particularly old-time fiddle music, ragtime, and early jazz. When they met banjoist Seth Boyd in 2015, the nucleus of Five Mile Mountain Road was formed. Caleb “Duke” Erickson from Rockford, Illinois, on guitar and J.C. Radford, also a Franklin County, Va., native, on doghouse bass, round out the group.
“Fiddlin’ Earl White,” is the leader of the Earl White Stringband and cofounder of Big Indian Farm Artisan Bakery in Floyd, Va. A prominent figure in the old-time music and dance community for more than 40 years, White is one of the few African Americans playing and perpetuating the music that was once an essential part of Black culture and communities across the country.
He is a founding member of the famed Greengrass Cloggers, and his energetic, rhythmic, and driving playing style is attributed to many years of dancing with the group. White has played with many of the finest old-time musicians in the country.
Tickets are $20 adults, children 12 & younger admitted free.
Since 2013, donors to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation have supported musical programming at the Blue Ridge Music Center.