The 2006-07 Evening Concert Series at the Randolph County Community Arts Center
continues on May 19th with West Virginia’s premier mountain string band, Gandydancer. Featuring five respected musicians with almost 200 years of
combined music experience, the group delivers traditional mountain music to
listeners in a way they appreciate and remember. They delight in sharing
with
and often introducing audiences to this captivating form of acoustic music.Each of the members is a champion multi-instrumentalist. They all have known one another and played together in different combinations for over 20 years. Dave Bing of Harmony, West Virginia is a woodworker and violin-maker who has taught traditional music at home and abroad. His crooked fiddle tunes evoke another time and place. Gerry Milnes of Elkins, West Virginia works at the Augusta Heritage Center. He has researched folklore and traditional music in West Virginia, authored books and produced recordings of traditional music and documentary films. He has collected, performed, and taught West Virginia music for 30 years. Jim Martin of St. Albans, West Virginia is an accomplished bass player and sings bass on the band’s quartet numbers. Jim’s recording label, JMP, has produced West Virginia’s finest acoustic music over the past 20 years. Ron Mullenex of Bluefield, Virginia is a geologist by day with a life-long passion for old-time music. He plays claw hammer banjo and mandolin in the band and is an experienced teacher of the old-time music. Mark Payne of Winfield, West Virginia is sought out for his rock solid guitar work and three-finger style banjo playing. He has recorded with Mountain State masters like Woody Simmons, Wilson Douglas, Elmer Bird, and Bobby Taylor. Mark is the program director for the West Virginia Humanities Council.
Through the years music has drawn them together in spite of professional schedules and demands. The band uses a fresh assortment of instrumental and vocal combinations that audiences find appealing. A cappella vocal harmonies, old-time fiddle and banjo tunes, seldom heard West Virginia folk songs, traditional bluegrass, new combinations, poignant ballads, and driving instrumental numbers are all presented masterfully. Several songs are performed exclusively by Gandydancer; in many cases, as they were learned firsthand from older artists now gone. With the release of their second recording in June 2002, the group has extended their availability for concerts, workshops, and other creative projects. These guys know how to make mountain music. They strive to pull the most music out of each song they play. The result is a distinctively honest and strikingly musical sound.
A review taken from the publication, Dirty Linen, states that “[Gandydancer] plays tunes that harken back to forgotten times except, when rendered here, are very much alive and vibrant. Together, they’re unbelievably tight and relentlessly driving, meshing cohesively with a feeling that’s absolutely natural. Recommended for old-time Christians, new age modernists and secular humanists: in other words – everybody.”
The concert will start at 8pm in the Great Hall of the Randolph County Community Arts Center with a post-concert jam session. For more information or reservations, call 637-2355 or log onto www.randolpharts.org. Tickets for evening concerts are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for students. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the RCCAC office or at the door the evening of the concert. Seating is limited.
In addition to the concert on Saturday evening, Gandydancer will perform at Jennings Randolph Elementary School and Valley Head Elementary School as part of the Randolph County Community Arts Center’s Outreach program. Performers from this Series as well as the 2006-2007 Children’s Series will present 17 concerts and workshops in area schools. Last year the RCCAC Outreach Program provided concerts and workshops for over 2700 school students. The RCCAC Outreach Program is sponsored by the Tucker Community Endowment Foundation.
The evening Concert Series at the Randolph County Community Arts Center is locally sponsored by Family Dental with financial assistance from the Tucker Community Endowment Foundation, the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts. The RCCAC, a non-profit organization promoting and supporting the arts in Randolph County and the surrounding areas, is located at the corner of Randolph Avenue and Park Street in Elkins.