Monthly Archives: June 2010

Heidi Muller and Bob Webb perform an eclectic mix of original songs, traditional tunes and contemporary instrumentals. From Charleston, West Virginia, their shows feature Heidi’s songwriting and crystalline vocals backed by both on guitar and Appalachian dulcimer, and by Bob additionally on electric cello and mandolin.

Heidi was a well-known performer in the Pacific Northwest for two decades before moving back home to New Jersey, when she met Bob at a Northeast Regional Folk Alliance conference. Bob’s multi-instrumental talents at accompaniment (he’s a 9-year veteran of the Mountain Stage Band) and skills as a recording engineer led to their further collaboration, and they began performing together in 2003.

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Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre will perform their production of Japanese folktale Issun Boushi or Little One Inch as part of their West Virginia tour, Journey to Japan: A Puppet Extravaganza! The story is about a miniature boy, who proves his strength by defeating a rat and sets off to save Japan from a great ogre. His parents give him a rice bowl to use as a boat, and a chopstick to use as an oar. In his adventures he befriends a kappa, rides a koi through the rapids, and becomes the playmate of a princess before defeating the ogre in a hilarious battle. Performed in the traditional Japanese bunraku style of puppetry, this play will delight audience members of all ages. (more…)

The Pocahontas Opera House is pleased to present the “Hammons Musical Heritage Celebration,” held on Saturday, September 25th from 7 p.m.-10 p.m. as part of Marlinton’s Autumn Harvest Festival. This event is part of the festivities for the 100th birthday of the Opera House, and will be a tribute to the legendary Hammons musicians from this area that continue to influence musicians to this day.

All ages are invited to perform in the celebration. There will be both traditional and neo-traditional categories with a youth and adult division in each. Performers will not be judged, but will receive a gift from the Opera House. There’s no fee to participate. (more…)

At his age, some artists would probably be content to take the triumph of two consecutive years of top industry awards as the equivalent of a gold watch and chain, but that’s not Larry Sparks’ style. Sparks was named the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Male Vocalist of the Year in 2004. He took that honor again in 2005, as well as both Album of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year honors for the star-studded “40.” As one rising young bluegrass artist put it recently, “if the IBMA were to give an award for just being ‘The Man,’ Larry Sparks would win it every time.”

A musician by the time he started high school, Larry Sparks stepped into the history books and into the heart of the music when he began making appearances as the legendary Stanley Brothers lead guitarist before graduation. With the death of Carter Stanley in 1966, he became Ralph Stanley’s right-hand man, moving into the Clinch Mountain Boys’ all-important guitarist and lead singer role and carrying on the Stanley sound even as he began to make his own contributions. (more…)