Blue Ridge Music Center Final Concerts for 2014

October 4, 2014 at 4 PM - The Harris Brothers   and  Kitty Amaral and The Stray Cats.  The Harris Brothers are what you might call songsters. They can draw from a vast repertoire of American traditional music - "Americana" is often used to describe their style, but the Harris Brothers just call it music. Their sound is heavily influenced by traditional blues and Appalachian mountain music, jazz, country, and rock n' roll. No matter what the Harris Brothers play, be it originals or old favorites, they have a special way of making the music their own; it's stripped down, intense, and real, with no gimmicks.

Reggie and Ryan Harris were born into a musical family in the foothills of western North Carolina and have been playing and singing since they were children. For the last 17 or so odd years they have honed their skills as a duo, performing everywhere from honkytonks to popular festival stages. They most often perform with just an acoustic guitar, a bass, vocals and an old suitcase used for a kickdrum, with Reggie sometimes switching to fiddle, banjo, or electric guitar.

Kitty Amaral began fiddling at age five in Southwestern Virginia. She formed the band "Kitty & the Stray Cats" with her mentors in Old-Time Music in recent years. She has a unique collection of songs and tunes ranging from Southwestern Virginia and the Carolina Appalachians to Oklahoma, Ozarks, and beyond. The band includes; Donna Correll on bass, Kyle Dean Smith on banjo and Harrol Blevins on guitar with occasional guest artists on the mandolin. The band shares unique songs and tunes which may otherwise be lost from recent repertoire lists, as well as many favorites still popular today.

October 11 at 4 PM - The Steep Canyon Rangers  and  The New Spring Valley Boys.  You won't want to miss The Blue Ridge Music Center's 2014 Concert Season Finale with Grammy Award Winning Bluegrass Group The Steep Canyon Rangers and guests, The New Spring Valley Boys. 

Come early for a special Pre-Show Music and Mingle Artist Reception sponsored by Creek Bottom Brews of Galax. The Pre-Show Reception will be held in the breezeway of the Music Center beginning at 2 PM. Only 100 tickets will be sold for the Pre-Show Reception, so be sure to get yours early.

• Pre-Show Music Mingle Artist Reception will feature beer (provided by Galax VA's own Creek Bottom Brews), wine, and heavy hors d'oeuvres. All included with ticket purchase price. 

• Tickets for the Pre-Show Music-Mingle Artist Reception are $50 (includes a reserve seat at the concert) and are on sale now. For tickets call the offices of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation at # 866-308-2773 x 245. 

• Individual concert tickets are $20. 

• Ticket Package (Concert Ticket + Pre-Show Reception Ticket ) is $50.

• Concert tickets can be purchased through the online website box office www.BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org/10-11.htm or by calling the offices of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation at # 866-308-2773 x 245.

The Steep Canyon Rangers are an American bluegrass band from Brevard, North Carolina. In 2013 their album Nobody Knows You won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. The previous year, their 2012 collaboration with Steve Martin, Rare Bird Alert, was nominated for the same award.

The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awarded Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers Entertainer of the Year in 2011. In 2008, the band received nominations from the IBMA for Album of the Year and Gospel Performance of the Year. The Steep Canyon Rangers have been nominated for the 2014 IBMA Awards, this time in the Instrumental Record Performance of the Year category, for the song "Graveyard Fields," written by mandolin player Mike Guggino, from the bands most recent album release Tell The Ones I Love. The Steep Canyon Rangers recently partnered with the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and Bonesteel Films to protect Graveyard Fields, one of the Blue Ridge Parkway's most treasured spots.  

The Asheville-based bluegrass band and the film company have created a public service video to help the foundation with its fundraising efforts to complete an improvement project at Graveyard Fields, located at Parkway Milepost 418 near Asheville and Brevard, as well as other projects along the Parkway. The PSA appears online at www.brpfoundation.org/GraveyardFields.

The band's instrumental, "Graveyard Fields," accompanies scenes of the spot along the parkway. The band's mandolin player, Mike Guggino, wrote the song for the groups' latest album, Tell The Ones I Love.

The Blue Ridge Music Center is operated by The National Park Service, and the Music Center's programming is coordinated through a partnership with the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.  The Music Center is located north of Boone NC at Milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, 700 Foothills Road in Galax VA.