The Mountain Music Trail has a new AmeriCorps volunteer for 2017-18. He’s Ethan Jones, from  Athens, Georgia. Ethan plays old time fiddle and banjo. He recently graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis, where he majored in biology. He was raised on old time music; his father brought him to the  Appalachian String Band Festival at Clifftop, Fayette County, when he was only six. Ethan is living at Greenville in Monroe County, and will be traveling the Mountain Music Trail (US 219) this year meeting musicians, recording  and publicizing their music, and learning how the Trail can best help them in their musical careers. He will also be working with the musicians and local community groups and businesses to develop more public places where people can come to hear the music of the mountains.

If you’d like to play some music with Ethan (pictured above), or talk to him about your ideas for prompting traditional music in West Virginia, contact him at minoan300@outloook.com or 706-340-3298

Our AmeriCorps volunteer last year, Melodie Wallace, did a great job publicizing the Trail and traditional musical events going on from Peterstown to Davis and also organized our Music in the Mountains weekend event last month in Marlinton.

The joint will be jumping with traditional music in Elkins the week of October 15-22, with Augusta Heritage Festival’s  October Old Time Week, its 28th Old Time Fiddlers Reunion and an appearance by one of the most .famous Bluegrass musicians in America.

October Old-Time Week focuses on West Virginia’s rich traditions of old-time music. Classes in fiddle, banjo and hammered dulcimer meet 9 a.m. – noon, with an afternoon cultural session each day and afternoon classes. Presentations from master artists, late night jam sessions and much more fill out the week. West Virginia fiddle legend Frank George will be a visiting artist this week.

Scores of West Virginia’s master fiddlers, pickers, and singers gather, along with hundreds of local folks and visitors for a weekend of fun, packed with jam sessions throughout the weekend, informal concerts, and renewal of friendships at the Old Time Fiddler’s Reunion.

Friday night, October 20, the Reunion kicks off with a Halloween Square Dance. Saturday, October 21, the events center around a concert stage in Myles Center for the Arts. From 10:00am to 4:00pm you will be able to enjoy the music of a series of performances by dozens of invited old-time musicians from all over West Virginia. And a freestyle clogging and flat footing contest will be held on the stage around 4:00pm. Cash prizes will be awarded.  And best of all, jam sessions happen all day. The festivities end on a high note Sunday morning, October 22, with a Gospel sing from 10:00 – 11:00 in Robbins Memorial Chapel.

Also that weekend in Elkins  the American Mountain Theater presents Bluegrass legend Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver (featured article photo) Sunday afternoon October 22 at 3:30 PM.

Other events along the Mountain Music Trail in October include:

October 7 – “Hearts Gone South” at the Pocahontas County Opera House in Marlinton

October 12 – wild man and super guitar picker Junior Brown at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg

– Gibbs Kinderman, Hashtag #94. October 2017.