AUGUST 20, 2009 ISSUE
Women of Song
Concerts on the Lawn Features Female Songwriters Friday
Crys Matthews, Ruth Smith and Monica Woodard are three of the female songwriters featured during this Friday’s Concert on the Lawn at the Jones House, beginning at 5:00 p.m.
Watauga County’s talented songwriting women are the special feature of this Friday’s Concerts on the Lawn performance at the Jones House in downtown Boone. The Watauga Women Songwriters showcase begins at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, August 21, and as always, admission is free.
The concert will feature Crys Matthews, Becca Eggers-Gryder, Deborah Jean Sheets, Monica Woodard, Lisa Baldwin, Ruth Smith, Susan Pepper, Renee Blacken and the Forget-Me-Nots. Sherrie Norris, editor of All About Women magazine, will host the event.
Lisa Baldwin was raised in Huntsville, Ala., in a family with strong country and gospel music roots. She plays guitar and keyboard, sings lead and harmony and writes original material alongside duet partner Dave Haney. Renee Blacken moved to the Boone area about five years ago. Blacken is a vendor at the Watauga County Farmers’ Market. She has played fiddle for several years and leads group singing on Sundays, including traditional shape note harmonies. Blacken has written several original songs.
Becca Eggers-Gryder, an attorney in her family’s Boone-based law firm, plays standup bass with local band Amantha Mill and writes songs incorporating bluegrass, country and blues styles. The Forget-Me-Nots are comprised of young performers Willa Finck, Maura Shawn Scanlin and Ledah Finck. The girls are classically trained on the violin through the Suzuki method and also perform old-time and Celtic fiddle music.
Crys Matthews is referred to most often as a blues performer but also fuses jazz, funk, folk and Americana sounds to form her own eclectic blend of soul music. Matthews sings and plays the guitar and piano. Susan Pepper is a member of old-time music duo Beech Mountain Echoes along with Rick Ward. Beech Mountain Echoes performs traditional folk music from the Beech Mountain area, including unaccompanied mountain ballads, harmony singing, dulcimer and fretless banjo and guitar.
Deborah Jean Sheets is matriarch of the Sheets Family, who have been performing old-time music for 30 years. Singing and performing on guitar, Deborah Jean has added several of her own songs to the Sheets Family repertoire. Ruth Smith is a classically trained musician and composer who plays the hammered dulcimer with her husband, Steve, a fingerstyle guitarist, in the Celtic Appalachian style.
Monica Woodard started singing in her family gospel group at a very young age and learned the guitar at age 12. Her songwriting evolved from her early gospel music upbringing as well as country, rock and folk influences.
High Country Mom Squad is the sponsor of this Friday’s concert. Concerts on the Lawn season sponsors are Alpine Storage, the Downtown Boone Development Association and Mast General Store.
The Concerts on the Lawn season, presented by the Watauga Arts Council, will continue every Friday through September 18. Upcoming concerts will feature singer-songwriters, bluegrass, old-time, barbershop quartets and fiddle tunes. Concertgoers are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or blanket.
For more information about Concerts on the Lawn, call the Watauga Arts Council at 828-264-1789 or click to www.watauga-arts.org.
Want To Go?
Date: Friday, August 21
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Location: Jones House, downtown Boone
Cost: Free
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