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SEPTEMBER 3, 2009 ISSUE

Diana & Sarvis Ridge at Hayes Center Sunday

Bluegrass pickers Diana & Sarvis Ridge perform at the 2009 HayesGrass competition, where they took home the top prize. The band performs at the Hayes Center in Blowing Rock on Sunday.

Diana & Sarvis Ridge, a Watauga County-based bluegrass and acoustic band and winner of HayesGrass 2009, headlines its own concert on Sunday, September 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Hayes Performing Arts Center. The band, which has been together for the last six years, will perform a concert of traditional celebratory bluegrass with a mix of popular standards.

Lead singer and guitar player Diana Wilcox is a Blowing Rock native whose influences vary from New Grass Revival to Stevie Nicks. A crossover artist who composes various styles of music, Wilcox and the band perform her original songs as well as covers of other musicians’ music.

In between restoring old cars and drag racing, banjo player Phil Halbedel, who owns a service station in Boone, is influenced by such groups as The Country Gentlemen and the Seldom Scene, as well as folk music from the 1960s. Bassist Caleb Jackson, a social worker who helps families seeking to adopt, lives in Valle Crucis in an old log cabin, which is the band’s favorite place to pick. Jackson enjoys high-energy bands like Mountain Heart and Cadillac Sky.

Rick Ramseur, a jack of all trades, plays dobro, harmonica, guitar, saxophone and anything else he can get his hands on—and he also sings. Ramseur, who resides in Lincolnton in a historic plantation house, cites influences from 1960s folk music to jazz.

Bob Hagadorn is the band’s newest member and lives in Salisbury. Hagadorn plays mandolin, fiddle, guitar and accordion, in addition to singing lead and harmony.

In 2006, Diana & Sarvis Ridge released They’re Just Little Boys, a CD of their favorite songs to perform. Diana wrote four of the tunes on the CD, but the rest are well-known standards.

Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door and are available by calling the box office at 828-295-9627. The Hayes Center is located at 152 Jamie Fort Road off Highway 321 in Blowing Rock. For more information, call 828-295-9627.