JANUARY 28, 2010 ISSUE
Shannon Whitworth Returns to Boone Saloon February 3
Shannon Whitworth will perform at Boone Saloon on Wednesday, February 3. Photo submittedBrevard-based Shannon Whitworth will play Boone Saloon on Wednesday, February 3, at 9:00 p.m., and the concert will feature new music from her CD that is set to be released this June. The cover is $7.
A former member of The Biscuit Burners, Whitworth got her musical start in Boone, which she attributed to a foot injury that prevented her from moving around as much.
“It sat me still long enough for me to get hooked,” she said. “I started writing songs [because] it was pretty much all I could do.”
Whitworth’s brother and sister-in-law taught her a few chords when she was in high school, and she would often sing with her sister-in-law, but her insatiable interest in music began in college, she said.
While a student at ASU, Whitworth said she skipped a number of classes because it hurt to walk there and ended up “playing with pickers” instead.
“It was great,” she said. “There was music everywhere.”
After taking some time off from formal schooling, Whitworth transferred to Brevard College, where she obtained a degree in ceramics and a minor in outdoor education.
Although she “left everything to play music,” Whitworth said she does participate in “a couple art shows a year” and uses some of the leadership skills and knowledge of group dynamics she learned from outdoor education to keep her band together.
At the Boone Saloon show, Whitworth will sing and play guitar, banjo and ukulele, while her four bandmates will play guitar, pedal steel, stand-up bass and drums, she said.
“I feel really lucky to get to travel and get to play with them,” she said of the group she has played with for the past 2.5 years.
Although drawing from traditional roots and Americana sounds, Whitworth’s music is characterized by its vocals and originality.
“It’s original songs put together with great instrumentation,” she said, adding that some of the songs might feature only an acoustic guitar and ukulele, while other songs have more of an electric sound, with an electric guitar, drums and more in the mix.
Whitworth has played numerous bluegrass festivals and folk festivals and will appear at MerleFest this year for the first time since she performed there with The Biscuit Burners, she said.
For more information, click to www.myspace.com/shannonwhitworth or www.shannonwhitworth.net.
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