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Local concert aims to raise funds for new county library
By Justin Goble
Organizers of an upcoming concert say the event will raise money for the new library while showcasing the musical talent in Jackson County.
The performance of “The Sounds of Jackson” will be Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. at Western Carolina University’s Fine and Performing Arts Center. Thirteen groups will perform in a variety of musical styles.
Karen Barnes of Dillsboro performs traditional blues numbers on acoustic slide guitar. Barnes and 12 other musical acts will perform at the “Sounds of Jackson County,” a Jan. 10 concert to raise funds for the new Jackson County Library that will be at Western Carolina Universty’s Fine and Performing Arts Center. According to organizer Linda Watson, the concert will be a “once-in-a-lifetime” event, where residents will be able to hear the varied talents of local musicians. A CD of the performers was recorded throughout 2005 and will be on sale at the concert, which will be filmed for a future DVD release. Tickets for the 7 p.m. event are $10 and can be reserved by calling the arts center at 227-2479.
These will include: Christian Harmony Singing, the Heaven Bound Quartet, Bound by Grace, Liberty Baptist Church, Pirates of Tuckaseigee, Matt Stillwell, the Fiddling Dills Sisters, Karen Barnes, the Timber Rattlers, Chris Cooper and Ashley Chambliss, the Will Peebles Gamelan Ensemble, Andrea Wloskova’ Adamcova’ and Pavel Wlosok and the Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet.
A compact disc by the performers is also being finalized and will be on sale at the event. The concert itself is being filmed for a future DVD release. All proceeds will go towards the new Jackson County Library.
According to organizer Linda Watson, the idea for the CD and concert came by chance a year ago. “It came up last January,” Watson said. “There were a lot of people developing fund-raising ideas for the new library. I was getting my hair cut at Creative Edge, and Tammy Brown came up with the idea of doing a CD called ‘The Sounds of Jackson County.’”
Watson was so intrigued by the idea that she decided to contact officials at WCU to see if they could offer any assistance. The response she got back was more than she expected, she said.
“I contacted Robert Kehrberg, the dean of Arts and Sciences at Western,” she said. “Within that day, he had written a letter to Bruce Frazier, the endowed chair of Commercial Electronic Music at Western.”
Frazier responded, offering to record and mix a master copy for the project, and all organizers had to do was pay to have it duplicated.
With all of the preparations going on to get recording started for the CD, Watson said that it became clear that it wouldn’t take much more work to organize a live event. She contacted Western again to see if they could host the performance and continued planning from there.
“All this was going on already, so I decided, ‘Why not hold a concert?’ I contacted Paul Lormand, director of the Fine and Performing Arts Center, and chose to hold it on Jan. 10. The center wasn’t open when all of this started. I knew it was going to be open in October. We thought January would be a dry month, since it was after the holidays. It also allowed all of the preliminary opening stuff at the center to be over.”
Watson said, given it’s ubiquitous nature in the mountains, music would serve as good way to raise funds for the library. Not only does music surround the residents of Jackson County, it is deeply rooted in their traditions, she said.
“It seems to me a lot of people settled in the area because they can create their own music and play it in coffeehouses and restaurants in the area,” she said. “Most people involved with this project write their own music along with performing.”
To develop a list of possible performers for the CD who carry the spirit of this tradition, Watson turned to local residents Barnes and Marshall Ballew, who both play blues music. Watson said after developing a list and getting responses from people to participate, they discovered some recurring themes among the performers.
“I asked Karen and Marshall to help develop a list of performers who called Jackson County their home,” Watson said. “The final list had about 40 artists on it, and that was just scratching the surface. We sent out a letter describing what we were doing and got groups to commit to the Jan. 10 concert. We began getting responses, and we discovered that the music fell into four broad categories. That became our organizing scheme. We have Sounds of the Spirit, Sounds of the Mountains, Sounds of the Blues, and Contemporary Sounds.”
Given that preparations for the event have been going on for over a year, it is easy to imagine that Watson would get frustrated throughout the planning stages. However, she said there never was a point where she got fed up with the process. Her main concern was getting the CD ready for the concert, which she said was in the hands of others.
“I don’t know that I was ever frustrated,” she said. “I was concerned that the CD might not get done in time for the concert. John Wells and Stephen Wolrab burned the midnight oil to get the master copy mixed. That was the most time consuming. I knew we had the talent. I knew the quality was there.”
And though it took a year to get to this point, Watson said it is well worth the wait. The concert will be a major event for the residents of Jackson County and may never happen again, she said.
“It has taken a lot of effort,” Watson said. “This has turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime event for the residents of this county. No community that I know of has been able to record its talent like this. It’s unique. It’s not just for the library. I hope residents will come to the concert and see the talent they have right here. I think every resident needs to hear it. It may not happen again.”
There is a hope that this concert will soothe over some bad feelings towards the new library, Watson said. She wants the concert to inspire people to help out in their own communities and make the library a reality.
“There’s been some unhappiness about the library,” Watson said. “My goal is that this concert will stimulate a broad section of people to think about the library. I hope it shows we need a new library. It’s an opportunity to get the community involved. I want people to think, ‘Let’s go back and do something. Let’s figure out what we can do in our neighborhoods to support the library.’”
By getting a variety of performers, Watson said she is hoping to attract a good number of people to attend and, hopefully, get involved with the library.
“One of the first conversations was trying to figure out how to attract the majority of people in Jackson County,” she said. “I didn’t want this to be a ‘high-falutin’ deal. I wanted people to come wearing jeans and bring their families.
“I think there’s going to be something for everyone,” Watson said. “People will be amazed at the quality of the gospel groups and blues groups. Karen Barnes and the Timber Rattlers will perform traditional blues numbers and originals, and you can get caught up in the instrumentation, much less the words. It’s like my son said. ‘Every eight minutes, something new comes along, so there’s something for everyone.’”
Tickets for the event are currently on sale. They are $10 each, and can be reserved by calling the Performing and Fine Arts Center at 227-2479. Tickets will also be sold at the door.
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