Herald Angels a success

Thanks to all who have supported our efforts to bring the music of some of our performing 

friends to Floyd.  We enjoy helping to present a quality program rooted in the traditional music that we find ourselves carrying on in this day and age.  We were able  through generous donations to  support the Zion Lutheran Church. The church has several members  whose enthusiasm for our cause is well appreciated. 

 We consider such events (formerly held in our home) a win - win  situation.  The community of supporters get a great intimate performance,  the performers have a great audience to perfom for,  the musicians benefit from the  donations are all  for the musicians who have worked to develop their styles and repetoire to a such high level, and we get a chance to visit more closely with our friends who we don't see except during the summer if then.  As everyone knows life is short so we should live every day fully as possible.  Some days get lived better than others and life goes on.  

A new recording  of me (Mac) with fiddler Shay Garriock is on the horizon.  It will be mainly banjo and fiddle duets and songs.  The CD to be entitled 'Turkey in the Mountain'  has a few numbers with Jenny on  guitar  to give a contrast to the drone and rhythm oriented music that was the norm for this region 100 years ago.  The tunes selected are in tribute to  'our unsung heroes',  the old- -timers who were visited and recorded by us and others from the Floyd to Bristol region of Southwest Virginia during the 1970's, 80's and 90's. 

  Over the years,  the fiddle and banjo traditions of other areas of the country have been focused on by the folklore establishment and others and have elevated to a highlighted status.  For example, West Virginia and the 'Round Peak'  area of North Carolina have received a lot of national attention.  We hope our recording may help elevate the banjo/fiddle tradition of Southwest Virginia to a  higher level. 

  Our friend and noted banjo player/ NPR announcer Paul Brown has agreed to write a set of liner notes.  The finished product will  likely have a 2nd grader drawn   image of a Turkey with mountains in the background  for the  front.  Great job and a literal view of what 'mountain style linguistics can conjour up if you don't know the dialect.    All this will be available  for sale through all the local outlets as well as through the website of our local recording studio label  mountainfeverstudios.com  hopefully by the end of April. 

  There is also our website for this macandshaycd.homestead.com   

 Here  we have several clips of  sample tracks. We hope to have more info and photos as we gather them about the old guys who we were inspired by originally.  

Check it out!!