The Ashe County Arts Council welcomes David Holt and Josh Goforth to the stage at the Ashe Civic Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 12. Sponsored by the Ashe County Arts Council, the concert will feature songs, stories and amazing musicianship that will appeal to all ages.
Four-time Grammy Award winner David Holt is a musician, storyteller, historian, television host and entertainer, dedicated to performing and preserving traditional American music and stories. Holt plays ten acoustic instruments and has released numerous recordings of traditional mountain music and southern folktales.
Holt is well known for his television and radio series. He is host of public television’s Folkways, a North Carolina program that takes the viewer through the Southern Mountains visiting traditional craftsmen and musicians. He served as host of The Nashville Network’s Fire on the Mountain, Celebration Express and American Music Shop. He has been a frequent guest on Hee Haw, Nashville Now and The Grand Ole Opry. David can also be seen as a musician in the popular film, “O Brother Where Art Thou.”
Josh Goforth is from Madison County and has played a musical instrument since he was four year old when he played piano in his church. His musical heritage goes back several generations. His great-great-great grandfather was Madison County fiddler Asbury McDevitt. With a natural musical talent, Josh learned to play 10 different instruments by ear and cites Arvil and Gorden Freeman as primary influences in his fiddle playing.
Between David and Josh they combine the virtuosic sounds of guitar, banjo, fiddle, slide guitar, mandolin, and a world of exciting rhythm instruments from hambone (body slapping) rhythms, to spoons, stump-fiddle, rhythm bones, jaw harp, and even paper bag.
For 35 years David has been collecting and performing the music of the old time Southern mountaineers. Josh is descended from many of the old-timers David learned from in the late 1960s in Lonesome Mountain. For David, combining forces with Josh is making a full circle. Says Holt, “Josh is one of the finest musicians in North Carolina and is helping bring the music that is his birthright into the 21st century. Our show is about folk traditions that are exploding with creative energy and fun.”
David Holt and Josh Goforth will also perform two school concerts as part of the Arts Council school-programming calendar.
Tickets are $15 adults and $5 students and are available at the Ashe Arts Center or by phone with a credit card at 336-846-ARTS.
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