Summer is the season we enjoy celebrating the tradional music of the South at Music on the Porch. This year we are pleased to be bringing Kirk Stutphin, and Betty Vornbrock & Billy Cornette down from the cool hills of southwestern Virginia to the North Carolina Piedmont. Thursday, June 7, 2012, 5:30 pm, at the Love House and Hutchins Forum. Free and open to the public.
Kirk Sutphin is at the top of many favorite young Old-time fiddler player lists. Kirk is truly a musician’s musician. His talents on the fiddle are matched with his exceptional skill on the banjo. As a young boy, Kirk was the protégé of the famous Surry County fiddler, Tommy Jarrell. Kirk to Tommy’s own admission captured the nuance of his fiddling more than anyone.
Kirk didn’t rest there. He dug deeper into the older mountain fiddling sounds of Tommy Jarrell’s dad, Ben Jarrell and the old Galax Fiddler Emmett Lundy. His focus also extends to the Piedmont. Kirk is truly a master of the music of Charlie Poole.
Betty Vornbrock is an accomplished fiddler in several different traditional styles. Besides the music of the Appalachian Mountains (her first love), she has studied Shetland, Scottish & Irish fiddling, Western Swing and even Eastern European dance music. She has also recorded with Western Swing guitarist Bill Necessary, and singer-songwriters Tim Henderson and Bill Ramsel. Betty has co-produced a twin-fiddle album, “Side by Side”, with Kentucky fiddler J.P. Fraley, with whom she has won top twin-fiddle honors at Fiddler’s Grove Festival for their haunting and beautiful harmonies.
Billy Cornette has been a great fan of folk & traditional music most of his life. Born in Kentucky to a family of fiddlers and musicians, he was exposed to a variety of country musicians & early Bluegrass greats. While attending the university in the early ’60’s, his interest in folk music led him to the guitar. After moving to Virginia in 1989, he decided to connect back to some of these roots by teaching himself fiddle and renewing his interest in guitar. He & Betty met in 1990 at a local jam session, and he’s concentrated on playing back-up guitar to her fiddling ever since.
The moderator for the concert will be Steve Kruger, a UNC Folklore graduate, and a pretty awesome fiddler himself.
Concerts are held at the Center’s office, the Love House and Hutchins Forum, located at 410 East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill. There is limited seating on the porch, but lots of lawn. Bring a blanket, picnic, and enjoy an early evening of wonderful music, and engaging discussion.