This Sunday was the 120th anniversary of Galatia Presbyterian Church in Gala, Virginia and we were invited to play at a gospel music service following their covered-dish lunch after the morning church service. They had a big crowd in attendance and the weather was just perfect. The leaves are just beginning to turn color here and the day was sunny but crisp following a rain the night before. The church is a beautiful little white mountain church with big green wooden shutters. Of course we had to sing Little Mountain Church House and Little White Church! A great youth choir also sang at the music service along with a bluegrass gospel group, Fishers of Men, that we enjoyed very much. Junior Christian is out of town for a few days so Bob Booth filled in for us on guitar. He’s a great guitar player, one of the best in the area. We’re so lucky to have him and Junior as our guitar “guest artists.” The sound in those little country church sanctuaries is always so resonant and rich. It was an inspirational service and the congregation was very welcoming to us. The pastor there, Robert McRae, is one of our favorite people. He also has a beautiful singing voice. (Dick Parady, our clawhammer banjo player, also enjoyed the dessert table very much. We had trouble tearing him away from it when it was time to sing!)

We kicked off the new season at James River Music Hall in Eagle Rock, Virginia, to a full house! Our favorite old-time band, Original Orchard Grass, was also supposed to play that night, but unfortunately Jackie Ferguson had broken her shoulder and they were unable to play. That was a big disappointment to us, because we love them so much. But two other bands filled in and were very good. We had some special guests there, Catherine Spicer, whose son lives in Oriskany, and her daughter in from Quebec. The atmosphere at the Music Hall is always so much fun, with dancers and good food (especially the hot dogs). We enjoyed seeing some old friends there. James (Junior) Christian from the Craig County Boys played guitar with us and also sang lead on a few songs, which is always a treat.

We performed a concert at the Volunteer Recognition Luncheon for the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) of Montgomery County held at the nearby Holiday Inn. Angela Little, Director, opened the program by welcoming all the volunteers and then tuned the mic over to Kristi Blake of the Kroontje Health Care Center of Blacksburg, VA who introduced the Oriskany Strings.

Following the luncheon, we drove to the nearby Kroontje Health Care Center and played for the seniors who make that wonderful health care center their home.

Click here to download this entire concert and for a list of other live concerts.

The Oriskany Strings just released a new CD on the Catawba Records label, featuring the songs of James (Junior) Christian, a well-known musician and songwriter from New Castle, Virgina. The CD is called The Train Don’t Run Here Anymore, after the title song written by Christian. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the CD will be donated to the Craig County Rescue Squad located in New Castle, Virgina where band members Rita, Dick, Carol and Jack are volunteer medical technicians.

The songs written by Christian reveal a man of faith with a big heart and a deep love of nature. Many of them express a longing for simpler days and rural life and have themes that will resonate with residents of this area of Virginia or with anyone who loves country living. The varied collection features gospel songs, love songs, and even “history” songs. The nostalgic title song, “The Train Don’t Run Here Anymore,” is about the old steam train that used to run from Eagle Rock to New Castle, hauling iron ore, mail and passengers, and about the lifestyle that disappeared with the train and the mining company that supported it. The CD cover has a photo of the old steam train and the insert has old photos of the New Castle, Eagle Rock and Oriskany train stations.

“Junior is best-known for being the lead singer and guitar/banjo player with the Craig County Boys for over 30 years, but not so many people know that he is also an excellent songwriter,” said Carol Lewis of the Oriskany Strings. “He is a real poet! He plays with our band when his schedule permits, since our lead singer Gene Guilliams had several strokes and is not able to play guitar anymore. On this new release we wanted to feature some of the many songs Junior has written, and also show off his great country voice and guitar playing, with the Oriskany Strings backing him up with our harmonies and instruments. Even though most of the songs on the CD aren’t really old ones, Junior’s music does have an old-time sound. It’s a different type of project for us, and we’re very pleased with how it turned out.”

The CD also has three songs by other songwriters, old favorites that fit in well with Junior’s songs, according to Lewis. “We hope The Train Don’t Run Here Anymore will appeal to our audience and also to the many fans who like the Craig County Boys’ music,” she said. “Although this CD is not a traditional bluegrass sound, it’s sweet-sounding music with a definite old-fashioned flavor.”

The Train Don’t Run Here Anymore will be available for purchase for $15 at a number of local stores, at Oriskany Strings performances, and on the internet at www.cdbaby.com/oriskanystrings4.

The Oriskany Strings kicked off the Blue Ridge Music Center’s Fall series with a concert at 2 pm on Sunday, September 11. We were psyched about this concert, because it’s such a beautiful and “luxurious” place to play! We even had dressing rooms and a catered lunch for the musicians! (I’ve waited all my life to be able to say the words, “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my dressing room…”). Also a lot of famous musicians like Ricky Skaggs, Ralph Stanley, and Doc Watson have played at the Center, so we felt privileged to be on that stage. And what a stage it is. Just look at the size, the lights, the speakers. Everything is first class.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon—a tad warm but with a nice cool breeze blowing. The audience seemed to like our music, as many were singing along. The sound system was the best we’ve ever experienced. Some people were sitting WAY up at the top of the hill in their lawn chairs, so you needed binoculars to see them! But apparently the sound is just as good way up there as down in front. (The place is a natural amphitheatre, a sort of grassy bowl, with the stage at the bottom of the bowl.)

Also on the billing was the band, The Oldtime Boys. They won first-place in the old-time band competition at Galax this year, so we were in some mighty fine company. They sounded great and Rita and Jack and I (Carol is writing this) enjoyed dancing to their tunes.

My cousin Mary Ellen Worlledge and her husband Don, and two of Don’s sisters and his brother-in-law surprised us by coming to hear us. We were so happy to see them there! We had fun dancing to the Oldtime Boys’ music with Mary Ellen and Don after our performance. (And Helen’s hubby Jack brought us some nice potatoes fresh from his garden…an unexpected pleasure.)

After we packed up, we headed back on the Blue Ridge Parkway, such a scenic, peaceful drive. We all stopped for supper at the historic Pine Tavern near Floyd. Great place! Check it out if you’re ever in the area. The country-type food is delicious, the staff is friendly and polite, and they even have our kind of music there from time to time.

Ahhh…. it was a wonderful day of music, sun, food and fun!

The Oriskany Strings played the first set at the James River Music Hall on Saturday, September 10. This was the first night of the new season at the music hall, after a summer hiatus. A good crowd was there, and the “energy” was fantastic. Our favorite “guest artist” James Christian was there to play and sing with us, which is always a treat. For those who don’t know, James is the founder of the popular bluegrass band Craig County Boys, but he plays with us whenever he’s able. He had played for 3 hours down at the Old Salem Days festival that day with the CC Boys, and then made the trip all the way to Eagle Rock to play with us. We’re so lucky!

We were especially excited because our favorite old-time band, The Original Orchard Grass Old Time Band, also was on the billing that night. That group consists of Gary and Jackie Ferguson, Rhoda Kemp, Rhoda’s sister Iva Stilwell, and temporarily Rhoda and Iva’s brother Ebo on fiddle. Original Orchard Grass doesn’t play often together any more because they don’t have a fiddle player locally, but Ebo is in from Florida for a visit, so they are playing some gigs while he is here. They were fantastic! There were lots of dancers—it’s so hard to keep your seat when Orchard Grass is playing that old-time music! We listen to their music on CDs all the time, so it was a thrill to hear them in person. Their harmonies are beautiful.

A couple of other groups played sets that night too. The Love Buzzards played some good bluegrass, featuring vocalist Leslie Dunbar fresh from her first-place triumph (again!) in the Galax Old Fiddler’s folk song competition. It’s always a treat to hear her sing. Also, the Little Mountain Boys showed up and played a set of good, solid bluegrass music too.

All in all, a great night of music and dancing! And the hot dogs were fantastic…

The Music Hall will be open every 2nd and 4th Saturday night from now on, so don’t miss it!

The festival hosted by Paul and Sadie McDaniel on their beautiful farm (lovingly referred to as Possum Holler) south of New Castle, Virginia got hit by rains this year. But the rain didn’t deter the Oriskany Strings, Craig County Boys, Elkins Brothers or The Big Man’s Big Men bands who showed up to show their support and who believe the show must go on. And the rain didn’t deter the many fans who showed up to listen to these bands, eat some fine food and share in the festivities.

The bands were scheduled to start at 2:00 PM, but the stage was too wet to set up the sound system. So everyone pitched in and set up a makeshift stage under the shelter and listened to some jamming. Jack brought in his washtub bass and played along to the delight of many.

Around 4:00 PM the rain stopped so organizer James Christian set up his sound system with the help of many band members. The Oriskany Strings was first up and started off with a rousing rendition of “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies.” And wouldn’t you believe it - the sun came out and the audience brought their lawn chairs out from under the shelter and joined in on a number of songs.

Jack recorded the entire festival and plans to play all band performances on Olde Surber Station Radio, his internet radio station. Jack also added our performance to the Oriskany Strings Live Shows Podcast. Our performance is also available for download on our website.

Our band is just back from a week at Galax and, boy, did we have fun! This is the first time we’ve been able to stay for the entire week and it was great to finally be able to see the band competitions on the weekend. This time we stayed in nice little log cabins that have recently been put up right by the New River Trail State Park. Good creek noise!

We arrived in Galax on Monday early enough to see the Youth Competition. It’s always inspiring to see and hear such talented young musicians. It’s amazing to see these little 6 and 7 year old kids playing fiddles, banjos, etc. so well. It’s almost humiliating how good they are-many of them are much better than me on the banjo! (It’s Carol Lewis, banjo player, writing this blog.)

I competed in the bluegrass banjo competition on Wednesday evening, and Dick Parady competed in clawhammer banjo and Rita Parady on autoharp on Thursday evening. None of us ended up in the top 10, but we enjoyed being in the line-up, as usual. (We all thought Rita should have been in the top 10-she played her song, “When You and I Were Young, Maggie,” extremely well.)

We had a great time on Wednesday jamming with Rhoda Kemp, of our favorite old-time group The Original Orchard Grass, her sister Iva Stilwell, David Kilby on autoharp, and others, at Iva’s camper. The harmonies sounded so good as the sun went down. Rhoda is just amazing. She plays clawhammer banjo, autoharp (she came in 2nd in the autoharp competition), guitar, bass, and who knows what all else-plus she has a wonderful voice! And Iva is a fabulous bass player. She plays with another old-time group, Loose Gap Loafers. The jamming and listening to other musicians is one of the best parts of the Galax experience.

On Friday and Saturday our band was scheduled to play at the street festival in downtown Galax, near Felts Park where the Fiddler’s Convention is held. This is an attempt by the town of Galax to entice people to venture out into the downtown stores and spend a little dough. They had a stage set up on Grayson Street for music, and a bunch of booths with some nice crafts and food. Junior Christian came to play with us, which we’re always thrilled with-he adds so much with his great guitar playing and wonderful voice. We played at 3 pm on Friday, and at 12:30 on Saturday. The only problem was that it was SO hot and the stage overlooks a parking lot with no shade. Nonetheless we had good crowds to hear our performances on both days, and a few brave souls even came out to dance despite the 97-degree heat! We even sold a few CDs. It’s always fun to play in Galax. This time there were a lot of visitors from faraway places like Texas and Pennsylvania, because of the big Fiddler’s Convention, so we made a few new fans.

On Saturday we arranged with the fellow that drives the little train through the streets during festivals, giving rides, to pick us up a few blocks from the stage site and deliver us right to the stage. It was cool-the “engineer” really played it up, telling all the others on the train (mostly kids) that our band bus had broke down and he had to take us to the stage! He tooted the horn and we waved at all the folks as we drove by. We were all in our old-time clothes and we must have been a pretty strange sight, expecially with Jack’s washtub bass fiddle riding in one of the seats! I spotted a lot of people laughing.

We stayed up late Saturday night to hear most of the final band competition, and then listened to the competition results on the radio as we drove back to our cabins. Although none of us placed in the top 10 this year, we plan to keep competing. We couldn’t be in the band competition this year because we don’t have a fiddle in the band, but we will be in it next year. Both Rita and I are learning to play the fiddle, and we also jointly bought a mandolin while in Galax and plan to learn that too! So watch for us next year in the Old-Time Band Competition! We’ll be back!

On Saturday evening, July 23, the Strings gave a joint concert with The Craig County Boys at the Buchanan Theatre, a performance sponsored by the Buchanan Arts Series. This historic movie theater has been recently renovated with new seats and paint and it looks great!

We were thrilled to see the theater fill up to capacity. The Strings were on first, and we presented a shortened version of our “Musical Tour of Oriskany” concert, similar to the one we did at the Rex Theatre in Galax back in January, with a few new (old) songs added. One “new” song that we’re all becoming particularly fond of is “Will You Miss Me?”, an old Carter family tune. The crowd seemed to enjoy the old-time music and anecdotes of Oriskany life. We spotted a lot of friends and family in the audience and, as usual, were so grateful to see them there. James (Junior) Christian of the Craig County Boys also played guitar and sang with us-double duty for him that night! He’s a great musician and singer, and the Strings always feel so fortunate when he’s able to play with us.

After a short intermission, the Craig County Boys took the stage and gave a wonderful, energetic performance that the crowd loved. One thing that’s particularly good about this popular local bluegrass band is the variety of their music. They’re good at bluegrass standards, country songs, Western swing, old-time fiddle tunes, and even a few pop standards (bluegrass version, of course)! And I never get tired of hearing Junior sing! They do some really interesting arrangements of their songs too. They had their new CD, Springtime on the Mountain, on sale for the first time that night and it looked like sales were brisk.

June 10-12 “The Oriskany Strings“, along with special guests James & Shirley Christian, traveled again to Galax, VA for the Leaf & String Festival. This festival is a must attend for all lovers of old time string and/or bluegrass music. There were three different “stages”: one for young musicians, one for bluegrass, and one for old time music.

Not only was the music enjoyable, but we took advantage of other attractions. Food booths were in abundance, as were crafts booths. Carol and Jack got some great handmade furniture for Old Surber Station!! And of course a trip to Galax is never complete without eating at The Smokehouse, a great barbecue restaurant. Barr’s Fiddle shop also was a draw for many. The festival had a building with displays of older instruments, etc., and many artists were there to answer questions as well as jamming with each other. Too much to see with too little time.

Our first performance was Friday at noon, and in spite of intermittent rain we had a good crowd. Most folks simply opened up their umbrellas and stayed. Others retreated inside nearby buildings, but returned when showers let up. A platform had been set up in front of the stage, and lots of dancers made use of it. Gene Guilliams, our lead singer, was with us for the performances, in spite of having had major surgery one week prior to the festival.

Saturday evening our group went to the Rex Theater to enjoy a concert by “Lonesome River Band”. A group of younger musicians called “No Speed Limit” gave a great lead in performance. Watch for more on this young group, as well as “Lonesome River Band”. Both groups gave us a great evening’s entertainment.

Sunday at 1:00 we performed again. The heat and humidity couldn’t keep the crowds away. We continue to be amazed at the enthusiasm of the folks in and around Galax. Their love for this music and venue is endless.

If you’ve never attended this festival, put it on your calendar for next year!