Lifetime record: Born in 1932, Willard Gayheart recalls the early influence of hearing the 1936 recording of Mainer’s Mountaineers’ “Maple on the Hill.” “I listened to that record over and over,” he says. “I just couldn’t get enough of it.” So it may come as a surprise that the accomplished guitarist and songwriter only recently […]
By Ramona Martinez In “Time to Get Ready: fotografía social,” a National Museum of Mexican Art exhibit on view at The Fralin Museum of Art, you will find all the classic elements one expects in a “good” photography show. Maria Varela’s photographs are compositionally sophisticated and emotionally intimate. They are candids, yet they look like […]
By Alexis Gravely Christa Bennett is no stranger to community advocacy. After earning a master’s degree from King’s College London in international relations with a focus on human rights, she directed an organization focused on ending the genocide in Sudan. She’s worked on community development projects in Rwanda and lobbied the British Parliament. Since moving […]
Making space: City Council approves land purchase for downtown parking lot Late Monday evening, City Council voted unanimously to purchase Albemarle County’s portion of the 701 E. Market St. lot, where it plans to build a new, 300-car parking garage. The $1.28 million purchase—half of the land’s appraised value—is part of an agreement between the city […]
Hiss honesty. M.C. Taylor has been playing music as Hiss Golden Messenger for more than 10 years. His style, though memorable, is hard to categorize as squarely folk, Americana, or gospel. Sure, there is mandolin and a folky twang, but on the next track you might be surprised by an electronic piano. The things that […]
Let it fly. Performing as clever pranksters since 1973, The Flying Karamazov Brothers have happily basked in the career-long praise from audiences and critics who call them zany, goofy, and creative. The Brothers mix juggling, theatrics, and comedy into their precisely calibrated act in which every joke and acrobatic stunt lands perfectly. According to Variety, […]
Thanks, I’m out. Powder-dry turkey leftovers, crusty chunks of stuffing, gelatinous gravy, and pie that’s been hacked at all angles by a variety of utensils and fingers. This is the reality of the day after Thanksgiving. Get outta there before there’s another load of dishes to dry, and shake off the tryptophan at the Hangover […]
Bin buster. In the early days of their career Bela Fleck and the Flecktones posed a challenge to record store clerks. By incorporating classical and jazz, bluegrass and African music, plus electric blues and Eastern European folk into their music, the group defied catgorization while opening fresh perspectives among their peers. “I think we gave […]
Burnin’ bluegrass: Dry Branch Fire Squad has played at every single Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, a bi-annual gathering that will celebrate its 80th concert in 2020. That’s 40 years of performances, and it speaks to why DBFS describes itself as “aggressively traditional.” Frontman Ron Thomason has been called the “Forrest Gump of Bluegrass” because he’s so […]
Untold stories “There’s a whole story of black Charlottesville that no one knows about,” Tanesha Hudson narrates over the opening sequence of her film A Legacy Unbroken: The Story of Black Charlottesville. The documentary premiered in front of a sold-out crowd at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center on Saturday. Hudson has been working […]