RTP-area local music and culture

[Dave Tilley <dave AT hoedown.org>]

I wanted to let folks know about an upcoming show on Thurs Jan 31  
that I'm organizing in Durham featuring early country music from two  
fantastic singers and guitar/mandolin players: John Lilly and Jim  
Watson.   Details are below. Come out and support live music in Durham.

-dave

-----------------------------

The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown presents an evening with John Lilly and  
Jim Watson
Thursday Jan 31 – 7:30pm – At the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham

In a Pre-Groundhog-Day Concert Celebrating the Music of Jimmie  
Rodgers - “The Father of Country Music”

Concert info and advance tickets available at: http://bullcityroots.org
Tickets $10 in advance -- or $12 at the door

West Virginia Guitarist and Songwriter John Lilly will be in town  
Thursday Jan 31rst with Chapel Hill’s own Jim Watson for an evening  
of early country music, old-time string band music, honky-tonk tunes,  
Bluegrass, Americana and traditional folk music.

Seeing as how John and Jim are connoisseurs of the music of the  
legendary Father of Country Music, Mr. Jimmie Rodgers, we thought it  
might be fun to get these two gents together with their guitars and  
mandolins and their mighty fine voices to sing some songs from the  
Jimmie Rodgers canon.  In addition to playing some songs associated  
with Jimmie Rodgers, they will also be playing and singing songs from  
the pen of Hank Williams, Charlie Patton, Bill Monroe, Flatt and  
Scruggs, Ralph Blizard, Hazel Dickens, Bob Wills and original songs  
as well.


“If Hank Williams had a sunny disposition, he’d be John Lilly”

John Lilly, a former tour guide at The Country Music Hall of Fame in  
Nashville, hails from Charleston, West Virginia. Over the years he  
has toured all over the country with Ralph Blizard and The New  
Southern Ramblers as well as with the Green Grass Cloggers Dance  
Team. Lilly is an outstanding guitarist, preferring to play an  
unusual one-of-a-kind hollow-body guitar, but is equally comfortable  
on mandolin. John is recognized nationally as a powerful performing  
songwriter. In 2005, he won the national Ghost Writers In the Sky  
songwriting contest, sponsored by HankFest, a Chicago-based festival  
honoring the music of Hank Williams. John won a customized guitar for  
his original song "Blue Highway." He was a finalist in the 2002 Chris  
Austin Songwriting Competition at MerleFest in Wilkesboro, North  
Carolina, chosen from 853 entries and placing third in the Country  
category for his song "Broken Moon." John has three albums of  
original songs and country classics, including the brand new “Haunted  
Honky Tonk” CD which was rated #1 in airplay in October 2007 by the  
DJ’s reporting to the FAR (Freeform American Roots) radio chart.

You can read more about John Lilly and listen to some of his music  
online at: http://www.johnlillymusic.com/


Jim Watson lives in Chapel Hill, but had the good sense to be born in  
Durham, where he wound up playing music at Bobbie and Tommy  
Thompson’s house in the Hollow Rock community. Jim was part of the  
old-time scene that grew out of the Thompson's parties - a scene that  
produced the Hollow Rock String Band and The Fuzzy Mountain String  
Band, amongst others, and was a major center of old-time music in the  
area. In 1972, Tommy Thompson, Bill Hicks and Jim Watson formed a  
band of their own, The Red Clay Ramblers, soon adding Mike Craver to  
the group, While the Ramblers began much like their predecessors,  
they soon evolved into unique and eclectic entertainers whose  
repertoire ranged from dance tunes to ballads, swing, jazz, blues,  
Tin Pan Alley classics and show tunes.  In 1975, they took to the New  
York stage in Diamond Studs and, a decade later, appeared in Sam  
Shepard's A Lie of the Mind. Jim played with the Ramblers for 14  
years, recording over 9 albums on Folkways, Flying Fish and Sugar  
Hill Records. Jim is widely recoginized in bluegrass, country, and  
oldtime music circles as an amazing singer, able to hit those high  
tenor notes with ease as well as fall in with multi-part harmonies at  
the drop of a hat. His love of early Carter Family, Charlie Poole and  
Jimmie Rodgers tunes shows through in everything he does.  Jim has  
gone on to play with Robin and Linda Williams over the years, having  
begun working with them regularly in the late 80’s and joining up  
with them full time for Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Group  
which tours across the country at a breakneck pace throughout the  
year, frequently appearing on A Prarie Home Companion. Jim is also  
known for playing in the world-famous country duet Duke LaCrosse and  
Pinky Wyoming as well as a local bluegrass band, The Green Level  
Entertainers. When not out on the road with Robin and Linda, Jim  
occasionally can be found playing with fellow Original Red Clay  
Ramblers: Bill Hicks and Mike Craver, along with Joe Newberry, who  
sometimes simply bill themselves as The Ramblers.  Jim’s love for  
early country music can be heard in his recent solo recordings Don’t  
Tell Me, I Don’t Know and Willie’s Redemption, both available on the  
Barker label.  And for 22 years straight, Jim has ushered in the  
Christmas season with his special Christmas Show at The Cave in  
Chapel Hill. Mighty Fine, indeed.

You can read more about Jim Watson and listen to some of his music  
online at: http://www.originalredclayramblers.com/jimnow.htm