2009 Freshwater Folk Festival Performers
The performing lineup at the 5th annual Freshwater Folk Festival offers a little something for everyone. We are proud to have the winners of the 2008 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Award for Recorded Event of the Year, The Lilly Mountaineers, featuring 2002 Hall of Fame inductee Everett Lilly headlining the day's musical acts. Don't miss this opportunity to meet one of the forefathers of bluegrass music.
 (From left to right) Front Row: Everett Lilly. Back Row: Steve Sparks; guest guitarist Brian Wheeler; Mark Lilly; Rad Lewis; Daniel Lilly; Beth Sparks; and guest fiddler, Dorse Sears. |
Singer and mandolinist Everett Lilly is one of the great pioneers in bluegrass music and one of its most influential musicians. Everett and his brother, Bea (Michael Burt Lilly) began their career as a brother duet in the late 1930's, singing in churches and playing shows near their home in Clear Creek, WV. The Lilly Brothers became regulars on radio, eventually playing on such shows as the WWVA Wheeling Jamboree in Wheeling, WV, further increasing their popularity. In 1950, Everett joined Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys playing mandolin and singing tenor. He wrote several songs recorded by Flatt & Scruggs, including “Your Love Is Like A Flower. Everett rejoined Bea as The Lilly Brothers in 1952 and they relocated to Boston. There, along with banjoist Don Stover and, for a while, fiddler Tex Logan, they began an amazing sixteen-year gig as the house band at the Hillbilly Ranch and performed daily radio shows on WCOP. They also recorded a number of excellent and highly influential LPs, introducing a whole new regional audience and a new generation to bluegrass music. In 1970, Everett chose to return to West Virginia, but the Lilly Brothers continued to perform at bluegrass festivals and tour overseas. He is credited with introducing bluegrass music to Japan, having toured there several times in the seventies. In 2002, The Lilly Brothers & Don Stover were inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association's Hall of Honor, the highest tribute that the bluegrass community can give. They were also inducted into the WV Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Everett Lilly was the winner of the 2009 Vandalia Award at the Vandalia Gathering. Mr. Lilly and The Lilly Mountaineers were winners of the 2008 IBMA Recorded Event of the Year Award for their latest album, Everett Lilly & Everybody and Their Brother. The album features guest artists Rhonda Vincent, Marty Stuart, David Ball, Ronnie and Rob McCoury, and other bluegrass-greats. Other nominees in this category included Ricky Skaggs, John Prine, The Whites, The Lewis Family, and Larry Sparks. Everett Lilly has passed on his love of music to his children. His sons Daniel and Mark perform with him in his current band, The Lilly Mountaineers. The IBMA-winning brothers have spent a lifetime touring the country and Canada, performing for countless audiences and making notable television appearances on The Grand Ole Opry. Members of the band also include drummer Steve Sparks, singer Beth Sparks, IBMA winner and WV State Fiddle Champion Rad Lewis. This performance will also feature guest fiddler, Luke Shamblin. |
| Laura Light & The Avant Gardeners | ||
|
Funky, homegrown and hot… the Avant Gardeners are fiddler and
vocalist Laura Light, George Paul on piano and accordion, Dave Wiesler on
keyboards, guitar and mandolin and Dan Sebring on guitar. For larger venues,
Jim Roberts joins the group on percussion. The tunes are eclectic, original
and rootsy - The deep grooves of the band's mixture of traditional and composed tunes have contributed to the delirium of dancers at countless dances and concerts from coast to coast. Their range of performing styles from traditional swing, Celtic and old time and their facile improvisation on fiddle, piano, accordion, guitar, mandolin, and percussion have given this group their reputation as one of the premier contra and swing dance bands in the country. |
 The Avant Gardeners are: George Paul; Laura Light; & Dave Wiesler |
|