The Grascals to headline 40th annual Dock Boggs and Kate Peters Sturgill Festival Sept. 12-13

The award-winning bluegrass band The Grascals is the featured act at this year’s Dock Boggs and Kate Peters Sturgill Festival as one of the region’s most time-honored music traditions celebrates its 40th anniversary on Sept. 12-13 in Norton.

Appalachian Traditions, Inc., the event sponsor, booked a strong program of performers to mark the festival’s fourth decade.

The Grascals will release its newest album, “Keep On Walkin’,” in mid-July. The new collection of songs is the first release by the group in two years. The album is a mix of country and bluegrass.

Breaking Tradition, Ken Childress and Jim Mullins, Clack Mountain String Band, Dixie Bee Liners, Rich and Poor Folks, Ron Short, UVa-Wise Chancellor Emeritus “Papa Joe” Smiddy, Mike Seeger, Jack Wright and the students with the Mountain Empire Mountain Music School will perform.

All events are held at the Appalachian Traditions Village in Norton.

A special kick-off concert is set for Friday, Sept. 12. Nashville resident Beverly Jones McGee, a Wise County native, will perform with her husband Matt McGee and their band “The Big McAttack.” The McGees and the band perform a variety of music, including old country, bluegrass, new music and gospel. Admission to the Friday concert, which begins at 8 p.m., is $10.

Admission for the Saturday event is $10. The grounds open at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and performances begin at 11 a.m.  Students with valid school IDs are admitted free on Saturday. Traditional mountain food will be available for purchase.

The festival honors Moran Lee “Dock” Boggs, a Norton native who recorded traditional mountain songs, including his unique style of banjo plucking in a 1920 recording session in New York. Boggs, who died in 1971, received more fame when folk musician Mike Seeger came to Norton to record the retired coal miner’s music in the 1960s.  Boggs is also credited with influencing musician Bob Dylan and others. Seeger brought Boggs’ music to the national stage once again in 1997 when he released some of the Norton native’s recordings.

Kate Peters Sturgill, a native ballad singer and songwriter, is also honored by the festival because of her lifelong work with traditional mountain music. She is noted for helping A.P. Carter collect traditional mountain music. Sturgill and her band, “The Lonesome Pine Trailers,” performed on Norton radio station WNVA.

The event has drawn large crowds since its debut in 1969 on the campus of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise as a class project by Jack Wright, a student at what was then Clinch Valley College.

The festival is co-sponsored by The University of Virginia’s College at Wise and is supported by the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, and the Smithsonian Center for Folk Life and Cultural Heritage.

Appalachian Traditions, Inc. is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation, promotion and perpetuation of traditional Appalachian culture.

For more information, contact the UVa-Wise Office of College Relations at 276-328-0130, or Bill and Nancy Jones of Appalachian Traditions, Inc. at 276-431-3338.

Posted June 30, 2008