John McEuen honored by Charlie Poole Festival

John McEuenJohn McEuen, a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, is to receive the 2013 Charlie Poole Lifetime Achievement Award.

Banjo player McEuen, who is scheduled to top the bill at the 18th Annual Charlie Poole Music Festival, is to receive the award at a presentation to take place on Friday evening June 14th at Governor Morehead Park, Eden, North Carolina. Afterwards he will showcase his special talents in concert at the festival.

On Saturday June 15th McEuen will deliver a guitar and banjo workshop.

McEuen was a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band from 1966 to 1986, and returned to the band in 2001. Besides his career with the Dirt Band, he has performed and recorded prolifically as a solo artist and in various group settings, as well as producing music CDs, film scores and videos.

In 2010 he won a Grammy award for his production of Steve Martin’s album, The Crow.

The festival which will take place over two days June 14th and 15th will also feature performances by Kinney Rorrer and the New North Carolina Ramblers; the Dry Hill Draggers; the UNC-G Old Time Ensemble; and open mic concerts by Pete Peterson and Kellie Allen; and Larry Hanks and Deborah Robins-Hanks.

There will be contests in multiple categories with a grand prize of $500 for Old-time, 3-finger banjo style. Also there will be an historic tour, jamming, and free camping for festival goers.

A full schedule is available online.

Charlie PooleThe Charlie Poole Music Festival is promoted by Piedmont Folk Legacies, Inc., a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and preserve the musical and cultural legacy of the Piedmont region and to celebrate its influence on the development of American vernacular music, as exemplified by Charlie Poole. The festival is held each year on the second weekend of June in Eden, North Carolina, home and final resting place of Poole.

Visit the website at www.charlie-poole.com for more information.

Charlie Poole (March 22, 1892 – May 21, 1931) was the pre-eminent old-time banjo player in the 1920s. He was the leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, an old-time string band that recorded many popular songs between 1925 and 1930.

Among his most popular songs are White House Blues, Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down, Hesitation Blues and Sweet Sunny South.

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About the Author

Richard Thompson

Richard F. Thompson is a long-standing free-lance writer specialising in bluegrass music topics. A two-time Editor of British Bluegrass News, he has been seriously interested in bluegrass music since about 1970. As well as contributing to that magazine, he has, in the past 30 plus years, had articles published by Country Music World, International Country Music News, Country Music People, Bluegrass Unlimited, MoonShiner (the Japanese bluegrass music journal) and Bluegrass Europe. He wrote the annotated series I'm On My Way Back To Old Kentucky, a daily memorial to Bill Monroe that culminated with an acknowledgement of what would have been his 100th birthday, on September 13, 2011.