This coming Saturday (7/2) Eddie Adcock will be back in Crewe, Virginia for an evening concert and an afternoon broadcast you can hear online.
Accompanied by his wife and long term musical partner, Martha, and good friend, the well-respected bass player Tom Gray, Adcock returns to the place where he got his first break in bluegrass music, WSVS radio in Crewe. In 1955, after he had acquired his first banjo, he joined Smokey Graves & His Blue Star Boys and went to work with them at the radio station.
In the 1970s, the Adcocks began their partnership in the ground-breaking newgrass band IInd Generation, while Gray helped found the ever-popular Seldom Scene.
Adcock and Gray first performed together in the late 1950s, in one of the most innovative and influential bluegrass groups of all time, the Country Gentlemen. The iconic band, which also included Charlie Waller and John Duffey, were inducted together as a group into the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Honor in 1996; the first band to be so feted. They were inducted into the Washington Area Music Association’s Hall of Fame in that same year.
Their individual awards are too numerous to list. However, they are true legends in bluegrass music, yet always fresh and vital, these multi-award-winners – Eddie & Martha Adcock and Tom Gray – always present a memorable and highly entertaining evening of music.
Presented by the Virginia Museum of Radio Entertainment (VMRE), the three-hour afternoon concert starts at 4:00 p.m. and takes place on the grounds of the Crewe Public Library at 400 Tyler Street in Crewe.
Prior to the concert Eddie, Martha Adcock and Tom Gray will be live in the WSVS studio performing songs from their soon-to-be-released CD and discussing their music and history on the High Noon Hoedown (12:00 p.m. EDT) on WSVS 800 AM. The show, and all of WSVS’ broadcasts, can be heard online at www.wsvsam.com.
The Virginia Museum of Radio Entertainment is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization based in Crewe, Virginia (west of Richmond), at historic WSVS radio. The station went on the air in April of 1947. During the 1950s and ’60s its programming included a mix of bluegrass, gospel, and traditional country. Today WSVS stays true to that same format, while including the latest Americana artists as well. The station airs 3 hours of bluegrass each weekday, and has live bands perform on the High Noon Hoedown show on Saturdays.
The mission of the Virginia Museum of Radio Entertainment is to operate WSVS as a working museum, thus attracting visitors to the area and educating the community about its rich musical heritage. In addition, the VMRE is working with school systems in several counties to involve students in learning about the music business through special programs. The VMRE has hosted concerts with some of the top names in bluegrass and Americana music, including the Steep Canyon Rangers, Curly Seckler, Jesse McReynolds, Big Country Bluegrass, Riders in the Sky, Sierra Hull, Missy Raines, and The Quebe Sisters Band.
The VMRE welcomes donations, which are tax deductible. For more information about the VMRE or for concert information, call: 434-645-7734. Watch for a new VMRE web site, coming soon!
