Mark Sanderford in his natural habitat – photo © Nancy Sluys
This weekend during the 57th Annual Fries Fiddlers’ Convention, Galax, VA-based photographer Mark Sanderford will be presented with the Fries Musical Heritage Award.
The award is given by the Legends of Grayson committee, the folks who put on the annual Legends of Grayson Old Time Weekend in April, commemorating the unique Appalachian music heritage of Grayson County, VA. The winner is one who has excelled in preserving, promoting, or performing the unique traditional music of Fries, and the surrounding communities of Grayson and Carroll Counties.
Sanderford will be presented with his award on Saturday evening at the convention, which began yesterday in Fries (pronounced “Freeze”), VA. Since the early 1970s he has been prominent throughout southwestern Virginia, capturing black and white images of old time and bluegrass performers, on and off stage, at shows, festivals, impromptu jams, and even in their homes.
Mark is also recognized for having recorded interviews with many of his subjects, as well as their playing, some of whom have now passed on, though their music and stories have been preserved in a number of exhibits. His role as an historian of regional musicians is also mentioned in the announcement of the award.
He is also a musician himself, though he tends to be found crouching on the floor at jams commemorating the events for posterity.
The Fries convention very nearly fell victim to changes in the local Volunteer Fire Department, who had hosted it since 1965 as a fund raiser. Having suffered losses a couple of years running, largely related to not having been able to hold it during the COVID shutdowns, they announced that the Department simply couldn’t face that possibility again. But fortunately town leaders got together and formed a new organization, the Fries Musical Heritage Committee, who will manage the convention going forward.
Many congratulations to Mark Sanderford for this honor!
Here is a meager sampling of the many terrific images available on Mark’s Facebook page.
