It hardly seems a year ago, does it, since we mentioned the celebrations for Wade Mainer’s 100th birthday? Well, it is.
A North Carolina native, Mainer turns 101 today (Monday, April 21) and on Saturday, with the help of about 400 well-wishers, he marked the occasion with a concert performance, accompanied by his 89 year-old wife, Julia, on guitar; Mel Hammon, 83, on the fiddle and Virgil Shouse (bass).
A brief report about the event appears in The Flint Journal, a local Michigan newspaper near where he now resides.
Mainer used a cane and needed assistance to get onto the stage, set on the athletic field at Premier Indoor Sports on Torrey Road. But on stage and seated, banjo in hand, Mainer turned to his quartet and said “let’s do some of the old numbers.”
You can read the full piece on the Flint Journal web site, where they also created this web video with highlights from the concert.