7 bands to play habitat benefit

Major local bluegrass bands will play for the annual Amherst County Habitat for Humanity fundraising concert this weekend at Sweet Briar College.

Co-sponsored by Sweet Briar’s chaplain’s office and the college’s Habitat chapter, the concert is titled “Bluegrass: Building A Solid Foundation” and is set for 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday at the Murchison Lane Auditorium in the Babcock Building. The masters of ceremonies will be Rodney Taylor and WAMV’s Bob Langstaff.

Funds will help pay for Habitat’s 29th home, which will be constructed with energy-efficient materials and methods.

Seven local bands will be featured, all of which are well known from concerts and festivals in Virginia.

Favorites include The Little Mountain Boys, who will play for the seventh consecutive year. The “Boys” have received numerous awards for their bluegrass presentations supporting charities and people in need throughout the area. Some members of the group have played together for years.

Three group members, T.W., banjo and guitar, Scott, dobro and fiddle, and Mike Massie, mandolin, are brothers. They are joined by Ronnie Wood (lead vocals and guitar), A.D. Massie (lead vocals and guitar) and Kenneth Ford (bass) and Jeff Herring (lead vocals and guitar).

The band name is derived from the mountainous area in which the majority of the band members reside, the “Little Mountain” in Nelson County in the Lowesville-Piney River area.

Also from Nelson County is another family band, the James River Cut-Ups, from Roseland, many of whose members are members of the Ponton family. This band has appeared at the Drumheller’s Apple Festival and the Amherst County Museum. Band members are Kimberly Ponton Rhodes, lead vocals; Mike Ponton, mandolin and lead vocals; Kenneth Ponton, guitar and vocals; Wendall Ponton, vocals; Carroll Turner, bass and vocals; Andy Mansfield, banjo; Bill Overstreet, dobro, and Jack Morrison, fiddle.

Popular young performers include Amherst County’s Hard Drivin’ Grass, three of whose members will graduate from high school this spring and who plan to head off to college in 2010. Band members are Mason Thomas on guitar and lead vocals, Zack Mays on dobro and vocals and Zack’s twin sister, Samantha Mays, on bass and vocals. Charlie Llewellyn, now living in Richmond, has rejoined the band, playing banjo.

Hard Drivin’ Grass was formed in 2006 and recorded its first CD, “Pickin’ Proud,” the same year. In September 2007, they took first place in the eighth annual Virginia Folk Music Association state bluegrass band championships in Chesterfield. The youngest performers in this year’s concert are from Bedford’s Dobie Toms and Faithridge, a bluegrass and gospel band. Dobie Toms has been playing since age 11 and has recorded and performed extensively in Nashville. His 14-year old son, Wyatt, plays the fiddle and sings lead and harmony for Faithridge. Wyatt began fiddling at 4 and placed second in youth fiddle in 2006 at the Galax Fiddlers Convention. Hannah Markham, 16, who has been playing the mandolin for five years, sings lead and harmony. The newest member of the group is Wade Amos on bass. Seasoned banjo player Wayne Reid specializes in “driven bluegrass banjo,” and Dobie’s cousin, Jerry Dewitt, who plays dobro, has toured with Ricky Van Shelton and opened for Ricky Skaggs, Garth Brooks, Ralph Stanley and Waylon Jennings.

Two bands will be new to the concert this year. Solid Rock is a southern gospel and bluegrass gospel group that has been together since 2005. The group includes local musicians Steve Wilson, Torrance Hedrick and Roger Wood and is based in Madison Heights. The band’s motto is, “We have come together to serve our Lord through our music.” Steve Wilson has been in the music business since the age 13 and has played professionally with numerous bluegrass bands including Don Reno and Red Smiley and other artists in Tennessee and Virginia. Torrance Hedrick grew up in Lynch Station and started his musical career in bluegrass, country and then went to rock before turning to gospel about 10 years ago. Roger Wood, has sung with at least five different quartets, is a proud Cherokee from the Wolf Clan of the Echota Tribe and a highly decorated U.S. Air Force Vietnam veteran.

Charlottesville’s Country Poor Bluegrass Band has been playing for just one year and has quickly become popular in Charlottesville and Central Virginia. In 2009, the band played at the Red Hill Festival in October, and the Amherst County Bluegrass Association in November. Members of the band are Stacy Roach, guitar and lead vocals, Nelson Davis, banjo, Brian Herring, mandolin, and Jason Smith, bass.

Long Mountain Grass, another band named for a mountain, will also return this year. Long Mountain is in Amherst County, about five miles from Buena Vista. The band often appears in concerts for the James River Bluegrass Association, at the Glen Maury Bluegrass Festival in Buena Vista and in the Gladstone Fire Department annual bluegrass event.

Tickets are $12 and $10 for seniors and students. Children under 12 are $5.

For more information, call the Habitat office at (434) 946-9596. Tickets are available at www.lynchburgtickets.com; in Amherst at Amherst Milling Co., Blue Ridge Realty and Auctions, Lou’s Antique Mall on Second Street, Mays Farm Services Co. (also in Arrington) and at What A Blessing Bakery; in Faulconerville at Best Bet Mini Mart 1; in Monroe at Robertson’s; in Lynchburg at High Peak Sportswear (Main Street and Plaza locations) and at Lynchburg Music on Fort Avenue.