Apply
Give

News & Events

News Articles

"Heritage Comes Home" Features a Collaboration of Some of the Best in the Business

It’s a classic “local boy makes good,” story.

Bryan SuttonBryan Sutton, raised in Buncombe County, has enjoyed a career of great success by any measure as a guitarist who has garnered multiple Grammy awards and recorded with the likes of Dolly Parton, Norah Jones and Doc Watson. Most notably, Sutton spent four years as a member of Ricky Skagg’s band, Kentucky Thunder, during a time when Skaggs reentered the bluegrass scene after a successful stint in mainstream country music.

On May 20, Sutton will come home to western North Carolina to perform in an event called Heritage Comes Home to benefit the Southern Appalachian Archives at Mars Hill College.

And – if that weren’t enough – he’s bringing a few friends.

  • Jerry Douglas, one of the world’s most renowned Dobro players, is a 12-time Grammy Award winner, and was the Country Music Association’s “Musician of the Year” in 2002, 2005, & 2007;
  • Tim O’Brien won a Grammy Award in 2005 for “Best Traditional Folk Album.” The International Bluegrass Music Association named him “Male Vocalist of the Year” in 1993 and 2006, and in 1990 named his band, Hot Rize, “Entertainer of the Year.”
  • Casey Driessen is a Grammy-nominated fiddle player who has gained world-wide attention for his famous red shoes and signature energetic percussive fiddling style.
  • Dennis Crouch is considered one of the nation’s foremost up-right bass players, recording and performing with Dolly Parton, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Emmy Lou Harris, Elvis Costello, Randy Travis, Steve Earl, and many others.

According to Laura Boosinger, Executive Director of the Madison County Arts Council, the collection of talent coming to one stage for Heritage Comes Home is something not to be missed.

Heritage Comes Home poster“This show is a big deal,” she said. “These guys are some of the finest musicians in the business. They have all worked together in different musical combinations, but this will be a one-time collaboration of all these superstars. We are fortunate to have them at Mars Hill College.”

Heritage Comes Home is a fitting title for the show, Boosinger said, in that each of the musicians slated to appear has either family or professional connections to the western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee region. Each of the musicians can also trace their musical heritage to the work of Bascom Lamar Lunsford, whose life and work is the subject of many items preserved in the Southern Appalachian Archives.

“This region has the best home-grown acoustic musicians in America, and the reason is they had lots of opportunities to learn and to perform for and with others who love this music. They had those opportunities because of Bascom’s insistence that mountain people be treated with respect and have pride in themselves. In a lot of ways, Bascom saved our mountain culture,” Boosinger said.

Heritage Comes Home will take place in Moore Auditorium at Mars Hill College, May 20 at 7 pm. General admission tickets are $30 each. Patron tickets, which include special seating and admission to a private reception with the performers, are $100 each. To purchase tickets, contact the Madison County Arts Council at 828-649-1301, or at info@madisoncountyarts.com. For more information about the event, contact Mars Hill College at 828/689-1571 or go to the main Heritage Comes Home webpage.

Funds raised will match a challenge grant from the National Endowment for Humanities, received by Mars Hill College in 2006. The grant benefits the Southern Appalachian Archives, which showcases the history and culture of traditional Appalachian music and folklore.