The 53rd Home Craft Days kicks off with the annual Opening Night Concert featuring Joe Newberry & April Verch, Linda Lay and Springfield Exit, and Tommy Bledsoe, Rich Kirby, Todd Meade, and Tyler Hughes!

 

Growing up, Joe Newberry and April Verch absorbed traditions of home and hearth—in his

Missouri Ozarks and her Ottawa Valley of Canada. Known around the world for his clawhammer banjo playing, Newberry is also a powerful guitarist, singer, and songwriter; and before launching her professional career, Verch was the first woman to win both the Canadian Grand Masters and Canadian Open Fiddling Championships. Whether it is the power of two voices lifted in harmony, or the sound of traditional tunes calling people to get up and move, these two masters of tradition put on an unforgettable show. Tunes, ballads, step dancing, and original songs ring like silver and shine like gold. With beautiful harmony singing,

breathtaking instrumentals, and exquisite dancing, Newberry & Verch hit the stage in perfect rhythm, making folks remember why this music existed in the first place.

 

After spending her early years with Janette Carter at the Carter Family Fold, bluegrass singer and bassist Linda Lay met her husband, guitarist and singer David Lay, and together they formed Springfield Exit with multi-instrumentalist David McLaughlin. Considered one of Virginia's outstanding trios of singers, Springfield Exit performs original songs and a wide variety of their own arrangements of old standards and traditional songs, with instrumentals influenced by both contemporary and traditional country, blues, swing, bluegrass, and folk. They have toured nationwide from Vermont to Washington state, including performances at the Library of Congress, Floyd Fest, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

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Tommy Bledsoe, Rich Kirby, Todd Meade, and Tyler Hughes will open Friday night’s concert. Tommy Bledsoe and Rich Kirby have extensive roots in Southwest Virginia’s old time music. The two have been instrumental in organizing music for Home Craft Days for over 40 years. Combined, the four represent over fifty years’ experience with the region’s music and its tradition bearers like Janette Carter, Uncle Charlie Osborne, and Ralph Stanley. 

 

The 2024 Home Craft Days celebration will be held October 18-20 on the campus of Mountain Empire Community College. Saturday and Sunday will feature performances every hour on two stages. The Crafts Festival will begin on Saturday, October 19 from 10-6 and Sunday, October 20 from 10-5. Enjoy the food, fun, and friendship of Southwest Virginia and come home to the Home Craft Days festival. Find more information and the schedule of events at homecraftdays.org.

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We're proud to be a co-sponsor of the festival and, alongside our partners at Mountain Empire Community

Community College, participate in the local arts traditions of our region.

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Pro-Art partners with a variety of venues, therefore individuals with accessibility needs or general questions are encouraged to call (276) 376-4520 or email the Pro-Art office at pro-art@uvawise.edu. For evolving conditions related to weather cancellations, or similar unforeseen circumstances, patrons are encouraged to check proartva.org for up-to-date information. 

 

Pro-Art is supported in part by the Virginia Commission for the Arts, which receives support from the Virginia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the C. Bascom Slemp Foundation, The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Mountain Empire Community College, the Columbus Phipps Foundation, and the Lee County Community Foundation.

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