The Patrick County Music Association’s (PCMA’s) biggest show of the year – Sammy Shelor’s Banjorama -will be held at the Patrick County High School Auditorium on Saturday, December 9. Doors open at 5 p.m., and the music will start at 6 p.m.
The show is sponsored by Hopkins Lumber and Patrick County Tourism.
Denny Alley, president of the PCMA, said the Lonesome River Band will headline the show along with Nu-Blu.
Since its formation in 1982, the Lonesome River Band has released 15 recording projects. The latest album, Outside Looking In was released in May 2019. Bridging the Tradition, released in 2016, is the group’s highest-performing album peaking at number two on the US Bluegrass.
Group leader Sammy Shelor, a Meadows of Dan native, also has appeared on more than two dozen other albums.
Shelor has devoted more than 50 years to honing his craft.
“My grandfather on my mom’s side played a banjo and my grandfather on my dad’s side loved” to hear banjo music, Shelor said. “I think the two of them decided I was going to be a banjo player before I was born.”
He was exposed to banjo music at an early age, he said, adding when he was 4 years old, his grandfather made a banjo using pieces of an old pressure cooker, wood rims, bolts, and wire clothes hangers. “It was a very playable banjo,” he said, chuckling.
Shelor was promised a real banjo if he learned to play two songs, “Cripple Creek” and “Old Joe Clark.” After learning them, Shelor visited his grandfather and played the songs for him. His grandfather was as good as his word, according to Shelor, who said, “I got the (promised) banjo and drug it back (home) across the field.”
Shelor has said he “always likes to play for hometown folks,” and his appearance at the show on Saturday will be “my great pleasure.”
He received the 2001 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Instrumental Album of the Year award, the IBMA Banjo Performer of the Year award for 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, and in 2012, was inducted into the 2009 Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame, and received the 2011 award for the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.
Alley said Nu-Blu has a nationally syndicated TV show called “Bluegrass Ridge,” a countdown of Bluegrass songs. The show is aired in more than 100 million homes worldwide.
“They host the show every Friday night. It comes on at midnight,” he said.
Other performers include Jay Adams, Clyde Bailey, Charlie Chaney, Barry Collins, Ronny Harrison, Nessie Hunt, Doug Joyce, Larry Mabe, Hersie McMillan, Tommy Morse, Gene Parker, and Sidney Watson.
Alley said all the performers are “within 30 miles of town” (Stuart).
Admission is free, though donations are encouraged. Prizes will be awarded throughout the night.
Concessions will be available for purchase from the Patrick County Shooting Education Team, with proceeds used to teach children in the area firearm safety.
For more information or to watch past music performances, visit Facebook.com/PatrickCountyMusicAssociation.
