Galax Fiddlers Convention | musicreporterblog

What happens when you throw a group of Nashville and Galax, Virginia, musicians who have never played together in a barn behind a farmhouse nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains? Musical magic.

That’s exactly what happened a year ago this month when the Wild Ponies – otherwise known as Doug and Telisha Williams – decided to get back to their musical and geographic roots.

“I had spent a lot time playing on my grandfather’s farm and it’s just a beautiful place to spend some time,” Doug said in a recent phone interview. “We wanted to play with people who played with my grandfather and then get some people from Nashville to play as well. It just felt like something we needed to do.” Continue reading →

This story also appeared on The Huffington Post here.

Mason Via is transcending musical genres with his unique brand of what has been described as Appalachian funky folk, soulful acoustic, rhythm and bluesgrass and groovy Americana. His debut album, “Up, Up, Up,” is an eclectic mix of Appalachian string instrumentation, world percussion and soulful vocals mixed with powerful songwriting.

But it’s his country roots that come through the loudest and clearest when he hits the stage. No surprise really when you learn that the Danbury, North Carolina, native grew up in the shadow of Hanging Rock State Park in rural Stokes County on the banks of the Dan River.

“Living in correspondence with nature is one of the main points of my music,” Via, pronounced like “sky,” explains on a new micro-documentary, “Back to the Rock,” on his website.

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Tag Archives: Galax Fiddlers Convention

Wild Ponies get back to their roots with ‘Galax’

On Huffington Post: Mason Via is headed ‘Up, Up, Up’ to perform at FloydFest for the first time