Presenting: Rich and the Poor Folks

The Ralph Stanley Museum & Traditional Mountain Music Center and the Jettie Baker Center will present Rich and the Poor Folks on Saturday, October 6th at 7:00 p.m. at the Jettie Baker Center in Clintwood. This event is the latest addition to the Music Along the Crooked Road concert series, which brings together the best in regional old-time, bluegrass, and gospel music to create wonderful evenings of culture and entertainment.

Rich and the Poor Folks, Letcher County Kentucky's premier old-time string band, offers a lively blend of fiddle tunes seasoned with ballads, Carter Family songs, and contemporary mountain songs. Most of the band's repertoire comes from the members' home territories of eastern Kentucky and southwest Virginia, hot spots for one of America's great musical traditions.

The band brings a wealth of experience to the stage. Fiddler Rich Kirby, originally from Kentucky, has lived in Scott County, Virginia for thirty years and has performed across the region and nationally with John McCutcheon, Tommy Bledsoe, Wry Straw, and other well-known musicians. Guitarist Roy Tackett and bassist Nate Polly, natives of Letcher County, Kentucky, are veterans of many bands, including Uncle Dave Dougherty and the Trough Sloppers, Appalshop's Roadside Theater, and Alan Amburgey and Kentucky Mountain Grass. The group's newest member, banjoist Shane Hall, plays a hard-driving style learned from banjo greats Jimmy McCown and George Gibdon.

Rich and the Poor Folks got together in spring 2006 after playing together informally at jam sessions and festivals. Their performances include pieces they've learned in person from Art Stamper, Uncle Charlie Osborne, Thornton Spencer, George Gibson, ballad singer Addie Graham (Rich's grandmother), Hazel Dickens, and many more. Past performances include the Ralph Stanley Museum, the Breaks Interstate Park Old Time Music Festival, Hillbilly Days, the Morehead Old Time Fiddlers Convention, and the Dock Boggs Festival. They also appear regularly at Appalshop, a not-for-profit media and arts center in Whitesburg, Kentucky, where Rich and Roy DJ oldtime music shows on the community public radio station WMMT-FM.

For more information about Rich and the Poor Folks, visit their home on the web at www.myspace.com/richandthepoorfolks .

Admission to this event will be $5.00 per person, and one child (ages 12 and under) per paying adult will be admitted free, so bring the whole family for a wonderful evening of regional music!

The "Music Along the Crooked Road" series of concerts will be held on the first Saturday evening of every month at the Jettie Baker Center with a scheduled performance time of 7 p.m. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Museum & Center and the Jettie Baker Center during the work week leading up to each performance.

For more information about upcoming events in the "Music Along the Crooked Road" series, or to purchase tickets, please visit our website at www.ralphstanleymuseum.com , call the Museum & Center at 926-8550, or call the Jettie Baker Center at 926-8694.