The Southern Highland Reader

REGIONAL–Popular regional bluegrass act Balsam Range has had a breakout year.

Editor Kelly Donaldson at the Cashiers Crossroads Chronicle sums it up in this nice feature.

Here’s an excerpt:

The five-man band is wrapping up a phenomenal year that included touring, a number one song, a top five album and an appearance on a television show with one of bluegrass music’s hottest acts.

Balsam Range features Tuckaesegee native Darren Nicholson on vocals and mandolin, along with Western Carolina University graduates Buddy Melton (fiddle, vocals) and Grammy award winner Marc Pruett (banjo). The band is rounded out by Haywood County’s Caleb Smith on guitar and vocals and Tim Surrett on bass and vocals.

The boys recently took the stage on Saturday, Oct. 17 for a live TV taping of the popular PBS program “Song of the Mountains.” Balsam Range performed alongside Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, Next Best Thing Band, and Fall Creek.

Read the entire piece here.

CULLOWHEE – The 2008-09 old-time and bluegrass music concert/jam session series at Western Carolina University will conclude Thursday, April 2, with a concert by the Hominy Valley Boys, followed by a jam session in which local musicians are invited to participate.

Hailing from Candler, the Hominy Valley Boys have performed at many venues across Western North Carolina and are featured on the DVD “Rank Strangers.”

The 7 p.m. concert in the auditorium of WCU’s Mountain Heritage Center is free and open to everyone. Pickers and singers of all ages and experience levels are invited to take part in the jam session of old-time and bluegrass music that will follow the concert.

The Mountain Heritage Center is located on the ground floor of WCU’s H.F. Robinson Administration Building. For more information, call the museum at (828) 227-7129.