Saturday on the Mountain
We went to the Wayne Henderson Music Festival last Saturday at Grayson Highlands State Park in Grayson County, Virginia. The park is one of my favorite places on this earth.
The weather was perfect and produced a good turnout for the festival. The only thing I learned from the guitar contest, however, was that I suffer from a debilitating lack of talent!
Here's a photograph of Wayne Henderson at the festival bearing his name. What an amazing guy. He began playing and building guitars as a child. Today, at age 59, he's world famous as both a player and luthier.
In fact, when he built a guitar (#326) for Eric Clapton a few years ago, he built a second, identical one (#327) that recently sold at auction at Christies for $31,200, a record for a guitar built by a living luthier.
Not bad for a former postal carrier from Rugby, VA! By the way, he gave the entire proceeds of that sale to the Wayne Henderson Music Festival nonprofit organization for their use in furthering the education of our youth in the music of Appalachia.
After the festival, the CFO, Sam and I took a short hike on the portion of the Appalachian Trail that passes through Grayson Highlands. The atmosphere was hazy but the Catawba rhododendrum still in bloom up there helped brighten the day.
The wild ponies were out and about with their new foals at Massie Gap. That's a sure sign that spring has sprung in the High Country!
After a truly disappointing dinner at Motley's Barbecue, the only joint in Alleghany County, it was home for a Martini and cigar while reclining in my beloved Lounge Lizard on the deck, watching a subtly beautiful sunset over the Peach Bottom Mountains turn into the dark of night.
And, so to bed after a very pleasant day.
The weather was perfect and produced a good turnout for the festival. The only thing I learned from the guitar contest, however, was that I suffer from a debilitating lack of talent!
Here's a photograph of Wayne Henderson at the festival bearing his name. What an amazing guy. He began playing and building guitars as a child. Today, at age 59, he's world famous as both a player and luthier.
In fact, when he built a guitar (#326) for Eric Clapton a few years ago, he built a second, identical one (#327) that recently sold at auction at Christies for $31,200, a record for a guitar built by a living luthier.
Not bad for a former postal carrier from Rugby, VA! By the way, he gave the entire proceeds of that sale to the Wayne Henderson Music Festival nonprofit organization for their use in furthering the education of our youth in the music of Appalachia.
After the festival, the CFO, Sam and I took a short hike on the portion of the Appalachian Trail that passes through Grayson Highlands. The atmosphere was hazy but the Catawba rhododendrum still in bloom up there helped brighten the day.
The wild ponies were out and about with their new foals at Massie Gap. That's a sure sign that spring has sprung in the High Country!
After a truly disappointing dinner at Motley's Barbecue, the only joint in Alleghany County, it was home for a Martini and cigar while reclining in my beloved Lounge Lizard on the deck, watching a subtly beautiful sunset over the Peach Bottom Mountains turn into the dark of night.
And, so to bed after a very pleasant day.
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