PineCone & Town of Wake Forest present Al Batten & the Bluegrass Reunion

May 23, 2011 - PRLog -- North Carolina's own Al Batten & the Bluegrass Reunion return to Wake Forest to kick off PineCone's third season of music at the beautiful E Carroll Joyner Park Amphitheater. This concert is also the final concert in Wake Forest ARTS' Six Sundays in Spring series. The concert is set for Sunday, June 5 at 5 p.m. and is free and open to the public; the rain site is the Wake Forest Community House.

Al Batten & David Turnage both bought their first banjos in the same week from the same store! They founded the Bluegrass Reunion almost 40 years ago and have been performing together ever since.

The Bluegrass Reunion has superbly represented the traditional bluegrass sound and repertoire with performances throughout central and eastern North Carolina. When it comes to banjo playing, the "Three Ts"—taste, timing, and tone—are Batten's watchwords. His down-to-earth lead singing gets to the heart of the music as soon as he hits the first note. Batten has combined elements of the styles of Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, Bill Emerson, Walter Hensley, and Billy Edwards to develop his own unique style.

Turnage has contributed his solid and tasteful rhythm guitar playing as well as his baritone harmonies and heartfelt lead vocals to the band since founding the group with Batten. Though he started on the banjo, he quickly realized that this was not his instrument of choice and switched to the guitar. His rhythm playing and tasteful choice of "runs" on the guitar highlight the timing for the unit and sets the foundation for keeping the band "gelled" together. In addition, his solid baritone singing rounds out the trios, while his lead singing lends a smoother, more heartfelt feeling to the numbers he is featured on.

Mike Aldridge is the Bluegrass Reunion's mandolin player, and he is considered one of the finest traditional mandolin stylists in the nation today. His sense of timing and love for the traditional sound of bluegrass music have fit well with the Bluegrass Reunion and the direction they have taken their music over the years.

Veteran fiddler Johnny Ridge was influenced by the pioneer bluegrass fiddlers of the 1940s and '50s. His fiddling style is heavily influenced by some of the pioneers of bluegrass music's beginnings, as well as many second generation fiddlers: Chubby Wise, Tater Tate, Benny Martin, Jim Shumate, and Bobby Hicks, just to name a few. However, his greatest influence came from his father, who started him out playing at the age of 10. Ridge has worked in many different groups down through the years, most notably his 16-year stint with the now-defunct Bass Mountain Boys. Before joining the Bluegrass Reunion, he and his father reunited as members of Pete Corum & Rising Sun. Ridge also sings bass in the band's quartets and occasionally adds a baritone or lead voice to the trios.

Phil Patterson's devotion to the acoustic bass has made him one of the most solid and tasteful bluegrass bass players to be found. Patterson's musical roots go back to the country rock sound - he played electric bass in several local bands. But when the bluegrass bug hit him, he went all out to learn the acoustic bass. Studying not only the techniques and musical importance of the instrument, but the history behind it, as well, his dedication to the music has transformed him into one of the most solid bass players around.

Al Batten and the Bluegrass Reunion have six CDs to their credit: Bluegrass/Reunion Style; a two-CD set: New Black Suit and Don’t Be Left on the Mountain; Instrumentals & Insanities; Live at the Kinston Winter Bluegrass Festival; and 36 Years and Counting.

Join PineCone for an afternoon of North Carolina bluegrass at its finest! Bring a picnic and blankets or lawn chairs and enjoy the great music and beautiful scenery in Wake Forest's E Carroll Joyner Park.

PineCone presents a variety of free concerts each summer in partnership with Wake County towns. Currently, PineCone has partnerships with the Town of Cary and with the Town of Wake Forest. Find out more about other upcoming free performances at http://www.pinecone.org.

PineCone and the Town of Wake Forest continue to present free concerts in the summer and the fall in Wake Forest’s E Carroll Joyner Park. These concerts are free and open to the public.

Located at 701 Harris Road in Wake Forest, this 117 acre facility is the newest in the Wake Forest Parks system. The park includes a 1000 lawn seat amphitheatre, a performance area, the Walker garden, restored farm buildings and pecan grove, restrooms, pond, and approximately three miles of walking trails. Approximately half of the park is open meadows.

# # #

PineCone—the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music, is a private, nonprofit, charitable membership organization dedicated to preserving, presenting and promoting traditional music, dance and other folk performing arts.