Friday Sept. 27, Internationally Acclaimed World of Bluegrass Legend Plays the Pittsboro Roadhouse

RALEIGH, N.C. - Sept. 27, 2013 - PRLog -- Raleigh, North Carolina - The internationally known and award-winning bluegrass legend, Tommy Edwards, will  be stepping away from IBMA's World of Bluegrass Festival in Raleigh NC, to perform on the Pittsboro Roadhouse Stage, Friday September 27th at 8:00 p.m.

Chatham County's Tommy Edwards has twice been named World Champion Bluegrass Guitarist. Not surprising considering the decades of professional performances he's done, Edwards has recorded or performed live with an array of bluegrass greats, including Jimmy Martin, Bobby Hicks, Peter Rowan, Jimmy Mills, Dan Crary, Jack Lawrence, and Mike Cross. He has recorded a number of discs both in bands and solo, and published at least one book. He is widely sought after to perform as well as to speak on the history of traditional music of North Carolina.

"If you haven't followed the Bluegrass and Traditional Music world as many newcomers to the Triangle, you may not know of Tommy Edwards' legend making skills and accomplishments in the Bluegrass world," said Greg Lewis, owner of the Pittsboro Roadhouse & General Store (http://www.pittsbororoadhouse.com). "We've been honored to have worked closely with Edwards in getting our music program up to speed our first year. It's amazing who he knows, what he knows and who he has played with."

Tommy Edwards' show at the Pittsboro Roadhouse will begin at 8:00 p.m. Friday September 27, 2013.

Tommy Edwards spoke at the IBMA's World of Bluegrass Festival 2013 (http://www.worldofbluegrass.org/) in Raleighabout the history of traditional music in North Carolina.

More about Tommy Edwards

Siler City native Tommy Edwards was raised in a musical family.  His mom was a piano player and his father played harmonica and ukulele and sang in choirs and quartets.  Even though he is “as old as bluegrass”—having been born in 1945, the year that Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys—Edwards listened to rock and roll and R&B as a child.  Tthe folk revival hit as he was a teen, and he followed the sounds of the banjo from the Kingston Trio to Earl Scruggs before finding Bill Monroe, a life-changing experience that had important implications for Piedmont music history.

Edwards pulled a 1930s Gibson banjo out of a trashcan, cleaned it up, and began playing the music of his heroes. Banjo was his instrument while at East Carolina University, but when back in Siler City, the only bluegrass band in town only needed a guitar player, so he switched.

He credits his neighbors, brothers Paul and Donald Beane, with helping him find his voice in bluegrass, and he joined their band, "Tom and Jerry and The Beane Blossoms” (which also included mandolin player Jerry Stuart) in the late 1960s.  He preferred traditional approaches to bluegrass and developed a unique flat-picking guitar style that he perfected by adapting Bill Monroe’s mandolin leads, and absorbing the techniques of seasoned players like Doc Watson, Arthur Smith, and Don Reno.

Edwards was soon good enough to enter competitions at fiddler's conventions, where he met fellow North Carolina pickers like Jack Lawrence, Gen Meade, Michael Auman, Ray Cline, Wes Golding, and Jimmy Haley, as well as the teenaged Tony Rice. Edwards continued to garner accolades, including twice taking home top prize as "World Championship Bluegrass Guitarist" at the storied Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers & Bluegrass Festival.

More about the Pittsboro Roadhouse

The Pittsboro Roadhouse is in its second year at 39 West Street, just west of Courthouse Circle in downtown Pittsboro. It serves local fare, including local beef and bison burgers, local produce and locally made coffee and desserts. The menu is varied with salads, appetizers, entrees, pastas, seafood, burgers, steaks, desserts, and coffees and teas.The Pittsboro Roadhouse hosts live music from Tuesday through Saturday nghts every week, and at noon on Pittsboro First Sundays.  Pittsboro Roadhouse, 39 West Street, Pittsboro NC. 919-542-2432