Tryon Fine Arts Center will host a benefit concert for the Junior Appalachian Musician program on Thursday, July 24 at 7 p.m. on the Veh Stage. The concert, featuring Virginia Luthiers Gerald Anderson and Spencer Strickland, will raise money to provide scholarships for area students to participate in Pacolet JAM, scheduled to begin in September. Prior to the concert, there will be a silent auction as well as a display of instruments built by headliners Gerald Anderson and Spencer Strickland, who will be in town teaching a guitar building class at Tryon Arts and Crafts.

Anderson began making mandolins 31 years ago in Wayne Henderson’s shop and has since crafted more than 200 instruments. After he graduated from college, Anderson spent considerable time in the famous guitar maker’s busy workshop in Rugby, Va. observing and playing music with Henderson. Soon he developed an interest in making his own fine-quality instruments and set out to reproduce the sounds of the classic Gibson-Loar mandolins of the 1920s. He shared a workspace with Henderson until recently when Anderson moved his tools and instruments into the bottom level of his home. Over the past 30 years, Anderson has built over 110 guitars and 160 mandolins. Recently, he has completed instruments for Mumford and Sons, Carl Jackson (who used his new guitar on the recent Bristol Sessions project), and Dolly Parton.

In addition to his award-winning mandolin playing skills, Strickland has become a talented guitar and mandolin builder. In the fall of 2004, he began an apprenticeship with Anderson, sponsored by the Virginia Folklife Program and in November 2004, he completed his first mandolin. Later, he became a partner in Anderson-Strickland Instruments, and today operates from his shop in Lambsburg, Va. as Strickland Stringed Instruments. To date, Strickland has built over 40 guitars and 13 mandolins.

Also playing for the Benefit Concert are the bluegrass band New Five Cents, old time musicians Bob and Amy Buckingham, and the Sweet Potato Pie Kids, an ensemble of students from the JAM affiliate in Pickens, S.C. To start the evening off, Lance Smith and Mike Whethers will greet the audience with guitar and banjo at the front door.

JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians) is a regional program based in Va., which connects children with regional traditional music. The organization has over 25 affiliates throughout the Appalachians. TFAC will begin its affiliate program Pacolet JAM in September of 2014.

The instrument display and silent auction will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Mahler Room at Tryon Fine Arts Center. Admission to the concert is by donation. Visit www.tryonarts.org or call 828-859-8322 for more information on the concert and on the Pacolet JAM program at Tryon Fine Arts Center.

– article submitted 

by Marianne Carruth