The Whitetop Mountain Band

The Whitetop Mountain Band
Performing Artists/Bands: 
Thursday, September 6, 2012 - 20:00 - 23:00
Price: 
£8 adv, £10 OTD

The Mason's Arms, Harrow Road, West London

If you've never had the full Appalachian string band experience now's your chance. The Whitetop Mountain band are the most popular mountain dance band in the South Eastern States.  With deep family and musical roots in the area Thornton and Emily Spencer joined the legendary fiddler Albert Hash's band in the seventies, and are considered  true defenders of the faith today: At the recently opened permanent exhibition Roots of American Music at the Blue Ridge Music Centre in Virginia, the band has a central role in the story of this music and culture.

Their shows are very versatile and entertaining containing everything from fiddle/banjo instrumentals to powerful solos and harmony vocals on blues, classic country, honky tonk, traditional bluegrass numbers, old timey ballads, originals, and four part mountain gospel songs. Shows also include flat foot dancing. They have a great following at square dances all over Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky at venues like the Carter Family Fold. The band has also performed at all sorts of venues throughout the United States from festivals to concerts, competitions, and colleges, including: The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, National Folklife Festival, World Music Institute in NYC, Carter Family Festival, Dock Boggs Festival, World Fair, Virginia Arts Festival, Floydfest, Ola Belle Reed Festival and Merlefest.