A Little Bit of Music

Jeff Little is coming home.

The homespun, bluegrass, honky-tonk, blues-playing Piano Man of the Blue Ridge is coming back to Boone — to perform on Mountain Home Music.

The concert will take place 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, at Rosen Concert Hall on the Appalachian State University campus in Boone.

Little started playing piano when he was 5, and he was playing professionally by the time he was 14.
He had plenty of inspiration. His father, Gerald, owned Dixie Music Shop in downtown Boone, and the shop was a gathering place for local banjo players, fiddlers and guitar players.

Little absorbed what he heard, but, always the innovator, he chose to play the piano, and he played this region’s music in his own style and in his own way.

He was encouraged by a frequent Dixie Music Shop patron, Doc Watson. As Little’s music bloomed, so, too, did his relationship with Watson. On many occasions, they became musical collaborators. But, according to Little, more importantly, they became lifelong friends.

The Washington Post observed, “…Just as Doc Watson once adapted fast tricky fiddle tunes to the guitar, so has Little to the piano.”

And in a review, National Public Radio said, “Jeff Little is a remarkable musician, steeped in the tradition of his native Blue Ridge, yet he is also a virtuosic and eclectic innovator.”

Joining Little for Saturday night’s concert will be two-time National Banjo Champion Steve Lewis and bass player Josh Scott. Both Lewis and Scott are a part of Mountain Home Music’s house band, The Mountain Home Bluegrass Boys.

Concert tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. Student tickets are $10, and children’s tickets cost $5.

Tickets may be purchased at Mast General Store (Boone and Valle Crucis), Fred’s General Mercantile on Beech Mountain, Kudzu Music in Boone and at Pandora’s Mailbox and the Dulcimer Shop, both in the Martin House on Main Street in downtown Blowing Rock.

Tickets may also be purchased online though the Mountain Home Music website, http://www.mountainhomemusic.com. For more information, visit the website or call (828) 964-3392.

The purpose of Mountain Home Music is to honor the music and the musicians of the Appalachian region.

Mountain Home Music is affiliated with the Blue Ridge Music Trails, a project of the North Carolina Arts Council.