Last Updated on December 6, 2023 4:09 pm
BOONE, NC – The Jones House Cultural Center is delighted to announce an indoor concert featuring The Sheets Family Band, accompanied by special guests Cecil Gurganus and Kay Justice. This exceptional musical event will take place inside the Mazie Jones Gallery on Sunday, December 10th, starting at 4 pm.
Randy and Deborah Jean Sheets, along with their daughter Kelly Snider, have been performing old time mountain music as The Sheets Family Band for many years.
They have played many local and regional festivals and venues including the Blue Ridge Music Center, near Galax VA, sponsored by the National Council for traditional Arts. The group has performed multiple times at Merlefest, Bristol Rhythm and Roots, the Ola Belle Reed Festival and has played several shows for the Ashe County Arts Council and the Jones House in Boone.
Deborah Jean and Randy were invited to appear (along with Dale Jett, Linda and David Ray) to represent the Carter Family for a performance at the National Heritage awards in Washington DC when Janette Carter received the award in 2005. Later that year they played at the National Folk Festival in Richmond VA.
Deborah Jean is a former technology teacher at Watauga High School with her National Board Certification. Kelly is the arts teacher at Two Rivers Community School. Randy and Deborah Jean have both taught Boone Junior Appalachian Musicians program in Boone.
Kay Justice started playing guitar and singing folk music in the mid 1960’s. Later, while a student at Clinch Valley College, now UVa Wise, she was introduced to traditional Appalachian music. Since that time she has collected songs and tunes of the region. She has recorded and performed with Ginny Hawker and with Alice Gerrard and Gail Gillespie in the Herald Angel Band. She has been on numerous recordings and has performed and taught music throughout the U.S.
Since the 1970s, Cecil Gurganus has been an active member of Watauga County’s old-time music and dance community. In addition to performing, he has built several instruments, organized square dances, and his home is the site for an annual old-fashioned molasses boiling.
In the 1980s, Cecil started playing music with Mary Greene, a Watauga County native, and Eric Olsen from the influential Fuzzy Mountain String Band. Through Greene and Olsen, he met Ora Watson, a fiddler and North Carolina Folk Heritage Award recipient from Watauga County with whom he spent many years playing and performing. Cecil has been an instructor at the Swannanoa Gathering‘s Old-Time Music Week at Warren Wilson College, and he teaches in the Junior Appalachian Musicians program in Boone.
With only 40 seats available, reservations for this intimate concert are required. Seats are priced at $20 each. To secure your spot, please contact Town of Boone Cultural Resources Coordinator Brandon Holder at brandon.holder@townofboone.net or call the Jones House at 828-268-6280.
For more information about this event and the Jones House, please visit www.JonesHouse.org.
