David Holt: Crossing the musical bridge of Appalachia

David Holt will be performing as part of the Mountain Heritage Day celebration on Sept. 27 at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

http://www.smokymountainnews.com/aae/item/14272-crossing-the-musical-bridge-of-appalachia
the Smoky Mountain News
Wednesday, 17 September 2014 14:57
Crossing the musical bridge of Appalachia
Written by Garret K. Woodward

Born in Texas, raised and schooled in California, Holt took off after college for the ancient, mystical mountains of Western North Carolina. Fascinated with the traditional old-time folk and string music echoing from Southern Appalachia, he began an endless journey to find, learn and perpetuate the eternal voices and sounds radiating from back hollers and front porches.

Throughout the last four and a half decades, Holt has peeled back innumerable layers of the history of Southern Appalachia. He has traversed down every highway, Main Street, dirt back road and driveway in search of faces, places and spaces that were the cultural roots and essence of a region beloved, yet seemingly fading in the rushed priorities and instant gratification of a modern world.

At 67, Holt is a four-time Grammy Award recipient, with his most notable win being for Best Traditional Folk Recording in 2002 for the album “Legacy,” which was a collaboration with the late Doc Watson — a legendary Western North Carolina musician whose face would most definitely be found on the Mount Rushmore of traditional music.

The epitome of a jack-of-all-trades, Holt founded and directed the Appalachian Music Program at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, the only program of its kind in the country. He also has hosted the program “Riverwalk” on public radio, as well as the television shows “Great Scenic Railway Journeys” and “North Carolina Mountain Treasures.” Traveling the world over, he exhales the fresh, pure mountain air in performance and in person, with his blood flowing in excitement like the wild rivers circulating through the bountiful body of Southern Appalachia.... MORE at the link posted above.