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THE FREE LANCE-STAR
On the Web: Visit http://haymaker.net for ticket information and other concert details.
LAST YEAR's show by Alison Krauss and Union Station at the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds was so successful that the folks at Haymaker Productions decided to make it an annual tradition.
This year's Fredericksburg Summerfest will feature prominent bluegrass acts Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, and the Sam Bush Band, along with up-and-comers Mountain Heart and Fredericksburg's own Mark Newton Band. It will take place Saturday at the fairgrounds.
Proceeds will benefit the Dreamfield Foundation, which raises money for the George Beals Leadership Foundation and the Dr. Jocelyn Leighty Rodgers Scholarship.
Skaggs, hailed by some as the savior of country music, got his start in bluegrass at age 15, when he backed Ralph Stanley. He moved on to play with Tony Rice, J.D. Crowe and the New South and The Country Gentlemen.
The acclaimed mandolin picker led his own group, Boone Creek, for a couple years in the '70s. He began to make the transition to country music when he joined Emmylou Harris' band in 1977.
"I really enjoyed working with her and I recorded an album at that time, which was a little bit bluegrass and a little bit country," Skaggs said by phone from his bus on the way to Atlanta.
Skaggs played with Harris until 1980. The following year, he moved to Nashville, where he churned out hit neotraditional country tunes until the mid-'90s, when country music started taking a commercial turn.
"The rock 'n' roll, pop influence of country music wasn't where my heart was," Skaggs said.
After bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe died in 1996, Skaggs stepped up to fill the void. He started his own record label, Skaggs Family Records.
The switch to bluegrass made his lifestyle simpler and brought about a bluegrass renaissance, boosted by the soundtrack of "O Brother, Where Art Thou" in 2000.
Skaggs has won Grammy awards as well as several International Bluegrass Music Association awards. Every album he has released on his label has received a Grammy nomination.
He wasn't setting out to revolutionize anything, it just happened.
Skaggs credits his success in part to people who rooted for the underdog when they realized a successful country artist had begun to pursue a less profitable bluegrass career. But he recognizes his role in opening doors between the two genres.
Still down-to-earth after achieving so much, Skaggs appreciates the respect he has earned from his peers just by playing the "real music" he wanted to play.
His latest CD, "Brand New Strings," will be released next month, and he has several projects lined up for next year.
When he isn't traveling, he's in his studio producing his own albums and those of other Skaggs Family Records artists, including Mountain Heart, which also will perform at Summerfest.
Mountain Heart burst onto the bluegrass scene about five years ago and have already received a slew of International Bluegrass Music Association awards.
The band's members have always aimed to make bluegrass accessible to a wider audience, said founding guitarist and vocalist Steve Gulley from his home in Cumberland Gap in eastern Tennessee.
A veteran of Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Gulley formed Mountain Heart with fellow Quicksilver member Barry Abernathy and former Union Station mandolin player Adam Steffey.
They'd had great experiences with the groups they'd played with, Gulley said, but the musicians felt they could grow more as artists by forming their own band.
Fiddle player Jim VanCleve, bassist Jason Moore and guitarist Clay Jones have helped propel Mountain Heart to the forefront of bluegrass circles in no time at all.
Their progressive sound caught the ear of Skaggs, who produced their latest CD, "Force of Nature."
Skaggs has done a lot for the band as a producer and a friend, said Gulley, who has known Skaggs for 22 years and calls him a musical hero.
Like Skaggs, the members of Mountain Heart have always just played what they want to play.
"I grew up in a musical familyand got to be one of the fortunate ones who get to do what they love for a living," Gulley said.
Also at Summerfest will be Mark Newton, who will visit Fredericksburg for the first time since moving to a home near Nashville last month.
A graduate of James Monroe High School, Newton looks forward to coming home to play with such respected musicians and to support what he hopes will continue to be an annual event.
He misses his family and friends in Fredericksburg, but "this is an exciting time for me musically because I'm doing well as an artist, and my records are doing extremely well," Newton said from his home in Franklin, Tenn., about 15 miles south of Nashville.
A professional musician for nearly 30 years, Newton has taken his traditional bluegrass sound to a lot of cities, but one still reigns supreme, he said.
"Of all the places in the United Statesthere's no better place to play bluegrass music than Fredericksburg."
To reach EMILY GILMORE: 540/374-5426 egilmore@freelancestar.com