We have been asked by a few patrons to describe the next Main Attractions Show Broadcast- A Man and His Dream in depth so please read the in depth description below: “BROADCAST: A MAN AND HIS DREAM - The Live Radio Show” will be an evening of Old Time music, storytelling, live radio show and film – and a delight for string music fans, lovers of Blue Ridge Mountain culture and history buffs. The show is a delightful trip through the very beginnings of the Blue Ridge tradition of music and the dream of one man and his radio station that helped keep that tradition alive. Inspired by the documentary film Broadcast: A Man and his Dream by Jordan Nance, this show weaves film and live music to create a unique and exciting experience for the audience. The live music show that accompanies the film will be the award-winning string musicians known as the Broadcast Buddies: Paul Brown, former NPR News morning anchor and Old Time musician who started his radio career at WPAQ; Terri McMurray, an award-winning Old Time banjo player; and Joe Newberry, songwriter, guitarist, banjo player and frequent guest musician on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. “This is a project that overflows with the same talent and passion that each one of the musicians put into the music that was tumbling out of the mountains in the 1930s and ‘40s. It was a joy to produce with Jordan Nance and an honor to put this evening of history, music and storytelling together for the first time in our beloved Thalian Hall,” commented Beth Crookham, the film’s producer. Broadcast tells the story of Ralph Epperson, who grew up in the foothills of southwestern Virginia in the 1920s and ‘30s and went on to found radio station WPAQ 740AM in Mount Airy, NC, in an effort to promote the string music native to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sixty-five years later, 740AM still plays and promotes Blue Grass, Old Time, and Gospel music along with daily Christian programming. Nance, who has lived with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy since birth, began his film interviews in 2006 with Ralph Epperson. Over the next six year Nance, along with his parents Keith and Joy, began traveling around the region filming and talking to family members, musicians, on-air talent, and listeners about Epperson and the early days of WPAQ when much of the music was broadcast live. “[These musicians] were famous because they were intense and they had an identifiable style, and they played it with fire, and they had probably more fun than many of us have in our entire life times in one Saturday night. Ralph Epperson provided a place for these people to be heard by their communities and then beyond,” commented Paul Brown of the Broadcast Buddies. In early 2012, as Nance entered the post-production phase of the project, he reached out to his friend and film producer, Beth Crookham, a Wilmington-based film producer whom he had met in 2005 on the set of the television show “One Tree Hill.” With the assistance of Crookham and the talents of many others, Broadcast: A Man and His Dream has become the realization of his longtime dream. Nance hopes this tribute to his good friend Ralph Epperson and the early days of WPAQ will spread and renew appreciation for radio and the string music of the Blue Ridge. Broadcast: A Man and His Dream, the first documentary film by Reidsville, North Carolina native, Jordan Nance, features a soundtrack of more than 50 original recordings from the early years of the station and interviews with some 15 pioneers of Blue Grass music including Benton Flippen, LW Lambert, Dewey Murphy and Russell Easter. Epperson’s broadcasts have enabled generations of musicians to develop and pass along the ages-old tradition of Blue Ridge-style string music that still endures and entertains today. Broadcast: A Man and His Dream appeared as part of IBMA’s (International Bluegrass Music Association) World of Bluegrass and premiered at the Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington, NC.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 18:10:10 +0000
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