Grammy-nominated Old-Time Music Virtuoso Bruce Molsky Performs at the Opera House Saturday
“You know, there’s a relationship to the whole music scene from Pocahontas and in to Rockbridge County, where I used to live many, many years ago when I first started playing old-time fiddle.”
That’s Bruce Molsky, offering one possible explanation for why he was invited to be part of the 25th season of performances at the Pocahontas Opera House in Marlinton. A more likely reason, he’s often referred to as “an absolute master” of old-time music on the fiddle, banjo and guitar. He’ll be in performance at the Opera House Saturday, April 5th at 7pm. He talks about his love of this music.
“I started off just being kind of a general folk guitar player and listening the radio in New York where I grew up, “he said, “and was exposed to a lot of the southern music that was coming through the cities on the way to festivals like Newport. I loved bluegrass music; I listened to Doc Watson’s first LP until I just about wore it out.”
He says he picked up the fiddle and banjo in his late teens and moved to Lexington, Virginia in the mid-70s to be closer to the music he loved. He had the opportunity to play with many of the old-time musicians from Virginia and North Carolina, and even played with Maggie and Burl Hammons during a visit to the county.
“After a time, I realized that there was the rest of the world out there and this music was really an important part of our American cultural tapestry,” says Molsky. “And, of course there’s music from other cultures, I love blues and Swedish music and Norwegian music and on and on and on. I don’t care much about the destination, it’s the journey itself, and I have a lot of fun with it.”
He calls old-time music straight-forward, visceral and honest. Aside from performing, he also gets to share his passion for this music with his students as a Visiting Scholar in the American Roots Music program at Berklee College of Music.
“It’s been going on for sixteen years and I’ve been here since the beginning,” he says. “What I teach now is what I’ve always taught, I teach the old mountain tunes on fiddle and banjo and some guitar and vocal stuff. But it’s really important that the students have a context and a sense of the history and where it comes from, so we listen to a lot of old recordings, we try to pin down the technicalities that make the music sound unique and sound the way it sounds.”
Bruce talks about what you’ll hear at the Opera House Saturday night.
“You’re gonna hear a bunch of fiddle; anybody who’s listened to my music knows I love to sing and harmonize with the fiddle; [and] some dance tunes,” he says. “I’m a finger-style guitar player and that’s where I kinda go elsewhere on the map; I play some bluesy, rag-timey things, I play some African-inspired things. So it’s fiddle and banjo and guitar and songs and instrumental music and a few stories, a few lies, whatever suits the moment.”
All in all, what promises to be a very entertaining evening at the Opera House. Tickets for the show are $10.00 for adults; children 17 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased online at pocahontasoperahouse.org, the 4th Avenue Gallery in Marlinton or at the Opera House on Saturday night, subject to availability. The Pocahontas Opera House is a financial supporter of Allegheny Mountain Radio.
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