The Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, in cooperation with the North Carolina Humanities Council, continues its exploration of the area’s musical heritage as it hosts the local showing of “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music,” a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition.
On Wednesday at noon, visitors can bring their lunch and join Ashe County’s Butch Barker for a “Lunch and Learn” at the Museum Annex, 144 W. Oak St. This program is free to the public.
Butch Barker plays guitar, bass and sings led and harmony vocals with Creek Junction. His foremost musical influences were his family from northwestern North Carolina. His mother played guitar and his grandfather played the fiddle. By the age of 5, Butch would go with his father to see musicians like Flat and Scruggs, The Stanley Brothers, and Reno and Smiley. Butch is now an accomplished musician and has won numerous awards. He has played with various bands and toured with Wayne Henderson both nationally and internationally. For the past 15 years, Butch Barker has been a member of Rock Bottom Bluegrass Band.
The New Harmonies exhibit will be on view through April 24. Mount Airy Museum of Regional History and the surrounding community was expressly chosen by the North Carolina Humanities Council to host “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music” as part of the Museum on Main Street project — a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations.
“I can’t fully express how pleased we’ve been with ‘New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music,’” said Matt Edwards, executive director of the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. “In the two weeks since the exhibit opened, we’ve had well over 1,000. People are regularly traveling from the metro Charlotte area and the Research Triangle to see New Harmonies and visit our community, and we’ve documented visitors from as far away as Minnesota and Texas since the opening. New Harmonies has provided great exposure for the museum and for Mount Airy.”
Upcoming program events include weekly lunch and learns, a Diddley Bow Workshop, a Roads Scholar from the North Carolina Humanities Council and a free community concert. For a complete listing of related programs, visit www.northcarolinamuseum.org or call 786-4478.
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