A guitarist who has picked his way through Carnegie Hall, Fenway Park and the White House is set to play a free show inside a 122-year-old courtroom in Jefferson. Wayne Henderson, Herb Key and Friends will perform at the Museum of Ashe County History on Friday, October 23 at 7 p.m., bringing the musicians to the museum's restored 1904 courtroom stage.
The concert is part of the museum's Courthouse Concert Series, which showcases traditional regional musicians inside the restored courtroom, according to Ashe Post & Times. The museum has also hosted country performer Taylon Hope. Admission is free and open to the public, and more information is available by calling the museum at 336-846-1904.
A Guitar Maker With a Global Reach
Henderson, who lives in Rugby, Virginia, is renowned for his lightning-fast, clean acoustic guitar picking as well as the custom, highly sought-after guitars he builds by hand, the same report notes. He has won more than 300 ribbons at fiddling conventions and is currently finishing his 1,000th handmade guitar. His reputation for painstaking craftsmanship was chronicled in Allen St. John's 2005 book, Clapton's Guitar: Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument, which detailed Henderson's hand-carving process while he built a custom instrument for rock icon Eric Clapton, according to the book's publisher, Free Press.
Henderson received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1995, and he used the accompanying $10,000 grant to build the brick workshop in Rugby where he still crafts his instruments today, per Cardinal News. Rugby is a tiny Grayson County community located near the North Carolina border. Henderson's career has carried his guitar far beyond Appalachia: he has performed in seven countries, including Pakistan, and at major American venues including Fenway Park and the White House, according to Virginia Living.
Shared Stages With Herb Key
Henderson will be joined by Herb Key, a Wilkes County native born in 1936 who has spent more than 50 years as an instrument repair specialist and luthiery collaborator in Henderson's Rugby workshop, according to the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame. Key's love of mountain music took root during World War II, when he listened to Maybelle Carter's guitar picking on Carter Family 78 RPM records spun on his grandmother's windup Victrola. He went on to learn guitar from his mother and uncle before building his first banjo in the 1970s, per the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.
Henderson and Key recorded together on the 1977 Heritage Records vinyl LP Guitar Pickin' With Herb Key, which also featured regional acoustic guitarist Ray Cline, according to Discogs. In the 1970s, Key also co-founded the regional bluegrass band High Country Ramblers alongside influential Ashe County banjo player Larry Pennington, who mentored numerous musicians in the High Country music scene, the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area notes.
Inside the Historic Courtroom Stage
The Museum of Ashe County History, located at 301 E. Main Street in Jefferson, is housed in the 1904 Ashe County Courthouse.
Henderson's own festival legacy adds another layer to the Jefferson visit. The Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival & Guitar Competition at Grayson Highlands State Park raised more than $500,000 for music education and scholarships, Appalachian Places reports. Henderson continues to build instruments and perform.
