CLIFTON FORGE – On Sunday, Sept. 23, at 4 p.m., Robin and Linda Williams will perform on the Masonic Amphitheatre stage, a benefit concert for the “Save the Masonic” Historic Masonic Theatre restoration.
Also in concert are Bill Cook and Friends, performing on a stage that once housed Bill Cook’s Wholesale Tire Company warehouse.
For more than three decades, Robin and Linda Williams have made it their mission to perform music that they love, a robust blend of bluegrass, folk, old-time and acoustic country that combines wryly observant lyrics with wide-ranging melodicism.
As live performers, they are second to none. Their stirring concerts have earned them a huge body of fans over the years.
But as gifted songwriters Robin and Linda have earned an even rarer honor, the devotion and deep respect of their musical peers.
As The Washington Post put it, “The Williamses are able to sum up a life in a few details with moving completeness.”
The list of artists who have covered their original songs include some of the greats of country music, names like Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, George Hamilton IV, Tim and Mollie O’Brien, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea and The Seldom Scene.
“Among contemporary country performers, Robin and Linda Williams shine like a diamond amid rhinestones …” – David W. Johnson, The Boston Globe
Linda is a native of Anniston, Ala., and Robin (the son of a Presbyterian minister) was born in Charlotte, N.C.
In 1975, they made their first appearance on a little radio show just getting off the ground called “A Prairie Home Companion” and their rich relationship with that icon of American broadcasting has continued for three decades.
In 1989, they began to tour with a band, “Their Fine Group,” and their already big sound grew all the more. The year 1993 saw increased exposure through a major tour with Mary Chapin Carpenter and the now large national audience of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
With their career now at its 20-year mark, Robin and Linda entered into a prolific period of artistic productivity more CDs including gospel and original material.
Having always sung gospel music, in the late 1980s they teamed up with their old friend and “A Prairie Home Companion” host Garrison Keillor and bluegrass songstress Kate MacKenzie to form The Hopeful Gospel Quartet. This wonderful sideline ensemble has gone on to release two albums and tour the U.S., British Isles and Europe.
Robin and Linda have made appearances on such major programs as “The Grand Old Opry,” “Austin City Limits,” “Music City Tonight,” “Mountain Stage” and they continue to make frequent appearances on “A Prairie Home Companion.”
They tour constantly with Their Fine Group. Band members include Jim Watson on bass, vocals and mandolin, who has been with them since the group’s beginning. Jim was a founding member of The Red Clay Ramblers and played with them for 14 years.
The fourth chair of the Fine Group is filled the wonderful fiddle/mandolin player, Chris Brashear. He also performs in a duo with Peter McLaughlin and with the bluegrass band “The Perfect Strangers.”
The year 2005 opened new opportunities for Robin and Linda to be included in Robert Altman’s final film, “A Prairie Home Companion.” The movie is a fictional representation of behind-the-scenes activities at the long-running public radio show of the same name. Robin and Linda appeared as themselves
Home for Robin and Linda is an old frame house built around a log cabin in Middlebrook, right in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley.
No Depression magazine praises Robin and Linda Williams for creating “music that is both comfortable and thoughtful – a rare combination that explains why and how the Williamses are able to keep on an even keel while musical trends come and go…”
Tickets for Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Band along with Bill Cook and Friends are on sale now at Heirlooms, Club Car, Old Forge Coffee Co., Alleghany Highlands Chamber Office and Shoe Box and Sports Center.
You may call 862-5655 or email masonictheatre@yahoo.com
Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, $5 for students, children under six free and can also be purchased at the entrance gate which will open at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 23. Concessions will also be available.
This concert is a benefit concert and all proceeds will go to the “Save the Masonic” restoration campaign.
Please visit the website at www.historicmasonictheatre.com to read more about “Save the Masonic”.
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