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Award-Winning Bluegrass Bands BALSAM RANGE and VOLUME FIVE Coming To Foundation This Saturday

WNCW staffers are gearing up for the station's annual LIVE Goin' Across The Mountain show which will be held this Saturday, January 18, at The Foundation For Performing Arts Center, located here on the campus of Isothermal Community College, in Spindale, North Carolina.

The salute to the “Bluegrass Nation” will feature one of America's most successful and beloved bluegrass bands, Balsam Range. Members include Buddy Melton, Marc Pruett, Tim Surrett, Darren Nicholson and Caleb Smith. They're all acoustic musicians and singers from western North Carolina. It is said they "thoughtfully and respectfully adopted the name of a majestic range of mountains that surround part of their home county of Haywood, NC where the Great Smoky Mountains meet the Blue Ridge, the Great Balsam Range."

In 2018 Balsam Range was named Entertainer of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association and has become one of the genre’s most award-winning acts. Since forming in 2007, the group has garnered 13 IBMA awards on the heels of eight critically-acclaimed albums. The band most recently claimed the #1 radio chart spot with their single “The Girl Who Invented The Wheel.” In addition to winning Entertainer of the Year, Balsam Range vocalist Buddy Melton won IBMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year and bass player Tim Surrett won IBMA’s Bass Player of the Year in 2018.

Band holding up instruments during sunset
Balsam Range

WNCW is also psyched to welcome the multi-award winning bluegrass and Americana band Volume Five, the opening act for the event. In 2017, the band was honored with two IBMA Awards. The group received the Emerging Artist of the Year Award and the prestigious Song of the Year Award for “I Am A Drifter” written by Donna Ulisse and Marc Rossi.

The band includes the talents of Glen Harrell, Patton Wages, Jacob Burleson, Jeff Partin and newest member, Adam Steffey, a five time GRAMMY Award-winning musician.

The annual event is a live version of WNCW's Goin' Across The Mountain, our popular bluegrass program. For more than three decades WNCW bluegrass hosts have been delighting listeners every Saturday, from 11am until 7pm, with the best in contemporary, traditional and historical bluegrass music. Joe Greene is the current host of the show. He'll be emceeing at the event this weekend.

"I'm super excited for our LIVE Goin' Across The Mountain event," said Greene. "I LOVE both of these awesome bands!"

WNCW Business and Traffic Manager Cathy Walker is one of Balsam Range's biggest fans.

"In my opinion, they are the best bluegrass band I have ever heard," said Walker. "I've never heard any musicians harmonize better than they do... they mesmerize the audience with their voices, pickin' and overall talent."

Come out and see us! Bring friends and family and enjoy some of the best bluegrass music in the world! 

For ticket info: The Foundation at ICC

Image of brick and glass building on lake
Credit Vicki Dameron
The Foundation For Performing Arts Center at Isothermal Community College in Spindale NC