Hiltons, VA -- Saturday, September 10th, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, will present a concert of bluegrass music by Adam Steffey & the Boxcars. An east Tennessee native, Adam found a place in the Tennessee-Virginia border area’s thriving bluegrass scene in short order, serving early stints with the Lonesome River Band (Dan Tyminski was his replacement there) and then helping to found the near legendary group, Dusty Miller, along with Barry Bales and guitarist Tim Stafford. The three jumped to the big time together when Alison Krauss recruited them into Union Station; and for nearly seven years, Steffey lived the life of a high profile musician as the band earned Grammy awards and IBMA trophies, toured extensively, made national TV appearances, and recorded albums that reached far beyond the core bluegrass audience. Yet by 1998, the restless side of Steffey’s spirit made itself felt when he left the group and, after helping to lay plans for what later became Mountain Heart, joined the bluegrass gospel group The Isaccs – a setting in which he played a different role.
During his years with Alison Krauss and Union Station, Adam became good friends with Dan Tyminski - thus leading to a slot as mandolin player for the Dan Tyminski Band. Adam is also an in-demand session player and has recorded with numerous artists from various genres. He has received the mandolin player of the year award five times from the IBMA, and is a Grammy award winner. Adam and his wife, Tina, are the proud parents of twin boys A.P. & Riley. A.P. & Riley come along when the Boxcars perform, and that’s a treat for us as well as them. Adam credits visits with his Grandpa to the Fold when he was a young man with sparking his interest in bluegrass. Steffey will be backed up by the Boxcars – Ron Stewart, Keith Garrett, Gary Hultman, and Harold Nixon - all talented, professional, and accomplished musicians in their own right.
Ron Stewart is well on the road to becoming a legend in contemporary bluegrass music. He is already one of the most sought after multi-instrumental session players in the genre’s history, and is in high demand as an engineer and producer. He grew up in rural southern Indiana, an hour and a half from Bill Monroe’s Bean Blossom bluegrass festival, surrounded by a family that played bluegrass and old time country music and a community rich with musicians. In his thirty-three years of playing banjo, fiddle, guitar, bass, and mandolin, Ron has gone from fronting his family band for over ten years to working with a who’s who of bluegrass, including Lynn Morris, Curly Seckler, a guest appearance at age nine on a live album with Lester Flatt and, most recently, a six-year stint as fiddler for J.D. Crowe and the New South, followed by a stint as a member of the Dan Tyminski Band. Notably, Ron engineered much of, and played fiddle on, the New South’s 2006 release – Lefty’s Old Guitar, which was nominated for a Grammy.
Keith Garrett grew up in the community of Citico in east Tennessee. His earliest and possibly most important musical influence was his dad, William Garrett, who taught Keith to play the guitar at the age of thirteen. Almost immediately, he was drawn to the music of such greats as Tony Rice, Keith Whitley, the Bluegrass Album Band, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, and Ricky Skaggs. He soon began playing with various local and regional bands. In 2000, Keith became a founding member of Blue Moon Rising, an east Tennessee based bluegrass band that received national acclaim and was nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year in 2006 by the IBMA. Keith continued to hone his talents and earned himself a place alongside some of the best bluegrass musicians.
Gary Hultman grew up on the Canadian border in the small town of Birchdale, Minnesota. When introduced to bluegrass music by way of a traveling music teacher, Hultman’s family formed a band that he played with from the age of 10 until he left home to attend East Tennessee State University. As a member of their Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Studies program, Hultman has had the opportunity to share the stage with many of his musical heroes such as Adam Steffey, Tim Stafford, Doyle Lawson, and Ricky Skaggs. Gary also traveled to Japan with ESU’s Bluegrass Pride Band for a short tour during the summer of 2014. Another opportunity where Hultman has also been able to further his musical education is through Rob Ickes’ ResoSummit in Nashville where staff members Michael Witcher, Sally VanMeter, and Rob Ickes have been especially influential to him.
Harold Nixon has been a working musician since he was fifteen years old, and has had an intense interest in recording almost from the beginning. With a keen ear and rock solid sense of rhythm and timing, he has gained the respect of the best in the business. His hard work paid off and led to a six year stint with J. D. Crowe and the New South, touring with the band, and appearing on the 2008 Grammy-nominated release Lefty’s Old Guitar. Some recent work with Blue Moon Rising has kept him in the spotlight the past couple of years.
Bluegrass just doesn’t get any better than Adam Steffey and the Boxcars. It’s difficult to say if the band or the audience has more fun at a Boxcars concert. For more information on the group, go to www.theboxcars.com/. Don’t miss them at the Carter Family Fold! Bring along your dancing shoes and your friends, and be ready for some down home, family fun. Admission to the concert is $10 for adults, $1 for children 6 to 11, under age 6 free.
Carter Family Memorial Music Center, Incorporated, is a nonprofit, rural arts organization established to preserve traditional, acoustic, mountain music. For further information on the center, go to http://www.carterfamilyfold.org. Shows from the Carter Family Fold can be accessed on the internet at http://www.carterfoldshow.com. Partial funding for programs at the center is provided by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. For recorded information on shows coming up at the Fold, call 276-386-6054. The Fold is on Facebook – page Carter Fold – and Twitter – @carterfoldinfo.
