Ready for something different in historic Beverly? Come check out the second annual Rhythm and Wine event with music from exciting West Virginia bands and wine-tasting from regional wineries.
The outdoor festival will be held Saturday August 16th from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. near the Beverly Heritage Center. Admission to the music and wine-tasting area is $10. The craft and food vendor area will be free and open to the public.
“We usually showcase our local history during our events,” said Darryl DeGripp, Executive Director of the Beverly Heritage Center. “For this event we are featuring some of the best of West Virginia today, with up-beat bands showcasing a wide variety of musical influences, mountain-crafted wines, quality local craft vendors, and delicious home-cooked food.”
The wine tasting for Rhythm and Wine will be provided by two notable West Virginia wineries. Forks of Cheat Winery has been in operation for twenty-three years and is located on sixteen acres of fertile hills near Morgantown, West Virginia. They offer award-winning red and white wines, as well as fruit and dessert wines. Potomac Highlands is a small boutique winery from Keyser, West Virginia, that utilizes sustainable and organic farming practices, including biodynamics and permaculture in creating their wines. Both wineries will offer tastings to ticket-holders, and will have a variety of bottles available for purchase.
The music will begin at 2 p.m. kicking off with Blackwater Mojo. This husband and wife duo play bare bones blues rock, straight from the Appalachian hill country. Erin Young’s lead vocals combined with Seth Young’s slide guitar and one man rhythm section make for a deep delta blues sound wrapped up in the warmth of on old time string band. Their unapologetic approach to American roots music, and influences from their world travels, creates a sound at once vintage and modern.
From the hills of West Virginia, Aurora Celtic will join the stage about 3:30 p.m. playing evocative, original and traditional music that bridges the cultures of Scotland, Ireland and Appalachia. Band members Alice Fleischman, Michael Broderick and Andrew Nelson are multi-instrumentalists on guitar, fiddle, Irish flute, whistle, mandolin and tenor banjo. They have played throughout the Mid-Atlantic states, at the Kennedy Center and in Europe, and have twice been featured on NPR’s Thistle & Shamrock music program.
The Dennis McClung Blues Band will offer their unique blend of originals and blues classics around 5 pm. Described as a cross between B.B. King, Ray Charles, and Jimi Hendrix, they have been performing since 1989. In 2006, they were honored by the Governor of West Virginia who recognized Dennis McClung as Ambassador of the Blues for the State of West Virginia by the Blues Hall of Fame.
The Tom Batchelor Band from Morgantown will close out the program, starting about 7:30 p.m. Previously a member of Rasta Rafiki and The Recipe, Batchelor started his own band in 1999. Combining influences from roots to classic rock to reggae, the band plays songs from a wide variety of performers plus their own original numbers.
Artisan vendors including jewelry and woodworking will be set up outside of the Beverly Heritage Center without admission charge. Food available will include home-made chicken bar-b-que sandwiches.
Beverly is located 6 miles south of Elkins, West Virginia on US Rt 219. Event attendees are invited to bring your own comfortable lawn chairs to enjoy the music, and to please leave your coolers and dogs at home.
Rhythm and Wine is presented by the Beverly Heritage Center with financial assistance from Randolph County Convention and Visitors Bureau and from the WV Division of Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the WV Commission on the Arts.
For more information on this event, please call the Beverly Heritage Center at (304) 637-7424, see www.beverlyheritagecenter.org, or visit the Rhythm and Wine event page on Facebook.
