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Heather Berry grew up in Sherando, Virginia, which is located at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. She got her first experience singing in front of a crowd in her grandfather's church in Waynesboro, Virginia, at age five. Listening to old Carter Family records, Heather learned early to accompany herself with guitar and autoharp. By age 12 she was singing with the Lewis Family and the Country Gentlemen. She formed her first band and recorded her first CD. Saturday, Febraury 18th, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, will present a concert of bluegrass music by the Heather Berry and Tony Mabe Band. Admission to the concert is $7 for adults, $1 for children 6 to 11, under age 6 free.

At 16, Heather recorded a gospel CD that included several songs she had written. Heather has released multiple CDs. She's worked with the Whites, Mac Wiseman, Eddie & Martha Adcock, Wayne Benson, Mike Bub, Chris & Sally Jones, Don Rigsby, Alecia Nugent, the Issacs, and many more notable musicians.

Tony Mabe, on banjo and vocals, was born and raised in Walnut Cove, North Carolina. His love for music began at the early age of four when he started playing southern gospel style piano. His instrumental abilities include banjo, upright bass, guitar, mandolin, autoharp, and piano. He's played for Bobby Atkins and the Countrymen (at age 14) and also with the Jeanette Williams Band. Tony and Heather have been married for several years and now reside in Meadows, North Carolina.

For more information, go to www.heatherberrymusic.com There will be several fine musicians backing Heather and Tony. We'll have lots of fiddle tunes for the dancers and some of the finest harmony this side of Heaven. Don't miss Heather Berry and Tony Mabe at the Carter Fold!

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 www.CarterFamilyFold.org. Shows from the Carter Family Fold can be accessed on the internet at www.CarterFoldShow.com.

Carter Music Center is part of the Crooked Road: Virginia's Heritage Music Trail. You can visit the Crooked Road Music Trail site at TheCrookedRoad.org. Partial funding for programs at the center is provided by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on Saturday's concert, contact the Mountain Music Museum at 276-645-0035. For recorded information on shows coming up at the Fold, call 276-386-6054.

Clintwood, VA -- The Ralph Stanley Museum & Traditional Mountain Music Center will host Dr. Ralph Stanley's 85th Birthday Dinner and Fund Raiser at Heartwood at 6:00 PM on Saturday, February 18, 2012 in Abingdon, VA. Heartwood is Southwest Virginia's Artisan Gateway, situated off Interste 81 at exit 14. Come and be with us to celebrate Dr. Stanley's birthday with Dr. Stanley himself. A first-class buffet-style dinner will be served and much more at this once-in-a-lifetime event! Tickets to the dinner are priced at $100 per plate, and guests may purchase them by calling the Museum & Center at 276-926-8550.

The Museum & Center presents this special birthday event each year in celebration of Dr. Stanley's life and work. With a career spanning 65 years in the music business, Ralph Stanley has made an indelible mark upon the music industry. From old-time to bluegrass to country to gospel, Dr. Stanley has influenced countless artists and continues to break new ground in the industry. To celebrate his accomplishments, previous events have featured such well-known performers as Alison Krauss & Dan Tyminski, Porter Wagoner, Larry Sparks, Jim Lauderdale, Marty Raybon, Judy Marshall, Stella Parton, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Ricky Skaggs and more!

This years entertainment to include two time Grammy award winner Jim Lauderdale, The Jeff and Tony Brown Band with Austin and Noah, plus Special Guest Don Rigsby.

This annual event also serves as an important fundraiser for the Museum & Center to ensure that regional music will be an important part of our area in the years to come. All proceeds from this dinner will be used to support the Ralph Stanley Museum & Traditional Mountain Music Center's operating and programming needs. No proceeds from the dinner will benefit Dr. Ralph Stanley and family. A portion of the ticket price may be tax-deductible.

The Ralph Stanley Museum & Traditional Mountain Music Center is a state-of-the-art music museum that opened its doors in October of 2004. Located on Main St. in Clintwood, VA, the Museum houses exhibits and artifacts from Ralph Stanley's life and career, the Stanley Brothers, and the traditional mountain music of Dickenson County and southwestern Virginia. The Ralph Stanley Museum & Traditional Mountain Music Center also presents a full lineup of programming each year including the Passing the Pick and Bow Program and concerts throughout the year at our local venue, The Jettie Baker Center.

For more information or to order tickets, please call the Museum at 276-926-8550 or 276-926-8383.

Banjo player Kevin Decker and his wife Amy are in need of help with a mountain of medical bills following multiple surgeries and an induced coma. Several people are throwing in to help organize this event. The SouthEastern Bluegrass Association (SEBA) is are offering a free 1-year electronic membership (E membership only) to anyone who donates $100 or more to the Deckers. The bands and sound crew are donating their time to this benefit. Johnny's RV Resort in Foley, AL is donating their concert venue for the event. You can help also.

After complications from two major surgeries on Nov. 2, 2011, long time Foley resident and banjo player, Kevin Decker has been in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator. After 5 1/2 weeks in intensive care, he awoke on Jan 25th facing a long road to recovery. The family has been left financially devastated. This benefit has been organized by those who know and love The Decker's. Good news is that Kevin may be able to go home soon. It's been a very long and expensive hospital stay.

The benefit will feature the Justice Family Band, Delta Reighn, High Cotton, Down Home and more. This family has always been ready to drop what they are doing to go anywhere to help others with any need and now they are the ones in need. This benefit is for both Kevin and Amy and has been organized by those who love the Decker's.

The benefit will be held Saturdasy, February 18th at At Johnny's Lakeside RV Resort located at 15810 Hwy 59, Foley, Alabama. Music runs from Noon to around 6 PM. Admission is just $10 with children under 12 free. Come for the music and cometo help Kevin and Amy out of medical and financial crisis.

A benefit account for Kevin has been established at United Bank, PO Box 1885, Foley, AL 36536 and donations can be made to the account by referencing Kevin Decker. For those interested, a Facebook page with more information titled Prayers for Kevin Decker and has the most current information available.

Nashville, TN -- Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Sonny Curtis will take a seat at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum on Saturday, February 25, as the latest subject of the quarterly programming series Poets and Prophets: Legendary Country Songwriters. The 1:30 p.m. in-depth interview and performance, held in the Museum's Ford Theater, is included with museum admission and free to museum members. The program will be streamed live at www.CountryMusicHallOfFame.org

The 90-minute program, hosted by Museum Editor Michael Gray, will include recordings, photos and film clips from the museum's collection and marks the Poets and Prophets series' fifth anniversary. Immediately following, Curtis will sign autographs in the Museum Store. (Visit the museum's website for signing details.)

Curtis has written a host of country and rock & roll hits in his 50-plus year career. Among them are "I Fought the Law," "Rock Around with Ollie Vee," "Walk Right Back," "I'm No Stranger to the Rain," "More Than I Can Say" and the theme for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "Love Is All Around."

Sonny Curtis was born on May 9, 1937, near Meadow, Texas. He grew up performing with his brothers in talent shows and on radio stations across Northwest Texas. Listening to bluegrass artists Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs, Curtis taught himself to play the fiddle and the guitar. In his teens, Curtis performed with fellow West Texans Buddy Holly and Waylon Jennings.

When Holly recorded his first Nashville sessions for Decca Records in 1956, Curtis played lead guitar as a member of Holly's pre-Crickets band, Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes. In addition to "Blue Days, Black Nights" and "Midnight Shift," the band cut Curtis' "Rock Around with Ollie Vee."

Later that year, Curtis left Holly's band to play with Slim Whitman and other country artists. In 1957, Webb Pierce took Curtis' "Someday" to #12 on the Billboard country chart. Shortly before Holly perished in a 1959 plane crash, Curtis joined the Crickets. After Holly's death, Curtis toured with the band--first as a guitarist and later as the lead vocalist. He and band mate Jerry Allison wrote the Bobby Vee hit "More Than I Can Say" in 1960. The song also was a major pop hit for Leo Sayer in 1980.

After a 1960 tour of England with the Everly Brothers, Curtis was drafted and reported for basic training at Fort Ord in California. While on a weekend pass in February 1961, Curtis played his song "Walk Right Back" for the Everlys. They took the song to #11on the pop charts, and it became a million-seller. In 1978, Anne Murray took the song to the Top Five in the country market.

When Curtis returned from his 17-month tour of France, he rejoined the Crickets and while working with the band he also released a string of recordings as a solo artist for Dimension Records, Imperial and Viva Records.

In 1966, the Bobby Fuller Four reached the Top 10 with "I Fought the Law." The song became one of Curtis' biggest hits. It has been recorded by diverse artists including the Clash, Kris Kristofferson, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Roy Orbison and Hank Williams Jr.

In the late 1960s, Curtis began composing for advertising campaigns, writing jingles for Buick, Continental Airlines, McDonald's, Olympia Beer, Yamaha and many other companies. As the decade came to a close, Curtis received an offer to write a theme song for a new sitcom about a Midwestern girl who strikes out on her own in the big city and gets a job in a newsroom. The result was The Mary Tyler Moore Show's "Love Is All Around," which Curtis wrote and recorded in 1970.

Curtis moved to Nashville in 1976. He signed with Elektra and released songs such as "The Cowboy Singer," Paul Simon's "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" and "The Real Buddy Holly Story"--his reaction to The Buddy Holly Story, a film starring Gary Busey.

The late 1980s brought Curtis another big hit in the #1 "I'm No Stranger to the Rain" by Keith Whitley, co-written with Ron Hellard. The Country Music Association honored it as its 1989 Single of the Year. In the early 1990s, Curtis again got the opportunity to write a TV theme song--this time for Evening Shade.

Curtis was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991. Five of his songs--"I Fought the Law," "I'm No Stranger to the Rain," "More Than I Can Say," "The Straight Life" and "Walk Right Back"--are certified by BMI for airplay of one million or more.

After a 10-year absence, Curtis rejoined the Crickets in 1994 and continues to perform with them.

The Poets and Prophets series honors songwriters who have made significant contributions to country music history. Previous Poets and Prophets honorees include Bill Anderson, Matraca Berg, Bobby Braddock, Wayne Carson, Jerry Chesnut, Hank Cochran, Dean Dillon, Jerry Foster, Dallas Frazier, Red Lane, John D. Loudermilk, Bob McDill, Roger Murrah, Dan Penn, Curly Putman, Don Schlitz, Whitey Shafer, Jeffrey Steele, Norro Wilson and Craig Wiseman.

The Poets and Prophets series is made possible, in part, by grants from the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and by an agreement between the Tennessee Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts.

Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The museum's mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture. With the same educational mission, the Foundation also operates CMF Records, the museum's Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B and Hatch Show Print®.

More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is available at www.CountryMusicHallOfFame.org or by calling (615) 416-2001.

Saturday, February 11th, 2012, at 7:30 p.m., the Carter Family fold in Hiltons, Virginia, will present a concert of bluegrass music by the Tim White and the VW Boys. Performing with Tim will be some of the finest bluegrass musicians in the region. Admission to the concert is $7 for adults, $1 for children 6 to 11, under age 6 free.

A longtime supporter of the musical traditions of Appalachia, Tim White settled in east Tennessee in 1974, where he pursued his dream of being an artist, sign painter, and banjo picker. Tim's music has gained a strong following throughout the Appalachian region, and he's fronted several bands over the past two decades - including Troublesome Hollow, the Beagles, and the VW Boys. While he is well-respected for his musical skills, Tim is arguably best known as host of the PBS television concert series, Song of the Mountains. This popular program features bluegrass, old time, Celtic, gospel, and Americana music.

Tim's interest of recognizing, preserving, and perpetuating the historic music of the area led him to organize the Appalachian Cultural Music Association. Tim currently serves as ACMA president. The ACMA helps to support the Mountain Music Museum, which Tim helped found, in 1999. The museum is dedicated to preserving the musical heritage of the southern Appalachians. In addition, Tim produces one of the most popular bluegrass radio programs in the region, The Bluegrass Show, on WAXM (FM 93.5), which airs every Saturday from 9 am to 12 pm as well as a nationally syndicated radio show.

Come join us at the Carter Family Fold for some of the best bluegrass music the region has to offer. Tim & the VW Boys will be doing bluegrass, gospel, and lots of dance tunes - a little something foreveryone. Load up your family and friends and get ready for an evening of unforgettable music and fun!

Carter Family Memorial Music Center, Incorporated, is a nonprofit, rural arts organization 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 www.CarterFamilyFold.org. Shows from the Carter Family Fold can be accessed on the internet at www.CarterFoldShow.com.

Carter Music Center is part of the Crooked Road: Virginia's Heritage Music Trail. You can visit the Crooked Road Music Trail site at TheCrookedRoad.org. Partial funding for programs at the center is provided by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on Saturday's concert, contact the Mountain Music Museum at 276-645-0035. For recorded information on shows coming up at the Fold, call 276-386-6054.

Franklin, TN -- Williamson SOCIAL Magazine, Williamson County, Tennessee's premier publication focusing on life, events and living in and around Williamson County and the Nashville area, has added a new staff member. Shari Lacy joins the magazine as the new Managing Editor. As a longtime writer and publicist, Lacy brings her vast experience to Williamson SOCIAL, handling numerous aspects of the magazine including working with all photographers and contributing to editorial as well as assignment based essays.

Publisher Rob Youngblood says, "I am thrilled to have Shari as the newest member of the SOCIAL team. Her background and professionalism combined with her knowledge and love of Williamson County are a perfect fit for the magazine. As SOCIAL continues to grow in 2012, Shari will be a huge part of that growth and one of the main reasons that our magazine will continue to get bigger and better."

As owner of Williamson County based PR company GoodStuff PR (GoodStuff Public Relations), Lacy will continue with her GSPR Co. client base as well as managing the magazine's needs alongside Youngblood. She's spent years working with numerous media outlets on different stories and projects for her clients. She has also worked as a freelance writer for multiple publications including Readers Digest, Nashville Parent Magazine, Bluegrass Now Magazine, Southern Exposure Magazine and more.

Lacy will oversee numerous aspects of the magazine and her artistic eye, editorial experience, and promotional background are a perfect combination to help take Williamson SOCIAL into the future.

Prior to opening the doors of her own company, Lacy worked as the Marketing/PR Director for the International Bluegrass Music Association and was Director of Publicity for Nashville based Compass Records prior to her years with IBMA. She began her editorial/promotional career with the Anchorage Daily News in Anchorage, AK. If you would like to contact Williamson SOCIAL or send information about your upcoming event, please send Lacy an email at shari@williamsonsocial.com

The February issue of the magazine hits stands and area locations later this week.

Williamson SOCIAL was formed in 2010 by Publisher Rob Youngblood with a desire to spotlight one of the most unique counties in the country - Williamson County, Tennessee. SOCIAL can be found at 20-30 primary, "high traffic" locations in Williamson County such as Belk, Cool Springs Galleria, Boxwood Bistro, The Factory at Franklin, Harris Teeter Stores, The Heritage Foundation, Puckett's, Williamson Medical Center and Whole Foods Market. SOCIAL is also available at an additional 10-20 secondary locations in WC and Green Hills and via the web at www.WilliamsonSocial.com