Join us for a one of a kind evening of original tunes and the stories behind them with North Carolina’s own Tommy Edwards. We’ll even save time for Q & A!
Tommy Edwards is a fixture in the North Carolina bluegrass scene – next year will mark his 50th anniversary performing with his band The Bluegrass Experience. Edwards is lead singer and guitarist for The Bluegrass Experience, one of the Southeast’s most respected traditional music groups. Having performed professionally for over 35 years, Edwards was twice named World Champion Bluegrass Guitarist at the storied Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers & Bluegrass Festival. He has recorded or performed live with an array of bluegrass greats. He has recorded multiple albums with The Bluegrass Experience as well as several solo discs, and he is the host of Life 103.1’s Bluegrass Saturday Night. In addition to performing with The Bluegrass Experience, pre-COVID, Edwards regularly performed with Carolina Lightnin’, Leroy Savage, and as a solo musician.
A Siler City native, Edwards was raised in a musical family. His mom was a piano player and his father played harmonica and ukulele and sang in choirs and quartets. Even though he is “as old as bluegrass”–having been born in 1945, the year that Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys–Edwards listened to rock and roll and R&B as a child, and doesn’t remember listening to much country music in his home. But the folk revival hit just as he was a teenager, and he followed the sounds of the banjo from the Kingston Trio to Earl Scruggs and finally discovered Bill Monroe, a life-changing experience that also had important implications for Piedmont music history. In addition to music, Edwards ran an antiques store in Pittsboro with his wife Cindy for over 25 years; taught middle school, coached, and was an administrator in the Randolph and Chatham County Schools; and served in the North Carolina National Guard. Tommy has been playing music professionally for nearly 50 years and owns and runs an antiques, art and music store in his hometown of Pittsboro, NC.
Space is limited – reserve your space today!
