Donna The Buffalo
Trumansburg, N.Y.-based Donna the Buffalo will bring their blend of old-time-rock-reggae-zydeco to the stage at Horn in the West in Boone as they headline the 2nd annual Daniel Boone Days Music and Culture Festival on Saturday, September 5. Over the past two decades, …Donna the Buffalo has built a catchy and solid repertoire of feel-good, slightly funkified country-rock-folk songs, won countless national awards in multiple musical genres and nurtured a fervent fan following lovingly referred to as The Herd. After headlining music festivals across the country this summer, the five-piece band—which features Western North Carolina music scene mainstay, former member of Snake Oil Medicine Show and current member of Acoustic Syndicate Jay Sanders— will end its 20th anniversary tour in Boone with a two-hour set under the lights at Horn in the West.
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Larry Keel & Natural Bridge
Joining Donna the Buffalo will be flat-picking guitar legend and progressive bluegrass alchemist Larry Keel and his band Natural Bridge. Larry Keel & Natural Bridge have been cranking up miles on the odometer since playing the inaugural Daniel Boone Days in September 2008 …and are hot off the release of their latest studio album, Backwoods. Natural Bridge features Larry’s wife Jenny Keel on upright bass and vocals, former Sassagrass member Jason Flournoy on banjo and former Boone-ite Mark Schimick on mandolin.
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Upright & Breathin'
Boone-based pickers Upright & Breathin' will bring the show in from the porch and onto the stage at Horn in the West in Boone on Saturday, September 5. A raw and rocking acoustic band with bluegrass instrumentation but with no intention of minding the genre’s …rather strict and confining rules, Upright & Breathin' has been doing things their way ever since their inauspicious start.
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Robert Morgan
The High Country simply cannot get enough of Robert Morgan—especially since he published Boone, A Biography in October 2007. Morgan’s first nonfiction work, a comprehensive biography of …Daniel Boone, provides a perfect starting point for the second annual panel discussion about the historical figure.
Early on in the biography, Morgan discusses time Boone spent in western North Carolina, including his hunting trips along the Yadkin River near North Wilkesboro, his hunting cabin located at the current site of Appalachian State’s campus and the meat and hide storage cabin he established just north of Boone in the community presently called Meat Camp. Morgan spent four years researching and writing the biography. Morgan, born in Hendersonville and a Cornell University professor, has also published 11 books of poetry and eight fictional novels, including Oprah Book Club selection Gap Creek, Brave Enemies and The Truest Pleasure.
After headlining the inaugural Dr. Edwin Arnold Daniel Boone Symposium at Daniel Boone Days 2008, Morgan will return to the High Country on Friday, September 4, to lead the 2nd annual symposium with author Randell Jones.
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Randell Jones
Randell Jones is an author and storyteller. He is the author of In the Footsteps of Daniel Boone, winner of the 2006 Willie Parker Peace …History Book Award, and the author of In the Footsteps of Davy Crockett. He produced On the Trail of Daniel Boone, the companion DVD, which received a 2006 Paul Green Multimedia Award from the N.C. Society of Historians.
Randell is an invited member of the Road Scholars Speakers’ Bureau of the N.C. Humanities Council for 2008-2010. He is also a past-president of the Overmountain Victory Trail Association and consults with the National Park Service on the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail. He appears annually as a volunteer storyteller to school groups during Overmountain Victory Days sponsored by the National Park Service and hosted at the Museum of N.C. Minerals on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
In 2009, Randell is involved in the national celebration of the 275th anniversary of the birth of Daniel Boone, America’s pioneer hero. In 2006, he organized the region-wide celebration of the 250th anniversary of the marriage of Daniel Boone and Rebecca Bryan on August 14.
Randell Jones will join Robert Morgan and other panelists during the 2nd annual Dr. Edwin Arnold Daniel Boone Symposium, and then return on Saturday for a performance with The Forget-Me-Nots at Horn in the West.
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The Forget-Me-Nots
The Forget-Me-Nots bring fresh energy to the ageless tradition of Celtic music. The band originated in 2002 but its roots go back to 1999, when the girls started playing violin at the tender ages of 2, 3 and 4 years old. The players are Willa Finck, Maura Shawn Scanlin and Ledah Finck, …with David Finck on backup guitar. The girls, classically trained through the Suzuki method, also showed an early interest in playing old-time and Celtic fiddle music. This interest blossomed in the fertile grounds of the North Carolina High Country, an area steeped in Appalachian musical traditions.
The Forget-Me-Nots have thrilled listeners at festivals, concerts, house parties, weddings and fundraisers throughout North Carolina and Tennessee. Their music ranges from energetic reels and soulful airs to great works from the classical repertoire.
The Forget-Me-Nots will join Randell Jones for a musical performance that explains the story of Daniel Boone at Horn in the West during the festival. The performance is perfect for children and families.
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