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Heritage Council brings ‘Jeff and Vida’ to Boone |
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Tuesday, 13 February 2007 |
by ALLISON CASEY
Lifestyles Reporter
They’re a little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll and all Appalachian.
Appalachian Popular Programming Society’s Appalachian Heritage Council presents The Jeff and Vida Band at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Crossroads. The event is free.
Influenced heavily by Appalachian music, Jeff Burke and Vida Wakeman said they are looking forward to playing in Boone.
“We’ve heard such great things about Boone and Appalachian [State University],” Burke said.
Burke and Wakeman began playing in New Orleans coffee shops in 1998 as “singer-songwriter types,” Burke said.
After seeing MerleFest, a bluegrass festival in honor of Doc and Merle
Watson held annually in Wilkesboro, the band fell in love with
bluegrass music.
“We saw a lot of duets and thought, ‘we could do this together,’” Burke said. “It was really a life changing experience.”
In 2001, Burke and Wakeman added bassist Mike Kerwin. However, he will not perform with the band at Crossroads.
Playing in Boone should be exciting because of the culture of bluegrass music, Burke said.
“It’s a little more of an advantage. People know a little bit more
about the music,” Burke said. “It’s going to be a learning experience
for us.”
Though neither band member has ever been to Boone, Wakeman said the
people they have met from the Appalachian Mountains are great.
“Considering we’re influenced by [Appalachian music], it’s strange we
haven’t been up there yet,” Wakeman said. “The people we’ve met, it’s
in their blood. It’s really wonderful and exciting to meet people who
are eating and drinking bluegrass.”
Though the band describes their music as bluegrass and rockabilly, their influences come from far and wide.
Burke said musicians such as Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan and Bill Monroe influence him.
“Living down in New Orleans, we had this real wide influence when it
comes to acoustic music,” Wakeman said. “You can’t quite put your
finger on where our influences come from.”
Wakeman, who is the songwriter of the band, said lyrically she is heavily influenced by poetry.
“I started off writing poetry when I was real young,” Wakeman said. “I
really liked T.S. Eliot, strangely enough. I fell in love with the
musicality of words.”
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