Join us for a unique musical ramble through the Blue Ridge Mountains and piedmont of North Carolina, Virginia and nearby states. Hear stark mountain banjo tunes, fiddle tunes and songs. Listen to fiddle-guitar duets, authentic country blues, and the fascinating repertoire of postwar southern rural radio stations and schoolhouse music shows. Paul Brown and his friends are just the ones to take you on this journey.

Paul is a sought-after banjo player, fiddler and singer. He started playing banjo at age ten, backing up the old songs his mother learned in the 1920s and 30s in piedmont Virginia. As he grew up, he went looking for some of the last fiddle, banjo, and guitar players to emerge before the age of radio and recordings. He took a job at WPAQ, an iconic and now world famous North Carolina old time and bluegrass music radio station. He co-founded and co-hosted the Mount Airy Hometown Opry, a North Carolina mountain music stage show that ran for a dozen years.

Paul is a notably good-humored presenter whose stories bring to life the old timers he knew and the music that knit their communities together. He's played with the best of the best, from fiddler Benton Flippen to banjoist Giles Lephew. He's produced numerous acclaimed recordings of senior and younger musicians. He's also a broadcast and online journalist with NPR in Washington, where he he reports on issues of national and global interest, anchors newscasts, and produces in-depth stories on the arts.

Joining Paul for part of the evening are three outstanding performers on banjo, guitar, bass and vocals. Bill Schmidt is a veteran of the famed Double Decker String Band, past performers at Fort Hunter. He and John Schwab are members of the prize-winning Hoover Uprights. Ann Porcella performs with The Blue Moon Cowgirls and has just released a wonderful solo CD.