DaShawn & Wendy Hickman presents Sacred Steel with Murphy, Laurelyn, & Riley – January 24 @ 7:30pm

Sounds of the Mountains Concert Series (show #2) – in partnership with the Blue Ridge Music Center

ABOUT BLUE RIDGE MUSIC CENTER: https://www.blueridgemusiccenter.org/

DaShawn & Wendy Hickman share their soulful sound putting their own spin on Sacred Steel, a blues-gospel tradition that started in the Pentecostal-Holiness churches in the 1930s.

Hailing from Mount Airy, N.C., DaShawn is one of today’s foremost players of Sacred Steel. He grew up hearing the pedal steel in the tiny House of God church his family attended, and listening to his mother play lap steel at home. DaShawn picked up the instrument at the age of five, and in his teens, formed a group with three of his cousins that found fame as The Allen Boys, North Carolina’s only touring Sacred Steel band. More recently DaShawn toured with Cirque de Soleil, playing pedal steel in the country music band and he was the pedal steel player in Steve Ray Ladson’s band that made the finals of this fall’s America’s Got Talent TV Show. In 2023, he was inducted into the Sacred Steel Hall of Fame. 

Vocalist Wendy Hickman channels artists including Anita Baker and India Arie with a splash of Tina Turner’s raspiness.

https://www.facebook.com/p/DaShawn-and-Wendy-Hickman-Music-100089379981225/

Murphy Campbell a rising young banjoist who recently released her self titled debut EP. Laurelyn Dossett is an award winning singer-songwriter whose songs have been covered by Levon Helm, Rhiannon Giddens, and others. She has performed with the Americana band Polecat Creek and with iconic traditional musicians like Alice Gerrard and Dirk Powell. Riley Baugus, an old-time banjo player and luthier, appeared in the movie Cold Mountain and was featured in the Down the Mountain music tour.