The
Elkville String Band, from Wilkes County, performs old-time mountain
music, playing mostly older music, but also some newer compositions
from band members Drake Walsh and Jeff Michael. The band consists of
Drake Walsh (fiddle and mandolin), Herb Key (guitar and singing), Bill
Williams (harmony singing and bass), and Jeff Michael (banjo, fiddle,
guitar, and singing). Band members are very interested in local and
regional music. The band served for three years as house band for the
Wilkes Playmaker's annual production of "Tom Dooley, a Wilkes County
Legend.” The Elkville String Band has also won two Paul Green
Multimedia Awards presented by The North Carolina Society of
Historians, Inc. In 2006, they recorded a version of the ballad “Otto
Wood” on the 75th anniversary of the year Otto Wood was shot. The song
was released as a single and was included on the album, “Carolina Scrap
Book - Volume Two,” which was produced by the Kruger Brothers and
features Wilkes County and regional musicians.Band member, Drake
Walsh, son of 1920s RCA and Columbia recording artist, Dock Walsh,
started playing banjo when he was about six or seven years old, and he
has been playing traditional mountain music ever since. Drake remembers
listening to Clarence Ashley and many other musicians who visited the
Walsh home to play with Dock. Drake performed with Dock in his father’s
later years, and he has played with a number of local and regional
bluegrass and old-time bands over the years. Fiddle and mandolin have
become Drake’s primary instruments, but he is also a great harmonica,
guitar, and banjo player.
Herb Key grew up in a musical family in
Wilkes County. He has played music for most of his life and has spent
more than thirty years making, repairing, and restoring instruments.
Herb was surrounded by music played both on the radio and by his mother
and uncle. When he was sixteen, his parents bought him his own
Silvertone guitar, which Herb still owns today. Herb has also made a
number of instruments. In addition to having his own shop, Herb works
at Wayne Henderson’s shop doing the repair work so Henderson has time
to build new instruments. Over the years, Herb has played in a number
of groups including the High County Ramblers, with Larry Pennington,
which won in the bluegrass band category at the Galax Fiddlers
Convention the year they formed.
Jeff Michael has been pickin'
and singing in this area all his life. He is a multi-talented musician
who can play any instrument. His singing talents are known throughout
this area and beyond. Jeff's primary band is Big Country Bluegrass but
he finds time to pick with Elkville String Band on most of its
appearances. Jeff has performed on The Grand Ole Opry with Bill Monroe,
Charlie Louvin, and Big Country Bluegrass. He plays banjo, fiddle, and
guitar and sings lead and harmony. He has also recorded a CD with
Elkville String Band.
Bass player Bill Williams moved to Wilkes
County from Florida in 1976, and he has immersed himself in the
mountain music of the region. He was a founding member of Steve Kilby’s
Sunday Night Band, which later became Kingsberry Run. Bill plays with a
number of groups in the area which call him from time to time when they
need a bass player. Bill plays primarily with Elkville String Band, and
he serves as the contact person for the group.
Elkville String Band
