FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications, (304) 696-7153
 

Local old-time music concert to be presented
as part of Appalachian Studies Association Conference at MU

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Three natives of Wayne and Cabell counties will present a concert of old-time music as part of the Appalachian Studies Association Conference, “The Road Ahead: The Next Thirty Years of Appalachian Studies,” scheduled March 28-30 at Marshall University.

The evening presentation will take place at 9 p.m. Saturday, March 29 in Smith Music Hall on the Huntington campus. Bernard Cyrus and Tim and Dave Bing, three outstanding performers of traditional music, will perform at this free public event. 

Cyrus, who is from Fort Gay in Wayne County, is a banjo and dulcimer player and maker. His fascination as a youth with the dulcimer and banjo came from two older players, Ezra and Benny Bartram, who lived near his home-place on Big Hurricane Creek.

It was their inspiration that led to his lifetime interest in old-time string music. Cyrus is a highly skilled wood worker whose dulcimers and banjos are appreciated by players for their outstanding craftsmanship. He will bring some of his instruments to show at the event.

Cyrus also has a fascination with wild orchids. He has combed the region while identifying more than 40 varieties of the orchid family. He has documented wild flowers through photography and has amassed a collection of more than 10,000 slides. Some of his photographs will be presented at his concert performance as well.

Cyrus’ love of traditional music, craftsmanship, native plants, storytelling, the occasional sip from a jug, and old-time mountain ways in general will come through in his performance. He describes the music he plays as having an “ancient sound.” He will play locally learned tunes on both banjo and dulcimer and tell a story or two.

Dave and Tim Bing are natives of Cabell County with deep roots in the East Lynn section of Wayne County, where they spent a lot of growing-up time. Both are outstanding musicians, a fact proven by their many first-place finishes on fiddle and banjo at West Virginia’s state-sponsored Vandalia Gathering in Charleston.

They spread old-time music far and wide, recently returning from a tour in England, where their brand of mountain music garnered rave reviews. When not winning contests, Tim Bing works as an ironworker in Huntington, while Dave stays busy playing and teaching old-time music. Dave is now well known as a violin maker, working out of his shop at his home in Roane County.

After they quickly became proficient on fiddle (Dave) and banjo (Tim), people responded to their music and demanded that they play publicly. Both performed and recorded as members of the Bing Brothers Band, and Dave now plays and has recorded with the old-time string band, Gandydancer.

Since doing an apprenticeship for fiddle making through the Augusta Heritage Center program, Dave has been improving his fine woodworking skills to the point where his instruments are in high demand. When not playing or teaching music, Dave works at filling the orders he has for his hand-crafted fiddles.  

For more information, contact Chris Green, Appalachian Studies Association Conference program chair, at (304) 696-6269.

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