Mentor, Josh Goforth (Grammy Nominee & “Master Fiddler”) and apprentice, Tim McWilliams, are to perform at the First Baptist Church of Asheville in Crocker Auditorium on Thursday, August 11 at 7pm. The pair was one of the five that received the third annual North Carolina Appalachian Folklife Apprenticeship Award.
Josh Goforth, of Marshall, mentored Tim McWilliams, of Asheville, in the traditional music of the Madison and Buncombe county region. Raised in a family that maintained singing and fiddle tunes as part of the rhythm of everyday life, Goforth is a respected teacher and performer of ballads, shape-note songs, storytelling, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and bass.
During the apprenticeship year, Tim McWilliams focused on the guitar and banjo styles of Madison and Buncombe Counties, including the music of Byard Ray, Tommy Hunter, the Freeman family, Lee Wallin, Jerry Adams, Dale McCoy, and the Luke Smathers String Band. Goforth knew these people personally and has passed their songs and stories on to McWilliams. McWilliams is a music teacher at the Academy for the Arts and in the Buncombe County School district. A descendant of Appalachian out-migrants, McWilliams is excited to share local musical traditions with the youth he works with.
Upon receiving his M.A. in Appalachian Music: Roots & Influences from Appalachian State University in 2014, Tim launched his professional music career with a three month cross-country tour. Since then, he has performed full-time as the leader his group, The Tim McWilliams Band, as well as a solo artist. While continuing to grow and evolve as a musician, Tim already has notable achievements which include: receiving an endorsement by Larrivee Guitars, performing more than 800 shows on stages throughout the greater Southeast, and performing at many iconic regional festivals, such as MerleFest, LEAF, Fall for Greenville, and the Downtown Asheville Independence Day Celebration.
The concert will be a showcase of all that has been learned during the apprenticeship year. The performance is free and open to the public.
