Meet the Fine Tuned Musicians
The Blue Ridge Music Trails’ Fine Tuned project is a mentorship and collaboration-based project aimed at professional development for emerging artists playing traditional music in Western North Carolina. Cary Fridley served as mentor to Bayla Davis for their Fine Tuned journey. Cary offered a wealth of performing experience over multiple genres to Bayla’s wide open ears and mind.
Bayla Davis hails from Leicester, NC. She is a vocalist and an award-winning banjo player who is also learning mandolin, guitar, and fiddle. Bayla, 14, says that she grew up playing old time and mountain music and is now expanding into bluegrass and country music styles. Her teachers and mentors include Ben Nelson, Jerry Sutton, Lyle Rickards, Bryan McDowell, Josh Goforth, Kristen Scott Benson, Béla Fleck, and Adam Hurt. Bayla’s biggest singing influence is Alison Krauss, and her biggest influence as a performer is Mike Snider. Bayla plays music because it’s fun, it makes her happy, it puts her in a good mood, and there’s always something new to learn. The singing abilities of her mentor, Cary Fridley, have been especially influential throughout the Fine Tuned process. Bayla says, “Cary is a goal setter. She doesn’t focus on one type of music. She loves to change it up.”
Cary Fridley lives in Asheville, NC and is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist performing and teaching across a wide range of styles. She describes her music as folk, Americana, and southern, and she counts Alice Gerrard, Hazel Dickens, Emmylou Harris, Ray Brown, Iris Dement, and Etta James as some of her chief teachers and mentors. Cary plays music to “feel connected to the universe, to commune with others” and to “share love!” In her mentoring of Bayla Davis, Cary feels great about how they’ve been able to play music together and help Bayla on a path to musical success.
