KASU Bluegrass Monday concert to feature Eddie and Martha Adcock
Eddie and Martha Adcock will perform a concert on Monday, August 27, at 7p.m. at the Collins Theatre, 120 West Emerson Street, in downtown Paragould, Arkansas. The concert is part of the Bluegrass Monday concert series presented by KASU 91.9 FM. KASU will literally “pass the hat” during the show to collect money to pay the musicians. The suggested donation is $5 per person.
Banjo player Eddie Adcock began his professional musical career in his home state of Virginia in 1953 at age 15 playing with Smokey Graves and his Blue Star Boys. That band played, not only bluegrass, but also early rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country and pop music. Playing this wide variety of musical styles would greatly influence Adcock’s musical development. Later in the 1950s, Adcock performed in the bands of legendary bluegrass musicians Bill Monroe, Mac Wiseman and Bill Harrell.
Throughout the 1960s, Adcock was a member of the Country Gentlemen. As a part of that band, Adcock was given opportunity to fully develop and to showcase his unique style of playing banjo. The Country Gentlemen were favorites on the folk music scene in the 1960s for their vocal harmonies and for their choice of songs, making bluegrass music accessible to a younger audience. Many of the songs first performed by the Country Gentlemen in the 1960s have become bluegrass standards, being recorded and performed by bluegrass groups to this day. For his work with the Country Gentlemen, Adcock was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 1996.
Through the 1970s, Adcock led a band called II Generation, a group that incorporated influences from rock music into a bluegrass sound. Since 1980, Eddie Adcock has performed as a duo with his wife Martha, playing what they call “Two-Grass,” showcasing Eddie’s extraordinary banjo skills, Martha’s guitar playing, their combined vocal harmonies, and an entertaining stage show.
Adcock has also recorded and toured with the “Country Gentlemen Reunion Band” which features past members of that influential ensemble. He has also recorded with a group called the Masters that features fellow Bluegrass Hall of Fame members Josh Graves, Jesse McReynolds, and Kenny Baker.
In addition to the concert, Terry’s Café, 201 South Pruett Street in Paragould, one block to the east of the Collins Theatre, opens on Bluegrass Monday nights, offering a gathering place for bluegrass music fans prior to the concerts. The café serves a buffet meal beginning at 4:30 p.m. on the evenings of Bluegrass Monday concerts. Concessions will also be available at the Collins Theatre.
Doors at the Collins Theatre will open at 6:00 p.m., one hour before the concert begins. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Bluegrass Monday concerts are held on the fourth Monday night of each month. These non-profit concerts are presented with support from Backbeat Music, Hollis Bee Company, the Posey Peddler, the Northeast Arkansas Bluegrass Association and KASU.
KASU, 91.9 FM, is the 100,000-watt public broadcasting service of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. For more information, contact KASU Program Director Marty Scarbrough at mscarbro@astate.edu or 870-972-2367. Bluegrass Monday is also on Facebook (search “Bluegrass Monday”).
