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Joe Shannon’s Mountain Home Music Hosts Their 17th Annual A Fourth of July Dazzle

Joe Shannon’s Mountain Home Music offers a chance to celebrate the defining moment of our nation’s birth on July 4 for the 17th year.

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A shot of the Brass and Grass concert in action.

JSMHM presents its annual Bluegrass and Brass 4th of July Concert featuring the Mountain Home Bluegrass Boys and The King Street Brass. This event is a favorite for JSMHM fans and will be held at the Blowing Rock School Auditorium at 7:00pm. The show runs straight through until 8:30pm without an intermission so that folks can still make the local fireworks displays.

The Mountain Home Bluegrass Boys are a mainstay at JSMHM and feature two-time national bluegrass banjo champion Steve Lewis with Scott Freeman on mandolin and Josh Scott on bass. The twice-national studio musician of the year, David Johnson, who will serve as host for the evening, is the frontman for Bluegrass Boys.

Those who know Johnson can attest to his being one of the most entertaining emcee’s anywhere, he could be a one-man comedy show by himself. Trombone player Harold McKinney, a retired ASU faculty member from the Hayes School of Music, directs the King Street Brass band.

When asked how this unusual assemblage of music genres came together, McKinney responded by harkening back to when he first met Joe Shannon. Shannon, who was the director of JSMHM for 20 years, passed away in the spring of 2014.

“Seems like I had known Joe forever. If you lived in Boone, you knew Joe. Early Mountain Home Music Shows were downtown Boone, at Our Daily Bread,” McKinney said. “My wife, Cathy, often played with Joe and transcribed his music for classical musicians when he wanted to include an oboe or cello or another instrumentalist who was used to working off the page for a wedding or some other special concert.”

Tickets cost $18 in advance and $20 at the door. Student tickets are $10. Children 12 and younger are admitted free. Advance tickets may be purchased online at www.mountainhomemusic.com. Tickets may also be purchased at the Mast General Store in Boone and Valle Crucis, Fred’s Mercantile on Beech Mountain, Stick Boy Bread Company, Pandora’s Mailbox and The Blowing Rock Market.

The Blowing Rock School Auditorium is located at 130 Sunset Drive, Blowing Rock, NC. Directions and more info can be found at the JSMHM website – www.mountainhomemusic.com/