By Emily Willis
Bluegrass veteran and award-winning actor and musician Gary Reid will perform ‘A Life of Sorrow,’ a one-man play about mountain music legend Carter Stanley, at the Watauga County Library in Boone at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15.
The one-man play tells the story of Carter Stanley’s life in a way that no biography ever could! Join Watauga Library to learn more about Stanley’s childhood, the roots of his music and song writing, the adventures on the road, and much more.
Gary Reid first encountered bluegrass music in his early teenage years. “When I heard Carter Stanley’s music, I knew it was for me,” says Reid. “I’ve been a big fan of his music for more than 40 years now.”
Having 40 plus years in bluegrass music, Reid conceived the idea for the production back in 2009. “The development of the production took about five years. During this time, I had never really performed or acted.”
“Stanley defined the bluegrass genre and he did a lot of the ground work,” explains Reid. “He has been forgotten for over 50 years now and I feel that he deserves to be recognized for his ground breaking work as a musician.”
Determined to give Stanley proper recognition for his contributions to bluegrass, Reid enrolled in local acting classes in Roanoke, Virginia. Reid has performed the production 48 times across numerous states.
Aside from the production, Reid is a three-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s award for Best Liner Notes, and the IBMA’s 2015 choice for Print/Media Person of the Year. Also, he received the Association for Recorded Sound Collections 2015 honor for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.
The performance at Watauga Library is free and open to the public. Check out Reid’s website for more tour dates and information!
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